Exploring the faith journey and dimension of the Festival.

We talk to Martin Evans about Greenbelt's origins, Rita Nakashima Brock about her book 'Saving Paradise', John Bell, about Iona's longstanding links with the Festival, Jenny Baker about the Greenbelt Communion Service, Ben Edson about alt.worship at the event, and Alastair McIntosh about Greenbelt's identity as a spiritual community.

Click here to download the full podcast (28 MB).

Or stream the audio using the player below.

Or if you still prefer good old MP3 format click here (36.5MB).

Timings – so you can dip in and out if you want to:

00.00 – 01.00 – Intro
01.00 – 04.30 – Martin Evans on the Festival's faith beginnings
04.30 – 07.50 – Rita Nakashima Brock on 'Saving Paradise'
07.50 – 10.50 – John Bell on the Iona's connection with Greenbelt
10.50 – 13.25 – Jenny Baker on the Festival's Communion Service and silence
13.30 – 16.35 – Ben Edson on Greenbelt's alt. worship programme
16.35 – 18.20 – Alastair McIntosh on the Festival's community and spirituality
18.20 – 21.05 – Outro

Resources

Download a free talk from John Bell, recorded at last year's Festival here and once you've listened to that, you can check out more talks by John Bell available here.

Get Rita Nakashima Brock's book in advance of this year's Festvial – Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire.

Check out Alistair McIntosh's books over on Amazon.

Browse through recorded talks by Mike Riddell, or check out his books on Amazon.

Alastair McIntosh's Do Lecture from 2008

Links

Ben Edson blogs at http://benedson.blogs.com/
40days project is at http://forty.myzen.co.uk/
Jenny Baker's network for young women is at http://www.sophianetwork.org.uk/
Click here to download audio of our interview with John Peck, the Grandfather of the Festival's theological vision and worldview (8 MB).

Soundtrack (click to buy in iTunes)

Burial – Ghost Hardware
Burial – Archangel
Lamb – Angelica
Lamb – Gabriel (Si Begg's 5.1 Futures Remix)
Henryk Gorecki – Symphony No. 3 – III. – Lento – Cantabile-Semplice
John Tavener – Pratirupa
Calamateur – Jesus
Howe Gelb – Paradise Here Abouts
Wild Goose Collective – Come, bring your burdens to God (Woza Nomthwalo Wakho) / S. Africa
Drums and song from GB communion 2006 – unknown composer

Credits

• Narrated by Phil Smith and Grace Wroe
• Narration recorded by Ben Cohen
• Mixed and Edited – bigJohn Noble
• Written and Executive Produced by Paul Northup
• Co-production – bigJohn Noble
• Field Recording – Paul Northup

Hi to my Greenbelt friends! I happen to be in the middle of a real USA-style media storm right now caused by this TV appearance and my Open Letter (click here). I thought you would all enjoy this.

Love and best,

Frank

Frank Schaeffer spoke at Greenbelt 08 – for a CD or MP3 of his talks, click here, and enter the code 'LONGNOW' at the check-out for 50% off MP3s and 33% off CDs until the end of April.

by Rachel Stringer, Head of Content

A strange thing to be excited about, and not normally something I’d be grinning about; an invited speaker turning us down, but it’s one of the most exciting rejections we’ve ever had… a hand-written postcard from Alan Bennett!  As a big fan of his many northern monologues about mothers (and everything else he’s ever done), I was hugely excited about holding a hand-written postcard from him, explaining that because the BBC are busy interviewing him for various appearances to do with him turning 75 this year he can’t make the Festival. A great shame but delightful of him to take the time to write personally. 

Best get on with writing his invitation for 2010…

Let me introduce a good friend to you and while I do that I’ll also introduce you to a world you see everyday but may not have noticed. Those of you who watch tea-time quiz shows (or watch iPlayer) can see my friend Chris Wills for the next few days on A Question of Genius on the BBC, the latest in a number of TV quiz shows in which he’s participated.

His first quiz show experience was 15-1 back in 2001. Chris wasn’t terribly successful (partly as a result of getting picked on by a “retired paperboy”), but undaunted he then applied for another teatime quizzing legend, Countdown. This was a much bigger success, as he ended up becoming series champion and winning a large number of dictionaries in 2002. Various other stints have followed, including Mastermind and The Weakest Link – on the latter Chris won about £2,500 and a kiss from Anne Robinson.

However, it’s not the winning itself that’s most important to Chris, but – forgive the cliché – the taking part. Some people get a buzz from skydiving, drumming or dancing at a rave; Chris gets a buzz from appearing in front of a TV camera and showing off his general knowledge (or his ability with words and numbers and his love of pastel shades of clothing- apparently they look good on camera).

If he wins, fantastic; but even if he doesn’t, the experience is invariably a positive one, thanks to the other contestants and the production team. They’re all well looked-after, put up in nice hotels, get their travel expenses paid and generally pampered, all by people who work ridiculously long hours, often for relatively low pay and (if they’re freelance) perilous job security, yet somehow manage to remain friendly and enthusiastic. Chris tells me about there being an interesting community spirit within the world of TV quiz shows as he often sees people he’s faced before on other shows.

Chris and I have been friends for about three years, having first chatted on a social networking site; our friendship blossomed from there. Chris is a committed atheist, which may lead some to question how we can have a meaningful friendship without some sort of ideological conflict. In fact, it’s simple: Chris totally respects my Christianity, just as I totally respect his atheism, and whilst our beliefs may differ, faith has never been something that has dominated our friendship.

We often discuss how the actions of the Church (big C) impacts on society and I gain perspective on how my own faith works out in a secular environment. Faithfulness as friends is far more important between us, as is the common ground we share. Chris helps deepen my understanding and love of Doctor Who, he introduces me to great music which helps close some of the musical gaps in my knowledge and we regularly indulge in verbal flights of fancy.

Also, whilst Chris might be an atheist, this does not mean his mind is closed to spiritual matters. Last year, he came to Greenbelt for the first time, after being pestered by me for a few months and found this to be both an enriching and rewarding experience, as so many of the discussions that take place are not specifically around religion, but focus on wider issues of social justice, our perception of those around us and our search for ontological security in an increasingly uncertain world. (Chris wants me to use the word “ontological” – I frequently have to reach for a dictionary when talking to him) For Chris, who is currently doing a part-time Social Sciences degree, these discussions were both illuminating and thought-provoking, so much so he’s coming back this year.

So, although Chris prides himself on being the man with all the answers, he’s also someone who likes to ask plenty of questions. Chris will be taking part in a special Countdown challenge happening at the Hub during this year's festival.

Ben Whitehouse is Literature Coordinator for the Greenbelt festival. His blog- White Like Milk – is here and you can follow Ben on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/benjaminbrum

You can follow Chris Wills on Twitter by pointing your internet at: www.twitter.com/crispeater

Hidden deep in the depth of the Greenbelt office lies a cupboard of treasure… hundreds upon hundreds of thought-provoking, life-changing, soul-warming talks. Some of them, you might have heard, but most of them you'll have missed.

In a spirit of generosity, we've decided to share the wealth: each month we're going to give away a recorded talk and to get us going, this month's talk comes from Festival favourite John Bell. If you subscribe to the Greenbelt podcast via iTunes, this talk, and all future talks will automatically appear amongst the Greenbelt podcasts, if not you'll need to download using the link below.

Once you've enjoyed the goodness of John Bell answering why we should have 'Faith in a Failing Church', hop along to the recorded talks pages of the Greenbelt website (www.greenbelt.org.uk/talks) and take a look around: browse through the most popular talks; take a look at talks recorded at last year's Festival; or hunt down your favourite speaker. If you enjoyed the free talk, you might be particularly interested in other talks by John Bell.

As if that wasn't exciting enough, until 1st May all talks are reduced, with 50% off MP3s and a third off CDs, so you can listen to the likes of Yancey, Yaconelli and even Henri Nouwen from just £1!

To take advantage of this offer, just enter 'LONGNOW' at the checkout.

Go on, take a look, have a listen… your soul will thank you!

Click to download 'Faith in a Failing Church', by John Bell (26MB)

The word ‘expert’ doesn’t come into Jungian therapists’ vocabulary very often. Jung believed in the notion that we are all ‘practitioners’ of our own particular trades. I like the idea of being a ‘practitioner’. It makes me feel uncomfortable when people tell me they’re an ‘expert’ in any given field. It makes me think that they’re either at best, showing off or at worst, telling porkies.

The idea that somebody knows everything there is to know about any given subject really turns me off. How can you possibly know everything about anything? Where’s the fun in knowing everything anyway? And why would anybody want to get up in the morning if there wasn’t anything new to learn?

A year or so ago I started taking Capoeira lessons (part martial art, part dance. Google it – it’s really good). I figured it would be fun to learn a new skill while trying to get a little fitter. Needless to say it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and I’m really not very good at it but I really enjoy it.

I also enjoy playing the drums and the guitar in a band (not at the same time though). It’s a lot of fun but we’re not that good. We generally start the songs at the same time but it’s a rare thing to finish them together.

Maybe I should just quite my Capoeira class? After all, I still end up facing to the left when everyone else in the room is facing to the right. And I still feel dizzy and sick after attempting cart-wheel after cart-wheel after cart-wheel across the room while trying to hold the focus of my partner whom I’m supposed to be mirroring?

Is it time to throw away the drum sticks and eBay my guitar? Afterall, the days of giving any serious thought to becoming a full-time musician (or a drummer ha-ha) are long gone.

Well the answer is of course not. I am a practitioner of Capoeira. I am a practitioner of the drums and of the guitar. And while I’m about it, I am a practitioner of the graphic arts and of web design – the two things in my life that some people have decided (incredibly, some might say), to pay me money to practice.

My advice? Steer clear of the experts and keep practicing.

Nick Welsh
www.monoindustries.com
Twitter: @mononick

Nick Welsh practices graphic art and web design in Cambridge, UK under the name Mono Industries. He was involved in the music programme at Greenbelt for about 100 years and now helps out with various aspects of www.greenbelt.org.uk. He lives in Cambridge with his partner Jane, his daughter Edie and an Irish Terrier called Hattie.

This week we've got a Culture Vulture with a difference, as our Head of Content Rachel Stringer is going to so many events that we're dedicating the whole post to her…

As I’m off on holiday next week and I’ve been pretty quiet culturally the last couple of weeks, I’m squeezing a lot in this week!  

Tuesday I’m going to For God's Sake! – Faith Action on Climate Change,  an evening put on by Christian Aid and Radical Middle Way, featuring some of the best Christian and Muslim hiphop artists around. Kumasi, Jahaziel, Poetic Pilgrimage, Mohammed Yahya

Wednesday I’m going to the opening night of StillPoint, Oxford where Jamie Catto from One Giant Leap and who played at GB08, is performing.

Friday I’m going to my regular Friday milonga at Negracha for a tango lesson and some dancing. I then plan to head out afterwards to a night of garage and grime at Trouble Vision in Corsica Studios, South London and am particularly excited about Toddla T (pictured above).

Saturday, if I wasn’t going snowboarding I’d be at the best dubstep night in the UK, DMZ, for their 4th birthday. The lineup will be roadblock.

To finish, here’s a great interview with Benga (my favourite dubstep DJ) and Skream who reckon dubstep is urban folk music – genius!

And that, I think, is more than enough culture for one week…