Jesus said, let the little children come to me, do not hinder or harm them, whoever welcomes children welcomes me and the one who sent me, the kingdom of heaven belongs to children, and anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Nicola Ravenscroft is a sculptor who is part of our congregation. She has a sculpture installation featuring seven lifesize bronze children, one from every continent on Earth. She sees her calling as an artist being to do what Jesus taught to welcome children and receive like children. She writes: ‘I am visionary, sculptor, mother to many, and grandmother to even more. I breathe life into life. I see a resilient and beautiful future for our children and their Earth, I hear their conversation, and I feel the pulse of a new understanding.
What is it about children that Jesus wanted us to imitate? What is that Nicola hears as she listens to children? ‘Creative, inquisitive and trusting, children are Earth’s possibility thinkers. They seek out, and flourish in fellowship, in “oneness”, and being naturally open-hearted, and wide-eyed hungry for mystery, delight and wonder, they embrace diversity with what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks so elegantly describes as the “Dignity of Difference”.’ It is, she says, ‘this life-giving, transformative gift in our children’ that feeds the unquenchable fire in her artist-heart; which inspires and gives her hope.
In words taken from the novelist Joseph Conrad, her urgent prayer is that the children she has sculpted, ‘shall awaken in the hearts of the beholders, that feeling of unavoidable solidarity: of the solidarity in mysterious origin, in toil, in joy, in hope, in uncertain fate, which binds all men to each other, and all mankind to the visible world.’ Her sculpture installation ‘calls us to unite, and invites us collectively, and with visceral response, to consider the fragile future of planet Earth.’
In a poem called ‘Sweet Breath of Life’ she writes about the installation saying:
It represents a world,
our world in seven little earthling children,
made from spirit, love and stardust,
gentle ..
spilling out in hope,
vulnerable yet strong:
Earth’s messengers
calling us to hear their urgent birthright-cry,
poised ..
and leaning
on tomorrow’s cutting edge.
these children are my artist-voice:
they are the voice of Earth,
and yours.
They challenge us to look at life
with a fresh sense of possibility.
These children are themselves a tender pleading ..
they plead for you, for me, for us all to work together,
and so achieve in oneness what we can’t achieve alone:
they challenge us to wear that “dignity of difference”,
bravely,
and so to find solutions,
bravely,
and so to find solutions,
and they challenge us to do whatever it requires
to learn Earth’s subtle language,
and to speak her truth:
as it is thus,
as one, we shall secure that precious gift,
that sweetest breath of Earth ..
our children’s future.
This is what is there at the heart of children – an innocent trust in one another – which is quickly lost, but which we need to regain if we are to unite and find solidarity in mysterious origin. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child leading them. Isaiah also said that to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Jesus is the little child who can lead us into peace as we welcome children and receive like children.
Nicola’s seven lifesize bronze children, one from every continent on Earth:
hesitate in time,
leaning forward, hopeful,
poised to dive,
eyes closed, dreaming into their future,
anticipating things unseen:
a little child shall lead
trusting feet, plump and bare,
remind us of our duty of care
to life, to love, to planet Earth
they stand together, peacefully, as friends,
vulnerable and strong,
silently singing out to us
their call to change.
Will we hear their call? Will we welcome them and what they have to say to us? Will we receive like children remembering our duty of care to life, to love, to planet Earth? Earth’s children are life’s heartbeat: they are her hope, her future .. they are breath of Earth herself. Amen.
to learn Earth’s subtle language,
and to speak her truth:
as it is thus,
as one, we shall secure that precious gift,
that sweetest breath of Earth ..
our children’s future.
This is what is there at the heart of children – an innocent trust in one another – which is quickly lost, but which we need to regain if we are to unite and find solidarity in mysterious origin. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child leading them. Isaiah also said that to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Jesus is the little child who can lead us into peace as we welcome children and receive like children.
Nicola’s seven lifesize bronze children, one from every continent on Earth:
hesitate in time,
leaning forward, hopeful,
poised to dive,
eyes closed, dreaming into their future,
anticipating things unseen:
a little child shall lead
trusting feet, plump and bare,
remind us of our duty of care
to life, to love, to planet Earth
they stand together, peacefully, as friends,
vulnerable and strong,
silently singing out to us
their call to change.
Will we hear their call? Will we welcome them and what they have to say to us? Will we receive like children remembering our duty of care to life, to love, to planet Earth? Earth’s children are life’s heartbeat: they are her hope, her future .. they are breath of Earth herself. Amen.
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Whitney Houston - Greatest Love Of All.
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