London, 2024
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David Ackles - His Name Is Andrew.
Sunday, 29 December 2024
Friday, 27 December 2024
Methuselah, Amazing Blondel, Tom Yates
My latest article for Seen and Unseen is entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space through a survey of inter-connections between faith and music.
The article includes a link to my Spotify playlist 'Closer to the light' which includes a wide selection of the music I mention in this article. 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' is a review of Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death in which I explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.
My co-authored book The Secret Chord explores aspects of a similar interplay between faith and music (and the Arts, more broadly). Posts related to the themes of The Secret Chord can be found here.
Check out the following too to explore further:
Joe Marchese writes: "As the band's moniker might indicate, the first four tracks - named after the writers of the gospels - all had religious-themed lyrics, in essence forming a song suite. The lyrical themes continued on "My Poor Mary" ("My poor Mary, what's the matter/Born Jerusalem in the morning") and the heavy title track. "High in the Tower of Coombe," with its medieval flavor, augured for Amazing Blondel. "Fairy Tale" and "Fireball Woman" both emphasized their hard rock sound, with the latter in a particularly driving vein. The closing jam on the French nursery rhyme "Freres Jacques" (or "Brother John," first published around 1780) veered into jazz-rock territory."
Elektra failed to give the LP a UK release, and the US issue was delayed until October 1969 – by which time the band had split, with John Gladwin and Terry Wincott turning their backs on electricity to work as Amazing Blondel. Now highly regarded by collectors, the Methuselah album combined the group's West Coast-influenced harmony vocals with a late 60s psychedelic-into-progressive hard rock feel, largely down to the one-louder leads of Les Nicol, who'd been Mick Ronson's main rival for guitar hero status in the Hull group wars a couple of years earlier.
Terry Wincott wrote that "Amazing Blondel was formed by John Gladwin and myself after the break-up of too-loud rock band Methusalah. We were soon joined by a talent guitarist Eddie Baird and after a disastrous "showbiz" record signing, Amazing Blondel were recommend by the members of the band Free to Island boss Chris Blackwell. After signing to Island Records and Artists, Amazing Blondel quickly produced three albums with the above line-up and undertook a series of intensive international and national tours to promote them."
John Gladwin wrote that "Blondel was an attempt to re-create a past era and fashion a completely English music":
"Amazing Blondel reflected a further idiosyncratic appendage in the ever-more bewildering animal that was folk rock. The range of ideas and styles being introduced into the realms of folk music by the mid-'70s was so diverse that it even entered the hitherto semi-mythical realms of medieval music with its own peculiar instrumentation, complete with bassoons and crumhorns. While Gryphon catered the more studious, progressive rock end of that style, and City Waits concentrated on more authentic reconstructions, Amazing Blondel successfully bridged the popular gap in the middle. They always seemed slightly eccentric - sweet and a little out of place; Pseudo-Elizabethan/classical acoustic music, sung with British accents to the contemporary transatlantic audience of the day. From this unlikely combination they carved their niche and won a devoted cult following ... It wasn't folk music per se. It was all original period music, derived from Elizabethan and Renaissance inspiration, but palatable to 20th century audiences."
Religious-themed songs continued to feature among their "pseudo-Elizabethan/Classical acoustic music sung with "British" accents" including 'Canaan' (The Amazing Blondel), 'Evensong' (Evensong), 'Celestial Light (For Lincoln Cathedral)' and 'Safety in God Alone' (Fantasia Lindum), 'Cantus Firmus to Counterpoint' (England), and 'Benedictus Es Domine' (Restoration).
Celestial Light. A History of Amazing Blondel is the first book to trace the history of the band and contains interviews with all three members of the band as well as Adrian Hopkins (responsible for orchestration), Paul Empson (guitarist), Erik Bergman (model on the cover of the first LP), Phill Brown (sound engineer), Jerry Boys (sound engineer), John Glover (manager), John Donaghy (roadie), Sue Glover (backing vocalist and ex Brotherhood of Man), Steve Rowland (producer of first LP on Bell), Paul Fischer (luthier) and others.
Tom Yates was a regular on the Cheshire and North West folk scene back in the 1960s/70s before he left for Antwerp where he sang and wrote his songs up to his untimely death in 1993. Tom’s first album was on the CBS label in 1967 and later he released two more LPs in the 1970s. He colllaborated with Duncan Brown on some songs. Tom will also be remembered for the gigs he did in the clubs and for the folk club he ran at The White Horse in Disley where he lived up to his move to Belgium.
David Kidman writes that: "Rochdale-born Tom was just one of the large crop of singer-songwriters who came into prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He got to know Paul Simon on moving to London in the late 1960s, and his first LP (Second City Spiritual) was recorded for CBS in 1967. It was in 1973, around a year after moving to Disley, a village near Stockport (Cheshire), that Tom released his second LP, Love Comes Well Armed." Love Comes Well Armed has been described as "a spiritual journey into the soul of purity and the essence of love".
Song of the Shimmering Way was Tom’s third and final studio recording. Originally released in 1977, it shows Tom’s fascination with the Celts in his songwriting and has a much more lavish sound with orchestra arrangements on some songs. The album reflected the interest in Celtic culture, stories, traditions and mythology that he had begun to embrace in the years since Love Comes Well Armed.
Tom was in the process of preparing his fourth LP when he sadly took died of leukaemia in Antwerp in 1994. His widow provided tapes of Tom’s songs that were recorded in studios in Antwerp, enabling Epona to release his fourth album Love is Losing Ground posthumously. Epona has also released a fifth and final album to complete a quintet of Tom’s musical legacy. A Walk in Other Shoes features songs that he wrote in Antwerp after he connected with the Christian faith and most of the songs reflect his faith. Many of these songs were on a cassette that Tom sold in the local clubs and bars of Antwerp but the album also includes three songs from his unfinished “A Dream of John Ball” plus, as a bonus track, the first recording Tom ever made, the 1965 Pye Records single "Rattle Of A Toy".
The article includes a link to my Spotify playlist 'Closer to the light' which includes a wide selection of the music I mention in this article. 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' is a review of Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death in which I explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.
My co-authored book The Secret Chord explores aspects of a similar interplay between faith and music (and the Arts, more broadly). Posts related to the themes of The Secret Chord can be found here.
Check out the following too to explore further:
- David Ackles, Chris Bell, Bryan Maclean
- God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You
- Jesus Music - 1 & 2
- The Jesus Rock Revolution and the Jesus Movement
- When Jesus Met Hippies
- A Rough Guide to Christian Art
- Looking down the wrong end of a telescope
- Pop's holy rollers
- Perhaps the most underrated band ever
- Rock gets Religion
- Ed Kowalczyk and Scott Stapp: Angels on a razor
- Hidden Gems - Bill Fay & Michael Morley
- Electric Eden and the New Folk Revival
- Salt and Sweetners
- The mystery at the heart of music - 1 and 2
- Inspiration from the Psalms
- 'Tryin' to throw your arms around the world' click here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Carrying the theme of my Seen and Unseen article plus my post on Jesus Music, here is some information on three more performers engaging with the sacred:
Methuselah was the band that John Gladwin and Terry Wincott formed before finding success with Amazing Blondel and after Gospel Garden. Methuselah were signed to the U.S. Elektra label and recorded one album, 1969's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
John Gladwin wrote that "Blondel was an attempt to re-create a past era and fashion a completely English music":
"Amazing Blondel reflected a further idiosyncratic appendage in the ever-more bewildering animal that was folk rock. The range of ideas and styles being introduced into the realms of folk music by the mid-'70s was so diverse that it even entered the hitherto semi-mythical realms of medieval music with its own peculiar instrumentation, complete with bassoons and crumhorns. While Gryphon catered the more studious, progressive rock end of that style, and City Waits concentrated on more authentic reconstructions, Amazing Blondel successfully bridged the popular gap in the middle. They always seemed slightly eccentric - sweet and a little out of place; Pseudo-Elizabethan/classical acoustic music, sung with British accents to the contemporary transatlantic audience of the day. From this unlikely combination they carved their niche and won a devoted cult following ... It wasn't folk music per se. It was all original period music, derived from Elizabethan and Renaissance inspiration, but palatable to 20th century audiences."
Religious-themed songs continued to feature among their "pseudo-Elizabethan/Classical acoustic music sung with "British" accents" including 'Canaan' (The Amazing Blondel), 'Evensong' (Evensong), 'Celestial Light (For Lincoln Cathedral)' and 'Safety in God Alone' (Fantasia Lindum), 'Cantus Firmus to Counterpoint' (England), and 'Benedictus Es Domine' (Restoration).
Celestial Light. A History of Amazing Blondel is the first book to trace the history of the band and contains interviews with all three members of the band as well as Adrian Hopkins (responsible for orchestration), Paul Empson (guitarist), Erik Bergman (model on the cover of the first LP), Phill Brown (sound engineer), Jerry Boys (sound engineer), John Glover (manager), John Donaghy (roadie), Sue Glover (backing vocalist and ex Brotherhood of Man), Steve Rowland (producer of first LP on Bell), Paul Fischer (luthier) and others.
Tom Yates was a regular on the Cheshire and North West folk scene back in the 1960s/70s before he left for Antwerp where he sang and wrote his songs up to his untimely death in 1993. Tom’s first album was on the CBS label in 1967 and later he released two more LPs in the 1970s. He colllaborated with Duncan Brown on some songs. Tom will also be remembered for the gigs he did in the clubs and for the folk club he ran at The White Horse in Disley where he lived up to his move to Belgium.
David Kidman writes that: "Rochdale-born Tom was just one of the large crop of singer-songwriters who came into prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He got to know Paul Simon on moving to London in the late 1960s, and his first LP (Second City Spiritual) was recorded for CBS in 1967. It was in 1973, around a year after moving to Disley, a village near Stockport (Cheshire), that Tom released his second LP, Love Comes Well Armed." Love Comes Well Armed has been described as "a spiritual journey into the soul of purity and the essence of love".
Song of the Shimmering Way was Tom’s third and final studio recording. Originally released in 1977, it shows Tom’s fascination with the Celts in his songwriting and has a much more lavish sound with orchestra arrangements on some songs. The album reflected the interest in Celtic culture, stories, traditions and mythology that he had begun to embrace in the years since Love Comes Well Armed.
Tom was in the process of preparing his fourth LP when he sadly took died of leukaemia in Antwerp in 1994. His widow provided tapes of Tom’s songs that were recorded in studios in Antwerp, enabling Epona to release his fourth album Love is Losing Ground posthumously. Epona has also released a fifth and final album to complete a quintet of Tom’s musical legacy. A Walk in Other Shoes features songs that he wrote in Antwerp after he connected with the Christian faith and most of the songs reflect his faith. Many of these songs were on a cassette that Tom sold in the local clubs and bars of Antwerp but the album also includes three songs from his unfinished “A Dream of John Ball” plus, as a bonus track, the first recording Tom ever made, the 1965 Pye Records single "Rattle Of A Toy".
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Methuselah - Matthew.
Wednesday, 25 December 2024
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour
I was moved by an Advent reflection this year which featured the hymn Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour, so for our Christmas morning reflection simply shared the story of that hymn and reflected on its meaning - https://reformationbiblecollege.org/blog/beyond-all-splendor-a-favorite-christmas-hymn.
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Keith and Kristen Getty - Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendour.
Wonder of wonders
through the hard labour of the birth of a child.
A child bearing peace and goodwill,
bringing justice and righteousness
without end and without measure.
May you know all the blessings of this special season.
With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year
Wonder of wonders,
mystery of mysteries.
The brightness of Christmas
lies on its weather-beaten face.
Look at the cradle!
Look at the child!
Look at the face!
The body of Jesus Christ is our flesh.
He bears our flesh.
Where Christ is, there we are.
It is all our “poor flesh
and blood” which lies there
in the crib.
What happens to Jesus,
happens to us.
He became human,
that we would become
divine.
He came to us that we would
come to him.
He took human nature
that we might be eternally
with him.
Where the body of Jesus Christ is,
there we are;
we are his body.
In the body of this little child,
in the incarnate son of God,
our flesh, our distress,
anxiety, temptation,
our sin, all,
all is borne,
forgiven and healed.
We are accepted,
not despised.
God bears in his body
all our flesh and blood.
All Christian theology
has its origin here.
Without this holy night
there is no theology,
no Christology.
No priest, no theologian
stood at that cradle
and yet all theology arises
from those on bended knees
who do homage
to the mystery
of the divine child
in the stall.
Wonder of wonders,
mystery of mysteries
to know God in the flesh.
Wonder of wonders,
mystery of mysteries.
The brightness of Christmas
lies on its weather-beaten face.
(Text adapted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings on Advent and Christmas. Image – Detail of Nativity by Josefina de Vasconcellos)
mystery of mysteries.
The brightness of Christmas
lies on its weather-beaten face.
Look at the cradle!
Look at the child!
Look at the face!
The body of Jesus Christ is our flesh.
He bears our flesh.
Where Christ is, there we are.
It is all our “poor flesh
and blood” which lies there
in the crib.
What happens to Jesus,
happens to us.
He became human,
that we would become
divine.
He came to us that we would
come to him.
He took human nature
that we might be eternally
with him.
Where the body of Jesus Christ is,
there we are;
we are his body.
In the body of this little child,
in the incarnate son of God,
our flesh, our distress,
anxiety, temptation,
our sin, all,
all is borne,
forgiven and healed.
We are accepted,
not despised.
God bears in his body
all our flesh and blood.
All Christian theology
has its origin here.
Without this holy night
there is no theology,
no Christology.
No priest, no theologian
stood at that cradle
and yet all theology arises
from those on bended knees
who do homage
to the mystery
of the divine child
in the stall.
Wonder of wonders,
mystery of mysteries
to know God in the flesh.
Wonder of wonders,
mystery of mysteries.
The brightness of Christmas
lies on its weather-beaten face.
(Text adapted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings on Advent and Christmas. Image – Detail of Nativity by Josefina de Vasconcellos)
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Big Star - Jesus Christ.
Peace on earth
Here's the sermon that I shared during Midnight Mass at St Catherine’s Wickford:
One of my favourite rock bands is U2 whose lead singer and lyricist, Bono, is a big fan of the Psalms. He has written that a lot of the psalms feel to him like the blues. Man shouting at God - "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me?" – and some of the songs he has written do the same.
In ‘Peace on Earth’ he writes:
“Heaven on Earth, we need it now
I'm sick of all of this hanging around
Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain
I'm sick of hearing again and again
That there's gonna be peace on Earth …
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won't rhyme
So, what's it worth?
This peace on Earth”
One of my favourite rock bands is U2 whose lead singer and lyricist, Bono, is a big fan of the Psalms. He has written that a lot of the psalms feel to him like the blues. Man shouting at God - "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me?" – and some of the songs he has written do the same.
In ‘Peace on Earth’ he writes:
“Heaven on Earth, we need it now
I'm sick of all of this hanging around
Sick of sorrow, sick of the pain
I'm sick of hearing again and again
That there's gonna be peace on Earth …
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won't rhyme
So, what's it worth?
This peace on Earth”
It was over 2,000 years ago that that glorious song of old was first sung by angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold: "Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven's all-gracious King." So where is it? Why hasn’t it come? These are good questions to ask. Good questions to shout at God, just as occurs in the Psalms and in the blues.
While the Psalms and the blues pose questions, our carols may provide some answers. The carol I’ve just quoted, ‘It came upon a midnight clear’, acknowledges the lack of peace that we find in the world:
“Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;”
While the Psalms and the blues pose questions, our carols may provide some answers. The carol I’ve just quoted, ‘It came upon a midnight clear’, acknowledges the lack of peace that we find in the world:
“Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;”
But the problem is then put firmly back in our own court:
“And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.”
The wars we wage throughout our lives drown out the song of the angels and mean that we pay no attention to the peace that the Christ-child came to bring. That is also what our reading from John’s Gospel said:
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God …”
We have to recognize and receive him in order to access the peace that he brings, as another carol, ‘Joy to the World’, says clearly:
“Joy to the World, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,”
So tonight, on this silent, holy night, the questions turn back to us. Are we hushing the noise of our strife sufficiently to hear the song of peace which the angels sing? Are we preparing room in our hearts for Christ to be born or are we like the innkeepers who said, “No room.” Are we recognizing and receiving him into our lives in order to become children of God?
You’ll probably have heard the slogan of the Dog’s Trust, ‘a dog is for life, not just for Christmas.’ Perhaps we need to adapt that slogan to say, ‘Christ is for life, not just for Christmas’ because it is only when we live as Christ lived that the peace he brings comes in our own lives and also between those we know. It is when we live as Christ lived that we give time and care to those who are housebound or elderly; that we feed those who are hungry, that we provide shelter for those who are homeless, that we open our homes to those who are refugees and asylum seekers. All the kinds of actions that the churches in Wickford and Runwell try to take as we seek to follow in the footsteps of Christ and to live, however imperfectly, as he lived.
It is when we live as Christ lived that he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love. It is when we live as Christ lived that the new heaven and earth shall own the Prince of Peace, their King, and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.
If we, like Bono, are sick of all of the hanging around - sick of sorrow, sick of the pain, sick of hearing again and again that there's gonna be peace on Earth – then we need to prepare room for Christ to be born in our hearts so that we will live as Christ lived and bring peace on earth – to our lives, our friends and family, our community and world. May it be so for us this Christmas. Amen.
“And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.”
The wars we wage throughout our lives drown out the song of the angels and mean that we pay no attention to the peace that the Christ-child came to bring. That is also what our reading from John’s Gospel said:
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God …”
We have to recognize and receive him in order to access the peace that he brings, as another carol, ‘Joy to the World’, says clearly:
“Joy to the World, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,”
So tonight, on this silent, holy night, the questions turn back to us. Are we hushing the noise of our strife sufficiently to hear the song of peace which the angels sing? Are we preparing room in our hearts for Christ to be born or are we like the innkeepers who said, “No room.” Are we recognizing and receiving him into our lives in order to become children of God?
You’ll probably have heard the slogan of the Dog’s Trust, ‘a dog is for life, not just for Christmas.’ Perhaps we need to adapt that slogan to say, ‘Christ is for life, not just for Christmas’ because it is only when we live as Christ lived that the peace he brings comes in our own lives and also between those we know. It is when we live as Christ lived that we give time and care to those who are housebound or elderly; that we feed those who are hungry, that we provide shelter for those who are homeless, that we open our homes to those who are refugees and asylum seekers. All the kinds of actions that the churches in Wickford and Runwell try to take as we seek to follow in the footsteps of Christ and to live, however imperfectly, as he lived.
It is when we live as Christ lived that he rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and the wonders of his love. It is when we live as Christ lived that the new heaven and earth shall own the Prince of Peace, their King, and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.
If we, like Bono, are sick of all of the hanging around - sick of sorrow, sick of the pain, sick of hearing again and again that there's gonna be peace on Earth – then we need to prepare room for Christ to be born in our hearts so that we will live as Christ lived and bring peace on earth – to our lives, our friends and family, our community and world. May it be so for us this Christmas. Amen.
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U2 - Peace On Earth.
Monday, 23 December 2024
Love is ...
We had our final Advent Night Prayer with a reflection at St Andrew's this evening.
Love is …
Love is saying yes to God without knowing what that choice entails.
Love is waiting for your man to realise that what you have said is true and to support you.
Love is enduring the arch looks and snide comments from those who know you are bearing a child conceived out of wedlock.
Love is support from your cousin, your child leaping in your womb, and your magnifying God.
Love is enduring the discomfort of travel to your husband’s hometown when you are close to full-term.
Love is accepting a stable when there is no room at the inn.
Love is laying your new-born child in a manger when there are no extended family around to support you.
Love is being welcoming when shepherds unexpectedly arrive in the night soon after you’ve given birth.
Love is treasuring all their words and pondering them in your heart.
Love is giving your child the name an angel requested.
Love is fleeing to another country knowing that the life of your new-born child is under threat.
Love is making a life to bring up your child separated from friends and family.
Love is saying yes to God without knowing what that choice would entail
and it is that choice which creates a cannonball of love that,
from that first Christmas ever onwards,
explodes love throughout the Universe and in us.
We ended with the following version of 'Love divine, all love's excelling':
Hymnology - Love divine, all love's excelling.
The reflection was on the theme of love. I started with 1 Corinthians 13, we then listened to 'Love' by Victoria Williams before I read my 'Love is ...' meditation:
Love is …
Love is saying yes to God without knowing what that choice entails.
Love is waiting for your man to realise that what you have said is true and to support you.
Love is enduring the arch looks and snide comments from those who know you are bearing a child conceived out of wedlock.
Love is support from your cousin, your child leaping in your womb, and your magnifying God.
Love is enduring the discomfort of travel to your husband’s hometown when you are close to full-term.
Love is accepting a stable when there is no room at the inn.
Love is laying your new-born child in a manger when there are no extended family around to support you.
Love is being welcoming when shepherds unexpectedly arrive in the night soon after you’ve given birth.
Love is treasuring all their words and pondering them in your heart.
Love is giving your child the name an angel requested.
Love is fleeing to another country knowing that the life of your new-born child is under threat.
Love is making a life to bring up your child separated from friends and family.
Love is saying yes to God without knowing what that choice would entail
and it is that choice which creates a cannonball of love that,
from that first Christmas ever onwards,
explodes love throughout the Universe and in us.
We ended with the following version of 'Love divine, all love's excelling':
Hymnology - Love divine, all love's excelling.
Sunday, 22 December 2024
Christ made alive and fruitful in the world
Here's the sermon I shared at St Catherine’s Wickford this morning:
At my first training weekend as a curate the then Bishop of Barking, David Hawkins, performed a handstand to demonstrate the way in which Jesus, through his teaching in the beatitudes, turns our understanding of life upside down. He was thinking of the way in which Jesus startles us as paradox, irony and surprise permeate his teachings flipping our expectations upside down: the least are the greatest; adults become like children; the religious miss the heavenly banquet; the immoral receive forgiveness and blessing. His action turned our expectations, as curates, of Bishops and their behaviour upside-down at the same time that it perfectly illustrated his point.
The visual metaphor of Bishop David’s handstand can also be applied to the Magnificat, the song sung by Mary following her meeting with Elizabeth (about which we heard in today’s Gospel reading - Luke 1. 39 – 55) with all of the great reversals contained within it; ‘He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.’ Turning upside-down, as in a handstand, involves a revolution and, because of its great reversals, the Magnificat has been called ‘the most beautiful and revolutionary hymn in the world’; one that ‘is redolent of theologically and politically destabilizing realities.’
Bearing all this in mind, we can imagine how much Mary needed the moment of empathy and inspiration described in today’s Gospel reading because the experience of being the God-bearer involved such difficulty. We can imagine how important it was to her to be with a relative who not only believed her but was also partway through her own miraculous pregnancy. The relief that she would have felt at being believed and understood would have been immense and then there is the shared moment of divine inspiration when the Holy Spirit comes on them, the babe in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy, and as Elizabeth blesses Mary, Mary is inspired to sing the Magnificat. In the face of so much disbelief and lack of support, this confirmation that they were both following God’s will, would have been overwhelming.
We can learn much from Mary’s faith, trust and persistence in the face of disbelief, misunderstanding and probable insult. We can also learn from this moment when God gives her both human empathy through Elizabeth and divine inspiration through the Holy Spirit to be a support and strengthening in the difficulties which she faced as God-bearer. Our own experience in times of trouble and difficulty will be similar as, on the one hand, God asks to trust and preserve while, on the other, he will provide us with moments of support and strengthening.
Then, as we have already heard Malcolm Guite suggesting, every Christian after Mary should “seek to become in some small way a God-bearer, one whose ‘yes’ to God means that Christ is made alive and fruitful in the world through our flesh and our daily lives, is born and given to another.” Mary bore Jesus into the revolutions of her day and time; revolutions which began with her bearing of Jesus and continued in and through his ministry, death and resurrection. We are called to bear Jesus into the revolutions of our own day and time; even bearing him in such a way that new revolutions begin.
Christ is born in each one of us as we open our lives to him and we then bear, carry or take him to others as our daily lives reveal aspects of his character and love to others. As Teresa of Avila said: “Christ has no body but yours, / No hands, no feet on earth but yours, / Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, /Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, / Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. / Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, / Yours are the eyes, you are his body. / Christ has no body now but yours, / No hands, no feet on earth but yours, / Yours are the eyes with which he looks / compassion on this world. / Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” In this way, we bear him to others.
Malcolm Guite’s poem ‘Theotokos’ sums up some of the different ways in which Mary’s experience can speak to us and inspire us in the challenges we face as we go through life. In its final lines, it also suggests a possible response to those challenges and experiences:
You bore for me the One who came to bless
And bear for all and make the broken whole.
You heard His call and in your open ‘yes’
You spoke aloud for every living soul.
Oh gracious Lady, child of your own child,
Whose mother-love still calls the child in me,
Call me again, for I am lost, and wild
Waves surround me now. On this dark sea
Shine as a star and call me to the shore.
Open the door that all my sins would close
And hold me in your garden. Let me share
The prayer that folds the petals of the Rose.
Enfold me too in Love’s last mystery
And bring me to the One you bore for me.
At my first training weekend as a curate the then Bishop of Barking, David Hawkins, performed a handstand to demonstrate the way in which Jesus, through his teaching in the beatitudes, turns our understanding of life upside down. He was thinking of the way in which Jesus startles us as paradox, irony and surprise permeate his teachings flipping our expectations upside down: the least are the greatest; adults become like children; the religious miss the heavenly banquet; the immoral receive forgiveness and blessing. His action turned our expectations, as curates, of Bishops and their behaviour upside-down at the same time that it perfectly illustrated his point.
The visual metaphor of Bishop David’s handstand can also be applied to the Magnificat, the song sung by Mary following her meeting with Elizabeth (about which we heard in today’s Gospel reading - Luke 1. 39 – 55) with all of the great reversals contained within it; ‘He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.’ Turning upside-down, as in a handstand, involves a revolution and, because of its great reversals, the Magnificat has been called ‘the most beautiful and revolutionary hymn in the world’; one that ‘is redolent of theologically and politically destabilizing realities.’
The Magnificat was sung by an obscure young Jewish girl who has become one of the most important figures in the global faith that is Christianity. This example of expectations being turned upside down is captured well by Malcolm Guite in his sonnet for the Feast of the Visitation:
Here is a meeting made of hidden joys
Of lightenings cloistered in a narrow place
From quiet hearts the sudden flame of praise
And in the womb the quickening kick of grace.
Two women on the very edge of things
Unnoticed and unknown to men of power
But in their flesh the hidden Spirit sings
And in their lives the buds of blessing flower.
And Mary stands with all we call ‘too young’,
Elizabeth with all called ‘past their prime’
They sing today for all the great unsung
Women who turned eternity to time
Favoured of heaven, outcast on the earth
Prophets who bring the best in us to birth.
Mary has been given many titles down the ages but ‘the earliest ‘title’, agreed throughout the church in the first centuries of our faith, before the divisions of East and West, Catholic and Protestant, was Theotokos, which means God-Bearer. Mary is the prime God-Bearer, bearing for us in time the One who was begotten in eternity, bringing Jesus to us and, therefore, as woman and mother, the one who has been closest to God. Every Christian after her should “seek to become in some small way a God-bearer, one whose ‘yes’ to God means that Christ is made alive and fruitful in the world through our flesh and our daily lives, is born and given to another.”
For Mary and Elizabeth to be caught up in events with such revolutionary implications - events which turn our understanding of societal norms upside down – was far from easy. W. David O. Taylor writes: “Behind Elizabeth and Zechariah's joy at the birth of their son John was the knowledge that they had lost an inconsolably long number of years to enjoy watching him grow up.” “At the edge of Gabriel's annunciation was the social stress that Mary would endure in a society where it was all about your embedded role in the community.” She was not believed, either by those closest to her and those who didn’t really know her. Engaged to Joseph when the annunciation occurred, as she was found to be with child before they lived together, Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly. He had his own meeting with Gabriel which changed that decision but, if the man to whom she was betrothed, could not believe her without angelic intervention, then it would be no surprise if disbelief and misunderstanding characterised the response to Mary wherever she went. And “lurking over Joseph's shoulder was the gossip that would nag him all his life, that he is merely the putative father of Jesus.”
Here is a meeting made of hidden joys
Of lightenings cloistered in a narrow place
From quiet hearts the sudden flame of praise
And in the womb the quickening kick of grace.
Two women on the very edge of things
Unnoticed and unknown to men of power
But in their flesh the hidden Spirit sings
And in their lives the buds of blessing flower.
And Mary stands with all we call ‘too young’,
Elizabeth with all called ‘past their prime’
They sing today for all the great unsung
Women who turned eternity to time
Favoured of heaven, outcast on the earth
Prophets who bring the best in us to birth.
Mary has been given many titles down the ages but ‘the earliest ‘title’, agreed throughout the church in the first centuries of our faith, before the divisions of East and West, Catholic and Protestant, was Theotokos, which means God-Bearer. Mary is the prime God-Bearer, bearing for us in time the One who was begotten in eternity, bringing Jesus to us and, therefore, as woman and mother, the one who has been closest to God. Every Christian after her should “seek to become in some small way a God-bearer, one whose ‘yes’ to God means that Christ is made alive and fruitful in the world through our flesh and our daily lives, is born and given to another.”
For Mary and Elizabeth to be caught up in events with such revolutionary implications - events which turn our understanding of societal norms upside down – was far from easy. W. David O. Taylor writes: “Behind Elizabeth and Zechariah's joy at the birth of their son John was the knowledge that they had lost an inconsolably long number of years to enjoy watching him grow up.” “At the edge of Gabriel's annunciation was the social stress that Mary would endure in a society where it was all about your embedded role in the community.” She was not believed, either by those closest to her and those who didn’t really know her. Engaged to Joseph when the annunciation occurred, as she was found to be with child before they lived together, Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly. He had his own meeting with Gabriel which changed that decision but, if the man to whom she was betrothed, could not believe her without angelic intervention, then it would be no surprise if disbelief and misunderstanding characterised the response to Mary wherever she went. And “lurking over Joseph's shoulder was the gossip that would nag him all his life, that he is merely the putative father of Jesus.”
Bearing all this in mind, we can imagine how much Mary needed the moment of empathy and inspiration described in today’s Gospel reading because the experience of being the God-bearer involved such difficulty. We can imagine how important it was to her to be with a relative who not only believed her but was also partway through her own miraculous pregnancy. The relief that she would have felt at being believed and understood would have been immense and then there is the shared moment of divine inspiration when the Holy Spirit comes on them, the babe in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy, and as Elizabeth blesses Mary, Mary is inspired to sing the Magnificat. In the face of so much disbelief and lack of support, this confirmation that they were both following God’s will, would have been overwhelming.
We can learn much from Mary’s faith, trust and persistence in the face of disbelief, misunderstanding and probable insult. We can also learn from this moment when God gives her both human empathy through Elizabeth and divine inspiration through the Holy Spirit to be a support and strengthening in the difficulties which she faced as God-bearer. Our own experience in times of trouble and difficulty will be similar as, on the one hand, God asks to trust and preserve while, on the other, he will provide us with moments of support and strengthening.
Then, as we have already heard Malcolm Guite suggesting, every Christian after Mary should “seek to become in some small way a God-bearer, one whose ‘yes’ to God means that Christ is made alive and fruitful in the world through our flesh and our daily lives, is born and given to another.” Mary bore Jesus into the revolutions of her day and time; revolutions which began with her bearing of Jesus and continued in and through his ministry, death and resurrection. We are called to bear Jesus into the revolutions of our own day and time; even bearing him in such a way that new revolutions begin.
Christ is born in each one of us as we open our lives to him and we then bear, carry or take him to others as our daily lives reveal aspects of his character and love to others. As Teresa of Avila said: “Christ has no body but yours, / No hands, no feet on earth but yours, / Yours are the eyes with which he looks Compassion on this world, /Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, / Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. / Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, / Yours are the eyes, you are his body. / Christ has no body now but yours, / No hands, no feet on earth but yours, / Yours are the eyes with which he looks / compassion on this world. / Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” In this way, we bear him to others.
Malcolm Guite’s poem ‘Theotokos’ sums up some of the different ways in which Mary’s experience can speak to us and inspire us in the challenges we face as we go through life. In its final lines, it also suggests a possible response to those challenges and experiences:
You bore for me the One who came to bless
And bear for all and make the broken whole.
You heard His call and in your open ‘yes’
You spoke aloud for every living soul.
Oh gracious Lady, child of your own child,
Whose mother-love still calls the child in me,
Call me again, for I am lost, and wild
Waves surround me now. On this dark sea
Shine as a star and call me to the shore.
Open the door that all my sins would close
And hold me in your garden. Let me share
The prayer that folds the petals of the Rose.
Enfold me too in Love’s last mystery
And bring me to the One you bore for me.
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Steve Bell - Mary (Theotokos).
Saturday, 21 December 2024
Windows on the world (498)
London, 2024
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Bryan MacLean - Now It Has Begun.
Thursday, 19 December 2024
David Ackles, Chris Bell, Bryan MacLean
My latest article for Seen and Unseen is entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space through a survey of inter-connections between faith and music.
The article includes a link to my Spotify playlist 'Closer to the light' which includes a wide selection of the music I mention in this article. 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' is a review of Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death in which I explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.
My co-authored book The Secret Chord explores aspects of a similar interplay between faith and music (and the Arts, more broadly). Posts related to the themes of The Secret Chord can be found here.
Check out the following too to explore further:
David Ackles was a musician who has been described by Rev Jim Friedrich as: "a lifelong Christian, deeply spiritual and theologically astute, an authentic and generous man. And though some of his songs revealed a profound empathy with the suffering of displaced souls, there was an essential core in him—a comedic faith in resurrection—which survived the harrowing descent of the artist into the nether regions of the human condition."
"Ackles recorded three albums for Elektra – his self-titled debut (1969), ‘Subway To The Country’ (1970), and probably the most famous of all, ‘American Gothic’ (1972), the last of which was recorded in England, and produced by Bernie Taupin, the lyric writer for ...Elton John." Then, "What should have been the fourth album in a long and illustrious career, in retrospect turned out to be Ackles's swansong. Five & Dime may not be as tightly-knit as American Gothic, but as a many-colored patchwork of varied songs, the album has few rivals."
Kasper Nijsen writes that: "Ackles was a versatile and accomplished composer, drawing inspiration from disparate sources including Broadway composers, vaudeville and music hall tradition, French chansonniers, Nashville country music, American jazz and spirituals, Los Angeles surf music, and classical music."
The short-lived Memphis power-pop pioneers Big Star from the 1970s have been referred to as “the greatest American cult rock band this side of The Velvet Underground”. Given this, it is remarkable, as David Zahl has noted, that they "made music that, especially on their first record, bordered on proto-Christian rock". "Much of this was due to the influence of ... Chris Bell, the co-leader of the band" with Alex Chilton.
Zahl quotes by way of example the following lyrics from 'My Life is Right': “Once I walked a lonely road/I had no one to share my load/But then you came and showed the way/And now I hope you’re here to stay/You give me life”. Zahl notes that "Bell’s talent came with its fair share of personal demons" including drug addiction and clinical depression. As a result, songs like 'Try Again' are "anguished first-person prayers":
"Lord I’ve been trying to be what I should Lord
I’ve been trying to do what I could
But each time it gets a little harder
I feel the pain
But I’ll try again
Lord I’ve been trying to be understood
And Lord I’ve been trying to do as you would
But each time it gets a little harder
I feel the pain
But I’ll try again"
After the first Big Star album #1 Record "failed to achieve commercial success ... Bell left the band in 1972." "He struggled with depression for the rest of his life." "Bell concentrated on solo work after leaving Big Star" but it was only 14 years after his death that "the songs from his Car Records single and several of his other 1970s recordings were released on 1992's I Am the Cosmos full-length CD on Rykodisc." "Many of the songs reflected his embrace of Christianity."
John Jeremiah Sullivan writing about one of the songs from that album says that: "
"Better Save Yourself," opens jarringly with organ and a huge, minor-key guitar-god riff.
I know you’re right
He treats you nice
It’s suicide
I know, I tried it twice
We have it from David Bell that his brother had, in fact, tried suicide. In the throes of whatever drove him to it, he found Jesus and became a devout Christian, further complicating the psychological picture of his post-Big Star years. In "Better Save Yourself," he goes on to sing "You shoulda gave your love to Jesus/Couldn’t do you no harm.""
There Was a Light: The Cosmic History of Chris Bell and The Rise of Big Star by Rich Tupica is the principle source of information about Chris Bell.
Similarly, the life of Bryan MacLean is, as Jon Cody has written, "a story of extremes; missed opportunities, addiction and family dysfunction alongside critical acclaim, reconciliation and redemption".
MacLean was a member, with Arthur Lee, of the Los Angeles rock band Love. Love's drummer, Michael Stuart-Ware, in his 2003 autobiography, Behind the Scenes on the Pegasus Carousel, describes MacLean's contributions to Love's music: “Bryan’s contributions to the first three Love albums spoke to his talent. My favorite of his compositions has always been ‘Softly To Me,’ but all of Bryan’s songs demonstrated a mystically unique lyrical and musical phrasing quality that defies category, but is at once, both emotional and powerful.”
"MacLean was offered a solo contract with Elektra after the dissolution of Love, but his demo offerings were rejected by the label and the contract lapsed ...
Around 1996, MacLean's Elektra Records demo tapes were discovered by his mother Elizabeth in the family garage, and after two years of persistent shopping around to record companies, a deal was struck with Sundazed, who in 1997 released the CD Ifyoubelievein. In the album's liner notes, Rolling Stone's David Fricke wrote that the collection was, "in a sense, the Love record that never was: solo demos and home recordings of fourteen original MacLean songs, all written in the earliest and most vital years of Love and all but three virtually unheard in any form since MacLean wrote them"."
Cody writes that MacLean "was one of the very first from the L.A. music community to embrace Christianity". "Intra Muros (the title translates as “Inside the Wall) was his ‘real’ solo album, a collection of 14 worship-oriented songs". He said that "Intra Muros is what I care about. It’s who I am" and "My deepest longing is that Intra Muros touches lives and changes them." His mother, Elizabeth McKee, described Intra Muros as "Bryan’s masterpiece". "MacLean described the absolutely unique blend of gothic rock and jazz as “spooky worship music.”" Part of the uniqueness of his music, including his worship songs, derives from the "Broadway influence that permeates his entire catalogue ... with many of the songs sounding like show stoppers from another era".
My co-authored book The Secret Chord explores aspects of a similar interplay between faith and music (and the Arts, more broadly). Posts related to the themes of The Secret Chord can be found here.
Check out the following too to explore further:
- God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You
- Jesus Music - 1 & 2
- The Jesus Rock Revolution and the Jesus Movement
- When Jesus Met Hippies
- A Rough Guide to Christian Art
- Looking down the wrong end of a telescope
- Pop's holy rollers
- Perhaps the most underrated band ever
- Rock gets Religion
- Ed Kowalczyk and Scott Stapp: Angels on a razor
- Hidden Gems - Bill Fay & Michael Morley
- Salt and Sweetners
- The mystery at the heart of music - 1 and 2
- Inspiration from the Psalms
- 'Tryin' to throw your arms around the world' click here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
"Ackles recorded three albums for Elektra – his self-titled debut (1969), ‘Subway To The Country’ (1970), and probably the most famous of all, ‘American Gothic’ (1972), the last of which was recorded in England, and produced by Bernie Taupin, the lyric writer for ...Elton John." Then, "What should have been the fourth album in a long and illustrious career, in retrospect turned out to be Ackles's swansong. Five & Dime may not be as tightly-knit as American Gothic, but as a many-colored patchwork of varied songs, the album has few rivals."
Kasper Nijsen writes that: "Ackles was a versatile and accomplished composer, drawing inspiration from disparate sources including Broadway composers, vaudeville and music hall tradition, French chansonniers, Nashville country music, American jazz and spirituals, Los Angeles surf music, and classical music."
"He was called a genius, one of the best that America had on offer (Elton John, Reuters obituary, March 1999), and was said to have forged an utterly unique and unrivaled sound (Collin McElligatt, Stylus, 09-01-2003). His masterpiece album was hailed as the Sgt. Pepper of folk (Derek Jewell, Sunday Times, 1973) and called a work of pure poetry, theatrical, witty and sublime (Robert Cochrane, Culture Catch, 03-30-2008). It was also said that Ackles could have been another Randy Newman or Leonard Cohen (Reuters obituary, March 1999) and his music has been compared to Weill and Brecht and even Richard Wagner (Bernie Taupin, blog entry, 12-3-2008)."
Michael Baker concludes the story: "Brutalized in a near fatal car accident in the early eighties, the weakened Ackles found time to raise a son, maintain a successful marriage, work for bigwig philanthropic organizations, write an occasional score for a made for TV movie, and work on an operatic treatment of Aimee Semple Macpherson ... who became L.A.'s leading religious leader and basked in world wide celebrity ... Tough, individualist, and savvy, she most certainly would have been a formidable opponent, for Ackles wanted if not clarity about faith and individual works of grace at least a reconciliation between a cold world that dumps slag on top of children and an uncommunicative God. This reconciliation, man's major intellectual achievement, is both disconcerting and liberating. And Ackles knew full well that the balance between conventional and conservative faith and yearning, narcissistic, seductive art is the greatest of musical aspirations."
Baker suggests that "Ackles regarded the message from Ecclesiastes as gospel: "Who gathers knowledge gathers pain."" He expands by noting that Ackles and his vignettes of dispossessed personae: "set the stage for blurred epiphanies, an ironic fusion of baseless ritual and superficial decorum. These pockets of darkness contain paralysis, vagueness, and thwarted ambitions. The only thing holding the center is the voice, a voice of grandeur, tenor resonance, and declamatory power. Never comfortable simply crooning, and forsaking a kind of blues/soul aesthetic that would have diminished his uniqueness, Ackles uses his booming, cajoling voice to proclaim truths from the center of town. It is a convincing voice of reason in the re-created scenes of missing emotions. Although the narratives are uncertain with action deferred or muddled, and the characters are inarticulate carnage of that universe, Ackles retains dignity for himself, his characters, and their landscapes, by renouncing censure. We are all flawed; we have all fallen."
Baker suggests that "Ackles regarded the message from Ecclesiastes as gospel: "Who gathers knowledge gathers pain."" He expands by noting that Ackles and his vignettes of dispossessed personae: "set the stage for blurred epiphanies, an ironic fusion of baseless ritual and superficial decorum. These pockets of darkness contain paralysis, vagueness, and thwarted ambitions. The only thing holding the center is the voice, a voice of grandeur, tenor resonance, and declamatory power. Never comfortable simply crooning, and forsaking a kind of blues/soul aesthetic that would have diminished his uniqueness, Ackles uses his booming, cajoling voice to proclaim truths from the center of town. It is a convincing voice of reason in the re-created scenes of missing emotions. Although the narratives are uncertain with action deferred or muddled, and the characters are inarticulate carnage of that universe, Ackles retains dignity for himself, his characters, and their landscapes, by renouncing censure. We are all flawed; we have all fallen."
This seems to me to be an accurate description of Ackles' storytelling songs which demonstrate a incarnational 'being with' approach to his characters ("We are all flawed; we have all fallen."), while the cumulative picture painted is of the bleakness of a world which has, as with the stunning 'His name is Andrew', lost its connection with God.
Look out for the forthcoming biography of David Ackles by Mark Brend, which is due in July 2025.
"Lord I’ve been trying to be what I should Lord
I’ve been trying to do what I could
But each time it gets a little harder
I feel the pain
But I’ll try again
Lord I’ve been trying to be understood
And Lord I’ve been trying to do as you would
But each time it gets a little harder
I feel the pain
But I’ll try again"
"Better Save Yourself," opens jarringly with organ and a huge, minor-key guitar-god riff.
I know you’re right
He treats you nice
It’s suicide
I know, I tried it twice
We have it from David Bell that his brother had, in fact, tried suicide. In the throes of whatever drove him to it, he found Jesus and became a devout Christian, further complicating the psychological picture of his post-Big Star years. In "Better Save Yourself," he goes on to sing "You shoulda gave your love to Jesus/Couldn’t do you no harm.""
MacLean was a member, with Arthur Lee, of the Los Angeles rock band Love. Love's drummer, Michael Stuart-Ware, in his 2003 autobiography, Behind the Scenes on the Pegasus Carousel, describes MacLean's contributions to Love's music: “Bryan’s contributions to the first three Love albums spoke to his talent. My favorite of his compositions has always been ‘Softly To Me,’ but all of Bryan’s songs demonstrated a mystically unique lyrical and musical phrasing quality that defies category, but is at once, both emotional and powerful.”
"MacLean was offered a solo contract with Elektra after the dissolution of Love, but his demo offerings were rejected by the label and the contract lapsed ...
Around 1996, MacLean's Elektra Records demo tapes were discovered by his mother Elizabeth in the family garage, and after two years of persistent shopping around to record companies, a deal was struck with Sundazed, who in 1997 released the CD Ifyoubelievein. In the album's liner notes, Rolling Stone's David Fricke wrote that the collection was, "in a sense, the Love record that never was: solo demos and home recordings of fourteen original MacLean songs, all written in the earliest and most vital years of Love and all but three virtually unheard in any form since MacLean wrote them"."
Cody writes that MacLean "was one of the very first from the L.A. music community to embrace Christianity". "Intra Muros (the title translates as “Inside the Wall) was his ‘real’ solo album, a collection of 14 worship-oriented songs". He said that "Intra Muros is what I care about. It’s who I am" and "My deepest longing is that Intra Muros touches lives and changes them." His mother, Elizabeth McKee, described Intra Muros as "Bryan’s masterpiece". "MacLean described the absolutely unique blend of gothic rock and jazz as “spooky worship music.”" Part of the uniqueness of his music, including his worship songs, derives from the "Broadway influence that permeates his entire catalogue ... with many of the songs sounding like show stoppers from another era".
In his last interview, he said "My goal from the beginning writing music was to be timeless, to transcend age or style and to enrich peoples' lives, to make them feel better about life in general".
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David Ackles - Berry Tree.
Models of inculturation celebrated in art
My latest interview for ArtWay is with Paul Chandler of Caravan and artist Brian Whelan about WHITE ROBE: An exhibition celebrating the life of Rev. Dr. John Roberts among Native Americans. John Roberts was a Welsh Episcopal/Anglican priest who served on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming from 1883-1949. His ministry stands as an exemplary model of inculturation, as he honoured indigenous Native American spirituality and embraced their culture and languages.
Working in narrative series in the way that Whelan has done has synergies with the work of Greg Tricker (series on Anne Frank, Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc, etc.) and murals about Brother Joseph Dutton that André Girard painted for Blessed Sacrament Church at Stowe in Vermont. Chandler is familiar with Girard’s paintings and windows that commemorate the influential ministry of Dutton in Hawaii and sees similarities with Roberts, as both “tell a story of remarkable servants, whose examples have much to teach us today.”
Girard was a multi-faceted artist and creative individual who was not only an internationally-renowned painter, but a film and television innovator, a printer of fine books, a French Resistance fighter, a writer, a lecturer, a stage-designer, and educator (see my ArtWay article on Girard for more information). When he visited Blessed Sacrament Church at Stowe in 1949 to install his paintings of the Way of the Cross, he saw the empty space with only an altar and a crucifix and became inspired to meet the challenge of creating an entire atmosphere of sacred space within the church through his own creative vision.
The continuous row of 36 windows surrounding the uppermost level of the church provided the perfect opportunity for him to utilize his technique of painting on light. Upon hearing of the humanitarian efforts of Brother Joseph Dutton, he was inspired to paint highlights of his life in Molokai on large-scaled murals on the outer walls of the church so that people could visually experience his life of sacrifice and dedication.
Brother Dutton felt drawn to his service at the leper colony on the island of Molokai, after hearing of the ministry there of Father Damien, who had built homes, an orphanage, and churches there and, as a result, contracted leprosy himself. At the age of forty, Dutton had a spiritual transformation and found a deeper purpose in his life by going to Molokai to help Father Damien in his mission of caring for the lepers. Following the death of Father Damien, the responsibility of directing the entire settlement fell to Brother Dutton. Dutton not only initiated many building projects but also made the residents realize they were part of a community, and with some training could help build each others’ houses, grow crops, and raise chickens to help feed their families. He also used his letter-writing skills to communicate with people all over the world to bring attention to the needs of his flock.
Another series of paintings celebrating an example of inculturation among indigenous peoples is DeGrazia and Padre Kino by Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia at the Mission in the Sun in Tucson, US.
In 1687, Padre Eusebio Kino arrived in northern Mexico on horseback traveling into what is now Arizona. Padre Kino explored the vast lands of Arizona and California, making friends with the Native Americans whom he encountered as he mapped the region. Unfortunately, with him also came the soldiers of the King of Spain, who brought guns and swords, while the gentle priest brought a simple cross to introduce Christianity without destroying the native cultures. He told them stories of Christ and the Bible, introduced them to Christian ceremonies, and together they built 24 missions in 24 years that stretched from Sonora, Mexico, to Southern Arizona. San Xavier del Bac, also known as the “White Dove of the Desert,” is one of the most impressive of those missions. It is located just southwest of Tucson.
DeGrazia was inspired by the memorable events in the life and times of Padre Kino, the heroic, historic and immortal priest-colonizer of the Southwestern desert. Since childhood, DeGrazia admired Padre Kino for his education, life of adventure, and respect for Native Americans. DeGrazia traveled to every Kino mission as he lovingly studied the life of his favorite Jesuit priest. The Mission in the Sun is dedicated to his memory.
Nancy Wiechec writes that: "DeGrazia died in 1982. Among his tens of thousands of surviving works are the Way of the Cross; multiple depictions of Our Lady of Guadalupe; a series on Jesuit Father Eusebio Kino, a missionary to the Southwest; and a mission, which the artist designed, built and dedicated to Father Kino.
“I don’t know how many religious paintings he did, but he did a pretty good share,” said Lance Laber, executive director of the DeGrazia Foundation, the organization DeGrazia founded to preserve his art.
According to Laber, DeGrazia’s Catholic heritage, the faith and spirituality of the Indians he befriended and his admiration of Father Kino were inspirations for his religious works.”
These works began after a priest "approached DeGrazia about painting the Stations of the Cross for the St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center at the University of Arizona." DeGrazia "fulfilled the request in 1964."
Working in narrative series in the way that Whelan has done has synergies with the work of Greg Tricker (series on Anne Frank, Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc, etc.) and murals about Brother Joseph Dutton that André Girard painted for Blessed Sacrament Church at Stowe in Vermont. Chandler is familiar with Girard’s paintings and windows that commemorate the influential ministry of Dutton in Hawaii and sees similarities with Roberts, as both “tell a story of remarkable servants, whose examples have much to teach us today.”
The continuous row of 36 windows surrounding the uppermost level of the church provided the perfect opportunity for him to utilize his technique of painting on light. Upon hearing of the humanitarian efforts of Brother Joseph Dutton, he was inspired to paint highlights of his life in Molokai on large-scaled murals on the outer walls of the church so that people could visually experience his life of sacrifice and dedication.
Brother Dutton felt drawn to his service at the leper colony on the island of Molokai, after hearing of the ministry there of Father Damien, who had built homes, an orphanage, and churches there and, as a result, contracted leprosy himself. At the age of forty, Dutton had a spiritual transformation and found a deeper purpose in his life by going to Molokai to help Father Damien in his mission of caring for the lepers. Following the death of Father Damien, the responsibility of directing the entire settlement fell to Brother Dutton. Dutton not only initiated many building projects but also made the residents realize they were part of a community, and with some training could help build each others’ houses, grow crops, and raise chickens to help feed their families. He also used his letter-writing skills to communicate with people all over the world to bring attention to the needs of his flock.
In 1687, Padre Eusebio Kino arrived in northern Mexico on horseback traveling into what is now Arizona. Padre Kino explored the vast lands of Arizona and California, making friends with the Native Americans whom he encountered as he mapped the region. Unfortunately, with him also came the soldiers of the King of Spain, who brought guns and swords, while the gentle priest brought a simple cross to introduce Christianity without destroying the native cultures. He told them stories of Christ and the Bible, introduced them to Christian ceremonies, and together they built 24 missions in 24 years that stretched from Sonora, Mexico, to Southern Arizona. San Xavier del Bac, also known as the “White Dove of the Desert,” is one of the most impressive of those missions. It is located just southwest of Tucson.
DeGrazia was inspired by the memorable events in the life and times of Padre Kino, the heroic, historic and immortal priest-colonizer of the Southwestern desert. Since childhood, DeGrazia admired Padre Kino for his education, life of adventure, and respect for Native Americans. DeGrazia traveled to every Kino mission as he lovingly studied the life of his favorite Jesuit priest. The Mission in the Sun is dedicated to his memory.
“I don’t know how many religious paintings he did, but he did a pretty good share,” said Lance Laber, executive director of the DeGrazia Foundation, the organization DeGrazia founded to preserve his art.
According to Laber, DeGrazia’s Catholic heritage, the faith and spirituality of the Indians he befriended and his admiration of Father Kino were inspirations for his religious works.”
These works began after a priest "approached DeGrazia about painting the Stations of the Cross for the St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center at the University of Arizona." DeGrazia "fulfilled the request in 1964."
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Lone Justice - Wade In The Water.
Wednesday, 18 December 2024
The qualities of Mary and Joseph
Here's the sermon I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:
The experience of being the Theotokos, the God-bearer, was a difficult one for Mary (Matthew 1.18-25). Difficult, because she was not believed - both by those closest to her and those who didn’t really know her. Mary was engaged to Joseph when the annunciation occurred. As she was found to be with child before they lived together, Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly. He had his own meeting with Gabriel which changed that decision but, if the man to whom she was betrothed, could not believe her without angelic intervention, then it would be no surprise if disbelief and misunderstanding characterised the response to Mary wherever she went.
We can learn much from Mary’s faith, trust and persistence in the face of disbelief, misunderstanding and probable insult. Our experience in times of trouble and difficulty will be similar as, on the one hand, God asks us to trust and persevere while, on the other, he will provide us with moments of support and strengthening.
Mary has been given many titles down the ages but ‘the earliest ‘title’, agreed throughout the church in the first centuries of our faith, before the divisions of East and West, Catholic and Protestant, was Theotokos, which means God-Bearer. 'She is the prime God-Bearer, bearing for us in time the One who was begotten in eternity, and every Christian after her seeks to become in some small way a God-bearer, one whose ‘yes’ to God means that Christ is made alive and fruitful in the world through our flesh and our daily lives, is born and given to another.’ In his poem ‘Theotokos’, Malcolm Guite suggests some ways in which Mary’s experience can speak to us and inspire us in the challenges we face as we go through life:
You bore for me the One who came to bless
And bear for all and make the broken whole.
You heard His call and in your open ‘yes’
You spoke aloud for every living soul.
Oh gracious Lady, child of your own child,
Whose mother-love still calls the child in me,
Call me again, for I am lost, and wild
Waves surround me now. On this dark sea
Shine as a star and call me to the shore.
Open the door that all my sins would close
And hold me in your garden. Let me share
The prayer that folds the petals of the Rose.
Enfold me too in Love’s last mystery
And bring me to the One you bore for me.
Mary is centre-stage is the drama of the Nativity but there is also a role for those who simply stand and wait. Joseph is also an example to us because his calling was to quietly support the calling of Mary – to marry her, to name the child, to raise him: ‘Joseph simply does as he was told. For him, belief is action. Quietly, Joseph cared for Mary. Quietly, he raised the child and named him Jesus. Quietly, he believed and acted.’ (https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/josephs-silent-submission-to-marys-god-given-calling-is-real-biblical-manhood/14578.article)
Joseph must have had the patience of a saint, as it must have taken an incredible amount of patience to follow God's plan, and to support his wife throughout their trials and tribulations. He was also the epitome of discretion. Despite the miraculous circumstances of Jesus' conception, he kept Mary's secret safe, showing incredible respect for her and her divine calling. He diligently provided for the physical and emotional needs of his family. He working to ensure their safety, sustenance. He humbly accepted God's will and obediently followed His guidance, even when it meant facing challenges and uncertainties. His humility allowed him to support Mary in her unique calling without seeking recognition or glory for himself (https://aleteia.org/2024/03/02/8-ways-st-joseph-was-a-wonderful-husband-to-mary). These are all great qualities that we can take into our own experiences of supporting and caring for others.
To end, here’s a short poem by Madeleine L’Engle imagining Mary speaking about Joseph, her spouse.
It was from Joseph first I learned
of love. Like me he was dismayed.
How easily he could have turned
me from his house; but, unafraid,
he put me not away from him
(O God-sent angel, pray for him).
Thus through his love was Love obeyed.
The Child’s first cry came like a bell:
God’s Word aloud, God’s Word in deed.
The angel spoke: so it befell,
and Joseph with me in my need.
O Child whose father came from heaven,
to you another gift was given,
your earthly father chosen well.
With Joseph I was always warmed
and cherished. Even in the stable
I knew that I would not be harmed.
And, though above the angels swarmed,
man’s love it was that made me able
to bear God’s love, wild, formidable,
to bear God’s will, through me performed.
The experience of being the Theotokos, the God-bearer, was a difficult one for Mary (Matthew 1.18-25). Difficult, because she was not believed - both by those closest to her and those who didn’t really know her. Mary was engaged to Joseph when the annunciation occurred. As she was found to be with child before they lived together, Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly. He had his own meeting with Gabriel which changed that decision but, if the man to whom she was betrothed, could not believe her without angelic intervention, then it would be no surprise if disbelief and misunderstanding characterised the response to Mary wherever she went.
We can learn much from Mary’s faith, trust and persistence in the face of disbelief, misunderstanding and probable insult. Our experience in times of trouble and difficulty will be similar as, on the one hand, God asks us to trust and persevere while, on the other, he will provide us with moments of support and strengthening.
Mary has been given many titles down the ages but ‘the earliest ‘title’, agreed throughout the church in the first centuries of our faith, before the divisions of East and West, Catholic and Protestant, was Theotokos, which means God-Bearer. 'She is the prime God-Bearer, bearing for us in time the One who was begotten in eternity, and every Christian after her seeks to become in some small way a God-bearer, one whose ‘yes’ to God means that Christ is made alive and fruitful in the world through our flesh and our daily lives, is born and given to another.’ In his poem ‘Theotokos’, Malcolm Guite suggests some ways in which Mary’s experience can speak to us and inspire us in the challenges we face as we go through life:
You bore for me the One who came to bless
And bear for all and make the broken whole.
You heard His call and in your open ‘yes’
You spoke aloud for every living soul.
Oh gracious Lady, child of your own child,
Whose mother-love still calls the child in me,
Call me again, for I am lost, and wild
Waves surround me now. On this dark sea
Shine as a star and call me to the shore.
Open the door that all my sins would close
And hold me in your garden. Let me share
The prayer that folds the petals of the Rose.
Enfold me too in Love’s last mystery
And bring me to the One you bore for me.
Mary is centre-stage is the drama of the Nativity but there is also a role for those who simply stand and wait. Joseph is also an example to us because his calling was to quietly support the calling of Mary – to marry her, to name the child, to raise him: ‘Joseph simply does as he was told. For him, belief is action. Quietly, Joseph cared for Mary. Quietly, he raised the child and named him Jesus. Quietly, he believed and acted.’ (https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/josephs-silent-submission-to-marys-god-given-calling-is-real-biblical-manhood/14578.article)
Joseph must have had the patience of a saint, as it must have taken an incredible amount of patience to follow God's plan, and to support his wife throughout their trials and tribulations. He was also the epitome of discretion. Despite the miraculous circumstances of Jesus' conception, he kept Mary's secret safe, showing incredible respect for her and her divine calling. He diligently provided for the physical and emotional needs of his family. He working to ensure their safety, sustenance. He humbly accepted God's will and obediently followed His guidance, even when it meant facing challenges and uncertainties. His humility allowed him to support Mary in her unique calling without seeking recognition or glory for himself (https://aleteia.org/2024/03/02/8-ways-st-joseph-was-a-wonderful-husband-to-mary). These are all great qualities that we can take into our own experiences of supporting and caring for others.
To end, here’s a short poem by Madeleine L’Engle imagining Mary speaking about Joseph, her spouse.
It was from Joseph first I learned
of love. Like me he was dismayed.
How easily he could have turned
me from his house; but, unafraid,
he put me not away from him
(O God-sent angel, pray for him).
Thus through his love was Love obeyed.
The Child’s first cry came like a bell:
God’s Word aloud, God’s Word in deed.
The angel spoke: so it befell,
and Joseph with me in my need.
O Child whose father came from heaven,
to you another gift was given,
your earthly father chosen well.
With Joseph I was always warmed
and cherished. Even in the stable
I knew that I would not be harmed.
And, though above the angels swarmed,
man’s love it was that made me able
to bear God’s love, wild, formidable,
to bear God’s will, through me performed.
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Madeleine L'Engle - First Coming.
Tuesday, 17 December 2024
Fundraising Campaign - St Catherine’s Church, Wickford
Due to the long dry summer of 2022, the foundations of the NW corner of St Catherine’s Church subsided. This caused large cracks to appear in the walls.
In 2023, we completed Phase 1 of our campaign involving safety and weather protection work costing £20,000, with funds raised by donations, events and grants. In 2024 we began Phase 2 involving groundwork investigations and design of an underpinning solution. This will cost £13,560 and is essential to design a long-term solution.
Phase 3, for which we are now beginning to raise funds, will be when the church is underpinned.
If you wish to contribute, please use the QR Code below or go to https://givealittle.co/c/CXlEMNUoerIeTUtbQmvYS to donate online. Send cheques to Wickford and Runwell PCC to The Rectory, 120 Southend Road, Wickford SS11 8EB or phone 07803 562329/email jonathan.evens@btinternet.com for bank details for a bank transfer.
We are very grateful for all the support we have received to date whether through individual donations, fundraising events or grant funding awards. This project has been supported by: Benefact Trust, Friends of Essex Churches Trust, Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, Minor Repairs & Improvements Grants via Diocese of Chelmsford, and National Churches Trust.
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Sofia Gubaidulina - Offertorium.Seen and Unseen: Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion
My latest article for Seen and Unseen is entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space.:
'In Faith, Hope and Carnage, his book of conversations with Seán O’Hagan, Nick Cave said: “... Some music can ,,, lead us to a place where a fundamental spiritual shift of consciousness can happen. At best, it can conjure a sacred space.”
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'.
My 12th article was '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.
My 13th article 'Matthew Krishanu: painting childhood' was an interview with Matthew Krishanu on his exhibition 'The Bough Breaks' at Camden Art Centre.
My 14th article was entitled 'Art makes life worth living' and explored why society, and churches, need the Arts.
My 15th article was entitled 'The collective effervescence of sport's congregation' and explored some of the ways in which sport and religion have been intimately entwined throughout history
My 16th article was entitled 'Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d' and reviewed the ways in which artist Richard Kenton Webb is conversing with the blind poet in his former home (Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles).
My 17th article was entitled 'Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?'. It makes suggestions of what to do when confronted with contentious culture.
My 18th article was an interview entitled 'Art, AI and apocalypse: Michael Takeo Magruder addresses our fears and questions'. In the interview the digital artist talks about the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.
My 19th article was entitled 'Dark, sweet and subtle: recovered music orientates us'. In the article I highlight alt-folk music seeking inspiration from forgotten hymns.
My 20th article was entitled 'Revisiting Amazing Grace inspires new songs'. In the article I highlight folk musicians capturing both the barbaric and the beautiful in the hymn Amazing Grace and Christianity's entanglement with the transatlantic slave trade more generally.
My 21st article was entitled 'James MacMillan’s music of tranquility and discord'. In the article I noted that the composer’s music contends both the secular and sacred.
'In Faith, Hope and Carnage, his book of conversations with Seán O’Hagan, Nick Cave said: “... Some music can ,,, lead us to a place where a fundamental spiritual shift of consciousness can happen. At best, it can conjure a sacred space.”
That’s because, as Elvis Presley stated during his ‘68 Comeback Special, "Rock and roll is basically just gospel music, or gospel music mixed with rhythm and blues". 'Following in the wake of key precursors such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Rock ‘n’ roll merged Blues (with its spiritual strand) and Country music (tapping its white gospel) while Soul music adapted much of its sound and content from Black gospel. For both, their gestures and movements, and sometimes the songs too, were adopted wholesale from Pentecostalism.'
The article includes a link to my Spotify playlist 'Closer to the light' which includes a wide selection of the music I mention in this article. 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' is a review of Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death in which I explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.
My co-authored book The Secret Chord explores aspects of a similar interplay between faith and music (and the Arts, more broadly). Posts related to the themes of The Secret Chord can be found here.
Check out the following too to explore further:
Check out the following too to explore further:
- God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You
- Jesus Music - 1 & 2
- The Jesus Rock Revolution and the Jesus Movement
- When Jesus Met Hippies
- A Rough Guide to Christian Art
- Looking down the wrong end of a telescope
- Pop's holy rollers
- Perhaps the most underrated band ever
- Rock gets Religion
- Ed Kowalczyk and Scott Stapp: Angels on a razor
- Hidden Gems - Bill Fay & Michael Morley
- Salt and Sweetners
- The mystery at the heart of music - 1 and 2
- Inspiration from the Psalms
- 'Tryin' to throw your arms around the world' click here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
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'.
My 12th article was '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.
My 13th article 'Matthew Krishanu: painting childhood' was an interview with Matthew Krishanu on his exhibition 'The Bough Breaks' at Camden Art Centre.
My 14th article was entitled 'Art makes life worth living' and explored why society, and churches, need the Arts.
My 15th article was entitled 'The collective effervescence of sport's congregation' and explored some of the ways in which sport and religion have been intimately entwined throughout history
My 16th article was entitled 'Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d' and reviewed the ways in which artist Richard Kenton Webb is conversing with the blind poet in his former home (Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles).
My 17th article was entitled 'Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?'. It makes suggestions of what to do when confronted with contentious culture.
My 18th article was an interview entitled 'Art, AI and apocalypse: Michael Takeo Magruder addresses our fears and questions'. In the interview the digital artist talks about the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.
My 19th article was entitled 'Dark, sweet and subtle: recovered music orientates us'. In the article I highlight alt-folk music seeking inspiration from forgotten hymns.
My 20th article was entitled 'Revisiting Amazing Grace inspires new songs'. In the article I highlight folk musicians capturing both the barbaric and the beautiful in the hymn Amazing Grace and Christianity's entanglement with the transatlantic slave trade more generally.
My 21st article was entitled 'James MacMillan’s music of tranquility and discord'. In the article I noted that the composer’s music contends both the secular and sacred.
My 22nd article was a book review on Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch. 'Nobody's Empire: A Novel is the fictionalised account of how ... Murdoch, lead singer of indie band Belle and Sebastian, transfigured his experience of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) through faith and music.'
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Elvis Presley - There'll Be Peace In The Valley.
Sunday, 15 December 2024
All Saints Stock Harvard: Gwynneth Holt
As part of preparation for my 'People and Stone' talk on 'Broomfield Artists: Thomas Huxley-Jones and Gwynneth Holt' (8 February, 2.00 pm, Broomfield Parish Church), I visited All Saints Stock Harvard briefly this morning to photograph their rood figures carved by Holt.
These are now on the north wall at the west end of the North Aisle. Before 1986 this area housed the Sacristry and was cleared with the building of the new Vestries on the North side of the church. The Rood Figures of Our Lord, Our Lady and St. John were designed in 1955 by Holt and are carved in lime wood. As part of the post war restoration these figures were originally position in the Chancel Arch on a Rood Beam. The figures were incorporated in a hanging rood, still in the Chancel Arch, as part of the 1981 re-ordering but were moved to their present position in about 1990 to open up the view of the East Window.
The Parish Magazine of Stock Harvard (May 1955) contains the following comment about the figure of Christ on the rood beam at All Saints Church: "The figure speaks to us of eternal wisdom combined with eternal youth, and there is about the whole figure and its expression a strength and calmness which communicates itself to people who look at it long enough with a really open mind ... The figure has that strange factor of timelessness which some of the medieval artists secured."
The blue plaque information from Chelmsford City Council records that “In 1952, Holt was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. She also produced works in the United States when she visited the Hopkins Centre at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in both 1963 and 1968. Holt was also known to be one of the Royal Society of Sculptors earliest female members, where she expressed frustration at the sculpture profession being dominated by men. Following her death, Holt’s work has been showcased in many places by both the Royal Society of Sculptors and Chelmsford Museum.”
In expressing her frustration with the male-dominated nature of her profession, she said: “Women are just as intelligent as men, and their contribution to art is just as valuable: They are not given a chance to take art up seriously. What with looking after the house, there is not much time left for concentrating on art."
Joan Weedon writes that from the time Holt married Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones (also a sculptor) “both exhibited at the London, Scottish and West of England academies, the Society of Portrait Sculptors and the Paris Salon. Among the awards Gwynneth won were the Feodora Gleichen award (for 'outstanding work by a woman sculptor') for her 'Mother and Child' exhibited at the Royal Academy, and two at the Paris Salon for 'Arts Decoratif and for sculpture. A set of her wartime figurines of a semi-humorous character [‘Our Gang’], which were cast by the Bovey Tracey pottery, is now in the Imperial War Museum. While living in Aberdeen she also exhibited work in ivories, woods, copper, terracotta and bronze in London and Edinburgh.
[They] moved to Broomfield, Chelmsford, in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden [at High House] and both achieved high personal success. Huxley-Jones's brilliant, imaginative figures gained him wide recognition, and he undoubtedly influenced Gwynneth's own style, although her life studies at that time may be perceived as more naturalistic than the style of her husband's large symbolic works.”
“Holt completed many works with a religious theme, or for ecclesiastical buildings, such as His Holiness Pope John XXIII, Hands, The Resurrection and Mother and Child. She completed commissions for the pulpit of St. Andrew’s Church in Hornchurch, Essex; the chapel of the East Mission in Stepney and the limewood The Immaculate Conception for the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Chelmsford.”
“It was for her work in ivory, however, that Holt was most celebrated as a sculptor, and her ivory sculpture Annunciation (1946) received particular praise for her carving skills. Annunciation depicts the Virgin Mary, her palms raised to God, with Gabriel depicted beneath her feet. In the 1972 book Modern Ivory Carving, Holt was described as ‘Britain’s foremost ivory carver’.”
Weedon also notes that: “The demonstrable piety of many of Gwynneth's exhibits created a demand for interpretations of Christian figures and symbols. Eight churches in and around Essex contain her important representations of such figures, and there are other such works traceable to her 'Chelmsford phase'.
Examples of her work may be seen in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Chelmsford; Stock Harvard Parish Church, Essex; Balsham Parish Church, Cambs; St Andrew's, Hornchurch, Essex: Downham Church, Essex; Methodist East End Mission, London; Navestock Church, Essex; Buxhall Church, Suffolk; St Leonard's Parish Church, Eynsham.”
Broomfield Parish Church has a prayer desk of light oak decorated on the plain apron front with an applied carved head by Gwynneth Holt. The head of the Virgin Mary is in 20th C style, her bare head emerging from a cowl.
The grave of Holt and Huxley-Jones is to be found in the churchyard St Mary with St Leonard in Broomfield.
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Enya - Dreams Are More Precious.
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