this month on proost we have two new items…

we conceived the idea of the series of pocket liturgies to try and make available prayers, liturgies, reflections and rituals that were being born out of the life of local situations. we are really pleased to add hold this space as the fifth in the series to reflect worship growing out of the soil of melbourne, australia. cheryl lawrie is wonderfully gifted in the art of crafting words – if you follow the blog you'll know i regularly link to her writing and have made several pieces worship tricks before now. as well as working in a range of spaces to curate worship events and experiences across the city, cheryl has developed worship in prisons. her prayers and liturgies for that context along with the psalms written by prisoners are powerful. it's in the books section of the site as a download or physical book. (if you are in australia the uniting church bookshop in melbourne will be stocking it).

then cloud is the first proost movie from our latest unusual suspect andi mac who is part of a community in lurgan, northern ireland called arise which is the playground for his creativity. it's a really unique piece. here's what he said when i asked him about it…

Cloud was born out of a period of heaviness amongst the Arise community. The image that resonated was of a dark cloud resting overhead. Then looking at the imagery in the Bible of a cloud as a sign of the presence of God, of reassurance and guidance, the video "Cloud" was born. You could use it as a loop in the background (would look excellent playing through a stack of old fashioned 60's TV's) but probably most likely to be used as stand alone video. Could be used for exploring themes of commitment, guidance, going through periods of darkness. The main element at the beginning and end of video of the people walking with clouds overhead is based on the urban commute, that sense of dreariness that seems to hang over everyone on their way to work.

[you can preview it in the media player on proost