Capital of Culture opening weekend

Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture began in earnest this weekend with two eye-catching events. They were both designed with the media in mind to grab the headlines and provide some photo opportunities.

On Friday "the people's opening" was a show in front of St George's Hall. Liverpool people tuned up in their thousands to see the fireworks, the aerial ballet, the performers and the the music. Many were there to see Ringo Starr whose song "Liverpool 8" became the anthem of the night.
I was hugely impressed with the event. It was so well organised and produced. As so often happens in Liverpool. the people were the stars.
I wasn't so impressed with Ringo. His mimed performance wasn't about Liverpool, it was about himself. When he sang, "Liverpool, I left you, but I never let you down", we almost believed him. Almost but not quite.

On Saturday the new Liverpool Arena was officially opened with an event called "Liverpool the Musical". This was two hours of music and dance with stunning visuals. the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra were magnificent. Each performer was in a capsule at the back of the stage, bathed in blue light. Musicians who impressed me included The Farm and Gary Christian.

The audience was full of celebrities, with two McGanns, Les Dennis, Cathy Tyson, Kenny Dalglish, Peter Reid, David Morrisey, Sue Johnston, Claire Sweeney and Gerry Marsden all sitting near to where I was.

I had the same gripe about Ringo Starr and I had on the Friday. When we were told to "stand up for Ringo" and calls of "Ringo for President" rang out from the stage I for one thought, "no, this is Liverpool's night". But Liverpool still loves its Fab Four.


The Capital of Culture year began well and I think everyone in the city now has confidence of its success. How will success be measured? I hope it will be an increased confidence of the city in itself as a prominent European city. Not really English but firmly European, on the edge of the continent geographically and yet central to its aspirations and identity. I hope success will also be measured in Kingdom terms: that we should be a city conforming more and more to the purposes of God: kinder, fairer, more trusting and more rooted in the love of God.

Open Culture thought for the day

The Open Culture website is excellent, and it's a refreshing part of the new democratised approach to the Capital of Culture since Phil Redmond came on board.

They're publishing a "cultural thought" for each day of the year and they asked me to write one. I had lots of ideas floating around and the one I chose became more solid after I had a chat with Phil Redmond yesterday. It wasn't anything Phil said, it seems that just being with him helps you to be creative!

Anyway I've sent them this thought on "Christian Culture". I don't know when they'll put it on their site, but here it is for you to see first, and to comment on.

"Christian Culture"

A new word has entered our vocabulary in recent months and it’s even been the topic of a debate in parliament. The word is “Christianophobia”. It’s related to words like Islamophobia and homophobia and I suppose it means something like “an attitude of prejudice or discrimination against people who practise the Christian faith”. And if that definition ever ends up in a dictionary you’ll know who made it up.

As someone who is a practising Christian I recognise what such discrimination feels like, but I’m not one to stamp my feet or throw the dummy out of the pram. In 2008, in Liverpool as much as anywhere else, practising Christians - and there are still hundreds of thousands of us in Merseyside - need to earn the right to have our voice heard. Christendom has been and gone and I’m glad of it. All I would ask now is that Christians are treated as well as other sizeable minorities in our glorious, chaotic jumble of a society.

And then there’s “Christian culture”. What does such a phrase mean? If it’s taken to means olde worlde buildings and a yearning for the way the world used to be, then I want nothing to do with it. If it means a world where people are nicey-nice with one another, holding their passions in bay for the sake of politeness and inoffensive gentility, than that’s not for me either.

For me the marks of true Christian culture have to reflect the character of the one from whom it takes its name, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. That culture will be a marked by a passion for justice and for real goodness. It will have a firm foundation of unashamed belief without scoring points off others. It will be attractive and real and subversive.

My hope for 2008 is that those in our great city who are passionate about their faith will have their voice heard alongside everyone else. I believe that voice, if heard authentically, will be both attractive and challenging.

Scouserati

On January 1st the Liverpool Echo published a list of "the 366 most influential Scousers on the planet" and much to my amazement I'm on the list! All I can say is that I'm glad it's a leap year so that there were 366 places to fill!
It's interesting to look at how many on the list would be identified as being practising Christians: only five or six I think.

Liverpool Nativity: the morning after

I went to Liverpool Nativity yesterday in William Brown Street in Liverpool. It was quite an experience. I was very impressed with the acting and singing of Jodie McNee as Mary. Geoffrey Hughes did a good job as Gabriel, though he seemed lost occasionally. Jennifer Ellison sang well but messed up some of her lines.

I want to comment on Liverpool Nativity as a contribution to the cultural life of Liverpool. This was the first real event of Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008 and I was thrilled that the year began with an affirmation of Christian faith. For the Biblical Christian the telling of the tale wasn't perfect, but it was well done. The identity of this miracle baby wasn't made very clear, though that's surely how it was in the early days of Jesus' life: people came to realise who he was through his words and actions and supremely though his resurrection.

Comments on this blog have said that the event was "blasphemous". I truly can't see anything blasphemous about Liverpool Nativity. This was a piece of drama staged by the BBC, a secular organisation, and it contributed to the Christian culture of our city. Wake up, people! This is something to celebrate, not to carp over. When would the church ever be able to stage a show as professional and expensive as this, and then get it shown live on national television? Christians should be praising this for what it was and what it did well, not looking for theological faults.

Liverpool Nativity is repeated on BBC ONE on Sunday 23rd at 10.45pm. Video it or watch it with some friends and then talk about what was good and not so good about it, and see where the conversation leads.

This blog is about conversation, so please do add a comment (you can do so as "anonymous" if you're not registered with Google). I will reply to the comments and I hope others will do so as well.

Liverpool Nativity tomorrow

Liverpool Nativity is coming to town tomorrow and I'm very excited about it. Despite what some paper columnists have said, it's going to be an authentic contemporary telling of the nativity story. The scale of it is impressive, with 500 people involved in cast and crew. Some of the cast are big names, while others are inspired choices. Jodie McNee and Kenny Thompson will be excellent as Mary and Joseph; Geoffrey Hughes as Gabriel seems to be just the right choice, even though quite a few others were approached to play the part before him.

But what concerns me here is how effective it will be as a piece of Christian communication. I believe it will hit all the right notes. It is faithful to the Bible accounts, retaining the miraculous, virginal conception and all the major characters. The magi appear at the stable with the shepherds, which isn't how it happened, but that has been artistic licence since Francis of Assisi.

The fact the the BBC have put time, effort and most of all money into this project is to be commended: well done BBC for not just giving us tales of snow and Santa. This Nativity is one to watch, to record and to savour.

Liverpool Nativity

The Liverpool Nativity is coming to Liverpool very soon.
Here's the press release: I'll be adding my thoughts and comments in my next post.

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Geoffrey Hughes, Cathy Tyson and Jennifer Ellison star in Liverpool Nativity (Sunday 16 December, 8pm, BBC Three) – a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story live on the streets of Liverpool. Far from being the simple story beloved of school plays throughout the world, this is a drama as fresh and relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago – the intimate, personal story of a pregnant young girl set against a backdrop of political tension and unrest. Geoffrey Hughes leads the cast as the Angel Gabriel, directing events as they unfold live in Liverpool city centre. Set in a fictional state, Herodia (Cathy Tyson), a paranoid minister, desperate to cling to power, orders a crackdown on immigration. Mary and Joseph (Jodie McNee and Kenny Thompson) are swept up in the drama as Joseph, an asylum seeker, is instructed to report to the nearest passport office. In the midst of this turmoil, Mary discovers she is pregnant and must fight to protect both Joseph and her unborn child. The hour-long production uses familiar songs from Liverpool’s great pop legacy to bring the story to life. Popular music from a wealth of Liverpool bands – The Beatles, The La’s, The Zutons and many more – is given a vibrant new twist and performed by characters in the drama and a live orchestra. The production also features a host of Liverpool celebrities including Jennifer Ellison as an angel; Paul Barber as the landlord and Andrew Schofield as one of the shepherds. BBC Three Controller, Danny Cohen says: “This is going to be a fantastic collaboration between the BBC and the city of Liverpool. I’m delighted with the cast in place, and can’t wait to see this major event on BBC Three.” This mammoth production involves over 300 cast and 150 technical crew and will be the springboard for Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture 2008. Liverpool Nativity has been developed by the team behind Manchester Passion and the two Flashmob operas and is supported by Liverpool Culture Company.

Free Thinking

The BBC's "Free Thinking" festival is in Liverpool this weekend, encouraging debate about "freedom", with various performances and activities. I like the idea of the "speed dating" event with a thinker: you spend a couple of minutes listening to someone explaining their Big Idea. It's an event that's worth supporting, and it's good that BBC Radio 3 have brought it back to Liverpool for a second year.
There's not enough about faith on the agenda, though: just one brief appearances by James Jones, Bishop of Liverpool, Prof Pillay from Hope University and maybe one other theologian. That's a poor showing by the Church who should be at the cutting edge of cultural engagement and serious thought about culture and society. I'm not blaming the organisers: if Christians were producing interesting work they would included, but they are still catching up with the secular "free thinking" world.

Martyn Joseph

I'm speaking to Martyn Joseph today about his new CD "Vegas". Martyn sent out an email to say that journalists weren't to call him a "Christian singer songwriter", just a "singer songwriter who happens to have a faith".

I know what he means: it's awful to be labelled and put in a box. Martyn doesn't want to be seen as a "CCM artist" in a narrow way. But should he be so sensitive about being called "Christian"? I don't see myself as someone who "happens to have a faith", but someone whose faith in Jesus is integral to all I do: my professional life and my personal life.

The CD by the way is glorious: gentle yet insistent, with songs that yearn for a better world whilst being committed to transforming this world. I love the song "coming down" and the anti-war anthem "the fading of light".

The way we do things round here

Archbishop Derek Worlock famously defined culture as "the way we do things round here". So this is a blog about culture, about what we "do round here" and the way we do it.
Specifically it's a blog about culture written from Liverpool, England, for the year 2008, when Liverpool is European Capital of Culture.
It's also a blog written from a Christian perspective, reflecting what's going on in Christian culture in Liverpool and beyond.
Come with me on the journey...