A major new art installation at Canterbury Cathedral in which ordinary people pose questions to God split public opinion ahead of its official launch, with visitors reporting visceral reactions to the bold graffiti-style graphics and thought-provoking questions displayed on the ancient walls. Whilst many reported their delight and intrigue, others have been discomforted by encountering the artworks.
Featuring questions including “Are you there?”, “Why did you create hate when love is by far more powerful?” and “Does everything have a soul?”, the “Hear Us” installation is the culmination of poet Alex Vellis and curator Jacquiline Creswell’s collaboration with marginalised communities and a team of skilled artists to create vibrant handwritten literature responding to the question “What would you ask God?”.
“Surely we have all wondered about the mysteries of the universe, the meaning of life, or in times of uncertainty, sought advice?” Jacquiline Creswell says. “Within a theological context, posing a question to God is viewed as a form of prayer, meditation, or contemplation, in return receiving guidance and solace from a source believed to be all-knowing and compassionate. By reaching out to the Divine with personal inquiries, individuals may find comfort, clarity, and direction amidst life’s uncertainties.”
I wonder what questions you would like to ask of God as we gather here today. Rather than responding to questions with intellectual answers, Jesus often asked those with questions to look and see what God is doing in their lives and times. That’s what we see him do in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 11.2-11) in response to the questions brought to him by the disciples of John the Baptist.
Jesus says to John’s disciples: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Then he says to the crowd, “Look at John the Baptist, at what he has done and said, and see a true prophet from God”.
When we have questions, God still directs to look around us and see what He is doing through his people. When we question whether God is there and whether He is loving or not, He continues to say look at what my people are doing in my name. If we do so in this Deanery, we will see churches organising food banks, supporting those who are homeless or migrants, working intergenerationally with people of all ages to enhance wellbeing and encourage creativity, reducing their carbon footprint and setting up environmental initiatives that show care for creation, going into schools and care homes to minister to people at the beginning and end of their lives, coming alongside people at key moments in their lives including birth, marriage and death.
God continues to answer our questions by saying look at what my people do in my name. That is why when children or adults come to baptism into the family of God supported, in the case of children by parents or godparents, we talk to them in the service about their actions.
We ask those who are baptised to: continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers; persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever we fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord; proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ; seek and serve Christ in all people, loving our neighbour as ourself; acknowledge Christ’s authority over human society, by prayer for the world and its leaders, by defending the weak, and by seeking peace and justice; so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, that we may be rooted and grounded in love and bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. We ask this because, as Jesus said, it is by their fruits (their deeds) that true Christians will be known.
In baptism, God touches us with his love and gives us a place among his people. God promises to be with us in joy and sorrow, to be our guide in life, and to bring us safely to heaven. In baptism God invites us on a life-long journey. Together with all God’s people we then explore the way of Jesus and grow in friendship with God, in love for his people, and in serving others. That is the invitation made to James, his parents and godparents today, as to all who have been baptised, and not simply for ourselves and our benefit, but that we might reveal to love of God and the reality of God’s love to others through our lives and example. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.
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