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Tuesday 31 August 2021

Arts and Crafts influences within Britain, Hungary and Poland

Several exhibitions this autumn explore the unexpected example of cultural exchange between Britain, Hungary and Poland through the influence of John Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Morris, and the Arts and Crafts Movement.

The Beauty of Utopia. Pre-Raphaelite influences in the Art of Turn-of-the-century Hungary
at the Hungarian National Gallery is a complement to Desired Beauty, their exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces from the Tate Collection. Art in nineteenth-century Hungary was primarily shaped by Austrian, German, and French influences. However, the British-Hungarian relations that developed at the turn of the century facilitated the productive effect of Pre-Raphaelite art, the Arts and Crafts movement and numerous English artists on Hungarian literature, fine and applied arts as well as in architecture. The most notable influence of the Pre-Raphaelites was manifest in the ars poetica of the Gödöllő artists’ colony and the early period of Lajos Gulácsy’s oeuvre, but other Hungarian artists also drew inspiration from their English contemporaries.

The exhibition documents the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites in Hungary in four thematic groups: the works made by the Gödöllő artists’ colony, the paintings of Lajos Gulácsy’s “Pre-Raphaelite period”, the English influences in Hungarian art at the turn of the century, and also Pre-Raphaelite prints and drawings that are of major significance in the history of the museum’s collection, including pieces by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane.

Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch founded the Tolstoyan, Symbolist – Art Nouveau artist colony in 1901, after settling in Gödöllő. The art theoretical writings of the art critic John Ruskin, who was of great importance for the Pre-Raphaelites, also fundamentally shaped the ars poetica of Körösfői, and his book on Ruskin and the English Pre-Raphaelites was published in Budapest in 1905. Laura Kriesch (Mrs Sándor Nagy), Leo Belmonte, Rezső Mihály, Árpád Juhász, István Zichy, Ödön Moiret, Jenő Remsey, Tom von Dreger, Ede Wigand Toroczkai, Ferenc Sidló and Mariska Undi were among the members.

The oeuvre of the Gödöllő artists’ colony is also presented with its antecedents harking back to the romantic historicism of the English Pre-Raphaelites, as well as to the work of William Morris, who revived handicraft traditions and initiated the Arts and Crafts movement, and also in the art and activity of Walter Crane. In the spirit of all the artistic aspirations of the period, works were made in many branches of fine and applied arts in Gödöllő: paintings, murals, graphics, sculptures, furniture, embroidery, textiles, tapestries, glass windows, costume designs, book illustrations and art books.

Lajos Gulácsy spent most of his narrow creative years, almost a decade and a half, in Italy. During this time, he lived and worked in numerous Italian cities. Moving away from space and time, he created a unique literary and pictorial atmosphere. The subject of his admiration between 1903 and 1908 was primarily early Renaissance painters; Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi and Botticelli, and Dante’s writings, artists who previously had a great influence on the English Pre-Raphaelites. In Italy, at the turn of the century, the Pre-Raphaelite artists had been worshipped, so Gulácsy could have been influenced simultaneously by the paintings of Rossetti and Burne-Jones, as well as the original Italian works that inspired the British artists.

The inspiring knowledge, as well as a kinship in style, subjects, and motifs with English art, can be presumed in the case of a great many Hungarian artists. These connections are demonstrated at the exhibition through works by József Rippl-Rónai, Károly Ferenczy, Ferenc Helbing, Ferenc Paczka, Aladár Kacziány, Lajos Kozma and Attila Sassy.

The prints of Rossetti and his pupil, Burne-Jones, were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts in 1934 as outstanding pieces of Pál Majovszky’s large-scale collection of drawings.

By the turn of the century, like in other European countries, the art of the island country had become popular in Hungary. The English connection of the Hungarian art scene is reflected in Walter Crane’s exhibition in 1900 at the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest. In Hungary, a real cult developed around the artist at that time, for the reason that Crane, like the group of artists organised around Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch, encouraged the discovery of folk art motifs. Numerous works by Crane from this exhibition got into the collection of museums; many of his graphic works have enriched the British material of the Museum of Fine Arts. And of particular interest, our exhibition also includes the masterpiece by the English artist, entitled Abduction of Europa (1881), which entered the collection of the Hungarian National Bank in 2020 from a private collection in Hungary.

Young Poland: An Arts and Crafts Movement (1890 – 1918) at the William Morris Gallery from October is the first major exhibition to explore the decorative arts and architecture of Young Poland (Młoda Polska), an extraordinary cultural movement that flourished in response to Poland’s invasion and occupation by foreign powers.

Originating in Kraków and the nearby village of Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, Young Poland sought inspiration in local folk traditions, wildlife and craftsmanship while collapsing the distinction between the fine and applied arts. Developing themes explored in a critically acclaimed book by its curators (Lund Humphries, 2020), the exhibition is the first in the world to position Young Poland as an Arts & Crafts movement, revealing strong stylistic and philosophical affinities with the work of William Morris and John Ruskin.

While the diverse visual language of Young Poland was created autonomously, in search of a distinctive cultural style and identity, it simultaneously looked outwards to the rest of Europe including Britain. The exhibition explores unexpected examples of cultural exchange between both nations: for instance in 1848 the members of the newly-founded Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood included the Polish fighter for freedom, Tadeusz Kościuszko, on their list of ‘Immortals’ (inspirational heroes). While Stanisław Witkiewicz developed the Zakopane Style—which draws on the vernacular traditions of the Tatras—before he became aware of Ruskin and Morris, he later said that he had unknowingly fulfilled the theories of these British reformers.

From furniture to Christmas decorations, intricate textiles to delicate paper cuttings, this landmark survey spans five galleries and brings together over 150 works, most of which have never travelled outside of Poland. Young Poland: An Arts and Crafts Movement (1890 – 1918) examines the ideas that propelled the movement and introduces the artists, designers and craftspeople whose decorative schemes and objects came to define it.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Józef Czajkowski, Zdzisław Gedliczka, Wojciech Jastrzębowski, Karol Kłosowski, Józefa Kogut, Bonawentura Lenart, Jacek Malczewski, Jan Matejko, Józef Mehoffer, Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska, Henryk Uziembło, Stanisław Wyspiański and Stanisław Witkiewicz.

Influences between Hungarian and Polish art, as well as that of Austria, Czech, and Croatian painting, were explored in 2017 in The First Golden Age: Painting in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Műcsarnok, an exhibition for the 120th anniversary of the Műcsarnok in Budapest. The Hungarian Review has an extensive article that also explores these influences in the light of the 2017 exhibition.

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Bela Bartok - Hungarian Sketches.

We Need to Talk About Race – Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches

The new BLM Reading Group from Churches Together in Westminster begins soon. 

We will be reading “We Need to Talk About Race – Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches” by Ben Lindsay and meeting online to discuss the book on Thursdays 8.00 – 9.00pm, September 16, 23, 30 & October 7, 14. Free – All welcome. 

Register on Eventbrite at https://cutt.ly/amQqpkI.

Explore eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the status quo in white majority churches and discuss how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community. From the UK Church’s complicity in the transatlantic slave trade to the whitewashing of Christianity throughout history, the Church has a lot to answer for when it comes to race relations. Christianity has been dubbed the white man’s religion, yet the Bible speaks of an impartial God and shows us a diverse body of believers. It’s time for the Church to start talking about race.


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The Staples Singers - Got To Be Some Changes Made.

Sunday 29 August 2021

Windows on the world (342)


 Wembley Park, 2021

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Chrissy Hynde - Sweetheart Like You.

Living God's Future Now - w/c 29 August 2021

 







'Living God’s Future Now’ is our mini online festival of theology, ideas and practice.

We’ve developed this in response to the pandemic and our changing world. The church is changing too, and - as we improvise and experiment - we can learn and support each other.

This is 'Living God’s Future Now’ - talks, workshops and discussion - hosted by HeartEdge. Created to equip, encourage and energise churches - from leaders to volunteers and enquirers - at the heart and on the edge.

The focal event in ‘Living God’s Future Now’ is a monthly conversation where Sam Wells explores what it means to improvise on God’s kingdom with a leading theologian or practitioner.

The online programme includes:
  • Regular weekly workshops: Biblical Studies (Mondays fortnightly), Sermon Preparation (Tuesdays) and Community of Practitioners (Wednesdays)
  • One-off workshops on topics relevant to lockdown such as ‘Growing online communities’ and ‘Grief, Loss & Remembering’
  • Monthly HeartEdge dialogue featuring Sam Wells in conversation with a noted theologian or practitioner
Find earlier Living God’s Future Now sessions at https://www.facebook.com/pg/theHeartEdge/videos/?ref=page_internal.

This Week

Friday

Out of the Depths: Hymn, Psalm and Song Creating Workshop
Zoom
Friday 3 September, 16:30-18:00 (GMT)
Register here
This is a pre-conference music workshop for (Still) Calling from the Edge, the 10th annual conference on Disability and Church. It will explore the theme of calling from the edge in song and sound. Participants will be helped with hymn metre and the repetition of chanting traditions.

Sunday

Theology Group
Zoom
Sunday 5 September, 19:00-20:00(GMT)
Register here
A monthly opportunity to reflect on issues of today and questions of tomorrow together with Sam Wells. Sam will be responding to your questions and reflections on the Universality of Christ chaired by St Martin-in-the-Fields congregation member Steve Adams.

The Week After

Tuesday

Sam and Sally's Sermon Preparation workshop
Livestream
Tuesday 7 September , 16:30-17:30 (GMT)
Livestreamed on HE Facebook Page here
Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner discuss preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary in the light of current events and general good practice.

Thursday

Living God's Future Now conversation – Ben Quash
Zoom
Thursday 9 September , 18:00-19:00 (GMT)
Register here
Sam Wells and Ben Quash will be in conversation to discuss how to improvise on the kingdom. Ben Quash is fascinated by how the arts can renew people’s engagement with the Bible and Christian tradition, and is directing a major 7-year project to create an online Visual Commentary on Scripture.

Friday

Called to the Feast art workshop
Zoom
Friday 10 September, 16:30-18:00 (GMT)
Register here
This pre-conference workshop for (Still) Calling from the Edge, the 10th annual conference on disability and Church in partnership between St Martin-in-the-Fields and Inclusive Church, will help create an exhibition of images and words for an inclusive Last Supper.

Coming up soon

2021 Festival of Preaching: 13-14 September 2021 | Online and at St Martin-in-the-Fields
Find out more and book tickets - https://festivalofpreaching.hymnsam.co.uk/buy-tickets/

Over two days we'll explore preaching and interpretation in-depth, hear sermons from skilled preachers, and join together in worship. We are delighted to be welcoming some outstanding new speakers to the festival, as well as hearing afresh from some of those who have joined us in the past. For 2021, the full programme will be streamed online. Take part from wherever you are in the world. Watch live on your computer, phone or smart TV, or access the recorded sessions at a later time. The first day of the festival - Monday 13 September - will be broadcast live from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Book a seat to join us in the church. The Tuesday programme is online only.

Catch up with missed sessions...

Why not catch up with the lectures, workshops and conversation you've missed in the last 14 months or so? If you head over to one of the following platforms you will find a wealth of resources that will inspire and equip for your work, whether you are ordained, lay, or simply enquiring.
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Sufjan Stevens - Ring Them Bells.

Friday 27 August 2021

Living God's Future Now - September 2021






'Living God’s Future Now’ is our mini online festival of theology, ideas and practice.

We’ve developed this in response to the pandemic and our changing world. The church is changing too, and - as we improvise and experiment - we can learn and support each other.

This is 'Living God’s Future Now’ - talks, workshops and discussion - hosted by HeartEdge. Created to equip, encourage and energise churches - from leaders to volunteers and enquirers - at the heart and on the edge.

The focal event in ‘Living God’s Future Now’ is a monthly conversation where Sam Wells explores what it means to improvise on God’s kingdom with a leading theologian or practitioner.

The online programme includes:
  • Regular weekly workshops: Biblical Studies (Mondays fortnightly), Sermon Preparation (Tuesdays) and Community of Practitioners (Wednesdays)
  • One-off workshops on topics relevant to lockdown such as ‘Growing online communities’ and ‘Grief, Loss & Remembering’
  • Monthly HeartEdge dialogue featuring Sam Wells in conversation with a noted theologian or practitioner
Find earlier Living God’s Future Now sessions at https://www.facebook.com/pg/theHeartEdge/videos/?ref=page_internal.

Regular – Weekly or Fortnightly

Tuesdays: Sermon Preparation Workshop, 16:30 (GMT), livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/theHeartEdge/. Please note the Sermon Preparation workshop begins again on Tuesday 7 September.

Wednesdays: Community of Practitioners workshop, 16:30 (GMT), Zoom meeting. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org to register. Please note the Community of Practitioners workshop begins again on Wednesday 8 September.

Biblical Studies class: Two Mondays each month, 19:30-21:00 (GMT), Zoom meeting. Register in advance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrcOmgrTgsHt2ceY7LepLhQYqQxS1G1ix9. 2021 dates - Gospels & Acts:
  • 6 Sep: Lecture 17 The what, why and where of the Fourth Gospel
  • 27 Sep: Lecture 18 The purpose of the Fourth Gospel

September

Out of the Depths: Hymn, Psalm and Song Creating Workshop - Friday 3 September, 16:30-18:00, zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/out-of-the-depths-tickets-165160309933. This is an advance music workshop for (Still) Calling from the Edge, the 10th annual conference on Disability and Church. It will explore the theme of calling from the edge in song and sound. Using Psalm 130, a psalm of lament, as the basis for musical creation in various shapes – chant, hymn or poem ready for musical setting. Participants will be helped with hymn metre and the repetition of chanting traditions. This pre-conference workshop will help create a set of musical pieces that will be recorded for playing in a workshop at the conference itself. These can take any form, guided by the leaders. They can focus on any aspect of lamenting and calling, using Psalm 130 as a stimulus, interpreted in their own way and drawing on their experiences or those close to their heart.

Theology Group: Sunday 5 September, 19:00 (BST). Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theology-group-tickets-167228024523. A monthly opportunity to reflect on issues of today and questions of tomorrow together with Sam Wells. Revd Dr Sam Wells will be responding to your questions and reflections on the Universality of Christ chaired by St Martin-in-the-Fields congregation member Steve Adams. We look forward to welcoming all who want to join us, and to hearing your questions. This is an ideal chance for community, sharing, and reflection. These sessions on zoom have been well attended and full of moments of confirmation, challenge and enlightenment.

Living God's Future Now conversation – Ben Quash: Thursday 9 September, 18:10 – 19:10 BST. Register for a Zoom invite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/myevent?eid=162702913795. ‘Living God’s Future Now’ describes a series of online seminars, discussions and presentations hosted by HeartEdge. They are designed to equip, encourage and energise church leaders, laypeople and enquirers alike, in areas such as preaching, growing a church, shifting online, deepening spirituality in a congregation and responding to social need. The focal event in 'Living God's future now' is a monthly conversation in which Sam Wells explores what it means to improvise on God’s kingdom with a leading theologian or practitioner. Earlier conversations were with Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight, Chine McDonald, +Rachel Treweek, Stanley Hauerwas, Barbara Brown Taylor, Kelly Brown Douglas, Steve Chalke, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Sarah Coakley, and Jonathan Tran. At 6.10 pm (GMT) on Thursday 13 May 2021, Sam Wells and Ben Quash will be in conversation to discuss how to improvise on the kingdom. Ben Quash came to King’s College London as its first Professor of Christianity and the Arts in 2007. Prior to that, he was a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College and then of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. He is fascinated by how the arts can renew people’s engagement with the Bible and Christian tradition, and is directing a major 7-year project to create an online Visual Commentary on Scripture. He runs an MA in Christianity and the Arts in association with the National Gallery, London, and broadcasts frequently on BBC radio. He is a Trustee of Art and Christianity Enquiry, and Canon Theologian of both Coventry and Bradford Cathedrals. His publications include Abiding: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2013 (Bloomsbury, 2012) and Found Theology: History, Imagination and the Holy Spirit (T&T Clark, 2014), and he has written catalogue essays for exhibitions at Ben Uri Gallery, London, the Inigo Rooms in Somerset House, and the Vatican Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2015.

Called to the Feast art workshop: Friday 10 September, 16:30-18:00, zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/called-to-the-feast-art-workshop-tickets-164816778421. The art workshop for (Still) Calling from the Edge, the 10th annual conference on disability and Church in partnership between St Martin-in-the-Fields and Inclusive Church, will use the theme of Called to the Feast. This draws on the image of feasting in Jesus’ parables and teaching combined with the way he included those experiencing exclusion among his disciples and restored others to worship at the Temple. The idea is that this pre-conference workshop will help create an exhibition of images and words for an inclusive Last Supper. These can be in any media (drawing, paintings, photographs, poetry, prose etc etc) and can focus on any aspect of the Last Supper i.e. the feast, the gtable, the guests, Jesus etc. Participants will be encouraged to interpret this brief in their own way and as makes sense to them. The images and words shared will then be shown in an online exhibition during the conference.

2021 Festival of Preaching: 13-14 September 2021 | Online and at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Find out more and book tickets - https://festivalofpreaching.hymnsam.co.uk/buy-tickets/. Over two days we'll explore preaching and interpretation in-depth, hear sermons from skilled preachers, and join together in worship. We are delighted to be welcoming some outstanding new speakers to the festival, as well as hearing afresh from some of those who have joined us in the past. For 2021, the full programme will be streamed online. Take part from wherever you are in the world. Watch live on your computer, phone or smart TV, or access the recorded sessions at a later time. The first day of the festival - Monday 13 September - will be broadcast live from St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Book a seat to join us in the church. The Tuesday programme is online only.

Culture Clinic: Monday 20 September, 14:00-15:00, zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/culture-clinic-tickets-165198654623. Culture Clinic is for anyone and everyone looking to develop their church cultural activity. Stuck? Ideas? Check in for 1:1 support. Culture Clinic is the new monthly offer for anyone and everyone looking for support in developing their church cultural engagement - from setting up a gallery space, developing space gigs, hosting comedy or movie nights. The clinic offers 'how to'... helps. Space to share your stories, experience, ideas... Space to find support. Culture vulture - but stuck? Or have ideas to share? Or looking for a fellow conspirator? Why not check into the clinic? Always practical, useful, full of ideas and tactics. The clinic is monthly 1:1 support with Sarah Rogers - HeartEdge Culture Development coordinator.

HeartEdge SouthWest Day: Wednesday, 22 September 2021, 10:00 – 15:30 BST. St Mary's Church, 32 Chapel Street, Penzance TR18 4AQ. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heartedge-southwest-day-tickets-165420833165. A day with Sam Wells and guests on mission, developing cultural activity and commercial enterprise in rural and coastal communities across the Southwest. With space to share ideas, and find practical ideas and tips for developing enterprise and cultural activities this will be useful if you want to develop cultural activity or social enterprise, working with your congregation and the wider community. With input, practical ideas and workshops from: Dave Nicholson on food pantries and shifting to trading; Sarah Rogers on establishing audiences and growing cultural events; plus `Transformation Cornwall; and the School for Social Entrepreneurs. A day for church leaders and those active in their church and community. We'll look at sustaining and developing church and community involvement with tactics and approaches, helping to build a useful network.

Social Media: Saintly or Sinful (The Church’s People and Social Media Today) - Wed, September 22, 2021, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM BST. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-media-saintly-or-sinful-tickets-168179903619. In partnership with the CEEP Network, we are hosting a conversation on social media. Our panel of active social media users and those who study social media professionally will explore how Christians can use the various available platforms to share the Good News. They will also share personal experiences about some the joyful experiences they’ve had on the platforms as well as some examples of the ways they can be divisive and harmful. This is an important conversation and one you won’t want to miss. Over the last decade, social media (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter) has penetrated every aspect of our lives. Whether we are active on the platforms or remain ardently opposed to joining, the discussions and debates taking place with or without us are directing social discourse, influencing the news cycle, and, in many cases, driving decision making. Social media offers Christians an opportunity to live out our calling to share the good news of Jesus Christ. It helps us stay connected, share our joys and challenges, and learn more about the world around us. Indeed, one of its many joys is that it is immediate, interactive, conversational, and open-ended. And yet, there is also a dark side. Seemingly benign posts can result in painful reactions and vicious behaviour is not uncommon (and, indeed, the seeming anonymity of the internet can encourage such behaviour). Common sense, kindness, and sound judgement often used in face-to-face encounters can vanish when we are at the keyboard. Join us for a panel of social media users and those studying behaviours on the platform. This conversation will range from how we can engage in behaviours reflecting our values and how we might consider interacting with those online who don’t share our same values. Our panel will share their real-world experiences of navigating this new media ecosystem and how we might create personal approaches and church strategies and policies for utilizing them. We hope attendees will leave this session with some new practical and theological ideas to consider and with strategies to love our neighbours and practice civil discourse on social media. Panelists include: Daniel Brereton - Priest-in-Charge, St. John’s Dixie Church; Mississauga, Ontario; Heidi Campbell - Professor of Communications, Texas A&M University; Vice-President of the Society, Media, Religion & Culture; College Station, Texas; Amaris Cole - Head of Digital, The Church of England; London, United Kingdom; Jemonde Taylor - Rector, St. Ambrose Episcopal Church; Raleigh, North Carolina; Timothy Schenck - Rector, The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist; Hingham, Massachusetts; and Alan Yarborough - Church Relations Officer, The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations; Washington, D.C.

Commerce Clinic: Monday 27 September, 14:00-15:00, zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/commerce-clinic-tickets-165200032745. Commerce Clinic is for anyone and everyone looking to develop their church enterprise activity. Stuck? Ideas? Check in for 1:1 support. Commerce Clinic is the new monthly offer for anyone and everyone looking for support in developing their church commercial engagement - from setting up a cafe, developing your venue, running a Food Pantry or other social enterprises. The clinic offers 'how to'... helps. Space to share your stories, experience, ideas... Space to find support. Have ideas to share? Or looking for a fellow conspirator? Why not check into the clinic? Always practical, useful, full of ideas and tactics. The clinic is monthly 1:1 support with Dave Nicholson - HeartEdge Commercial Development coordinator.

Autumn Lecture Series – We Have a Dream: The Dream for the Church, Most Revd Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York. Monday 27 September, 19:00 – 20:30 (GMT). Tickets: www.smitf.org/lectures. "After the ravages of the pandemic, it’s time for church and society to learn to dream again. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, had a dream of racial equality and social justice. Inspired by his dream, we’re gathering a chorus of dreamers from different walks of life to inform and shape our dreams for the years to come." (Revd Dr Sam Wells) We have a dream, the Autumn Lecture Series at St Martin-in-the-Fields for 2021 brings together an inspirational group of speakers. It invites them to dream again on the vital issues of our nation and planet, after a pandemic that has changed the way we live and relate to one another and the world. Drawing on Martin Luther King Jr’s famous words, we aim in this series to address for today some of the essential choices and needs and hopes facing our precious and yet wounded world. Who are the prophetic voices for our time, and how can the church answer that challenge? How do we respond to the crucial issues reshaping our world like migration and those seeking sanctuary and safety through their journeys? How does racialised justice and ‘Black Lives Matter’ confront our history, our present inequalities and the way we live our future? What is the threat to our planet and the danger of extinction, and what is so crucial at the COP26 Global Summit? What is the place of theatre and the creative arts in the way we learn to understand our world and live our dreams? What is the vision of St Martin’s, at the heart, on the edge, seeking a vision of faith that can find God’s abundance even in scarcity that can inspire people to dream again even in the face of adversity? These lectures will be live, in person, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and will also be live-streamed online. There will be a chance for questions from the audience, and we hope to gather with the speakers afterwards at a reception. We ask those booking tickets to make a donation of £10 towards the cost of the series, but it is also our aim to make the lectures open to all, so limited free places are available. Those who can give more are invited to pay for a free place for someone else to make sure this programme is available for all.

What Future for Post-Pandemic Church? A HeartEdge Introductory day: Thursday, 28 September 2021, 10:00 – 15:30 BST. Liverpool Parish Church (Our Lady and Saint Nicholas). Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-future-for-post-pandemic-church-a-heartedge-introductory-day-tickets-152508221195?aff=erellivmlt. An ecumenical day with Sam Wells and guests exploring theology and the future of the church in Liverpool and the North West. Join Sam Wells, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, Kathy Versfeld, Kath Rogers, Jackie Belfield and many others. We'll look at the HeartEdge 4Cs and how they work across Liverpool and the North west - including: Congregation: Liturgy, worship & congregations; Commerce: Being entrepreneurial, rethinking church buildings, growing income via enterprise; Compassion: Growing participation to address social need; and Culture: Art, music and ideas connecting communities. We're excited to be planning this as a physical event in Liverpool Parish Church and are charging £5 which we hope (Covid advice at the time permitting) will include lunch. We'll send more details about lunch and the appropriate arrangements nearer the time.

See www.heartedge.org to join HeartEdge and for more information.

Are we missing something? Be in touch with your ideas for development.

Want to run an online workshop or series with HeartEdge? Don't keep it to yourself. Be in touch and let's plan.

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Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir - Optimistic.

 

Saturday 21 August 2021

Windows on the world (341)


 Slimbridge, 2021

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Chrissie Hynde - Every Grain Of Sand.

Friday 20 August 2021

Church Times: Proverbs of Micah Purnell, poster painter

iMy latest feature article for Church Times is an interview with artist and designer Micah Purnell:

'Text-based work is what gets his creative juices flowing, and that has a somewhat surprising source, which pre-dates his training in graphic design, advertising, visual art, and culture. He says that it “probably comes from the Wisdom literature in the Bible that I was exposed to as a teen and enjoyed reading growing up”.

His work involves “playing with words and editing it down and trying to be as succinct as possible”.

Looking at Proverbs, he was impressed by “how pithy and enlightening they are”.“A lot of the phrases that I find in Proverbs talk about the power of the spoken word,” he says, “how you can build people up or bring them down, such as Proverbs 15.1, ‘A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.’”'

His work can currently be seen in Wembley Park's free art trail which consists of 14 pieces across a number of mediums, including paints, digital mixed media and upcycled materials. Underpinned by a sense of togetherness, diversity and hope, Micah's Against the Odds and Power in Unity were inspired by people uniting in tougher times to stand together for the greater good. A theme he has been looking over through 2020 and 2021, Micah sought to bring a positive and memorable experience to Wembley Park, creating an 'Ahhh' moment through the powerful design.

I have worked with Micah on a number of occasions over the past two years. See these articles and workshops at:
Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.

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Tuesday 17 August 2021

Artlyst - Roger Cecil: A Once In A Generation Welsh Painter

My latest review for Artlyst is of Roger Cecil – A Secret Artist at y Gaer Museum & Art Gallery:

'From his base in the Ebbw Fach valley, Cecil was inspired by the way in which the industrial combined with the natural environment; his pictures evoking the scars of the valley and the grandeur of nature on the mountainsides where he walked, often staying out for nights on end. Peter Wakelin, author of ‘Roger Cecil: A Secret Artist,’ writes that Cecil’s ‘paintings sang with harmonies of greys, pinks, whites, deep brown and coal-black, and they were complex in texture – rough, dry, polished, pitted.’ 

His style was abstract or semi-abstract, with landforms and bodies often viewed from above and erotically interlocked. Cartographic symbols were graffitied into layers of paint using lines that walked the landscapes they sketched. He scratched and scraped marks and images into the layered ground of his paintings, the marks being, Wakelin suggests, ‘like the scars in his abused industrial landscape’ but also bringing ‘to mind shamanic objects’ that hint ‘at concealed meanings’. In 1995, he saw the Royal Academy’s Africa exhibition, becoming fascinated with the role of the artist/shaman as ‘the one who manifests secrets to be decoded or interpreted by the viewer’.' 

See also my sermon Essential Wisdom which also explores aspects of Roger Cecil's life and work.

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Articles -

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Monday 16 August 2021

Nicola Ravenscroft: Daily Express article

The sculptor Nicola Ravenscroft, who currently has an exhibition at St Martin-in-the-Fields of her ‘With the Heart of a Child’ sculptures, has been commissioned to create a sculpture as a Memorial to NHS and Care workers who have died during the pandemic. The project is featured today on the front page and in a double-page spread in the Daily Express - https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1477390/memorial-for-NHS-Heroes-bronze-sculpture-honour-donate.

Read my interview with Nicola for Artlyst here.

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Raphael Ravenscroft - And A Little Child Shall Lead Them.

Sunday 15 August 2021

Essential wisdom

Here's the sermon I preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields this morning:

At age 21 Roger Cecil walked away from a scholarship at the Royal College of Art after just one week to ensure he focused on his artwork without being influenced by other students. Was he wise or was he foolish? His decision attracted the attention of the BBC who interviewed members of his family, community, and college for the 1964 film ‘A Quiet Rebel’. Most of those interviewed, for differing reasons, expressed confusion and disapprobation at Cecil’s decision.

At age 30 Jesus began his public ministry knowing it would lead him to Jerusalem and to crucifixion. He repeatedly told his disciples what would happen to him and resisted any attempt to dissuade him. Was he wise or was he foolish? His teaching on his task was either not understood by his disciples or actively resisted, so much so that at the point of his death his disciples either betrayed or denied him or ran away.

The young King Solomon may have been around 20 when he became King and asked for wisdom instead of long life, riches, or the death of his enemies (1 Kings 2.10-12, 3.3-14). He is understood to have been wise. God was pleased with Solomon's request and personally answered his prayer. This has often been understood as being because Solomon did not ask for self-serving rewards. However, there is something deeper happening here, something which connects the destinies of the three people with which I have begun. I hope that by reflecting on their stories we can come to understand what gaining wisdom might look like for us.

We can firstly understand Solomon to be wise already, as he recognised his own limitations as a young man and an even younger King so asked for God's help and wisdom in ruling well. He recognised that he was facing a huge task – ruling a people who were so many that they could not be counted – and that he didn’t have the life experience or knowledge to carry out the task – “I am very young and don't know how to rule.” Wisdom starts with a realistic assessment of the situation we find ourselves in. It is only once we have a realistic understanding of where our starting point is that we can begin to find ways forward. So, Solomon showed wisdom before he asked for and was given wisdom.

Secondly, we can also understand Solomon’s request in terms of something essential to good governance. When the people of Israel first asked for a King, God told them, through Samuel, who was both prophet and Judge, that their Kings would be self-serving by centralising land and wealth in the hands of a few. Later in scripture, after Solomon’s reign, we see that this came to pass, as the majority of those that followed Solomon as King did not possess his wisdom. Instead, they used their position and power to exploit others for their own personal gain. They oppressed and exploited their people in ways that were unjust and when they were then criticised by the prophets God sent to denounce them it was lack of justice that the prophets highlighted. Solomon rejected that temptation by asking for wisdom instead of self-serving rewards and, by doing so, identified that the essence of good governance is that the one with power and resources acts justly for the good of all the people, not simply the few.

Identifying the essence of the role we are to play or the vocation we have in life is key to this story and to the finding of wisdom. Solomon writes in the Book of Proverbs that wisdom was a co-worker with God in creation. When the world and its creatures were being shaped, formed, and defined, wisdom was beside God, making sure everything fitted, delighting in the world of things and creatures, happily celebrating the human family. (Proverbs 8. 30). We see this aspect of wisdom fleshed out in another of the creation stories of the people of Israel, a story about the wisdom of identifying essence. The Book of Genesis gives us the story of Adam, in partnership with God, naming the animals. Names in ancient cultures had power because they described the essence of what it was that had been named. So, in this story, Adam identified the essence of each creature that came before him in order to see and work with that creature’s place in the circle of life. In a similar way, Solomon had to identify the essence of being a monarch in order to understand the role he was to play for the people of Israel. That role was one of identifying justice, equity, and fairness for all. Solomon realised that wisdom involves working with God to identify essence and then working with the grain of that understanding.

Jesus came to a similar place as he explored the scriptures for himself as a child growing up in Nazareth. He identified scriptures about the role of the people of Israel as applying to himself, so that when he later read from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth, he could say that that scripture had been fulfilled in their presence that day. He understood that, through his people, God wished to demonstrate that he is with all people through death into life. Jesus saw that the essence of incarnation was to live that reality, so knew his path through life - crucifixion, resurrection, ascension - and would not be distracted from it.

While on holiday I saw a retrospective exhibition of Roger Cecil’s work, the final exhibition for the foreseeable future in a series organised by the artist’s estate following his death in 2015. Entitled ‘A Secret Artist’ the exhibition provided answers to the central secret held by Cecil and his art. At its heart was a secret love to which he was devoted; a love that combined home, Wales, and the landscape of Abertillery.

When interviewed in 1964 for the BBC film ‘A Quiet Rebel’, Cecil spoke of his worry that at the Royal College of Art each artist would become 'a bit of everybody', each influencing the other. He left and went home to 'do painting my way ... the way I feel it.' At 21 he knew the essence of his art was the landscape of Wales and that of his home in Abertillery in particular. For him, to have been separate from that source of inspiration would have diluted his art.

45 years on from walking out of the Royal College of Art and after a career in which he made the art he wanted in the way he wanted and still found access to galleries and sales, he said: ‘I am very lucky, because ... ninety-nine per cent of people, they don't know what they do, all their life. You imagine that. Terrible, isn't it! To think they go through life and they don't know what they do. Now, I'm lucky. I'm very fortunate. I knew from when I was about ten. I wanted to do art. And I've done it.'

Wisdom comes from knowing who we are and who or what others are in God. Remembering we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God in our mother's wombs and therefore have unique contributions to life only we can make through the particular combination of gifts and talents and personalities we have been given. Such wisdom is gained by understanding essence and working with it.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes about the importance of remembering your creator in the days of your youth, “before the days of trouble come … and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12.1&7). I think one understanding of that statement is about finding the wisdom of essence early on in life, as was the case for Solomon, Jesus and Roger Cecil. We are most likely to do so if, like Solomon, we recognise the limitations of youth and use that understanding as motivation to cry out for insight, seeking wisdom like silver, and searching for it as for hidden treasures (Proverbs 2.3&4).

However, Solomon’s statement was not primarily about coming to that understanding early in life but instead more about finding that wisdom before death comes to us, in the time that we have available to us. For many, perhaps most of us, that is the journey of a lifetime.

That has certainly been my own experience. My call to ordination came in my forties and involved the recognition that my interests and experience in church, the Arts, social action, and employment, could all come together and be blended within ordained ministry. Experiencing that blend within my ministry in East London meant that when, in my fifties, I saw the advert for the role I now have here at St Martin’s - which through the 4 Cs brings together congregation, culture, compassion and commerce – I could see that this was a role that fitted perfectly with my experience and interests and through which the essence of who I am in God could be expressed. It took more than half a lifetime to reach that point but that was not wasted time, rather essential preparation for recognising and relishing the role.

Finally, the urgency of Solomon’s statement is because identification of essence is essential wisdom. It is wisdom that leads us to Christ, for the individual identity of any object is the stamp of divine creation on it. That was the great insight of the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins; that the world is “news of God” and therefore “its end, its purpose, its purport, its meaning and its life and work is to name and praise” God.

How do God's creatures "give him glory"? Hopkins’ answer was “Merely by being themselves, by doing themselves”, by living out their essence. “Selfhood is not a static possession, but an activity:

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves-goes itself; myself it speaks and spells;
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.”[i]

All things, Hopkins wrote, “are charged with love, are charged with God and if we know how to touch them give off sparks and take fire, yield drops and flow, ring and tell of him.”[ii] By being our essential selves Christ is revealed in us. Hopkins concluded:

I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Christ — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

Hopkins claimed we are most Christ-like when we act as our essential selves because then we are most fully in touch with the person we were created to be. We have briefly considered how Solomon, Jesus and Roger Cecil each discerned their essence. Solomon considering his legacy as David’s son and as a child of God before then looking at the demands of the role he had to play. Jesus in searching the scriptures to understand the call on his life and Cecil realising his love for the landscape of his home before making that the essence of his art. What is it that characterises your life and loves? What is it that only you can do for God as a result? In searching for the answers to those questions, you will act in God’s eye what in God’s eye you are – Christ – and know wisdom, as Christ plays to the Father through the features of your face. Amen.

For more on essence see my Bread for the World reflection on 'Creativity and sacramental sight' by clicking here.

[i] The Creation of the Self in Gerard Manley Hopkins, J. Hillis Miller, ELH, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Dec., 1955), pp. 293-319
[ii] The Sermons and Devotional Writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Leonard Cohen - Steer Your Way.

Saturday 14 August 2021

Windows on the world (340)


 Canary Wharf, 2021

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Friday 13 August 2021

Artlyst - Tino Sehgal: Location, Nature And Pandemic – Blenheim Palace

My latest review for Artlyst is of Tino Sehgal at Blenheim Park and Gardens:

'There are three strands to Sehgal’s work here: responses to location, nature, and the pandemic. These can be witty juxtapositions, as with the location of ‘Kiss’ in front of Massimiliano Soldani Benzi’s ‘The Medici Venus’ and ‘The Clapping Faun’. The contrast bringing to the fore the joy and challenge of sensual expression in the live encounter as opposed to its taming in the aristocratic acceptance of classical form. Then, in the first scene I encountered involving the swarm – a chanted work in the East Courtyard – came the most explicit reference to Sehgal’s wish to address the global sustainability challenge of the coming decades.

However, the strongest strand to emerge is a celebration, after a long year distanced one from another, of the fleeting, immaterial magic of human connection through bodies together in spaces and the everyday poetics of people’s lives and stories. After our experience of pandemic, that felt more than enough.’

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Articles -

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Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People.