you're here to be salt seasoning

i come back to reconnect, in the persona of a believer - i have been lost and wandering like the lamb on the edge of the cliff - as i drive past bella vista waters estate everything now seems familiar and comfortable - i connect with the large impressive houses - see their symmetry and order, their power to project the wealth and success that the lord can bring into my life - i see that there are few trees but this is good as their is no covering up of the architectural power that is on full show - the grand houses look down on the hillsong centre announcing its importance, its central place in hillsong life - i park my car and walk up to the centre - past thousands of fellow worshipers who have attended the early morning service this special mother's day - indian, african, chinese, korean, american-african, anglo-european, everybody with smiles and kids in tow - i see sami a young samoan woman that i worked with a three years ago - she is with beautiful child and handsome samoan husband - sami is shocked to see me - delightfully surprised that i had finally found my way to the source - i am honest and tell her that i am writing a story on the hillsong experience - that it is a phenomenon - sami says that she hopes i don't say anything bad - i say no i am just telling a story - we talk briefly about debord's spectacle and she says, yes it is quite a show, and laughs - they are very happy and very warm - the child clenches my finger, connecting - they hug me and shake my hand, connecting - i am early for the service - i collect my mothers day hillsong present at the door - a hillsong capture the moment specially packaged instant camera, so that i can capture the moment of this special day of celebration for the legend mums - her children call her blessed - the word smile written in english, italian, spanish, french, nowegian, german - no chinese, islamic, african, indian, islander - i sit down in the same place as my previous visit but this time there is no girl with lost eyes but a thin Indian man with a look of shellshock - hardened, determined and solitary - there is a clapping, and the choir and musicians advance onto the stage - the singing starts - the giant images flash up on the three twelve by three metre screens - the congregation down on the floor start clapping, singing loudly and jumping up and down in a moshpit of love and surrender - a pop concert rapture of sublime connection - this is a spectacle of lights, sound and images - the slogan welcome home in two metre letters - better one day spent in the house, than a thousand elsewhere - worshipers, warriors, making a difference in our community, building for the future, placing value on womanhood, championing the cause of the local church, to love mercy - the music is loud, an accelerated syncopated drum beat that accelerates into excited revery then slows to beautiful reflection - a sweet smell of teenage spirit - the church is christ's body - what was once the bread, the natural sustenance that sustained life has been replaced by the structure, the building the church, my home - the singing strengthens with everyone raising one, two hands to connect to the lord - sing to the lord, great is our god - and there on the screen the lesson for today, the humble but bold message - YOU'RE HERE TO BE SALT SEASONING - of course, we are just the seasoning on the body of christ - our prayers and faith season the lord - add flavour to the body of christ - just like we add salt seasoning to our roast dinners cooked in our beautiful kitchens in our beautiful houses - bella vista - bella food - there is a loud roar and clapping and brian graces the stage - he talks of miracles and prayers - cancer, hemorrhages - cured - brian tells us that women are good at receiving and giving - they just get on with it - and now we should give - we have freely received and now we should freely give - cheques made out to hillsong are especially generous - generosity that transforms - small cute children of the congregation give big screen testimonials and presents are given out - even a darrel lea mothers day bag - we are shown more ads of future eventful events - this is all about the experience - all about the spectacle - we are coming for the event - the event is the rapture - the experience is the connection of experiencing the sublime feeling of the lord - wrapped up in a total environment where everything makes sense - there is no questioning, only acceptance, love and affirmation - pure concentrated energy directed at the worshipper - there is no dissent, no dialogue , no dialectic, no critical theory - only the answer - a positivist conversation - on the journey of faith - redemption is immediate and complete - the final prayer has come - those of us that have lost our way and need to reconnect are asked to raise our hands high in the air - i raise my hand - i feel the connection with the lord - i feel five thousand people praying for my salvation - i am redeemed - a bible is placed in my hand by david who is so happy that i have chosen the first step on a journey that will completely change my life - i am asked to enrol in a free 3-week course, RECONNECTION - david invites me back to the welcome lounge after the sermon - sharleen feeds me grapes and cakes and orange juice - tom welcomes me and tells me he was once a catholic - he belonged to a religion - but hillsong is not a religion - there are no rules and laws here to interfere - there is just a direct connection with god - david reconnected three yearss ago - two weeks later he closed his eyes and saw jesus standing with all the people david needed to forgive - david's wife just felt god's presence - i sip my gloria jeans coffee, i gulp down my grapes - i promise to return, to take up my new course, everyone smiles and congratulates me on my momentous decision - walking back i have accidently parked in the handicap parking space - thirty three miles from sydney and a thousand miles from care - manly and baulkam hills - i text my friend that i am safe - safe from what - safe from brian, safe from his wife bobby who i have never met, safe from robert, the used car salesman - safe from being being transformed into salt seasoning on the spoils of war - jesus loves me yes he does, why because the bible tells me so - the bible that was once called the bible now rests on my dashboard rebranded - abundant life new testament

kfc, bank lunches and pigeons

7 january

8 january morning train to harbin

men walking cows in the snow – strong orange sun rising in birch trees – clumps of small cottages white snow bound with puffs of smoke coming from each chimney – fields tilled with fresh snow – black bird slowly flying south against white ground – east orange turning to pink in west – factories belching black smoke into clean blue morning air – haystacks drooping under their own wet weight – black birds settling in white snow – long brick red factory walls – lines through the landscape – air smelling of morning snow and sweet chinese hot milk breakfast – dozens of cottages surrounding factories like nineteenth century England – over and over – everyone quiet reading newspapers on their bunks or smoking in the carriage way – everyone with a mobile phone – radio blaring with chinese noise - - cows in line eating leftover corn stalks

kites, bad art and tiennamen

6 january

temples, more mops and beijing sunsets

5 january

girls and factories

4 january

skating and swimming in bei hai park

3 january

The use of legal injections will be expanded to replace gunshot executions – considered more humane – but there is still a strong belief of ‘an eye for an eye and a life for a life’

287,000 people take their life every year in China (6,000) and around 3,000,000 attempted suicide (60,000) – not getting appropriate treatment for depression

Some good Chine Indie film titles:
Apple Lost in Beijing, Gimme Kudos (Huang Jianxing), The Nail (Jiang Zhi), Uniform (Diao Yi’nan), Bliss (Shen Zhimin), Walking On The Wild Side (Han Jie), Beijing Bastards.

memory and mops

2 january

one child is big child

1 january

mao is not pop - let us not be fooled

31 december

heaven and hell

30 december

as radical as ....

29 december - i go back to 798 by myself which i am very proud can do - i now have a card/picture of every place i am going - mandarin is not improving - go to the new ucca non-profit gallery, one of the first to be developed in china (really a museum but if you call yourself a musuem the party has a say in curating) - the the ucca was set up by guy and myriam ullens, belgium philanthropists who collected the new chinese art extensively in the late eighties and nineties - committed themselves to the new china, sold some turners that they had laying around and spent about $20 million on the new completely renovated factory building complex - this is the first museum here at 798 and is seen both as a stamp of legitimacy of new wave chinese art and also the 'mainstreaming' and acceptance of this once radical movement - it has mainly been set up as a counter o the prevailing culture of art as business - that art can also be curated, appreciated and even contemplated - not just bought and sold - sometimes art is used as a status offering of influence to sway favour - a cultural adaptation of gift giving on a much larger scale - the first exhibition is impressive - titled '85 new wave (5 nov - 17 feb 2008) it features 150 works from 85 of the chinese new wave artists - the work has an underlying radicalism with symbolism heavy especially post-tienanmen - the first room of he gallery contains an amazing 60 metre illustrated timeline of the history of the avant-garde movement starting with the death of mao of course - a volunteer arts student shows me around - he wants to be a curator!

rabbits and rice wine

28 december- today is a holiday so set out on a beijing journey with dan and anna - in our local street we run into the beijing rabbit which is local adaptation of the more universal chine rabbit story over here - as it goes the beautiful girl loved by the the rich king is accidentally sent up to the moon after accidentally swallowing some immortality pills that were close by - she finds herself trapped with the king/prince pining for her return - the king/lord sends up a pharmaceutical rabbit who as a chemist is commissioned to experiment until he discovers a pill that will bring the princes back to earth - meanwhile the princess looks down on beijing and sees the general population dying of a dreadful plague - in her compassionate manner she sends the rabbit down to dispense medicine , with his mortar and pestle, to the beijing population and cure them - which the rabbit does - the princess however is forever trapped on the moon but Beijing id forever grateful through their giving of offerings to the rabbit - that is dan in the photo with that rabbit - this deity of the rabbit was very quickly stopped with the communist revolution but has survived into the new revolution of socialist consumerism - we all then catch a taxi back over to the 798 art precinct in the dashanzi area - and view cui guo tai's amazing massive social realist expressionist grunge paintings as truth in beijing can no longer be bright and beautiful - the paintings of boeing jets, a huge submarine breaking water with its propellers threshing dirty grey water across the painting are wondrously awesome - at night we go to the 'little sheep' hotpot restaurant where we are offered 8 types of lamb, numerous varieties of mushrooms and noodles handmade in front of you - have have never eating so much without being full - we all get steamed as an extra bonus - i would love a gelato which is freely available here in the street but cold is bad - hot water is good - we end up at a bar and drink hot rice wine.

brooms and mops

27 december

have become completely fascinated with the brooms and mops in beijing and have been taking many photos of them propped up against walls, corners, steps and stones - its the way they are left there alone, at a certain angle and with a certain propensity - they seem so much more associated with activity here, with so much more intent - maybe because there are so many and so ready to hand -they seem to hold both a strong memory (of their owner) - hey also have a powerful sense of design especially when combined with the colour red (which occurs often) - red being everywhere in china/beijing being very strong against the black which is also prevalent - so, in the temples i took many more phtos of the brooms and fire equipment- i also walked the streets to the bell and drum towers - struggling up the stairs very accomplished only run into american guy who was climbing to base camp mount everest the next day - always so relative - nearly everyone here speaks english with an american accent due to american teachers and cctv - he irony is not even funny - though iron is not in the vocabulary here anyway though sarcasm is very easily understood once explained - it is very cold but skies are clear and blue as the daily quota for fine weather leading up to the olympics has to be met - cloud seeding and factory shutdowns do wonders for the air