Assemblages

We discovered that people lack confidence in witnessing. This exemplifies our culture’s inadequate spiritual experience. Recognising reality, however, we realised that many benefit by having a product, when sharing their faith.

Using traditional symbols, some place Palm Crosses on their PC workstation. We made a CD of our worship leader’s songs, and DVD of interviews with church members.

It’s like Deleuze’s concept of ‘assemblages’: combining people and objects into a new bricolage. Someone wrote how Street Pastors use assemblages: giving away water bottles and flipflops, keeping in radio contact with base for prayer support.

‘Assemblage’ also describes for Deleuze the improvised, spontaneous group experimentation, when we’re stuck in a marginal stratum. A business article on the recession recommended trying small experiments when our strategy is unclear in the large scale.

Francis Bacon contrasted youth’s eagerness for fresh initiatives with age’s wisdom and long view. Freed from church responsibilities during my PhD, I could ‘play’ with Alternative Worship ideas.

We’ve begun CPAS’s START course; using DVD clips to stimulate discussion. But is faith’s objectification also its commodification? De Certeau analysed how people utilised commodities for tactical resistance to totalising discourse. Can we open up a rift in the iron cage?