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Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Weekly Sermon for the eleventh Sunday after Trinity
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Sunday, 9 August 2026
You shall not be overcome
Here's the sermon I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:
Immediately before today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 14. 22 - 33) where the disciples are caught up in a storm, we read about the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. The disciples had had a wonderful experience and had grown in their faith. This was immediately followed by their going through a storm.
This is a common experience in the lives of Christians and in church life. After enjoying positive experiences and developments in our faith, we then go through some kind of trial which tests our faith. It is easy to wonder why that should be so and there are no easy answers.
One of the people I have read and appreciated over the course of my ministry has been Julian of Norwich. She doesn’t answer that question but she does say this, God did not say 'You shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted'. But he did say, 'You shall not be overcome.'
So, our Gospel reading this morning has things to teach us about how to respond when storms come in our individual lives and as a church. Jesus comes to the disciples in the storm walking on the water. He doesn’t still the storm on this occasion instead he calls Peter to walk to him on the water. Peter begins to do this but then becomes afraid and begins to sink. At which point, Jesus supports him and they return to the boat and the storm is then stilled.
In the midst of this storm Peter is asked to do something which seems impossible. He is asked to do what Jesus is doing, to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. In his storm Peter was called to walk on water but what is the equivalent for us in our storms?
All Jesus’ disciples are called to follow in his footsteps by doing what Jesus did. Like Peter being called to walk on water, following in Jesus’ footsteps often seems impossible for us because what Jesus did was to give everything he had for the love of others. Out of love for all humanity, he left everything he had with God to become a human being, being born as a baby at Bethlehem, and he then gave up his own life on the cross when he was crucified out of love for all people everywhere. When we think through what following in Jesus’ footsteps actually means we quickly find, as individuals and as a church, that there are all sorts of reasons that prevent from fully doing what Jesus did and giving all that we have and are to others out of love for them. As a result, we are like Peter who began to walk on the water but couldn’t keep going. What Jesus calls us to do and to be by following in his footsteps seems impossible for us to achieve.
Yet we know of some, like St Francis of Assisi or Mother Teresa, who have followed in Jesus’ footsteps more fully than any of us have yet managed. So, we know too that it can be done to some extent and, with that in mind, we need to be prepared, like Peter, to make the attempt, even if that means we fail to fully follow through. As he was with Peter, Jesus will be alongside us and will restore us so that we are then able to try again.
The storms we face in life are times of trial, times when life seems at its most difficult or most challenging. The temptation in these times is to lose our focus on Jesus - on who he is, what he did and how he acted – when that happens, like Peter, the worries of life crowd in and distract and we fall. In the storms we face, the more we continue to follow in Jesus’ footsteps by giving all we can to our fellow Christians and in the wider community, the more we will experience the ability to walk on water and come through the storms instead of being overwhelmed by them.
Julian of Norwich reminds us of the importance of prayer in these circumstances when we feel buffeted by the storms of life and don’t feel God’s comforting presence alongside us. She wrote, “Prayer fastens the soul to God, making it one with his will through the deep inward working of the Holy Spirit. So he says this, 'Pray inwardly, even though you feel no joy in it. For it does good, though you feel nothing, see nothing, yes, even though you think you cannot pray. For when you are dry and empty, sick and weak, your prayers please me, though there be little enough to please you. All believing prayer is precious in my sight.' God accepts the good-will and work of his servants, no matter how we feel.”
As she reminds us, “God did not say 'You shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted'. But he did say, 'You shall not be overcome.'”
Marketa Irglova - Point Of Creation.
Immediately before today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 14. 22 - 33) where the disciples are caught up in a storm, we read about the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. The disciples had had a wonderful experience and had grown in their faith. This was immediately followed by their going through a storm.
This is a common experience in the lives of Christians and in church life. After enjoying positive experiences and developments in our faith, we then go through some kind of trial which tests our faith. It is easy to wonder why that should be so and there are no easy answers.
One of the people I have read and appreciated over the course of my ministry has been Julian of Norwich. She doesn’t answer that question but she does say this, God did not say 'You shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted'. But he did say, 'You shall not be overcome.'
So, our Gospel reading this morning has things to teach us about how to respond when storms come in our individual lives and as a church. Jesus comes to the disciples in the storm walking on the water. He doesn’t still the storm on this occasion instead he calls Peter to walk to him on the water. Peter begins to do this but then becomes afraid and begins to sink. At which point, Jesus supports him and they return to the boat and the storm is then stilled.
In the midst of this storm Peter is asked to do something which seems impossible. He is asked to do what Jesus is doing, to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. In his storm Peter was called to walk on water but what is the equivalent for us in our storms?
All Jesus’ disciples are called to follow in his footsteps by doing what Jesus did. Like Peter being called to walk on water, following in Jesus’ footsteps often seems impossible for us because what Jesus did was to give everything he had for the love of others. Out of love for all humanity, he left everything he had with God to become a human being, being born as a baby at Bethlehem, and he then gave up his own life on the cross when he was crucified out of love for all people everywhere. When we think through what following in Jesus’ footsteps actually means we quickly find, as individuals and as a church, that there are all sorts of reasons that prevent from fully doing what Jesus did and giving all that we have and are to others out of love for them. As a result, we are like Peter who began to walk on the water but couldn’t keep going. What Jesus calls us to do and to be by following in his footsteps seems impossible for us to achieve.
Yet we know of some, like St Francis of Assisi or Mother Teresa, who have followed in Jesus’ footsteps more fully than any of us have yet managed. So, we know too that it can be done to some extent and, with that in mind, we need to be prepared, like Peter, to make the attempt, even if that means we fail to fully follow through. As he was with Peter, Jesus will be alongside us and will restore us so that we are then able to try again.
The storms we face in life are times of trial, times when life seems at its most difficult or most challenging. The temptation in these times is to lose our focus on Jesus - on who he is, what he did and how he acted – when that happens, like Peter, the worries of life crowd in and distract and we fall. In the storms we face, the more we continue to follow in Jesus’ footsteps by giving all we can to our fellow Christians and in the wider community, the more we will experience the ability to walk on water and come through the storms instead of being overwhelmed by them.
Julian of Norwich reminds us of the importance of prayer in these circumstances when we feel buffeted by the storms of life and don’t feel God’s comforting presence alongside us. She wrote, “Prayer fastens the soul to God, making it one with his will through the deep inward working of the Holy Spirit. So he says this, 'Pray inwardly, even though you feel no joy in it. For it does good, though you feel nothing, see nothing, yes, even though you think you cannot pray. For when you are dry and empty, sick and weak, your prayers please me, though there be little enough to please you. All believing prayer is precious in my sight.' God accepts the good-will and work of his servants, no matter how we feel.”
As she reminds us, “God did not say 'You shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work-weary, you shall not be discomforted'. But he did say, 'You shall not be overcome.'”
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Saturday, 8 August 2026
Windows on the world (581)
Downham, 2026
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Papa Hobo - I Can See God.
International Times: Seizing Control of the Dreamscape
Here's my latest book review for International Times, which is on The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America’s Culture Wars by Isaac Butler:
'Butler documents the way the culture wars played out in this period within the visual arts predominantly by telling the story of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (NEA) and the conflicts that arose firstly from (or from perceptions of) its funding of specific artists and then from grants that were not awarded but which faced legal challenges as a result. These include works or exhibitions by artists such as Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, and Karen Finley, among others. The story takes place in the context of AIDS and its impact on the LGBT community, with its deadly effect informing a significant proportion of the work and the reaction towards it..'
See also my book review for International Times on The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s by Paul Elie:
'Paul Elie’s The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s is a survey of the culture wars that began in the US in the 1980’s viewed from the perspective of the religious aspects of the conflicts.
Many of the most famous confrontations in this period were between those defending a conservative view of their religion and artists utilising more progressive ideas and imagery in relation to that same religion. Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, Madonna’s Like a Prayer video, Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ are among the works caught in the crosshairs of the face-off between embattled sides.
For more of my writing on music, see my article for Seen and Unseen entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion' and my co-authored book with Peter Banks, ‘The Secret Chord’, which has been described as an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. The book can be purchased from Lulu - https://www.lulu.com/shop/jonathan-evens-and-peter-banks/the-secret-chord/paperback/product-1pey2g67.html?q=peter+banks&page=1&pageSize=4. Covering a range of musical styles and influences, from gospel music to X Factor, The Secret Chord conveys enthusiasm for music and its transformative powers. The book asks is there really a 'Secret Chord' that would both please the Lord and nearly everybody else as described in Leonard Cohen's popular song 'Hallelujah'?
My earlier pieces for IT are: an interview with curator Jacquiline Creswell; an interview with the artist Alexander de Cadenet; an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece, an interview with the poet Chris Emery, an interview with Jago Cooper, Director of the the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a profile of singer-songwriter Bill Fay, plus reviews of:
IT have also published several of my poems, including 'Spencer Reece at Bemerton' which is based on the visit that I made to Bemerton in 2026 with Spencer Reece, 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.
To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. My poems published in Amethyst Review are: 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'.
I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.
'Five Trios' is a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The five poems in the series are:
These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.
'Butler documents the way the culture wars played out in this period within the visual arts predominantly by telling the story of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (NEA) and the conflicts that arose firstly from (or from perceptions of) its funding of specific artists and then from grants that were not awarded but which faced legal challenges as a result. These include works or exhibitions by artists such as Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, and Karen Finley, among others. The story takes place in the context of AIDS and its impact on the LGBT community, with its deadly effect informing a significant proportion of the work and the reaction towards it..'
See also my book review for International Times on The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s by Paul Elie:
'Paul Elie’s The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s is a survey of the culture wars that began in the US in the 1980’s viewed from the perspective of the religious aspects of the conflicts.
Many of the most famous confrontations in this period were between those defending a conservative view of their religion and artists utilising more progressive ideas and imagery in relation to that same religion. Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, Madonna’s Like a Prayer video, Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ are among the works caught in the crosshairs of the face-off between embattled sides.
Elie takes us through the decade highlighting the artists involved – from Andy Warhol through U2 to Toni Morrison – while also documenting the changing response to crypto-religious works.'
For more on: Warhol - see here; Scorsese - see here and here; U2 - see here, here, here, and here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. For consideration of what to do when confronted with contentious culture see here, here, and here.
For more of my writing on music, see my article for Seen and Unseen entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion' and my co-authored book with Peter Banks, ‘The Secret Chord’, which has been described as an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. The book can be purchased from Lulu - https://www.lulu.com/shop/jonathan-evens-and-peter-banks/the-secret-chord/paperback/product-1pey2g67.html?q=peter+banks&page=1&pageSize=4. Covering a range of musical styles and influences, from gospel music to X Factor, The Secret Chord conveys enthusiasm for music and its transformative powers. The book asks is there really a 'Secret Chord' that would both please the Lord and nearly everybody else as described in Leonard Cohen's popular song 'Hallelujah'?
My earlier pieces for IT are: an interview with curator Jacquiline Creswell; an interview with the artist Alexander de Cadenet; an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece, an interview with the poet Chris Emery, an interview with Jago Cooper, Director of the the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, a profile of singer-songwriter Bill Fay, plus reviews of:
- 'Moving Pictures' and 'Closeups' by Steve Scott, 'Never Mind the Ballads Here's Nick Battle' by Nick Battle, and 'Blank Arcades' by Andrew Rumsey
- Michael Takeo Magruder -Reconstructed Landscape{s}
- The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex and Controversy in the 1980s
- In Another World: The Four Seasons of Talk Talk
- Hulda Guzman: Please awake - asked Nature kindly' at Turner Contemporary;
- 'Devotions' by Lucy Caldwell and 'Catholic Modernism and the Irish ‘Avant-Garde’: The Achievement of Brian Coffey, Denis Devlin, and Thomas MacGreevy' by James Matthew Wilson;
- the 'Stations' project from Dunlin Press;
- 'William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy';
- Joseph Arthur in concert;
- installations by Chiharu Shiota and Yin Xiuzhen at Hayward Gsllery,
- U2's 'Days of Ash', Mumford and Sons' 'Prizefighter' and Moby's 'Future Quiet';
- 'Collected Poems' by Kevin Crossley-Holland;
- 'Lux' by Rosalía;
- 'Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere';
- 'Great Art Explained' by James Payne;
- 'Down River: In Search of David Ackles' by Mark Brend;
- 'Headwater' by Rev Simpkins;
- 'The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art' by Jonathan A. Anderson;
- 'Breaking Lines' at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art,
- albums by Deacon Blue, Mumford and Sons, and Andrew Rumsey,
- also by Joy Oladokun and Michael Kiwanaku;
- 'Nolan's Africa' by Andrew Turley;
- Mavis Staples in concert at Union Chapel;
- T Bone Burnett's 'The Other Side' and Peter Case live in Leytonstone;
- Helaine Blumenfeld's 'Together' exhibition,
- 'What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise' by David Miller;
- 'Giacometti in Paris' by Michael Peppiatt,
- the first Pissabed Prophet album; and
- 'Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord', a book which derives from a 2017 symposium organised by the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art.
IT have also published several of my poems, including 'Spencer Reece at Bemerton' which is based on the visit that I made to Bemerton in 2026 with Spencer Reece, 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.
To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. My poems published in Amethyst Review are: 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'.
I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.
'Five Trios' is a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The five poems in the series are:
These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.
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Glen Hansard - Down On Our Knees.
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Depth of faith uncovered in those of another race, culture and faith
Here's the sermon I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:
Jesus was deliberately rude to the Canaanite Woman – a woman from another race and culture – that he encountered, as we heard in today's Gospel reading (Matthew 15. 21 – 28). He began by making it clear that she was not one of the chosen people for whom he had come and continued by insulting her and her people in calling them 'dogs'.
Why was he so uncharacteristically rude? His disciples had wanted him to send the woman away; ostensibly because of the fuss she was making but, more probably, because she was not one of 'them'. Therefore, Jesus threw all their prejudices at the woman both as a way of confronting his disciples with the ugliness of their prejudice and as a provocation that revealed the faith within this woman.
In the face of seeming denial and insult, she persisted in her request and in her faith in Jesus' ability and willingness to heal. On the back of this tangible example of faith, Jesus was then able to challenge the prejudices of his disciples (as I think was his intent from the outset) by pointing out the depth of faith which he had uncovered in a woman of another race, culture and faith.
We can see these same issues recurring in our own day and time in the way in which the debate about immigration has changed enabling the whole apparatus of the state to now be bent towards stopping immigration and sending migrants away despite such people being amongst those most disadvantaged in the world today. For example, the then Archbishop of Canterbury said that the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill was morally unacceptable and represented a “dramatic departure” from Britain's obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Legislation in the UK has subsequently continued in directions that the Archbishop characterised as morally unacceptable.
Several years ago, the then Bishop of Dover accused senior political figures, including the then prime minister, of forgetting their humanity and attacked elements of the media for propagating a “toxicity” designed to spread antipathy towards migrants. He said, “We’ve become an increasingly harsh world, and when we become harsh with each other and forget our humanity then we end up in these standoff positions. We need to rediscover what it is to be a human, and that every human being matters.” We can see, therefore, that this story speaks into issues of our own day and time challenging the prejudices of still found in Government, and politics more widely, and, maybe too, ourselves.
Seeing this story of the Canaanite woman as a deliberate challenge to the prejudices of his disciples is also consistent with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10. 25 - 37) where Jesus tells a group of God's chosen people a story in which one of their own receives help, not from his own people, but from a man of another race, culture and faith. In that story, Jesus went further than his already radical teaching of love for our enemies by telling a story in which a member of God's chosen people received God's love and help from a person that he considered to be outside the people of God and an enemy of his own people.
However we choose to draw the boundaries of who is and who is not one of God's people, Jesus breaks through those boundaries with his love for all people, his sacrificial giving for all, and his recognition of all that those who are excluded actually have to offer to those who exclude. The strapline of St Michael’s Church in Camden Town - 'Making a family out of strangers’ - is a very good summary of this aspect of Jesus’ teaching and ministry.
It is a helpful practice, which comes from Ignatian spirituality, to try to place ourselves fully within a story from the Gospels by becoming onlooker-participants and giving full rein to our imagination. If we were part of this story, would we be with the disciples, who wanted Jesus to send the Canaanite woman away because she was not one of 'them', or would we be with Jesus, who challenged the prejudices of his disciples by pointing out the depth of faith which he had uncovered in a woman of another race, culture and faith? Our answer to that question will determine the extent to which we seek to make a family out of strangers ourselves.
Jesus was deliberately rude to the Canaanite Woman – a woman from another race and culture – that he encountered, as we heard in today's Gospel reading (Matthew 15. 21 – 28). He began by making it clear that she was not one of the chosen people for whom he had come and continued by insulting her and her people in calling them 'dogs'.
Why was he so uncharacteristically rude? His disciples had wanted him to send the woman away; ostensibly because of the fuss she was making but, more probably, because she was not one of 'them'. Therefore, Jesus threw all their prejudices at the woman both as a way of confronting his disciples with the ugliness of their prejudice and as a provocation that revealed the faith within this woman.
In the face of seeming denial and insult, she persisted in her request and in her faith in Jesus' ability and willingness to heal. On the back of this tangible example of faith, Jesus was then able to challenge the prejudices of his disciples (as I think was his intent from the outset) by pointing out the depth of faith which he had uncovered in a woman of another race, culture and faith.
We can see these same issues recurring in our own day and time in the way in which the debate about immigration has changed enabling the whole apparatus of the state to now be bent towards stopping immigration and sending migrants away despite such people being amongst those most disadvantaged in the world today. For example, the then Archbishop of Canterbury said that the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill was morally unacceptable and represented a “dramatic departure” from Britain's obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Legislation in the UK has subsequently continued in directions that the Archbishop characterised as morally unacceptable.
Several years ago, the then Bishop of Dover accused senior political figures, including the then prime minister, of forgetting their humanity and attacked elements of the media for propagating a “toxicity” designed to spread antipathy towards migrants. He said, “We’ve become an increasingly harsh world, and when we become harsh with each other and forget our humanity then we end up in these standoff positions. We need to rediscover what it is to be a human, and that every human being matters.” We can see, therefore, that this story speaks into issues of our own day and time challenging the prejudices of still found in Government, and politics more widely, and, maybe too, ourselves.
Seeing this story of the Canaanite woman as a deliberate challenge to the prejudices of his disciples is also consistent with the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10. 25 - 37) where Jesus tells a group of God's chosen people a story in which one of their own receives help, not from his own people, but from a man of another race, culture and faith. In that story, Jesus went further than his already radical teaching of love for our enemies by telling a story in which a member of God's chosen people received God's love and help from a person that he considered to be outside the people of God and an enemy of his own people.
However we choose to draw the boundaries of who is and who is not one of God's people, Jesus breaks through those boundaries with his love for all people, his sacrificial giving for all, and his recognition of all that those who are excluded actually have to offer to those who exclude. The strapline of St Michael’s Church in Camden Town - 'Making a family out of strangers’ - is a very good summary of this aspect of Jesus’ teaching and ministry.
It is a helpful practice, which comes from Ignatian spirituality, to try to place ourselves fully within a story from the Gospels by becoming onlooker-participants and giving full rein to our imagination. If we were part of this story, would we be with the disciples, who wanted Jesus to send the Canaanite woman away because she was not one of 'them', or would we be with Jesus, who challenged the prejudices of his disciples by pointing out the depth of faith which he had uncovered in a woman of another race, culture and faith? Our answer to that question will determine the extent to which we seek to make a family out of strangers ourselves.
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Bruce Cockburn - Each One Lost.
Sunday, 2 August 2026
Music Update
My latest set of album reviews for International Times covers 'Moving Pictures' and 'Closeups' by Steve Scott, 'Never Mind the Ballads Here's Nick Battle' by Nick Battle, and 'Blank Arcades' by Andrew Rumsey:
'While spirituality is undeniably a shared inspiration for Scott, Battle and Rumsey, their music engages with the world through humanitarian concerns, interests and insights that are broad and open. Whether singing songs of celebration or critique, they offer us insightful and moving perspectives as troubadours accompanying us along the twists and turns of the rich but challenging journey we all make in life. Their other lives – at times, pastor, funeral celebrant, bishop – inform their ability to fashion songs that accompany us in our life experience, as opposed to simply documenting or describing.'
'While spirituality is undeniably a shared inspiration for Scott, Battle and Rumsey, their music engages with the world through humanitarian concerns, interests and insights that are broad and open. Whether singing songs of celebration or critique, they offer us insightful and moving perspectives as troubadours accompanying us along the twists and turns of the rich but challenging journey we all make in life. Their other lives – at times, pastor, funeral celebrant, bishop – inform their ability to fashion songs that accompany us in our life experience, as opposed to simply documenting or describing.'
I worked with Steve Scott, through commission4mission, to organize some of the different `Run with the Fire’ art exhibitions and events held in and around London, during the Olympic summer of 2012. You can learn more about `Run With The Fire’ by clicking here, here, and here. My own dialogues with Steve can be read here, here, here, here, and here.
Steve's recording career began through working with Larry Norman. Although known as the ‘Father of Christian Rock’, Larry Norman was originally lead singer of People! (whose ‘I Love You’ was a hit single in 1968) and a writer of Sixties musicals, who recorded three classic albums for Capital and then MGM (Upon This Rock, Only Visiting This Planet and So Long Ago the Garden). Frustrated with mainstream labels, he formed his own label and demonstrated his acute understanding of creativity by recruiting to Solid Rock Records a series of innovative singer-songwriters and bands including Randy Stonehill, Mark Heard, Tom Howard, Daniel Amos and Steve Scott. A fundamental lack of business acumen combined with other factors then led to delays in the label issuing key recordings, including Moving Pictures by Steve Scott, and the eventual demise of the label itself. Moving Pictures and Closeups are revealed as classic CCM albums which possess the potent combination found on the key Norman albums of accurate social commentary, poetic spiritual insight and powerful evangelical appeals.
Also see my Seen and Unseen article on 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion', as well as pieces on Natalie Bergman, Mumford and Sons, Annie Caldwell, David Ackles, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Rev Simpkins and Corinne Bailey Rae. For International Times, I have also written on: 'Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere'; 'Down River: In Search of David Ackles' by Mark Brend; The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex and Controversy in the 1980s; In Another World: The Four Seasons of Talk Talk; 'Headwater' by Rev Simpkins; albums by U2, Mumford and Sons' and Moby; 'Lux' by Rosalía; Deacon Blue, Mumford and Sons, and Andrew Rumsey, also by Joy Oladokun and Michael Kiwanaku; plus Joseph Arthur in concert; Mavis Staples in concert at Union Chapel; T Bone Burnett's 'The Other Side' and Peter Case live in Leytonstone. I have also written on Mavis Staples for Church Times. See also my profile of singer-songwriter Bill Fay.
Rock ‘n’ Roll merged blues (with its spiritual strand) and Country music (tapping its white gospel) while Soul music adapted much of its sound and content from Black Gospel. For both, their gestures and movements were adopted from Pentecostalism. Some, such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Sam Cooke, felt guilt at secularising Gospel while others, like Johnny Cash, arrived at a hard earned integration of faith and music. All experienced opposition from a Church angry at its songs and influence being appropriated for secular ends. This opposition fed a narrative that, on both sides, equated rock and pop with hedonism and rebellion. The born again Cliff Richard was often perceived (both positively and negatively) as the only alternative. Within this context the Biblical language and imagery of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison was largely overlooked, although Dylan spoke eloquently about the influence of scripture within the tradition of American music on which he drew.
With the majority of Soul stars having begun singing in Church, many of the most effective integrations of faith and music were found there with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and the Gospel-folk of the Staple Singers being among the best and most socially committed examples. Gospel featured directly with Billy Preston, Edwin Hawkins Singers and Aretha Franklin’s gospel albums. Mainstream use of Christian themes or imagery in rock were initially either unsustained (e.g. Blind Faith’s ‘Presence of the Lord’ and Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’) or obscure (e.g. C.O.B.’s Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart and Bill Fay’s Time of the Last Persecution).
However, this changed in three ways. First, the Church began to appropriate rock and pop to speak explicitly about Christian faith. This led to the emergence of a new genre, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), with interaction between CCM and the mainstream. Mainstream artists such as Philip Bailey, David Grant, Al Green, Larry Norman and Candi Staton developed CCM careers while artists originally within CCM such as Delirious?, Martyn Joseph, Julie Miller, Leslie (Sam) Phillips, Sixpence None The Richer and Switchfoot achieved varying levels of mainstream exposure and success.
Second, the biblical language and imagery of stars like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen began to be understood and appreciated (helped to varying degrees by explicitly ‘Christian’ periods in the work of Dylan and Van the Man).
Third, musicians such as After The Fire, The Alarm, T. Bone Burnett, The Call, Peter Case, Bruce Cockburn, Extreme, Galactic Cowboys, Innocence Mission, Kings X, Maria McKee, Buddy & Julie Miller, Moby, Over The Rhine, Ricky Ross, 16 Horsepower, U2, The Violent Femmes, Gillian Welch, Jim White, and Victoria Williams rather than singing about the light (of Christ) instead sang about the world which they saw through the light (of Christ). As rock and pop fragmented into a myriad of genres, this approach to the expression of faith continues in the work of Eric Bibb, Blessid Union of Souls, Creed, Brandon Flowers, Good Charlotte, Ben Harper, Michael Kiwanuka, Ed Kowalczyk, Lifehouse, Live, Low, Neal Morse, Mumford and Sons, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Scott Stapp, Social Distortion, and Woven Hand.
I've created a playlist on Spotify called 'Closer to the light'. 'Closer To The Light' is a song by Bruce Cockburn that he said "was written addressed to the late Mark Heard ... He was a fantastic songwriter. His death sent a shockwave through our whole community, and what that did in me was that song." As a result, 'Closer to the Light' is a song that straddles both CCM and mainstream artists suggesting that both can bring us closer to the light. Similarly, this playlist, which includes blues, choral, classical, country, folk, gospel, jazz, pop, rap, rock, and soul music, aims to straddle music from both CCM and the mainstream which also brings us closer to the light.
Recently I also posted a series of guest posts by and an interview with Rupert Loydell which has added to the material about Jesus Rock, CCM and spirituality in rock music published here previously. The first post in this series was a listing of previous posts on these themes - click here. The second post was an interview with musician Nick Battle, click here. The third post was the interview with Rupert Loydell - click here. The fourth post was a new interview by Rupert with Nick Battle - click here. While the final post in the series was an interview by Rupert with Steve Scott - click here. Finally, my review of Andrew Rumsey's earlier album 'Collodian' can be read here.
Rupert's original interview with Nick Battle was undertaken as part of his research on christian rock. This research resulted in several interviews, reviews and articles that were published in Punk & Post-Punk journal, an acdemic publication, as well as feeding into a piece for Ship of Fools. Nick has had a long and varied career in the music business, including spells in significant Post-Punk christian rock bands such as After The Fire (ATF) and Writz. Rupert's interview with Nick explores the moment when Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and mainstream rock diverged, and bands like ATF and Writz headed into the latter, perhaps paving the way for U2 and others writing about faith and doubt. Rupert's work has also included writing about Larry Norman, Steve Scott and Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus.
This short series added to the material about Jesus Rock, CCM and spirituality in rock music which has been published here previously. This material includes a recent article for Seen and Unseen is 'U2’s music shows surrender can still sound like joy' which explores the spirituality of U2: 'Each element of U2’s spirituality also derives from Christianity: movement, from the Fall and pilgrimage; improvisation, from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; allusiveness, from the fragments of story that have been meshed together to form the canon of scripture; and reconciliation, from the theme of surrender that is central to the Crucifixion.' I also reviewed U2's 'Days of Ash' for International Times (see here), while my original essay on the spirituality of U2 'Tryin' to throw your arms around the world' can be read here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
For more of my writing on music, see my article for Seen and Unseen entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion' and my co-authored book with Peter Banks, ‘The Secret Chord’, which has been described as an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. The book can be purchased from Lulu - https://www.lulu.com/shop/jonathan-evens-and-peter-banks/the-secret-chord/paperback/product-1pey2g67.html?q=peter+banks&page=1&pageSize=4. Covering a range of musical styles and influences, from gospel music to X Factor, The Secret Chord conveys enthusiasm for music and its transformative powers. The book asks is there really a 'Secret Chord' that would both please the Lord and nearly everybody else as described in Leonard Cohen's popular song 'Hallelujah'? Posts related to the themes of 'The Secret Chord' can be found here.
Check out the following too, to explore further:
Rupert's original interview with Nick Battle was undertaken as part of his research on christian rock. This research resulted in several interviews, reviews and articles that were published in Punk & Post-Punk journal, an acdemic publication, as well as feeding into a piece for Ship of Fools. Nick has had a long and varied career in the music business, including spells in significant Post-Punk christian rock bands such as After The Fire (ATF) and Writz. Rupert's interview with Nick explores the moment when Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and mainstream rock diverged, and bands like ATF and Writz headed into the latter, perhaps paving the way for U2 and others writing about faith and doubt. Rupert's work has also included writing about Larry Norman, Steve Scott and Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus.
This short series added to the material about Jesus Rock, CCM and spirituality in rock music which has been published here previously. This material includes a recent article for Seen and Unseen is 'U2’s music shows surrender can still sound like joy' which explores the spirituality of U2: 'Each element of U2’s spirituality also derives from Christianity: movement, from the Fall and pilgrimage; improvisation, from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; allusiveness, from the fragments of story that have been meshed together to form the canon of scripture; and reconciliation, from the theme of surrender that is central to the Crucifixion.' I also reviewed U2's 'Days of Ash' for International Times (see here), while my original essay on the spirituality of U2 'Tryin' to throw your arms around the world' can be read here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
For more of my writing on music, see my article for Seen and Unseen entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion' and my co-authored book with Peter Banks, ‘The Secret Chord’, which has been described as an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. The book can be purchased from Lulu - https://www.lulu.com/shop/jonathan-evens-and-peter-banks/the-secret-chord/paperback/product-1pey2g67.html?q=peter+banks&page=1&pageSize=4. Covering a range of musical styles and influences, from gospel music to X Factor, The Secret Chord conveys enthusiasm for music and its transformative powers. The book asks is there really a 'Secret Chord' that would both please the Lord and nearly everybody else as described in Leonard Cohen's popular song 'Hallelujah'? Posts related to the themes of 'The Secret Chord' can be found here.
Check out the following too, to explore further:
- God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You
- Jesus Music - 1 & 2
- The Jesus Rock Revolution and the Jesus Movement
- When Jesus Met Hippies
- Five entries in Prog 50
- Methuselah, Amazing Blondel, Tom Yates
- A Rough Guide to Christian Art
- 11:59 & Yesterday Today Forever
- Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Steve Turner
- Electric Eden and the New Folk Revival
- Looking down the wrong end of a telescope
- Pop's holy rollers
- Apocalypse in ART: The Creative Unveiling - Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
- Bob, God 'n' blood
- Bob Dylan: Trouble No More
- Perhaps the most underrated band ever
- Rock gets Religion
- Ed Kowalczyk and Scott Stapp: Angels on a razor
- Hidden Gems - Bill Fay & Michael Morley
- Salt and Sweetners
- Babel - the sound of transcendent music
- Fear, fallibility and faith in Mumford and Sons
- The mystery at the heart of music - 1 and 2
- Inspiration from the Psalms
- Damien Jurado and David Bazan
- Body Piercing Saved My Life
- The Ocean Blue, Denison Whitmer, Innocence Mission and Sufjan Stevens
- ROCK OF AGES: JESUS IN POPULAR SONGS
- International Times: Dark Intense MusicDavid Ackles and After the Fire
- David Ackles, Chris Bell, Bryan Maclean
- 'Bob Dylan' and 'The Philosophy of Modern Song'
- Bob Dylan, biblical imagery & cultural comment
Also see my Seen and Unseen article on 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion', as well as pieces on Natalie Bergman, Mumford and Sons, Annie Caldwell, David Ackles, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Rev Simpkins and Corinne Bailey Rae. For International Times, I have also written on: 'Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere'; 'Down River: In Search of David Ackles' by Mark Brend; The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex and Controversy in the 1980s; In Another World: The Four Seasons of Talk Talk; 'Headwater' by Rev Simpkins; albums by U2, Mumford and Sons' and Moby; 'Lux' by Rosalía; Deacon Blue, Mumford and Sons, and Andrew Rumsey, also by Joy Oladokun and Michael Kiwanaku; plus Joseph Arthur in concert; Mavis Staples in concert at Union Chapel; T Bone Burnett's 'The Other Side' and Peter Case live in Leytonstone. I have also written on Mavis Staples for Church Times. See also my profile of singer-songwriter Bill Fay.
Rock ‘n’ Roll merged blues (with its spiritual strand) and Country music (tapping its white gospel) while Soul music adapted much of its sound and content from Black Gospel. For both, their gestures and movements were adopted from Pentecostalism. Some, such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Sam Cooke, felt guilt at secularising Gospel while others, like Johnny Cash, arrived at a hard earned integration of faith and music. All experienced opposition from a Church angry at its songs and influence being appropriated for secular ends. This opposition fed a narrative that, on both sides, equated rock and pop with hedonism and rebellion. The born again Cliff Richard was often perceived (both positively and negatively) as the only alternative. Within this context the Biblical language and imagery of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison was largely overlooked, although Dylan spoke eloquently about the influence of scripture within the tradition of American music on which he drew.
With the majority of Soul stars having begun singing in Church, many of the most effective integrations of faith and music were found there with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and the Gospel-folk of the Staple Singers being among the best and most socially committed examples. Gospel featured directly with Billy Preston, Edwin Hawkins Singers and Aretha Franklin’s gospel albums. Mainstream use of Christian themes or imagery in rock were initially either unsustained (e.g. Blind Faith’s ‘Presence of the Lord’ and Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’) or obscure (e.g. C.O.B.’s Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart and Bill Fay’s Time of the Last Persecution).
However, this changed in three ways. First, the Church began to appropriate rock and pop to speak explicitly about Christian faith. This led to the emergence of a new genre, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), with interaction between CCM and the mainstream. Mainstream artists such as Philip Bailey, David Grant, Al Green, Larry Norman and Candi Staton developed CCM careers while artists originally within CCM such as Delirious?, Martyn Joseph, Julie Miller, Leslie (Sam) Phillips, Sixpence None The Richer and Switchfoot achieved varying levels of mainstream exposure and success.
Second, the biblical language and imagery of stars like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen began to be understood and appreciated (helped to varying degrees by explicitly ‘Christian’ periods in the work of Dylan and Van the Man).
Third, musicians such as After The Fire, The Alarm, T. Bone Burnett, The Call, Peter Case, Bruce Cockburn, Extreme, Galactic Cowboys, Innocence Mission, Kings X, Maria McKee, Buddy & Julie Miller, Moby, Over The Rhine, Ricky Ross, 16 Horsepower, U2, The Violent Femmes, Gillian Welch, Jim White, and Victoria Williams rather than singing about the light (of Christ) instead sang about the world which they saw through the light (of Christ). As rock and pop fragmented into a myriad of genres, this approach to the expression of faith continues in the work of Eric Bibb, Blessid Union of Souls, Creed, Brandon Flowers, Good Charlotte, Ben Harper, Michael Kiwanuka, Ed Kowalczyk, Lifehouse, Live, Low, Neal Morse, Mumford and Sons, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Scott Stapp, Social Distortion, and Woven Hand.
I've created a playlist on Spotify called 'Closer to the light'. 'Closer To The Light' is a song by Bruce Cockburn that he said "was written addressed to the late Mark Heard ... He was a fantastic songwriter. His death sent a shockwave through our whole community, and what that did in me was that song." As a result, 'Closer to the Light' is a song that straddles both CCM and mainstream artists suggesting that both can bring us closer to the light. Similarly, this playlist, which includes blues, choral, classical, country, folk, gospel, jazz, pop, rap, rock, and soul music, aims to straddle music from both CCM and the mainstream which also brings us closer to the light.
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Andrew Rumsey - Fall In Eugene.
The Big Picture - A Return to Soul: Review of Aaron Rosen’s Spiritual Traces
The seventeenth issue of The Big Picture, from The Kirby Laing Centre, broaches the difficult topic of evangelicalism. Without sweeping aside the problems and weaknesses of the movement over its history, it has had an important role in revitalising world Christianity, and our world needs a healthy evangelicalism now more than ever. The contributors look at what has characterised the movement since its earliest days, what might be missing and what might have gone wrong. Several articles explore the role of evangelicalism in politics, others in intellectual pursuits such as education or research, and still others in ethics and mission. The editors hope that this issue offers some avenues for its renewal.
As usual, the content of the magazine is diverse, also featuring a conversation with Theophilus about the book of Acts, a study of an intriguing post-war sculpture from Charles Wheeler, a reflection on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and more.
Paid subscribers can read all the articles on release and make comments; free subscribers will receive access to a handful of new articles each week. You can also get the beautifully designed print edition of TBP 17 (and several back issues) on Amazon.
As usual, the content of the magazine is diverse, also featuring a conversation with Theophilus about the book of Acts, a study of an intriguing post-war sculpture from Charles Wheeler, a reflection on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and more.
Paid subscribers can read all the articles on release and make comments; free subscribers will receive access to a handful of new articles each week. You can also get the beautifully designed print edition of TBP 17 (and several back issues) on Amazon.
This edition includes: ArtWay: A Return to Soul: Review of Aaron Rosen’s Spiritual Traces - Jonathan Evens. I review Aaron Rosen’s exploration of spirituality in contemporary art, especially in conversation with artists working at the intersection of creativity and faith. The review offers a thoughtful introduction to current conversations in art and religion while suggesting why beauty, contemplation and artistic practice remain important sources of meaning in a fragmented age. The review is available for free on 14 August.
The Big Picture 16 explored third places - the social spaces between home and work that are so influential in community life but increasingly under threat in our fragmented, digitised world - and included my interview with Francis Hoyland: 'ArtWay: Meeting Christ in Sundry Places. I interviewed painter Francis Hoyland about his decades of depicting Christ’s life, and the role that his Catholic faith plays in his art.
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The Big Picture 16 explored third places - the social spaces between home and work that are so influential in community life but increasingly under threat in our fragmented, digitised world - and included my interview with Francis Hoyland: 'ArtWay: Meeting Christ in Sundry Places. I interviewed painter Francis Hoyland about his decades of depicting Christ’s life, and the role that his Catholic faith plays in his art.
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Steve Scott - Not A Pretty Picture.
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