Christmas Present
Ordinary People - Ordinary Places - Extraordinary Story
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| Christmas lights going up in Knaresborough |
Last year I heard a friend talk about a Christmas photo
project that he put together. You can read about it on his blog http://vfxhanley.wordpress.com/do-you-wonder/
. This got me and a local Methodist minister thinking about whether we could do
something similar here in the North East. They did it slightly different to us
in that their images were in 3D and they had them up in one place, but other
than that it’s basically the same idea.
We have taken a
series of photos of local people, in local settings from the North East, who
take on the persona of some of the key characters in the traditional nativity
story. Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, the
Magi, angels, shepherds etc. We will be placing these pictures in public spaces
for people to view, and we have agreed to have some put up in our local Costa
Coffee in Whitley
Bay
Alongside this, we got together with a few creative folk to
put some worship material together that will be used around a different image
on each Sunday through Advent. So if you live nearby to North Shields and
Whitley Bay why not invite a friend to come along to church with you and see
what it’s all about. Also over the four
weeks in advent I will be posting something each week which relates to one of
the pictures we have taken.
The idea behind this is about engaging our local community
with the traditional Christmas story in ways that ask the question... what do
you do with this story? This project is
about putting the nativity story in a modern context and I suppose asks a
challenging question about what do we do with the traditional story that God
came to earth as a small vulnerable baby. Why not, as you view the pictures,
ask these questions
Is Christmas present for you?
What is Christmas wrapped up in for you?
This sounds great, Rob, and I'd love to get some (more) of my blog readers finding out what you're doing. Would you like to join in my Pause in Advent? Details here:
ReplyDeletehttp://trocbroc.blogspot.com/2011/11/join-us-for-pause-in-advent-2011.html
Over the last two years it's been a really good way of sharing Christmas ideas (Christian, generally spiritual or other) on the net. It would be great if you wanted to get involved.
Great idea, Rob. I'll try and come along sometime when I know where they will be. I'll be very interested in the response. I also like the idea of setting up a nativity scene in teh market place and asking people if they want to get dressed up as one of the characheters and get their photo taken.Think it come from the Baptist Church.
ReplyDeleteI've also just read your previous post and wanted to add that I see some fresh expressions( for want of a better word) as beginning with the thought of finding stillness and opportunity to experience God be creating a safe place, and then others who do the community and relastionship building first but then move into a more experiential place.. but I think that movement needs to be intentional - initiated by someone. I think it is about seeing God in all things and helping people acknowlege that there is no need to have a sacred / secular divide.
There are some great postcards around for people to hold and reflect on an dthen talk about which may be of use in a pub setting.
Susan
Great idea this Rob. Will have to come across and have a look. Are you releasing details of where exactly they will be?
ReplyDelete