We shared a very special evening of reflection on the nature of welcome at Unveiled in St Andrew's Wickford tonight through deep and personal insights from Celia Webster, Revd Alan Stewart and Revd John Beauchamp. We also prepared a multi-sensory table of welcome as a special installation that was just for tonight's exhibition viewing evening.
Celia Webster says: “When our third little girl was born with learning disabilities my experience was of no longer fitting in, and of feeling that we didn’t belong anywhere. For me the piece is very moving. The young man leaning on Jesus’ shoulder reminds me of the trust my daughter seems to have in God (well, most of the time!) which often teaches and challenges me. The wounded Jesus reassures me that He is never a distant God and like any loving parent experiences his children’s hurt and suffering as his own. His vulnerability reflects the God that came as a vulnerable baby and then refugee and then victim of torture. It reminds me that, whilst sadly we Christians are a very poor advert for Christianity and can appear bigoted, racist, exclusive, homophobic and judgemental, Jesus is not like this. Jesus is the friend of the overlooked and those on the edge. He is the God of an upside-down Kingdom. However worthless, not good enough, whatever sense of failure we might feel, we are shown in this picture that our true identity is found in Jesus who just wants us to be close to him and love him and allow him to love and transform us!”
The artist, Revd Alan Stewart, intends that this Jesus
challenges theological and Biblical imagery of blindness as sin or something to
be cured. This is a Jesus who comes from a place of vulnerability, unaffected
by the visual appearance of others. Responding to the image, a visually
impaired friend of Alan’s has written “as a visually impaired person an image
of Jesus who is like me makes me feel accepted … I wish my visual impairment
would be cured. But I am glad that Jesus embraces it.”
Revd John Beauchamp, Diocesan Disability Ministry Enabler for the Diocese of London, writes that: “In this Last Supper the marginalised and excluded and devalued are invited to the table. Invited to be with Jesus. To sit and eat with Him. To find themselves with Him and recognise themselves in Him. To find that their embodiment is not a barrier but in fact their passport into the kingdom where all of our human diversity is redeemed and celebrated in a riot of joy and celebration.”
The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) exhibition is at St Andrew's Church (11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN) from 9 January until Easter. Do come and experience it for yourself. St Andrew’s Church is usually open: Saturdays from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm; Sundays from 9.30 am to 12.00 noon; Mondays from 1.30 to 3.45 pm; Tuesdays from 1.00 to 4.30 pm; and Wednesdays from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon. To arrange a visit with in-person audio description please contact Revd Jonathan Evens on tel: 07803 562329 or email: jonathan.evens@btinternet.com. See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.
The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) is an image in charcoal of the Last Supper by Revd Alan Stewart, which includes the central character of a visually impaired Jesus, surrounded by twelve people of differing ages, backgrounds and abilities. At the table, an empty chair invites the viewer to find themselves at the table.
The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) has been commissioned by Celia Webster, Co-Founder of Wave (We’re All Valued Equally), as part of a project in which it seeds other images of the Last Supper that are truly for everyone. Schools, churches and community groups are being invited as part of this project to create their own Last Supper images.
The exhibition includes additional Last Supper images created by: (Still) Calling from the Edge conference; WAVE (We are All Valued Equally); St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Muswell Hill; and St Paul's CE Primary School in Barnet.
St Mary's Catholic Primary School focused their piece on the empty chair included in Alan Stewart’s drawing. Pupils in Years 4 and 5 created ‘Take a Seat,’ a piece which uses the technique of mono-printing to create lots of empty chairs as an invitation for everyone to sit down and join the table. They began the project by talking about the empty chair and what it could mean. They also compared and contrasted it with the commissioned drawing to talk about difference and what forms that can take. Through the process, the children decided that the peace dove would make a good representation of god. The words around the dove invite us to take a seat, to unite us in love and community.
