Wikio - Top Blogs - Religion and belief

Wednesday 6 November 2024

Artlyst: Modern Art Oxford Reopens After £2million Redesign

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on exhibitions at Modern Art Oxford as they reopen after a £2 million redesign:

'The main exhibition choice for the reopening of Modern Art Oxford is also the first institutional exhibition in the UK of work by Cuban artist Belkis Ayón (1967-1999). Ayón, whose work can also be seen at Tate Modern, was a Cuban artist and printmaker considered a pioneer in the printmaking world through her use of collography. By layering textured repurposed materials onto cardboard matrices, a form of collage, she was able to produce a vast range of tones, textures, and forms in large multi-panelled works. The exhibition includes film of Ayón using this process to create work, examples of which have now been seen at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and 2022, plus a retrospective at UCLA in 2016.

Her work is transgressive in that she reinterprets the traditions, rituals and beliefs of the Abakuá, a predominantly male Afro-Cuban religious group originating in the tribes and ritual traditions of West Africa, by focusing on the mythical female figure of Sikán.'

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Monday 4 November 2024

The King James Bible: Great Books Explained



The film about the King James Bible I co-authored with James Payne, a curator, gallerist, and passionate art lover, has now garnered over 50,000 views. 

It covers the content and structure of the Bible as well as telling both the story of the King James Version's creation and some of its cultural influence.

Check it out and add your thoughts to comments that now include:
  • "what great insights! Thank you"
  • "I look at the Bible quite differently now that I’ve watched this. Thank you so much for this new lens of insight."
  • "Astonishing how rich the history of the Bible really is even in the "later" days - I had no idea so many people had worked on it. And the process used for the KJV - my goodness, it seems so complicated and yet so very clever."
  • "It's sad when people either haven't realized or outright deny how important the KJV bible has been in the history of the English-speaking world, even if someone isn't religious, it's very much worth learning about the impact this book had on culture. Thank you for making this video!"
  • "This "beautiful" video is one of the best of youtube. Thank you!"
  • "Wow, when I saw the topic, I thought, How ballsy, such a controversial topic! But it was masterfully done, a good analysis of the book as a book."
For more of my writings on the Bible see here:
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Malcolm & Alwyn - Fool's Wisdom.
Posted by Jonathan Evens at 19:53 0 comments
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Artlyst - November Art Diary

My November Art Diary for Artlyst begins with exhibitions by artists with whom I have some former connections, starting with some I have interviewed, such as Michael Petry, Sean Scully and Genesis Tramaine. Then, I highlight some other artists and exhibitions that address aspects of spirituality and mythology. These include Stanley Spencer, Takis and Jonathan Clarke. Finally, I end with exhibitions exploring themes of equality and inclusion, which enable difficult conversations to take place across boundaries:

'Another former interviewee of mine for Artlyst is Paul Chandler, who runs CARAVAN, an international arts NGO. Their latest exhibition, ‘SYMBOLS OF LIFE: BEYOND PERCEPTION: An Artistic Exploration of the Human Soul’, is part of the programming around the Biennale de Dakar, the premiere art event on the African continent. This exhibition features two remarkable artists whose work enhances our experience and understanding of each other and the transcendent. Tidiane Ndongo and Djibril Coulibaly brilliantly embody CARAVAN’s vision of seeing the arts play a strategic role in transforming our world; they touch the spiritual dimension of our human existence. Art is a universal language that can dissolve the differences that divide us. As long as division has torn apart the human family, art has offered a mode of reconciliation and wholeness. As is evident in this exhibition, artistic initiatives by their very nature, are “encounter points,” bringing people together from different backgrounds who might otherwise remain apart, deepening understanding across cultures and spiritual traditions.'

The interviews that I mention in this Art Diary can be found at: Michael Petry; Genesis Tramaine; Sean Scully; and Paul Chandler. I also mention the following reviews: ‘In The Black Fantastic’; ‘Rites of Passage’; and ‘A World In Common’.

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David Fanshawe: African Sanctus: 9. The Lord's Prayer (The Offertory).
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Sunday 3 November 2024

Bring us to life - transforming society

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Catherine’s Wickford this morning:

Imagine a bed surrounded by the debris of a week’s illness, soiled sheets and slashed pillows, pills and vodka bottles, used condoms and tissues. This is ‘My Bed’ an installation by Tracy Emin was first exhibited in 1999. You’ll probably remember reading about it in the press at the time as it prompted the usual “call that art, my two-year old could have done better” kind of articles. A bed is a powerful symbol of birth and death, sex and intimacy but this controversial installation was perhaps an image of our culture’s sickness and dis-ease surrounded by the remnants of those things through which we seek a cure; sex, alcohol, drugs, tears, aggression. And the bed, like many lives, was empty. The morning after the cure that never came.

Sometimes our lives feel like that installation. Our relationships may have broken down, we may have been abused, we may be anxious, stressed or worried, our work might be under threat or have ended. For all these reasons and many others we can feel as though our lives have closed down becoming barren or dry or dead. Our communities and culture can feel like that too. Many years ago now, at the end of the 1970’s, The Sex Pistols sang about there being no future in England’s dreaming. And many people still think that our society is changing for the worse. When I had a holiday in Spain a few years ago I stayed on a street that was mainly occupied by British people who had left because they didn’t like the changes that they saw in British society. Such people think of Britain as being diseased and dead with no future for them. Being in the Church it is also easy to feel the same. We are regularly told in the press that the Church is in decline and the Church of England continues to deal with major conflicts that threaten to pull it apart. Again, it is easy to feel as though the Church is washed up, dried out and dying.

Whatever we think of those issues and views, the God that we worship is in the resurrection business. And that is where we need to be too. In our Gospel reading (John 11: 1-45) Jesus said that he is the resurrection and the life and demonstrated this by bringing Lazarus back to life. Through his ministry, Jesus resurrected a society and culture transforming the entire world as he did so. He calls us to follow in his footsteps by looking for the places where our society and culture is dried up or dying and working for its transformation and resurrection. Each of us can do the same as Jesus through our work and community involvements and we need to be asking ourselves how God wants to use us, through those involvements, to transform parts of our society and culture.

Raising Lazarus from death was a sign of what would happen after Jesus’ own death on the cross. By rising from death himself, Jesus conquered death for all people enabling us to enter in to eternal life after our physical death. This is good news for us to share with other people around us wherever we are - in our families and among our friends, neighbours and work colleagues.

Jesus also resurrected lives before physical death came. Look for a moment at John 11 with me. In the first section of that chapter from verses 1 to 16 we see the disciples struggling to understand what Jesus was saying and doing. He wanted them to see how God was at work in Lazarus’ illness and death. They kept looking only at their physical and material circumstances - if Jesus went back to Judea then he would be killed, if Lazarus was asleep then he would get better, and so on. Jesus wanted them to see that God can work even through death and in verse 16 he drew out of them the commitment to go with him even though they might die with him.

Then in verses 17 to 27, Jesus helped Martha move beyond her theoretical belief in the resurrection to a belief that Jesus himself is the promised Messiah. Finally, in verses 38 to 45, he helped all those present to move beyond their focus on physical realities to believe in God’s ability to do the supernatural. Throughout, Jesus was challenging all the people he encountered to move beyond their comfort zones, to step out in faith, to encounter and trust God in new ways. He wants to do the same with each one of us. Wherever our lives have got stuck, have become dried up or closed down or have died he wants to challenge and encourage us to move out of our comfort zones and to encounter him and other people in new and risky ways. He wants us to come alive to God, to the world, to other people and to life itself in new ways.

Jesus is in the resurrection business. Whether it is transforming society, sharing the good news of eternal life or encouraging us to step out in faith, Jesus wants to bring us to life. How will you respond to Jesus this afternoon? Is there an area of your life that he can bring back to life? Will you commit yourself to join in sharing the good news of eternal life with others and transforming society where you are? 

As you think about that challenge let us pray together briefly, using the words of a song by Evanescence: Lord Jesus, we are frozen inside without your touch, without your love. You are the life among the dead, so wake us up inside. Call our names and save us from the dark. Bid our blood to run before we come undone, save us from the nothing we’ve become. Bring us to life. Amen.

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Evanescence - Bring Me To Life.
Posted by Jonathan Evens at 12:29 0 comments
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Saturday 2 November 2024

Advent and Christmas - Wickford & Runwell Team Ministry

 





Christmas Bazaar
Saturday 30 November
10.00 am – 1.00 pm, St Andrew’s Church
(for the Wickford & Runwell Team Ministry – St Andrew’s, St Catherine’s & St Mary’s)
  • School Choirs performing
  • Guess the weight of the cake
  • Tombola & Bottle Tombola
  • Christmas Gifts & Crafts
  • How many sweets?
  • Cakes & Produce
  • Name the Teddy
  • Children’s Lucky Dip
  • Meet Santa & his Elf
  • Refreshments
  • & Grand Christmas Draw
11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN

WICKFORD AND RUNWELL TEAM MINISTRY
ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS 2024

Advent

Mondays in Advent: Advent Night Prayer with Reflection, 8pm in St Andrew’s (2, 16, 23 December)

Sunday 1st December: Advent Carol Service, 6.30pm in St Catherine’s

Wednesday 11th December: Messy Church, 4pm in St Andrew’s

Sunday 15th December: ‘Blue Christmas’ service, 6.30pm in St Mary’s for those who are grieving and for whom a Happy Christmas will be difficult

Sunday 22nd December: Parish Carol Service, 6.30pm in St Andrew’s

Tuesday 24th December, Christmas Eve:
  • Christingle Service 2pm, 3pm, 4pm in St Catherine’s
  • Crib Service 2pm and 3.30pm in St Mary’s
  • Crib Service 5pm in St Andrew’s
  • Midnight Mass 11.30pm in St Andrew’s, St Catherine’s and St Mary’s
Wednesday 25th December, Christmas Day:
  • Eucharist 9.30am in St Mary’s
  • Eucharist, 10am in St Andrew’s
  • Eucharist, 10.30am in St Catherine’s
Sunday 29th December:
  • Joint Eucharist, 10.30am in St Mary’s
  • Songs of Praise, 6.30pm in St Catherine’s
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Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry Autumn church and community events





































This autumn we've had a series of great church and community events and series in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry. These have included:

Exhibition: 'Trials and Tribulations: Modern Interpretations of Iconography', 13 September to 20 December 2024, St Andrew’s Church - 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN. The arts programme at St Andrew's Wickford has continued in the autumn with an exhibition by Leigh-on-Sea-based artist John Paul Barrett called 'Trials and Tribulations'. The exhibition runs from 13 September to 20 December 2024 at St Andrew's Wickford. John Paul Barrett specialises in mixed media paintings, using acrylics and oil pastels on paintings that range from symbolism to landscapes and portraits. This exhibition focuses on his modern interpretations of Eastern European religious iconography. More information about him and his work can be found at https://www.jpbarrettart.com/.

Basildon Heritage displays - we have shown two heritage displays prepared by Basildon Heritage. Following on from our Unveiled talk about Depeche Mode, 'Sounds of Basildon' is on the Basildon music scene over the year's. The other display, linked to our Local History Day, was on 'Wickford's churches'.

Underfret gave us a great fundraising concert at St Andrew's Wickford. Underfret are a six-piece ukulele band, playing music from the 1960's onward - https://www.instagram.com/underfret/. Their concert raised funds for St Catherine’s Wickford (where subsidence has caused cracks in the walls requiring underpinning).

A joint Eucharist for all our three congregations included a guest preacher from A Rocha. A Rocha UK is a Christian charity working to protect and restore the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment. Our preacher was Rev Andy Jowitt, Community Engagement Officer for A Rocha's Foxearth Meadows nature reserve. View the service at https://www.facebook.com/WickfordandRunwellCofE/videos/516931424415753/?locale=en_GB

Difference Course - we ran this course which “explores what it means to follow Jesus in a complex and divided world, seeing transformation through everyday encounters”. Each week included films of stories from Christians facing conflict, Bible study, interactive exercises, prayer and discussion. RLN Difference is a part of the Reconciling Leaders Network. Archbishop of Canterbury’s Reconciliation Ministry.

Our Quiet Day at St Catherine's on The 7 S’s of the Nazareth Community enabled participants to consider Silence, Sacrament, Scriptures, Service, Sharing, Sabbath, and Staying as a personal Rule of Life. The Nazareth Community is based at St Martin-in-the-Fields and its growth through the Companions of Nazareth. 

Our Local History Day at St Catherine’s Church enabled those attending to view our registers (baptisms, weddings, burials etc,), meet re-enactors from the Napoleonic Association, see a display on Wickford’s churches from Basildon Heritage, tour the church and churchyard, take part in a Scavenger Hunt, support our fundraising appeal, and enjoy refreshments in our Church Hall. Visitors saw our: Commonwealth War Graves; War Memorial for Wickford; William Butterfield reredos; 15th century font; Medieval chancel ceiling; and Stained glass commemorating local characters.

There were substantial Harvest donations and displays at our three churches. A lovely Harvest Service was also held at St Catherine's Wickford for Wickford Church of England School. The very generous harvest donations went to the Food Bank in Wickford - https://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/gateway-project.html .

Our latest art workshop for children from Abacus Primary School also took place at St Andrew's. Current exhibiting artist John Paul Barrett showed the children his paintings and shared the early stages of his work: drawing with a grid; using a wash to create areas of light and dark; and mixing a gel to create texture.

Our first Craft Fayre was held at St Andrew's in October and proved very popular. A wide range of handmade crafts from a variety of different stalls were available, along with refreshments. 

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Underfret - Hallelujah.

Posted by Jonathan Evens at 20:34 0 comments
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