Tag Archives: Si Smith

We Who Still Wait- advent poetry/art/meditation project…

Posted on by
Reply

We who still wait

Our advent collaboration, inspired and curated by Si Smith, and involving Photographer Steve Broadway, Ian Adam’s meditations and poems by me is now available!

You can get hold of it here in dowload for now, but hopefully you can order it in actual paper soon too. (It would make a lovely Christmas present I reckon, in fact some of you might be getting just that!)

Any help with the social media spreading the word thing would be appreciated as ever…

Here is the blurb from the Proost website;

This beautiful Advent product evokes the sense of waiting and watching at this season. Its available here as a download for £3.50.

Expect beautiful poems, challenging punchy prayers and thoughts and some beautiful photography in this devotion resource aimed at taking you through the 25 days of December up to Christmas Day.

From the book, this is from Elizabeth:

They say every flapping scrapping life is 
A brand new miracle
– I see them all in the street
Displayed there by their miracle makers
For the rest of us to worship.

 

Four great artists have come together to make this book happen.  Chris Goan, Ian Adams, Steve Broadway and Si Smith have brought their collective creative wisdom together to shape a wonderful book and it’s one we’re very excited about here at Proost.

In addition to this version there is also a Bonus Edition available which includes all of Steve’s original photographs for personal use.  That edition is £5.

A hard copy of the book is currently being created and will be made available shortly.

Grab yourself some great art!

Posted on by
2

My mate Si Smith is clearing out some of his lino cut prints and so you may be able to grab yourself a bargain at his Etsy store.

Apparently to get a 50% discount (although why would you want to?) enter the code BARGAINDEAL1 at Si’s Etsy store- here.

I love his work- we have a number of his prints at various parts of our house, including this one- of one of our chickens!

Good Shepherd Sunday…

Posted on by
4

It was today, according to the Lectionary.

It was also our Aoradh family worship day today, and it was lovely as ever. We used the general theme of Good Shepherd in our worship, then we ate together and sat round a fire in the garden until the spring rain set in.

Today we did a thing with some of Si Smith’s flat pack nativity figures– the shepherd, and lots of sheep. We asked people to write worries on the inside of the sheep, then add them to the flock- first feeling the better for the company, then we added in the shepherd. You get the picture.

Here are some of the flock;

Shared journeys…

Posted on by
23

We had a lovely evening last night with Si and Sue Smith, who are up here on holiday at the moment. Above is a picture of Si by his son Jonah- who is obviously following in his talented father’s footsteps…

Si works as an illustrator/artist/all round creative person, and was responsible for the ’40’ images that I wrote some meditations for (See here.)

Last night however, we shared stories of faith journeys- through churches, experiments with new forms of church, leaving church, alternative worship groups and our concerns about our kids in all of this. It was a good conversation, because in many ways our stories are similar. And there is something about the path that we have found ourselves on that at times makes us think that we are alone.

I think the truth is that we are very far from alone- there are many of us who have been ‘activists’ within the church who have found that the institution form of organised faith has become simply impossible to remain within- and so we have set out alone- at least for now.

That is not to say that community and connections with others with whom we can share life is not important- in fact it is all the more so, hence the deep goodness of conversations like last night…

(Happy anniversary to Si and Sue by the way!)

Lent, and ’40’…

Posted on by
2

I recieved this lovely e-mail the other day-

Dear Chris,

This is the second year I have used 40 through Lent and I am loving it again but in a completley new way.

Isn’t it amazing how God can speak to you differently even when the words are familiar?



I bought my copy at Lee Abbey a year after I had first seen it; it had called to me right from the start!
It is so lovely to hear that things that you have written are meaningful to others. It is almost like hearing people praising your child.

You can still get hold of ’40’ from Proost.
It is not too late to make your own Lenten journey…



Find me O my father

Make me.

Take me back to you

My throat is cracked

But thirst is more

For you

My stomach craves

A food that feeds only this;

My soul.

So I walk

Desperate

Close to falling

Stumbling

To you

Advent arrives…

Posted on by
Reply

So, today is the first day of Advent.

It is also Emily’s birthday! (More on that later!)

As part of my journey through Advent, I am going to use a comic-book-calendar version of the nativity, by the wonderful Si Smith (see here for 40, more of his art.)

The calendar is available for download from Proost- here, along with all sorts of other advent materials. Go on- it’s worth it!

Here is number one, to wet the appetite…

Earth Abbey, and Grow Zones…

Posted on by
2

Thanks to Si Smith for the link to this project which looks really great…

The guys behind this initiative have combined their faith and passions into a collective called ‘Earth Abbey’- their website is well worth checking out.

This is what they are about…

  • A rich relational life between human beings
  • A compassion toward the earth and its creatures
  • A sense of interconnectedness of all life
  • Wisdom and justice in relationships
  • Human fulfilment and the nurture of the inner life
  • A way of living that leaves the earth better than we found it

Sounds great.

I wonder whether we can gather something similar in Dunoon?