The programme also included The Right Rev Colin Sinclair (Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland), The Most Reverend Mark Strange (The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church) and Dr Sara Parvis (Senior Lecturer in Patristics, University of Edinburgh) in conversation with Sheena McDonald on the theme of Renewing the Church.
Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, delivered the Chalmers Lectures. Entitled ‘A Future that’s Bigger than the Past’, these lectures were concerned with the theology and methods of HeartEdge as a movement for renewal in the Church. The conference included the opportunity to hear the final three lectures in the series; the first three in the series being held in September. The Lectures can be viewed in full at https://stream1.churchofscotland.org.uk/chalmers-lecture while the book of the Lectures is available from https://canterburypress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786221773/a-future-thats-bigger-than-the-past.
The HeartEdge Conference was a practical, two-day intensive of ideas, theology and connecting. It included workshops on enterprise and commerce, launching cultural projects, developing congregations and sustaining community response, plus time to make connections and find encouragements. Among others who took part were: Rosie Addis; David Bradwell; Derek Browning; ID Campbell; Jonathan Evens, Sally Hitchiner; Simon Jay; Jonny Kinross; Tania Kovats, Deborah Lewer; Suzanne Lofthus; Maxwell Reay; Scott Rennie; Fiona Smith; Peter Sutton; and Bev Thomas. The conference venues were The Parish Church of St Cuthbert and St John's Church, with the Chalmers Lectures held at Greyfriars Kirk.
Sam Wells asked “What kind of church do we need to become if we are to face the challenges and take the opportunities of the years ahead?” “I want listeners to rediscover a sense that this is a great time to be the Church and God is sending us everything we need to do the work of the Holy Spirit.”
He added, “I was especially thrilled that the invitation to explore the theology and significance of HeartEdge coincided with the second annual HeartEdge conference in Edinburgh. It felt like in the evenings we were proposing the theory and during the days we were exploring the practice. What a wonderful model of Church.”
He added, “I was especially thrilled that the invitation to explore the theology and significance of HeartEdge coincided with the second annual HeartEdge conference in Edinburgh. It felt like in the evenings we were proposing the theory and during the days we were exploring the practice. What a wonderful model of Church.”
Sam introduced the conference as follows:
'I remember a colleague saying, ‘We all know Mary was a Catholic.’ It was funny and true at the same time. But it got me thinking.
We all know the Bible was written by evangelicals. We all know the Holy Spirit is a charismatic.
The result is that those who identify with the broad church – who believe that God is as active beyond the church as within it, who are focused not just on talking about God’s future but on living God’s future now, who believe the church should be as kaleidoscopically diverse as God, tend to deprive themselves of vital tools to work with. HeartEdge believes the Spirit is alive and working both within and beyond the church, and is especially concerned to focus on the beyond. It believes that the Bible points us to a gloriously many-splendoured community of outcasts, just as the early churches were.
Welcome to the HeartEdge conference 2019. We’re thrilled to be in Edinburgh, and to have so much support from the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Episcopal Church. Do take the advantage to listen, challenge, network, make friends, discover new vocabulary and perspectives, and share your story. That’s what we’re all here to do – and thereby seek God’s will on earth as in heaven.'
Winnie Varghese wrote:
'Christians in the West, and I include myself in this, have several unique opportunities in this time. Our task, as it is in every generation, is to "do the theology" for our times. In the Western context that means interrogating our contexts and asking where we might seek Jesus, God among us, in this time. The simple answer is in the church. A slightly less simple answer is in the person most vulnerable to the structures of power. What brings us all together is that we are not seeking a simple answer. We know there is a complex, possibly difficult, inevitably challenging response that means that we test boundaries, language, practice, self-understandings, and our pre-set notions of goodness and God.
Most literally, we seek salvation and reconciliation to a vision that might be like a vision God would hold for our communities in the contexts in which we find ourselves.
I want to talk very concretely about the tools we have to do what is actually almost impossible to do, particularly in a political climate that invites us to be defended, on our toes, protected — we as Christians and leaders of Christian institutions are to be soft hearted, vulnerable, open, changeable, seeking of transformation — through the world. This is where we are told we give up our lives that we might have life abundant.
Can we build institutions that live this way by shrewdly managing the abundant resources we steward, casting a vision broad and beautiful enough to be worthy of our tradition, and developing a collaborative network that invites wisdom back into the centre of our common lives?'
Philip Dawson has provided the following conference report:
'02/10/19 - Day 1 of the HeartEdge Conference at St Cuthbert’s Church in Edinburgh. Water seemed to be a recurring theme!
We began the day with Winnie Varghese from Trinity Wall Street (a church modeled on St Mary Le Bow) talking about the particular problems that wealth brings for the church and society. She called on us to “plumb the depths of our tradition” to use the power of the institution to help to renew the church and bring heaven and earth closer together.
In a fascinating Q&A moderated by Sheena McDonald, Dr Sara Parvis from the University of Edinburgh spoke about the challenges facing the world, including the environment, politics and refugees. Referencing St Paul’s shipwreck in Acts 27 and the way he responded to it, she speculated whether we are in need of a good shipwreck today?
At a “Renewal Service” after the Q&A, The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church participated in a service of Renewal of baptismal vows, sprinkling the congregation with water. My knowledge of the church in Scotland is very poor but I think this was a very significant and symbolic moment that doesn’t happen every day.
In the afternoon, workshops took place focusing on the 4Cs of HeartEdge – Commerce, Compassion, Culture and Congregation. I chose to attend a fascinating workshop on a Mental Health Drop-In Centre in Edinburgh, meeting Stephen one of the regular attendees. I also attended a workshop on organising Passion (or Mystery) plays run by Cutting Edge Theatre.
The day concluded with a lecture by Sam Wells as part of the Chalmers Lecture Series at Greyfriars Kirk, on the Church and Culture. Referencing the writing of Makoto Fujimura, Sam Wells speculated that the image of an estuary was useful in considering the relationship between church and culture – a transitional habitat which, through the intermingling of fresh and salt water, is a place of nurture and cross-fertilisation of ideas. Rather than seeing the church as the ‘sea’ or the freshwater of the river – perhaps the estuary is a more relevant metaphor – perhaps the church is like an oyster (which only exists in estuary habitats) turning polluted water into pearls. A fascinating day.
03/10/19 - Day 2 of the HeartEdge Conference took place at St John’s Episcopal Church in Edinburgh. Water was again a recurring metaphor – the keynote speaker, Cormac Russell of the Nurture Institute spoke about Asset Based Community Development – and how the relationship between stakeholders in the community is hydraulic. Cormac (who began training as a Roman Catholic Priest and then a Clinical Psychologist) used Humpty Dumpty as a secular version of Sam Wells’ famous Good Samaritan analysis to advocate a “being with” rather than “doing for” approach – with those “in need” pushing the hydraulic relationship towards us, the church or the state rather than vice versa.
The day included workshops to discuss issues with other HeartEdge members, a great panel discussion moderated by Jonathan Evens on Art in Church and rounded off with frank reflections from Sam Wells, Winnie Varghese and Cormac Russell. Thank you to Jonathan and the HeartEdge team for a fascinating two days. The wisdom will take some time to trickle through my brain!'
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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Sun Forest.
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