Holy City 2010/11 Acting Up

Acting Up

…from faith to lifestyle in challenging times

It’s sometimes said that in the West, the Church and the visual and performative arts have changed places. Film and theatre thrust important social issues into the spotlight, while many churches only offer escapism via a polite form of entertainment that titillates and tames. Has faith lost a leading, dynamic role on the real world’s stage?

In the early Church, in Acts, the opposite was true. It was full of alternative life. In no way was it privatised or impractical. Even the mighty Empire felt threatened by the existence and practices of the early believers.

Holy City’s ‘Acting up’ programme this year takes its cue from the early churches and their revolutionary ways of being in the world. In workshops, reflection, discussion and worship, we’ll read the scripts, seeking inspiration for creative approaches and practical lifestyles that rehearse and perform meaningful action and spirituality. And we will put the economic, ecological and social challenges of our time centre-stage.

We’ll also be running some weekend (2 day) events separate from the monthly Holy City event itself throughout the year. These appear below in italics.

2010

31st October: Prologue: Opening Acts

28th November: The Pirates Of Finance

19th December: The Kings, The Gods, The Stalls

Weekend event

26th-27th November: Curious Encounters Of The Gospel Kind