Between: 2024

Friday 26 April 2024

Seen and Unseen: Blake, imagination and the insight of God

My latest article for Seen & Unseen is 'Blake, imagination and the insight of God', exploring a new exhibition - 'William Blake's Universe at the Fitzwilliam Museum - which focuses on seekers of spiritual regeneration and national revival:

'This exhibition demonstrates that many of great Romantic philosophers and writers were seeking just such a spiritual regeneration and national revival. In our own time of war, revolution and political turbulence, it may be that this is a prescient exhibition bringing us artists who, as [Lucy] Winkett said of Blake, have ‘a distinctively Christian voice for our time’.'

See also my article for Seen and Unseen on 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explore a tradition of visionary artists beginning with Blake whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My first article for Seen and Unseen was 'Life is more important than art' which reviews the themes of recent art exhibitions that tackle life’s big questions and the roles creators take.

My second article 'Corinne Bailey Rae’s energised and anguished creative journey' explores inspirations in Detroit, Leeds and Ethiopia for Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, Black Rainbows, which is an atlas of capacious faith.

My third article was an interview with musician and priest Rev Simpkins in which we discussed how music is an expression of humanity and his faith.

My fourth article was a guide to the Christmas season’s art, past and present. Traditionally at this time of year “great art comes tumbling through your letterbox” so, in this article, I explore the historic and contemporary art of Christmas.

My fifth article was 'Finding the human amid the wreckage of migration'. In this article I interviewed Shezad Dawood about his multimedia Leviathan exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral where personal objects recovered from ocean depths tell a story of modern and ancient migrations.

My sixth article was 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explored a tradition of visionary artists whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My seventh article was 'How the incomer’s eye sees identity' in which I explain how curating an exhibition for Ben Uri Online gave me the chance to highlight synergies between ancient texts and current issues.

My eighth article was 'Infernal rebellion and the questions it asks' in which I interview the author Nicholas Papadopulos about his book The Infernal Word: Notes from a Rebel Angel.

My ninth article was 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' in which I review Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death and explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.

My 10th article was 'Theresa Lola's poetical hope' about the death-haunted yet lyrical, joyful and moving poet for a new generation.

My 11th article was 'How to look at our world: Aaron Rosen interview', exploring themes from Rosen's book 'What Would Jesus See: Ways of Looking at a Disorienting World'.

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Michael Griffin - London.

Monday 22 April 2024

Artlyst: The Last Caravaggio - National Gallery

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on 'The Last Caravaggio' at the National Gallery:

'Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, as both a revolutionary artist and a violent individual in a violent age, divides eras and opinions.

His paintings are strikingly original and emotionally charged with their intense naturalism, dramatic lighting and powerful storytelling. These elements of his work have had a lasting impact on European art and continue to reverberate to this day. His focus on the human in depicting stories of the divine reversed the idealisation of the human primarily found in the Western tradition up to that point and introduced a new language to painting, one that would eventually result in Rembrandt’s ability to reveal the divine in his sitters and characters.'

See also my first article for Artlyst - Was Caravaggio a Good Christian?

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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Gregory Porter - Revival.

Sunday 21 April 2024

Team Rector of the Billericay & Little Burstead Team Ministry

Check out this exciting opportunity to develop, innovate and co-ordinate a parish wide Team ministry in the vibrant town of Billericay which has easy access to both London and the countryside.

The role of Team Rector for The Billericay and Little Burstead Team Ministry is an exciting opportunity to work with four Churches and one Chapel of Ease. You would be leading and working alongside experienced and committed Clergy, Licensed Lay Ministers, Church Wardens and laity.

In recent years the Team Churches have developed ways of working together allowing friendships and fellowship to grow. We are looking for the right person who will enable this to continue, as well as encouraging an ever-deepening relationship with Christ, and equipping everyone to share the Good News of the Gospel.

We are seeking someone to lead the team who:

has an evangelical conviction and has a passion for growing churches
will enjoy developing, innovating and co-ordinating a parish wide ministry
values working alongside and developing lay people as part of an effective team

Closing date: 28th May 2024

Click here for more information and here for the Parish Profile.

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Ricky Ross, Hannah White & Keiron Marshall - Pale Rider.

Windows on the world (463)

London, 2024

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T Bone Burnett - The Pain Of Love.

Friday 19 April 2024

Brand New Day: Runwell Art Club exhibition

Brand New Day: Runwell Art Club exhibition
Friday 19 April – Friday 26 July 2024
St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN

The summer exhibition at St Andrew's Wickford is called 'Brand New Day' and is a group show by Runwell Art Club. The theme is explored through landscapes and portraits with animals, babies and sunrises featuring prominently.

Runwell Art Club is a small but thriving art club that was started in 2010 by two dedicated artists, Carole Wellby and Paula Sloane. They meet in Runwell, every Friday at 10am.

St Andrew’s is usually open: Sat 9am-12.30pm; Sun 9.30am-12 noon; Mon 2-3.45pm; Tue 1-4.30pm; Wed 10am-12 noon; Fri 10am-1pm.

Exhibition viewing evening at ‘Unveiled’ - Friday 3 May, 7.00 pm.

See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.

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Water into Wine Band - Hillclimbing For Beginners.

Wednesday 17 April 2024

Testimony in the courtroom of life

Here's the sermon I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr, and was stoned to death (Acts 7. 54-60). Saul (the future Saint Paul) guards the clothes of those who stone Saint Stephen outside the city. In the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen is described as one of the seven deacons whose job it is to care for the widows in the early Church in Jerusalem. His eloquent speech before the Sanhedrin, in which he shows the great sweep of Jewish history as leading to the birth of Jesus, the long-expected Messiah, and his impassioned plea that all might hear the good news of Jesus, leads to his inevitable martyrdom by being stoned to death.

As the author of Acts, Luke's description of Stephen bears direct parallels to that of Christ: for example, being filled with the Holy Spirit; seeing the Son of God as the right hand of God, as Jesus promised he would be; commending his spirit to Jesus, as Jesus commended his to the Father; kneeling as Jesus did in Gethsemane and asking forgiveness for his persecutors. Witnessing to Jesus by acting like Jesus in every way is thus seen by Luke as of the essence of the Christian life.

The Greek word "martus" signifies a "witness". It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ. The Apostles, from the beginning as the story of St Stephen makes clear, faced grave dangers, until eventually almost all suffered death for their convictions. Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term martus came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testified to, under penalty of death. From this stage the transition was easy to the ordinary meaning of the term, as used ever since in Christian literature: a martyr, or witness of Christ, as a person who suffers death rather than deny his faith.

There continue to be Christians who experience persecution or martyrdom today and we must pray for and support our brothers and sisters in the persecuted Church. It is, probably, unlikely that we will share with St Stephen in this experience, even so, we can still share with St Stephen in the other meaning of martus; that of being a witness who gives testimony. The missiologist Lesslie Newbigin has explained that testimony is what is given by a witness in a trial. A witness makes his or her statement as part of a trial in which the truth is at stake and where the question, ‘What is the truth?’ is what is being argued. Newbigin has argued that this is what is “at the heart of the biblical vision of the human situation that the believer is a witness who gives his testimony in a trial.”

Where is the trial? It is all around us, it is life itself? In all situations we encounter, there is challenge to our faith and there is a need for us to testify in words and actions to our belief in Christ. Whenever people act as though human beings are entirely self-relient, there is a challenge to our faith. Whenever people argue that suffering and disasters mean that there cannot be a good God, we are on the witness stand. Whenever people claim that scientific advances or psychological insights can explain away belief in God, we are in the courtroom. Whenever a response of love is called for, our witness is at stake.

What is the content of our testimony? Witnesses are those who have seen or experienced a particular event or sign or happening and who then tell the story of what they have seen or heard as testimony to others. That is what Jesus called us to do before he ascended to the Father; to tell our stories of encountering him to others. So, we don’t have to understand or be able to explain the key doctrines of the Christian faith. We don’t have to be able to tell people the two ways to live or to have memorized the sinner’s prayer or to have tracts to be able to hand out in order to be witnesses to Jesus. All we need to do is to tell our story; to say this is how Jesus made himself real to me and this is the difference that it has made.

Malcolm Guite sums up these thoughts as follows:

Witness for Jesus, man of fruitful blood,
Your martyrdom begins and stands for all.
They saw the stones, you saw the face of God,
And sowed a seed that blossomed in St. Paul.
When Saul departed breathing threats and slaughter
He had to pass through that Damascus gate
Where he had held the coats and heard the laughter
As Christ, alive in you, forgave his hate,
And showed him the same light you saw from heaven
And taught him, through his blindness, how to see;
Christ did not ask ‘Why were you stoning Stephen?’
But ‘Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
Each martyr after you adds to his story,
As clouds of witness shine through clouds of glory. ()

Prayer: Gracious Father, who gave the first martyr Stephen grace to pray for those who took up stones against him: grant that in all our sufferings for the truth we may learn to love even our enemies and to seek forgiveness for those who desire our hurt, looking up to heaven to him who was crucified for us, Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Malcolm Guite and Rob Groves - Angels Unawares.

Monday 15 April 2024

Jackie E. Burns and Lunar Lullabies

Jackie E. Burns is a Fellow of the International Association of Astronomical Artists and seeks to foster the inquisitive joy of art and astronomy while inspiring people to the awe and beauty of space and astronomy. As an astronomical artist, she specializes in terrestrial and extra-terrestrial landscapes. She also creates celtic and medieval illuminations. She is a workshop designer, gives illustrated lectures and is an art exhibition curator for conferences and conventions.

Jackie exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford last year and now her work is to feature in a major exhibition of space art at Firstsite. Lunar Lullabies will offer a galactic journey through 200 years of space exploration.

Join Colchester’s own Jane Taylor on a celestial adventure, inspired by her timeless poem, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Embark on a cosmic odyssey as Firstsite commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Essex writer’s passing and trace the fascinating legacy of the beloved nursery rhyme and its influence on modern-day comics and video games.

Discover how science, art and imagination have intertwined over the centuries to shape our culture and fuel our dreams of distant galaxies.

Lunar Lullabies will showcase stunning artworks which explore space and science, alongside historical artefacts and contemporary pop culture nods. Explore objects ranging from meteorites and asteroid rocks to Lego Star Wars sets up close, discover all about humanity’s ‘giant leap’ to the moon and get lost in Peter Elson’s fantastical visions of space.

Families will have the opportunities to bring their own cosmic creations to life, transforming the gallery into an immersive playscape of imagination and discovery. From interactive space objects, and immersive extra-terrestrial landscapes to sculptures of robots and rockets, there’s something for every space enthusiast, young and old. Join this stellar voyage, where art, science, and dreams collide. Your journey to the stars awaits!

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David Bowie - Space Oddity.

Sunday 14 April 2024

Windows on the world (462)

Lyvden, 2024

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Scott Stapp - Ready To Love.

The only true leadership

Here's the sermon I shared at St Mary Magdalene Great Burstead this morning:

“In a pastoral society like ancient Israel, sheep and shepherds were used to describe the relationship of God with his people: ‘the Lord is my shepherd’ and ‘we are his people, the sheep of his pasture’ (Pss 23:1; 100:3)” (Richard A. Burridge, John).

In Jesus’ time, sheep were very important as they provided both food and clothing. Shepherd’s had to have a nomadic lifestyle because of the available pasture. They had to travel with their sheep from one region to another as the seasons changed. This created the close relationship between sheep and shepherd that we hear Jesus describing and using in this reading: “The Shepherd cares for his sheep, calls them by name, leads them to pasture and water, finds shelter for them in inclement weather, defends them against bandits and wolves, and willingly lays down his life for them. The sheep have great confidence in the shepherd. They recognize his voice, obey his commands, and they follow wherever he leads them” (http://www.frksj.org/homily_the_good_shepherd.htm).

“The word “good” (kalos …) means first and foremost beautiful – the good shepherd is attractive. At the same time he is good at his work. So this attractive and very skilled shepherd draws us to himself and is able to provide accurately for our needs” (Stephen Verney, Water into Wine)

The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10. 11 – 18): “The word “life” (psychē …) is impossible to translate by any one English word. The psychē means the self, or the ego, or the soul. It can be the centre of our earthly life, or the centre of our supernatural life. If the shepherd lays down his psychē for the sheep he is offering them this centre of his inner life, in all its varied aspects …” (Verney).

Lesslie Newbigin writes that: “Here is the unmistakable criterion by which true leadership is to be distinguished from false. We are familiar with the kind of leadership which is simply a vast overextension of the ego. The ultimate goal – whether openly acknowledged or not – is the glory of the leader. The rest are instrumental to this end. He does not love them but makes use of them for his own ends. He is a hireling – in the business of leadership for what he can get out it. By contrast the mark of the true leader is that of the cross” (The Light Has Come).

“Jesus …is the good shepherd, who knows his own sheep as they know him (10:14). Shepherds called their sheep out of the fold by their names and the flock followed their voice (10:3-4). The Greek word for church literally means ‘called out’, ec-clesia, from which all our ‘ecclesiastical’ words are derived. Jesus’ knowledge of his sheep is rooted in his knowledge of his Father and his Father knowing him as his Son.” (Burridge) Stephen Verney writes that “… the Son can do nothing of himself, but he simply looks at the Father and whatever he sees the Father doing so he does too … the Father holds back nothing for himself but gives everything to the Son. So it is, says Jesus, between the Good Shepherd and his sheep – between me and mine, and mine and me. They are in my heart, and there I see them in all their human ambiguity. I see what they are and what they can be, and I give myself to them. And I am in their hearts … That is how the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, and how they know him. They do not simply know about him, or pass examinations in theology, or even read books about John’s gospel. They know him in their personal experience.” (Verney).

“What is more, God’s love is universal, so the shepherd must also be concerned for ‘other sheep … not of this fold’, who will also hear his voice and be brought together into one flock (10:16)” (Burridge). What Jesus says here is that what he offers is not simply for a little exclusive group but is for the whole human race.

This is a challenge then to all involved in the pastoral care of God’s people. It takes time and effort to know everyone individually, even as God knows us, and caring for them as Christ laid down his life for us may demand the ultimate sacrifice. The ordination charge for priests in the Church of England says ‘as servant and shepherd … set the Good Shepherd always before you as the pattern of your calling … to search for his children in the wilderness of this world’s temptations … the treasure now to be entrusted to you is Christ’s own flock’. This is true whether we are an Archbishop or a bible study group leader, a minister or just visiting an elderly person around the corner – we love others as the good shepherd loves us.” As Lesslie Newbigin writes, “This is the way for all humankind, and to follow this way is to learn the only true leadership.” May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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11.59 - Psalm 23 - The Shepherd.

Make our scars beautiful like your scars

Here's the sermon I shared at both St Mary Magdalene Great Burstead and St Mary the Virgin Little Burstead this morning:

Jesus said, “Look at my hands and feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see …” ( Luke 24. 36b – 48)

During my curacy I knew a lady called Mandy whose arms are a web of scars from having self-harmed for fourteen years from the age of fourteen. At one point she needed 300 internal and external stitches. Her scars, as you can imagine, are so extensive that there is no way she can completely hide or cover them up. Now that she no longer self-harms, she is encouraged and helped by the realisation that Jesus also bears scars on his resurrected body.

When Jesus says to his disciples, “Look at my hands and feet … Touch me and see”, it is the scars (from the nails that were driven into his hands and feet while on the cross and the spear that was thrust into his side) that he is asking his disciples to look at and touch. These scars are part of Christ’s resurrected body.

Why was this important to Mandy? For her this was about identification. She and Jesus are similar because both bear scars. She need not feel different or unusual or excluded because the marks that mark her out as being different from many other people are also borne by Jesus. She feels at one with him, included and accepted by him, because he bears similar marks on his body to those she also bears.

She has expressed it like this: “Having Jesus in my life now has made me look at things in a very different light. You see, to be an anybody, anywhere is to look into the eyes of someone who matters to you and know that they don't care what or who you are, where you have been or what you have achieved. To be an anybody, anywhere is to look into those eyes and know that if you see love there, then you have earned it. Not for being a walking achievement or an interesting case or a social inspiration or a charity case, but just for being you. That is the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ; a loving and understanding heart. Not someone that is looking at what you did, instead he looks at what you will become. I have now found the best friendship and a sense of belonging and the love that I have always longed for. The mask that I had hidden behind for so long has now gone and I am no longer a label but a child of God.”

Roy McCloughry writes that Jesus “has taken up the marks of disability into himself” and that “his body, in showing how he suffered, offers solidarity with all who remain disabled.” Similarly, Nancy Eiesland says, “Resurrection is not about the negation or erasure of our disabled bodies in hopes of perfect images, untouched by physical disability; rather Christ’s resurrection offers hope that our nonconventional, and sometimes difficult, bodies participate fully in the imago Dei …”

In some ways this is a surprising realisation because we tend to think of resurrection as being our entry into whatever we imagine perfection to be; including, perhaps, the thought that supposed imperfections, like our scars, are healed and removed. Reflecting on some of the reasons why Jesus’ risen body shows the scars of his crucifixion may help us to revise our ideas about resurrection.

Scars are about healing. The formation of a scar is a part of the healing process and where they remain on our bodies they are signs that significant healing has taken place. Christ’s resurrection is only achieved by way of the wounds he gained from the crucifixion. He is for us the risen Christ because he was firstly for us the crucified Christ. In a similar way our wounds inevitably form and shape us. We would not be who we are as we now are without having gone through or having endured those wounding experiences.

Jungian therapy suggests that it is only by being willing to face, consciously experience and go through our wounds that we will receive a blessing from them: ‘To go through our wound is to embrace, assent, and say “yes” to the mysteriously painful new place in ourselves where the wound is leading us. Going through our wound, we can allow ourselves to be re-created by the wound. Our wound is not a static entity, but rather a continually unfolding dynamic process that manifests, reveals and incarnates itself through us, which is to say that our wound is teaching us something about ourselves. Going through our wound means realizing we will never again be the same when we get to the other side of this initiatory process. Going through our wound is a genuine death experience, as our old self “dies” in the process, while a new, more expansive and empowered part of ourselves is potentially born’ (http://www.awakeninthedream.com/wordpress/the-wounded-healer-part-1/).

Scars are also about wounds. In Isaiah 53 we read: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering … and by his wounds we are healed.” Jesus saves us through his wounds. Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to his disciples at the last supper. Henri Nouwen, who is perhaps best known for applying Jungian thinking on the wounded healer to pastoral ministry, “interprets these acts as symbolising the way in which Jesus was taken by his father, blessed at his baptism, broken on the cross and then given to the world and that the same can be said of people (God’s beloved children according to Nouwen). This means that God reveals to people their chosenness and the blessing of being His beloved children; they are broken by life’s sorrows and the result of their brokenness is to be given to the world as a gift” (Philip Nolte).

That was Mandy’s experience as she shared her story with others and set up support groups which aimed to cut out the pain for those taking part. Mandy’s experience of acceptance in Christ in time led her to a place where she could talk openly about her experiences, particularly if by doing so she could help others cope with their traumas or move beyond the urge to self-harm. Those who are wounded often become wounded healers, with their experience of living with their wounds shaping their ministry to others facing similar experiences and circumstances.

So how could our resurrection lives and bodies not include what is both formative and loving in us, of us and about us? For that to be the case, however, we need to acknowledge that we are all wounded and scarred, to view the wounds we bear as being embraced by Christ, as formative in our lives and as opportunities which create potential in us to minister in future to others. An Easter Day Eucharistic Prayer includes these words, ‘make our scars beautiful like your scars’. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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John & Ross Harding - Yesterday Today Forever.

Friday 12 April 2024

Church Times Art review: Soulscapes at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London SE21

My latest exhibition review for C hurch T imes is on Soulscapes at Dulwich Picture Gallery:

'There is a positive vibe throughout this show through curatorial decisions that proactively chose works revealing the “universal possibilities of healing, reflection and belonging” found in nature.'

Check out my reviews of other exhibitions exploring themes found in the work of contemporary artists of global-majority heritage - In The Black Fantastic, Rites of Passage, and A World in Common.

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here. My writing for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Artlyst are here, those for Seen & Unseen are here, and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).

Wednesday 10 April 2024

God so loved ...

Here's the reflection based on John 3. 16 – 21 that I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

God so loved - love is from God because God is love; pure love, the essence of all that love is and can be. Love that is patient, kind, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love that does not insist on its own way; is not irritable or resentful, does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love that never ends.

God so loved the world - the heavens and the earth that God created in the beginning, the heavens which declare the glory of God and the sky that displays what his hands have made, humankind that God created in his own image. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. God so loved the world that he created in the beginning.

God so loved the world that he gave – true love involves giving; in fact true love is giving. Our love is often less than this. We speak of those we love as being everything we need or as soul mates who complete us, but rarely talk in terms of giving all we have to others. Yet that is the nature of God’s love, he gives all he has to us.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son – the Father gives us his Son and the Son gives his life, his whole life, even unto death. Yet, because Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God, this is a way of saying that what God gives to us is himself, everything he has and is.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life – God gives himself to us in order that we can become part of him and enter the very life of God himself. Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it to the full. Eternal life is the life of love that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share within the Godhead and in to which we are called to come and share by the ever-giving love that God the Father shows to us through God the Son.

God’s love has been revealed among us in this way, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. We live in the light of this love which reveals all that we can potentially be and become as human beings. We come into the light of Christ by comparing our lives to his.

As we do so, inevitably we find that we fall short; that our capacity to do what pleases him (by living out all goodness, righteousness and truth) is less than his capacity for these things. Generally when we make comparisons, we compare ourselves with others and so compare ourselves with those we think are worse than or similar to ourselves. We’ve all heard others and, maybe, ourselves saying ‘I’m alright, Jack!’ or ‘I’m as good as the next person, if not better!’ On the basis of these comparisons we think we are ok; at least no better or worse than others, at best, better than many others around us. On the basis of these comparisons we are comfortable with who we are and see no need to change.

In the light of the way that Jesus loved, we see our own lack of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, remain in darkness, and there is no truth in us. The true comparison that we make should not be with others, but with God. Jesus challenged us to ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ On the basis of that comparison, we all fall short. As St Paul writes, ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’

Jesus, through his life and death, showed us the depth of love of which human beings are really capable and, on the basis of that comparison, we come up well short and are in real need of change. It is when we live in the light of Christ, seeing ourselves as we really are that we become honest with ourselves and with God. By coming into that honesty we confess our sins and are purified; as we say in this service, let us confess our sins in penitence and faith, firmly resolved to live in love and peace with all.

As we read in the first letter of John: God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. We have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also (1 John 4. 7 – 21 abridged).

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James Kilbane - Love Is His Way.

Unveiled: Arts and performance events at St Andrew's Wickford

Unveiled: A regular Friday night arts and performance event at St Andrew’s Church, 7.00 – 9.00 pm, 11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN

See below for our Summer programme and http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for more information

Exhibitions, open mic nights, performances, talks and more!
Unveiled – a wide range of artist and performers from Essex and wider, including Open Mic nights (come and have a go!).
Unveiled – view our hidden painting by acclaimed artist David Folley, plus a range of other exhibitions.

Summer Programme 2024

19 April (7.30 pm) - Eva Romanakova in concert. Eva sings a wide genre of music; Musical Theatre, Arias, Pop, Jazz, Movie Songs and also Folk. She will sing music from various countries and different times.
3 May – Exhibition viewing evening. See ‘Brand New Day’, an exhibition by members of Runwell Art Club and meet artists from the Club.
17 May (7.30 pm) – Open Mic Night organised with John Rogers. Everybody is welcome to come along and play, read, sing or just spectate. See you there for a great evening of live performance!
31 May – Poets Tim Harrold & Jonathan Evens share a selection of poetry and prose from their own collections & those of their favourite poets. Tim is a poet who creates images of profound challenge and change. Jonathan’s poems & stories have been published by Amethyst Review, International Times & Stride.
14 June – Simon Law in concert. Simon has fronted the rock bands Fresh Claim, Sea Stone and Intransit, as well as being a founder of Plankton Records and becoming an Anglican Vicar.
28 June – Infusion Physical Theatre with Dance 21 perform a curtain raiser to ‘Soothe’, a thoughtful and rambunctious exploration of the three modes of emotional regulation: threat, drive, soothe. This is off-balance, emotive dance theatre embodying the hormones that push, pull and drag us through life.
12 July – Depeche Mode: Songs of Faith & Devotion. Jonathan Evens talks about Christian influences in the music of Basildon band, Depeche Mode.

These events do not require tickets (just turn up on the night). There will be a retiring collection to cover artist and church costs.

See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.

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Simon Law - The Haven.