Roslin, 2019
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Saturday 29 February 2020
Resourcing Innovative Mission in Brussels
'Resourcing Innovative Mission' was a day which explored key HeartEdge concepts including the 4Cs – commerce, culture, compassion and congregation – as a model for mission. We experienced Great Sacred Music - a 35-minute sequence of words and music speaking to heart, head and soul - with St Martin's Voices Fellows and myself, while reflecting on the use of culture to share faith insights with secular audiences. In addition to Great Sacred Music, we also heard about Humanitarian Corridors at St John's Anglican Church in Ghent and the Community Kitchen at Holy Trinity Brussels. The day also provided opportunities to share ideas, identify key challenges and assets for future initiatives. The day ended with 'Sing Joyfully', an evening concert by St Martin's Voice Fellows.
'Overflowing joy, gratitude and thankfulness have been the threads running through this performance. We bring this Great Sacred Music towards its end by thanking God with all we have; heart and hands and voices. The 4Cs of HeartEdge bring together the essential ingredients to human flourishing – culture, commerce, compassion, congregation - in ‘a vision of a civil economy, of what work and play, friendship and worship, social concern and evangelism, diversity and identity might look like’ when we live God’s future now. This holistic vision means that the 4Cs are not there solely for you or me. They are not instrumental and God is not encountered through them as an instrument to use to solve problems or gain security. Instead, we encounter God as a mystery to be entered and in so doing find true life.'
Tomorrow I will preach at the 9.00am and 10.30am service at Holy Trinity Brussels. St Martin's Voices will sing at the 10.30am service before giving a second concert at Église Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon (Rue des Sablons, 1000 Bruxelles) at 3.30pm.
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Moses Hogan - God's Gonna Set This World On Fire.
Tuesday 25 February 2020
Lent exhibition: The city is my monastery
‘The city is my monastery’ is an exhibition created by the artists and craftsperson’s group at St Martin-in-the-Fields for Lent that will be on show in the Foyer of the Crypt from 26 February - 10 April.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is home to several commissions and permanent installations by contemporary artists. We also have an exciting programme of temporary exhibitions, as well as a group of artists and craftspeople from the St Martin’s community who show artwork and organise art projects on a temporary basis. One of the initiatives from this group is a changing display of work by the group members or artists linked to the group. Each month a different artist shows examples of their work, so, if you are able, do return to see the changing display.
For Lent 2020 the group have created an exhibition to accompany the Lent Course at St Martin-in-the-Fields – ‘The Desert in the City.’ Using Revd Richard Carter’s new book ‘The City is my Monastery: A contemporary rule of life’ as its inspiration, this exhibition focuses on how we might deepen our lives of contemplation and action at the heart of the city. Seeing a need for monastic values in the centre of the city, Richard founded the Nazareth Community. Its members gather from everyday life to seek God in contemplation, to replenish stressed lives, to acknowledge their dependence on God's grace and to learn to live generously.
Charles de Foucault once famously remarked that if we need to go to the desert to find God, then everyone trying hard to survive in a bustling city would need to have a little strip of desert with them. We need he said ‘to create the desert in the heart of the city… contemplation in the streets that is our task.’ How can we become more attentive to the continuous presence of God and create the space to bring our lives before God? Through this exhibition the artists and craftspeople at St Martin’s are seeking to explore our own spiritual paths: the places of encounter, forgiveness, nurture, compassion, generosity and growing depth, and the challenging discovery of the Word made flesh in one another.
The exhibition explores themes of: cities, monasteries, prayer, contemplation, community, silence, sacraments, study, sharing, service, steadfastness (staying with), and sabbath.
Lois Bentley's ‘Our Childhood’s Pattern’, an assemblage of torn printed roundels in primary colour, with graphite drawing on layers of deserted paper, red velvet ribbon, began by playing with the seven S’s of invitation in Richard Carter’s book:
Letting the letters weave around each other, until
they settled into pattern and circle
from a mug of tea, into
three fresh ink prints,
layered on the detritus
and reward of this city life.
Rosalind Beeton's 'Landscape' is also accompanied by a poem:
Walk softly, walk gently into the new,
oh hallowed beginnings…
may a fresh spring flourish in your heart
and new buds flower in your being
with His healing presence to breathe you…
your compassion and love will warm the world
your sacred footsteps tread All Hallows holy ground…
walk softly and silently into His grace and peace…
Alice Bree's ‘The Golden Thread of Silence’ is similarly accompanied:
gold is precious,
silence is precious
we wait on God in silence and stillness,
listening in each moment as we pray.
she sang the Magnificat for me
on the day her child was due,
and i asked her to rejoice, and swing
the tilt and lean of womanhood ..
and with arms stretched wide
and loving as a crucifix,
she danced the canticle
and cried with me ..
i held her in my hands with her unborn son
in clay ..
and together,
we gave thanks
Sheila Walcott Chambers writes that 'in experiencing ‘the city as my monastery’ I sought to consider the lived experience of this woman (‘Louise in Our Midst’) who begged at the foot of the steps up into Waterloo Station. While at service in St Martin’s, I honoured that homeless young woman by placing her inside the iconic ovoid cross both literally and metaphorically. Then I drew her image as if she was suffused with importance.'
Asanka Lekamalage reminds us through ‘Paradise in the City’ that, 'even in London, there are parks and woodlands where you can walk in silence, yet hear the sound of birds singing.' 'It reminds me, he writes, 'of my childhood in Sri Lanka.' 'To put these memories in a painting is another way of finding sacred space in silence, and sharing it with others.'
Asanka Lekamalage reminds us through ‘Paradise in the City’ that, 'even in London, there are parks and woodlands where you can walk in silence, yet hear the sound of birds singing.' 'It reminds me, he writes, 'of my childhood in Sri Lanka.' 'To put these memories in a painting is another way of finding sacred space in silence, and sharing it with others.'
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Philip Bailey - The Wonders Of His Love.
Monday 24 February 2020
Living God’s future now
Here is the sermon that I preached at St Peter's Nottingham yesterday:
‘A Future that’s Bigger than the Past’ is a book by Sam Wells, the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields that focuses on the theology and methods of HeartEdge as a vision for renewal in the Church. In the book Sam asks “What kind of church do we need to become if we are to face the challenges and take the opportunities of the years ahead?” He explores what it means to see culture, commerce and compassion as out-workings of congregational life, and sources of growth for the church in faithfulness as well as numbers. The book is called ‘A Future Bigger than the Past’ because he wants us 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.
At present, within the Church of England, we often struggle to see a future that’s bigger than the past. That’s because the church in the West is getting smaller; and the church is becoming narrower. Those who regularly attend worship are fewer; and the church’s reputation and energy are becoming associated with initiatives that are introverted and often lack the full breadth of the gospel. In response, churches often focus on what they don’t have, who isn’t there, and the problems they face. When we think in terms of deficits, we begin with our hurts and our stereotypes, and find a hundred reasons why we can’t do things or certain kinds of people don’t belong. As churches, we are often quick to attribute our plight to a hostile culture or an indifferent, distracted population or even a sinful generation; but much slower to recognise that our situation is significantly of our own making.
Yet that phrase - ‘A Future that’s Bigger than the Past’ - remains true for us as Christians regardless of our circumstances or the state of the Church because our future is ultimately in heaven. As Paul states, in Philippians 3:20, ‘Our citizenship [as Christians] is in heaven.’ Pause for a moment to reflect on how transformational those words are; ‘Our citizenship is in heaven.’ Paul literally shifts the centre of the universe, from this existence and our daily reality, to the realm of essence, the things that last forever, the habitation of God and of those whom God has called to share the life of eternity. Rather than earth being the source and testing ground of truth and coherence, the measure of all things becomes heaven. When we’re assessing whether something is right or wrong, when we’re determining the current state of the Church, the question to ask is, does it stand the test of eternity? Will it abide with God forever? Or does it belong to the world that is passing away?
I want us to follow Paul today and start to concentrate on where we’re going. We’re going to heaven – where there is more than enough love for all, more than enough joy, more than enough truth, more than enough space for everyone to flourish. When we do so, we arrive at a new definition of the Church: a bunch of people who all come from different places but are all going to the same place. We’re a people pooling our resources for a journey we make together to a place none of us have ever been. There are no experts, because we’re all citizens of a country we’ve never visited and longing for a home we’ve never known.
How do we prepare for that journey? We look at the glimpses we have in scripture of heaven, including our Gospel reading today – the story of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17.1-9). In speaking of that story Sam Wells says: “There’s glory – the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ. There’s the pattern of God’s story in Israel and the church, a story that finds its most poignant moments in the midst of suffering and exile. There’s the loving, tender, presence and heavenly voice of God the Father – a voice that for the only time in their lives, the disciples hear and understand. And there’s the extraordinary realisation that, even though all this could have gone on without them, the disciples have been caught up in the life of the Trinity, the mystery of salvation, the unfolding of God’s heart, the beauty of holiness.”
Up until this point, “the disciples know Jesus does plenty of amazing and wonderful things and says many beautiful and true things, but they still assume he’s basically the same as them.” It’s only as they go up the mountain with him that the veil slips and they’re invited in to a whole other world. A world in which “Jesus is completely at home,” “even when the Father’s voice thunders from above.” “And more remarkably still, it seems there’s a place for them in it, hanging out with the likes of Moses and Elijah. They’ve been given a glimpse of glory. It’s a glory that’s faithful to the story of Israel, a glory that has Jesus at the centre of it, a glory that has God speaking words of love, a glory that has a place for them in it, however stumbling and clumsy they are, and finally a glory in which Jesus touches them tenderly in their fear.”
The glimpse of glory that they are given is a glimpse of heaven. In the glimpse of heaven they are given they first see Jesus with his face shining like the sun. The light of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus. God is seen – seen, not heard - in Jesus. What the disciples see of God in the Transfiguration is demonstration, not proclamation; the light of God seen as it is lived out in the life of his Son.
Second, they see Jesus in conversation and in relationship with Moses and Elijah. Moses, Elijah and Jesus are together in community, communing one with the other. The letter to the Hebrews speaks about a great crowd of witnesses in heaven made up of the prophets, saints and martyrs who have gone before but with whom we are in relationship. We see here, in the Transfiguration, a glimpse of that community of saints of which we are part.
Third, we see that such glimpses are currently temporary while they encourage us to yearn that they become permanent. Peter responds to the Transfiguration with the hope that Moses, Elijah and Jesus can tabernacle together (or live together in tents) just as God tabernacled (or dwelt in a tent) with the Israelites in the wilderness. Although, he yearns for a longer, more permanent experience, Peter has to accept the temporary nature of the Transfiguration in his present reality. A cloud overshadows the disciples and, when they look up, Jesus is alone again.
As citizens of heaven we are given glimpses of heaven in order that we begin to live as if we were already there. What do the glimpses of heaven that we see in the Transfiguration show us about how to live as if we were already in heaven?
First, the light of God was seen as it was lived out and demonstrated in the life of Christ. The church, therefore, should be about modelling and making possible forms of social relationship not found elsewhere. The church should seek to shape communities whose habits and practices anticipate and portray the life of God’s kingdom. Our role in mission is to cultivate assets and thereby foster and advance abundant life. So, it makes sense for the church to witness to its faith in an incarnate Lord who cares for the material reality of people’s lives by building community capacity and enhancing training, education, personal development and creative expression so as to enable individuals and neighbourhoods to flourish. Social engagement isn’t an add-on to the core business of worship; it’s a form of worship, because in the kingdom disciples are humbled, moved and transformed as they stumble into the surprising places and come face to face with the disarming people in whom the Holy Spirit makes Christ known. Christianity caught on in the second and third centuries because it created institutions that gave people possibilities and opportunities the rest of the world had yet to imagine. That’s what Christianity originally was: a revolutionary idea that took institutional form. That’s what it needs to become again. The church must model what the kingdom of God (its term for the alternative society, its language of God’s future now) means and entails in visible and tangible form.
Second, this modelling and demonstration of God’s future now will be centred on community. The Transfiguration shows us Christ in communion with the prophets, saints and martyrs. The chief end of humanity is, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it, to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Heaven is all about relationships; enjoying God, each other and ourselves. Therefore, Christianity must take the present opportunity to be what it was always called to be: an alternative society, overlapping and sharing space with regular society, but living in a different time – that’s to say, modelling God’s future in our present. It’s not enough to cherish the scriptures, embody the sacraments, set time aside for prayer, and shape disciples’ character in the ways of truth, if such practices simply withdraw disciples for select periods, uncritically then to return them after a brief pause to a world struggling with inequality, identity, and purpose. Rather, what we need is to become and to model communities of ordinary virtues, but ones infused with grace: thus trust, honesty, politeness, forbearance, and respect are the bedrock of such communities, while tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and resilience are among its abiding graces. What I’m describing is the transformation of churches into dynamic centres of abundant life, receiving, evidencing, dwelling in and sharing forms of social flourishing and being a blessing to their neighbourhood.
The Lent Course that you will shortly begin here explores the question ‘Who is my neighbour?’ in terms of: being waited on by Angel Neighbours; being a neighbour to those close to us; giving hospitality to strangers; standing up for the oppressed; carrying another’s load; and being a neighbour to those on the road. That course will, therefore, provide an opportunity for you to explore together how to become and how to model being a community of ordinary virtues infused with grace.
Third, we recognise the temporary nature of our community whilst longing, like Peter, for a more permanent experience of heaven on earth. That reality is implied by the phrase ‘The future is always bigger than the past.’ In essence, we don’t know, but we’re learning. We haven’t arrived, but the journey’s great. We’re not sure exactly where we’re going, but it’s getting better all the time. We’ve had some wonderful experiences, but the best is yet to come. So, we pray for the kingdom to come in future, on earth as it is in heaven, while seeking to create temporary signs of that kingdom in the here and now.
The experience of what it’s like to feel as though we’re already in heaven is what we call the kingdom of God. In HeartEdge we are seeking the renewal of the church by catalysing kingdom communities where we all have that experience. That is transfiguration. In Jesus’ transfiguration we see a whole reality within and beneath and beyond what we thought we understood; in times of bewilderment and confusion, we are shown God’s glory, that we may find a deeper truth to life than we ever knew, make firmer friends than we ever had, discover reasons for living beyond what we’d ever imagined, and be folded into God’s grace like never before. In other words, God reshapes our reality, to give us a new and right spirit to trust that even in the midst of suffering and hardship, truth can still be experienced and shared.
Entering in to that experience of glory is where we’re going. God invites us all to be in heaven, not because any of us have a right to be there, or because God is trying to set straight a historic injustice or present imbalance, but because God chooses never to be except to be with us in Christ, and that being-with is not a for-some-people thing but a for-everyone thing, and it’s not a for-now thing it’s a forever thing. We prepare for that reality by learning to live with everybody now and receive their unexpected gifts with imagination and gratitude in recognition that these are the people with whom we’ll be spending eternity, lucky and blessed as we all are to be there. So, we’d best use these earthly years as a time for getting in the mood.
‘A Future that’s Bigger than the Past’ is a book by Sam Wells, the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields that focuses on the theology and methods of HeartEdge as a vision for renewal in the Church. In the book Sam asks “What kind of church do we need to become if we are to face the challenges and take the opportunities of the years ahead?” He explores what it means to see culture, commerce and compassion as out-workings of congregational life, and sources of growth for the church in faithfulness as well as numbers. The book is called ‘A Future Bigger than the Past’ because he wants us 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.
At present, within the Church of England, we often struggle to see a future that’s bigger than the past. That’s because the church in the West is getting smaller; and the church is becoming narrower. Those who regularly attend worship are fewer; and the church’s reputation and energy are becoming associated with initiatives that are introverted and often lack the full breadth of the gospel. In response, churches often focus on what they don’t have, who isn’t there, and the problems they face. When we think in terms of deficits, we begin with our hurts and our stereotypes, and find a hundred reasons why we can’t do things or certain kinds of people don’t belong. As churches, we are often quick to attribute our plight to a hostile culture or an indifferent, distracted population or even a sinful generation; but much slower to recognise that our situation is significantly of our own making.
Yet that phrase - ‘A Future that’s Bigger than the Past’ - remains true for us as Christians regardless of our circumstances or the state of the Church because our future is ultimately in heaven. As Paul states, in Philippians 3:20, ‘Our citizenship [as Christians] is in heaven.’ Pause for a moment to reflect on how transformational those words are; ‘Our citizenship is in heaven.’ Paul literally shifts the centre of the universe, from this existence and our daily reality, to the realm of essence, the things that last forever, the habitation of God and of those whom God has called to share the life of eternity. Rather than earth being the source and testing ground of truth and coherence, the measure of all things becomes heaven. When we’re assessing whether something is right or wrong, when we’re determining the current state of the Church, the question to ask is, does it stand the test of eternity? Will it abide with God forever? Or does it belong to the world that is passing away?
I want us to follow Paul today and start to concentrate on where we’re going. We’re going to heaven – where there is more than enough love for all, more than enough joy, more than enough truth, more than enough space for everyone to flourish. When we do so, we arrive at a new definition of the Church: a bunch of people who all come from different places but are all going to the same place. We’re a people pooling our resources for a journey we make together to a place none of us have ever been. There are no experts, because we’re all citizens of a country we’ve never visited and longing for a home we’ve never known.
How do we prepare for that journey? We look at the glimpses we have in scripture of heaven, including our Gospel reading today – the story of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17.1-9). In speaking of that story Sam Wells says: “There’s glory – the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ. There’s the pattern of God’s story in Israel and the church, a story that finds its most poignant moments in the midst of suffering and exile. There’s the loving, tender, presence and heavenly voice of God the Father – a voice that for the only time in their lives, the disciples hear and understand. And there’s the extraordinary realisation that, even though all this could have gone on without them, the disciples have been caught up in the life of the Trinity, the mystery of salvation, the unfolding of God’s heart, the beauty of holiness.”
Up until this point, “the disciples know Jesus does plenty of amazing and wonderful things and says many beautiful and true things, but they still assume he’s basically the same as them.” It’s only as they go up the mountain with him that the veil slips and they’re invited in to a whole other world. A world in which “Jesus is completely at home,” “even when the Father’s voice thunders from above.” “And more remarkably still, it seems there’s a place for them in it, hanging out with the likes of Moses and Elijah. They’ve been given a glimpse of glory. It’s a glory that’s faithful to the story of Israel, a glory that has Jesus at the centre of it, a glory that has God speaking words of love, a glory that has a place for them in it, however stumbling and clumsy they are, and finally a glory in which Jesus touches them tenderly in their fear.”
The glimpse of glory that they are given is a glimpse of heaven. In the glimpse of heaven they are given they first see Jesus with his face shining like the sun. The light of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus. God is seen – seen, not heard - in Jesus. What the disciples see of God in the Transfiguration is demonstration, not proclamation; the light of God seen as it is lived out in the life of his Son.
Second, they see Jesus in conversation and in relationship with Moses and Elijah. Moses, Elijah and Jesus are together in community, communing one with the other. The letter to the Hebrews speaks about a great crowd of witnesses in heaven made up of the prophets, saints and martyrs who have gone before but with whom we are in relationship. We see here, in the Transfiguration, a glimpse of that community of saints of which we are part.
Third, we see that such glimpses are currently temporary while they encourage us to yearn that they become permanent. Peter responds to the Transfiguration with the hope that Moses, Elijah and Jesus can tabernacle together (or live together in tents) just as God tabernacled (or dwelt in a tent) with the Israelites in the wilderness. Although, he yearns for a longer, more permanent experience, Peter has to accept the temporary nature of the Transfiguration in his present reality. A cloud overshadows the disciples and, when they look up, Jesus is alone again.
As citizens of heaven we are given glimpses of heaven in order that we begin to live as if we were already there. What do the glimpses of heaven that we see in the Transfiguration show us about how to live as if we were already in heaven?
First, the light of God was seen as it was lived out and demonstrated in the life of Christ. The church, therefore, should be about modelling and making possible forms of social relationship not found elsewhere. The church should seek to shape communities whose habits and practices anticipate and portray the life of God’s kingdom. Our role in mission is to cultivate assets and thereby foster and advance abundant life. So, it makes sense for the church to witness to its faith in an incarnate Lord who cares for the material reality of people’s lives by building community capacity and enhancing training, education, personal development and creative expression so as to enable individuals and neighbourhoods to flourish. Social engagement isn’t an add-on to the core business of worship; it’s a form of worship, because in the kingdom disciples are humbled, moved and transformed as they stumble into the surprising places and come face to face with the disarming people in whom the Holy Spirit makes Christ known. Christianity caught on in the second and third centuries because it created institutions that gave people possibilities and opportunities the rest of the world had yet to imagine. That’s what Christianity originally was: a revolutionary idea that took institutional form. That’s what it needs to become again. The church must model what the kingdom of God (its term for the alternative society, its language of God’s future now) means and entails in visible and tangible form.
Second, this modelling and demonstration of God’s future now will be centred on community. The Transfiguration shows us Christ in communion with the prophets, saints and martyrs. The chief end of humanity is, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it, to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Heaven is all about relationships; enjoying God, each other and ourselves. Therefore, Christianity must take the present opportunity to be what it was always called to be: an alternative society, overlapping and sharing space with regular society, but living in a different time – that’s to say, modelling God’s future in our present. It’s not enough to cherish the scriptures, embody the sacraments, set time aside for prayer, and shape disciples’ character in the ways of truth, if such practices simply withdraw disciples for select periods, uncritically then to return them after a brief pause to a world struggling with inequality, identity, and purpose. Rather, what we need is to become and to model communities of ordinary virtues, but ones infused with grace: thus trust, honesty, politeness, forbearance, and respect are the bedrock of such communities, while tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and resilience are among its abiding graces. What I’m describing is the transformation of churches into dynamic centres of abundant life, receiving, evidencing, dwelling in and sharing forms of social flourishing and being a blessing to their neighbourhood.
The Lent Course that you will shortly begin here explores the question ‘Who is my neighbour?’ in terms of: being waited on by Angel Neighbours; being a neighbour to those close to us; giving hospitality to strangers; standing up for the oppressed; carrying another’s load; and being a neighbour to those on the road. That course will, therefore, provide an opportunity for you to explore together how to become and how to model being a community of ordinary virtues infused with grace.
Third, we recognise the temporary nature of our community whilst longing, like Peter, for a more permanent experience of heaven on earth. That reality is implied by the phrase ‘The future is always bigger than the past.’ In essence, we don’t know, but we’re learning. We haven’t arrived, but the journey’s great. We’re not sure exactly where we’re going, but it’s getting better all the time. We’ve had some wonderful experiences, but the best is yet to come. So, we pray for the kingdom to come in future, on earth as it is in heaven, while seeking to create temporary signs of that kingdom in the here and now.
The experience of what it’s like to feel as though we’re already in heaven is what we call the kingdom of God. In HeartEdge we are seeking the renewal of the church by catalysing kingdom communities where we all have that experience. That is transfiguration. In Jesus’ transfiguration we see a whole reality within and beneath and beyond what we thought we understood; in times of bewilderment and confusion, we are shown God’s glory, that we may find a deeper truth to life than we ever knew, make firmer friends than we ever had, discover reasons for living beyond what we’d ever imagined, and be folded into God’s grace like never before. In other words, God reshapes our reality, to give us a new and right spirit to trust that even in the midst of suffering and hardship, truth can still be experienced and shared.
Entering in to that experience of glory is where we’re going. God invites us all to be in heaven, not because any of us have a right to be there, or because God is trying to set straight a historic injustice or present imbalance, but because God chooses never to be except to be with us in Christ, and that being-with is not a for-some-people thing but a for-everyone thing, and it’s not a for-now thing it’s a forever thing. We prepare for that reality by learning to live with everybody now and receive their unexpected gifts with imagination and gratitude in recognition that these are the people with whom we’ll be spending eternity, lucky and blessed as we all are to be there. So, we’d best use these earthly years as a time for getting in the mood.
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Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here.
Saturday 22 February 2020
HeartEdge activity & update
Catherine Duce has spent the past week at the CEEP conference in Louisville, Kentucky where HeartEdge has had an exhibition table.
There are over 25 churches in the USA who have joined HeartEdge. Representatives of these churches are amongst the 650 delegates from across the USA who have gathered to pray, reflect and learn from one another.
The HeartEdge table is in a prominent location in the central lobby and every delegate received information about the work of HeartEdge in their conference packs.
Catherine is learning a lot and enjoying conversations with a diversity of people about mission and congregational renewal. She has also attended seminars on preaching, issues affecting women’s ministry and stewardship.
- Saturday, February 29, 10:00 AM 3:00 PM, Holy Trinity Brussels, Rue Capitaine Crespel 29 Brussels. NWE Mission Working Party Day will feature HeartEdge. 'Resourcing Innovative Mission' is a day organised by the Mission Working Party of the Archdeaconry of North West Europe with HeartEdge. The event will use key HeartEdge concepts including the 4Cs – commerce, culture, compassion and congregation – as a model for mission. Experience Great Sacred Music - a 35-minute sequence of words and music speaking to heart, head and soul with St Martin's Voices Fellows and reflect on use of culture to share faith insights with secular audiences. The day will also provide opportunities to share ideas, identify key challenges and assets for future initiatives. We will gather for tea/coffee at 10:00 and start at 10:30.
- St Martin's Voices concert, 29th February 2020 from 7:00 PM 8:00 PM, Holy Trinity Brussels Rue Capitaine Crespel 29 Brussels Belgium. St Martin’s Voices are an exciting and dynamic professional vocal ensemble, primarily made up of talented past and present choral scholars who come together to sing concerts and special events at St Martin-in-the-Fields and beyond. Recent performances have included Mozart Requiem and Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and Beethoven Mass in C with Southbank Sinfonia. St Martin’s Voices regularly broadcast on the BBC, including Radio 3 Choral Evensong and BBC Radio 4 Sunday Worship and Daily Service. They also make regular national and international tours, including recent performances at Greenbelt Festival and visits to the USA – Minneapolis, Washington DC, New York – and Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Holy Communion - Holy Trinity Brussels, 1st March 2020 from 10.30 - 11.30, Holy Trinity Brussels Rue Capitaine Crespel 29 Brussels Belgium. At the 10:30am Holy Communion Service in Holy Trinity Brussels they enjoy many traditional Anglican hymns, a robed choir, and lectionary readings. People from many different backgrounds, languages and generations gather together to worship, to pray, and to share fellowship. There are children and youth programmes at this service, as well as a time to gather socially afterwards.
- 19 March, 2.00-4.30pm ‘Inspired to Follow: Art & the Bible Story’ Mission Model workshop, , St Martin-in-the-Fields. An opportunity to experience one of the sessions of ‘Inspired to Follow’ and to learn how to make the most of the resource. Free to HeartEdge partners, £10 for others. Book here.
- 1 April 2020, Liverpool HeartEdge Day: Exploring mission, sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support, this is an ecumenical day with Sam Wells and guests. Book here.
- 29 April. West Cornwall HeartEdge Day: Details to follow!
- May 18 - 20 San Antonio - Texas. Faith+Finance: Reimagining God’s Economy is a new gathering with a bias for action. We are bringing together pastors and impact investors, theologians and social entrepreneurs to respond with courage and imagination to the most urgent and demanding economic, social, environmental, and spiritual challenges of our day.
- 19 May, 10.00am – 3.30pm, Wessex HeartEdge Day: Christchurch Priory. Exploring mission, sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support, this is an ecumenical day with Sam Wells and guests. Book here.
- Wednesday 20 May 2020, 3.00 – 5.00pm. Nazareth Community Workshop: The Nazareth Community was established at St Martin’s in March 2018, now with over sixty members. The workshop will be led by Revd Richard Carter, and is an opportunity to learn about the life of the community, and to consider how it could be applied in your own contexts. Richard is the leader of the Nazareth Community and author of The City is My Monastery: a Contemporary Rule of Life; published by Canterbury Press in 2019. The afternoon will mirror the Saturday morning sharing time, and will begin in the church. The session will include: Welcome and an introduction to the Nazareth Community’s simple way of life; Prayer & silence; Talk; Q&A; Refreshments; Small groups; and Close. Participant are encouraged to stay on for Bread for the World at 6.30pm, an informal Eucharist with St Martin’s Choral Scholars in which the themes of the afternoon will be taken up and deepened in worship. Book here.
- 21 -22 September - London: HeartEdge Annual Gathering - an exciting smorgasbord of theology, ideas and 'how-to' plus curry, catching up, sharing stories and making connections. Make a weekend of it - from Sunday evening's Nazareth Community gathering to Wednesday visiting projects. Save the date - more details to follow.
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Brandon Flowers - Dreams Come True.
Windows on the world (266)
Painswick, 2019
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Roger McGuinn - Lost My Driving Wheel.
Lent 2020: The desert in the city & The city is my monastery
Using Richard Carter’s new book The City is my Monastery: A contemporary rule of life, this year’s Lent Course at St Martin-in-the-Fields focuses on how we might deepen our lives of contemplation and action at the heart of the city. Charles de Foucault once famously remarked that if we need to go to the desert to find God, then everyone trying hard to survive in a bustling city would need to have a little strip of desert with them. We need he said ‘to create the desert in the heart of the city… contemplation in the streets that is our task.’ How can we become more attentive to the continuous presence of God and create the space to bring our lives before God? Over the seven weeks of Lent we will be exploring our own spiritual paths: the places of encounter, forgiveness, nurture, compassion, generosity and growing depth, and the challenging discovery of the Word made flesh in one another.
Each week will focus on a different chapter of Richard’s book:
- 26 February Ash Wednesday – With Silence
- 4 March – With Service
- 11 March – With Sacrament
- 18 March – With Scripture
- 25 March – With Sabbath
- 1 April – With Sharing
- 8 April – Staying With
‘This wonderful book is both recognizable and startlingly new. What we are given here is a workbook for living in and with meaning, Christian meaning, Jesus shaped meaning.’ Rowan Williams
Copies of The City is my Monastery (for those who do not have them) and Study Guides for the Lent course for everyone will be available from Sunday 16 February from the vergers vestry or collected after the Ash Wednesday Bread for the World at 6.30pm which this year will be the first week of our Lent Course.
The book is also available to purchase from St Martin’s Shop and the Online Shop.
‘The city is my monastery’ is an exhibition created by the artists and craftsperson’s group at St Martin-in-the-Fields that will be in the Foyer of the Crypt at St Martin's throughout Lent, from 26 February - 10 April.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is home to several commissions and permanent installations by contemporary artists. We also have an exciting programme of temporary exhibitions, as well as a group of artists and craftspeople from the St Martin’s community who show artwork and organise art projects on a temporary basis. One of the initiatives from this group is a changing display of work by the group members or artists linked to the group. Each month a different artist shows examples of their work, so, if you are able, do return to see the changing display.
For Lent 2020 the group have created to accompany the Lent Course at St Martin-in-the-Fields – ‘The Desert in the City.’ Using Revd Richard Carter’s new book ‘The City is my Monastery: A contemporary rule of life’ as its inspiration, this exhibition focuses on how we might deepen our lives of contemplation and action at the heart of the city. Through this exhibition the artists and craftspeople at St Martin’s are seeking to explore our own spiritual paths: the places of encounter, forgiveness, nurture, compassion, generosity and growing depth, and the challenging discovery of the Word made flesh in one another. The exhibition explores themes of: cities, monasteries, prayer, contemplation, community, silence, sacraments, study, sharing, service, steadfastness (staying with), and sabbath.
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Emmylou Harris - Darkest Hour Is Just Before The Storm.
Copies of The City is my Monastery (for those who do not have them) and Study Guides for the Lent course for everyone will be available from Sunday 16 February from the vergers vestry or collected after the Ash Wednesday Bread for the World at 6.30pm which this year will be the first week of our Lent Course.
The book is also available to purchase from St Martin’s Shop and the Online Shop.
‘The city is my monastery’ is an exhibition created by the artists and craftsperson’s group at St Martin-in-the-Fields that will be in the Foyer of the Crypt at St Martin's throughout Lent, from 26 February - 10 April.
St Martin-in-the-Fields is home to several commissions and permanent installations by contemporary artists. We also have an exciting programme of temporary exhibitions, as well as a group of artists and craftspeople from the St Martin’s community who show artwork and organise art projects on a temporary basis. One of the initiatives from this group is a changing display of work by the group members or artists linked to the group. Each month a different artist shows examples of their work, so, if you are able, do return to see the changing display.
For Lent 2020 the group have created to accompany the Lent Course at St Martin-in-the-Fields – ‘The Desert in the City.’ Using Revd Richard Carter’s new book ‘The City is my Monastery: A contemporary rule of life’ as its inspiration, this exhibition focuses on how we might deepen our lives of contemplation and action at the heart of the city. Through this exhibition the artists and craftspeople at St Martin’s are seeking to explore our own spiritual paths: the places of encounter, forgiveness, nurture, compassion, generosity and growing depth, and the challenging discovery of the Word made flesh in one another. The exhibition explores themes of: cities, monasteries, prayer, contemplation, community, silence, sacraments, study, sharing, service, steadfastness (staying with), and sabbath.
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Emmylou Harris - Darkest Hour Is Just Before The Storm.
Monday 17 February 2020
CtiW Newsletter - Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking
This edition of the newsletter includes:
- Report of CTiW General Meeeting
- Report from London Prisons Mission
- Talks on “Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking” given at the 2020 AGM
- CTiW Executive Members for 2020
- CTiW Review
The AGM report includes talks from Kevin Hyland OBE, former UK Independent Antislavery Commissioner, who spoke on Modern Slavery
and Human Trafficking, Major Heather Grinstead, Deputy
Director for The Salvation Army's Modern Slavery Unit,
and Abigail Lennox, Local Programme Coordinator - Modern Slavery Post-NRM Survivors Support Service also
contributed. The Salvation Army provides a specialist support for all adult victims of modern slavery in England &
Wales. In addition, Caroline Virgo from
The Clewer Initiative, Dr Julia Tomas, Anti Slavery Coordinator at The Passage, and the campaigner Elizabeth
Matthews provided additional information about Modern Slavery.
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The Clash - Working For The Clampdown.
Saturday 15 February 2020
Windows on the world (265)
London, 2019
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Beyond Words: A response to the apology at General Synod
Azariah France-Williams, who is currently on placement at St Martin-in-the-Fields preparing for a new mission initiative with HeartEdge, has offered his thoughts on the Church of England General Synod's apology for racism in the church.
'What are the thoughts of the church and its senior members in regard to race and ethnicity - that of themselves, as well as that of others? We are used to words, and I now want to know what the deeds of the church might be?'
Read his post here. His book Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism in the Church of England is published this summer.
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Eric Bibb - Migration Blues.
Friday 14 February 2020
Church Times: Mick Abbott's “Paradise and Other Places”
My latest review for Church Times is of Mick Abbott's “Paradise and Other Places” is in The Hostry at Norwich Cathedral:
'“Paradise and Other Places” explores nature and culture, identity and memory, making the sometime hidden traces of history, as with the retable-turned-table, evident once again within these works, as also within the cathedral’s walls. Our memories, our roots, and the nature and culture that have nourished us take each of us on a unique path. Yet, those who lived and worshipped when this cathedral was young knew love and sorrow, birth and death, just like those who worship here today. Abbott asks us whether paradise could quite simply be a state of being satisfied with what we have rather than wishing for things out of our reach; of being happy where we are and not longing for elsewhere. From this, he believes, springs the strength to rebel against and resist what is unfair and unjust, such as that which inspired, is depicted in, and caused the hiding of the Despenser Retable.'
Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.
'“Paradise and Other Places” explores nature and culture, identity and memory, making the sometime hidden traces of history, as with the retable-turned-table, evident once again within these works, as also within the cathedral’s walls. Our memories, our roots, and the nature and culture that have nourished us take each of us on a unique path. Yet, those who lived and worshipped when this cathedral was young knew love and sorrow, birth and death, just like those who worship here today. Abbott asks us whether paradise could quite simply be a state of being satisfied with what we have rather than wishing for things out of our reach; of being happy where we are and not longing for elsewhere. From this, he believes, springs the strength to rebel against and resist what is unfair and unjust, such as that which inspired, is depicted in, and caused the hiding of the Despenser Retable.'
Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.
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Paradise - Every Kinda People.
Wednesday 12 February 2020
Church Times: Elizabeth Kwant - Am I not a woman and sister
My latest review for Church Times is of Elizabeth Kwant's Am I not a woman and sister at the International Slavery Museum Liverpool:
'This is an experience of being with those on the edge, an opportunity to see those who have been commodified and traded as they really are, women and sisters. Kwant’s work opens up a space in which empowerment occurs, hidden experiences are brought to light, and wider narratives (concerning the construction of identity and the recording of history) are brought into question.'
Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.
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Robert Randolph and the Family Band - I Need More Love.
'This is an experience of being with those on the edge, an opportunity to see those who have been commodified and traded as they really are, women and sisters. Kwant’s work opens up a space in which empowerment occurs, hidden experiences are brought to light, and wider narratives (concerning the construction of identity and the recording of history) are brought into question.'
Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.
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Robert Randolph and the Family Band - I Need More Love.
HeartEdge update and events
The day featured stories from East of England churches rethinking, reimagining, reinventing plus lively discussion, finding support and solidarity. These stories included a pop-up pub, the 'Queenmaker' Escape Room, cafes, lectures, and eco initiatives.
A HeartEdge themed Great Sacred Music was performed by St Martin's Voices Fellows, who also gave an evening concert together with singers from St Peter Mancroft. Sam Wells spoke about moving beyond the benefactor and steward. Stories of the 4Cs at St Martin-in-the-Fields were also shared.
Future HeartEdge events include:
- 19 March, 2.00-4.30pm ‘Inspired to Follow: Art & the Bible Story’ Mission Model workshop, , St Martin-in-the-Fields. An opportunity to experience one of the sessions of ‘Inspired to Follow’ and to learn how to make the most of the resource. Free to HeartEdge partners, £10 for others. Book here.
- 1 April 2020, Liverpool HeartEdge Day: Exploring mission, sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support, this is an ecumenical day with Sam Wells and guests. Book here.
- 29 April. West Cornwall HeartEdge Day: Details to follow!
- May 18 - 20 San Antonio - Texas. Faith+Finance: Reimagining God’s Economy is a new gathering with a bias for action. We are bringing together pastors and impact investors, theologians and social entrepreneurs to respond with courage and imagination to the most urgent and demanding economic, social, environmental, and spiritual challenges of our day.
- 19 May, 10.00am – 3.30pm, Wessex HeartEdge Day: Christchurch Priory. Exploring mission, sharing ideas, uncovering solutions and finding support, this is an ecumenical day with Sam Wells and guests. Book here.
- Wednesday 20 May 2020, 3.00 – 5.00pm. Nazareth Community Workshop: The Nazareth Community was established at St Martin’s in March 2018, now with over sixty members. The workshop will be led by Revd Richard Carter, and is an opportunity to learn about the life of the community, and to consider how it could be applied in your own contexts. Richard is the leader of the Nazareth Community and author of The City is My Monastery: a Contemporary Rule of Life; published by Canterbury Press in 2019. The afternoon will mirror the Saturday morning sharing time, and will begin in the church. The session will include: Welcome and an introduction to the Nazareth Community’s simple way of life; Prayer & silence; Talk; Q&A; Refreshments; Small groups; and Close. Participant are encouraged to stay on for Bread for the World at 6.30pm, an informal Eucharist with St Martin’s Choral Scholars in which the themes of the afternoon will be taken up and deepened in worship. Book here.
- 21 -22 September - London: HeartEdge Annual Gathering - an exciting smorgasbord of theology, ideas and 'how-to' plus curry, catching up, sharing stories and making connections. Make a weekend of it - from Sunday evening's Nazareth Community gathering to Wednesday visiting projects. Save the date - more details to follow.
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Gerald Finzi - My Spirit Sang All Day.
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