Tryin' to throw your arms around the world

At the last Unveiled evening I gave a lecture 'Tryin’ to throw your arms around the world' in which I talked about the spirituality of the rock band U2. The talk set out the main characteristics of U2’s spirituality, examines their roots, makes links between their spirituality and themes in contemporary theology and, considers three reasons why U2’s spirituality has connected with popular culture.

To read 'Tryin' to throw your arms around the world' click here - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

My co-authored book The Secret Chord explored 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

Read also my dialogues with musician and poet Steve Scott here, here, here, here, and here, plus my other posts on CCM. In a series of blog posts for Deus Ex Musica I shared rock and pop songs for Easter, Lent, Epiphany and New Year. Also see my Seen and Unseen articles on Nick Cave, Rev Simpkins and Corinne Bailey Rae.

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 were adopted from Pentecostalism. Some, such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Sam Cooke, felt guilt at secularising Gospel while others, like Johnny Cash, arrived at a hard earned integration of faith and music. All experienced opposition from a Church angry at its songs and influence being appropriated for secular ends. This opposition fed a narrative that, on both sides, equated rock and pop with hedonism and rebellion. The born again Cliff Richard was often perceived (both positively and negatively) as the only alternative. Within this context the Biblical language and imagery of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison was largely overlooked, although Dylan spoke eloquently about the influence of scripture within the tradition of American music on which he drew.

With the majority of Soul stars having begun singing in Church, many of the most effective integrations of faith and music were found there with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and the Gospel-folk of the Staple Singers being among the best and most socially committed examples. Gospel featured directly with Billy Preston, Edwin Hawkins Singers and Aretha Franklin’s gospel albums. Mainstream use of Christian themes or imagery in rock were initially either unsustained (e.g. Blind Faith’s ‘Presence of the Lord’ and Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’) or obscure (e.g. C.O.B.’s Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart and Bill Fay’s Time of the Last Persecution).

However, this changed in three ways. First, the Church began to appropriate rock and pop to speak explicitly about Christian faith. This led to the emergence of a new genre, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), with interaction between CCM and the mainstream. Mainstream artists such as Philip Bailey, David Grant, Al Green, Larry Norman and Candi Staton developed CCM careers while artists originally within CCM such as Delirious?, Martyn Joseph, Julie Miller, Leslie (Sam) Phillips, Sixpence None The Richer and Switchfoot achieved varying levels of mainstream exposure and success. Second, the biblical language and imagery of stars like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen began to be understood and appreciated (helped to varying degrees by explicitly ‘Christian’ periods in the work of Dylan and Van the Man). Third, musicians such as After The Fire, The Alarm, T. Bone Burnett, The Call, Peter Case, Bruce Cockburn, Extreme, Galactic Cowboys, Innocence Mission, Kings X, Maria McKee, Buddy & Julie Miller, Moby, Over The Rhine, Ricky Ross, 16 Horsepower, U2, The Violent Femmes, Gillian Welch, Jim White, and Victoria Williams rather than singing about the light (of Christ) instead sang about the world which they saw through the light (of Christ). As rock and pop fragmented into a myriad of genres, this approach to the expression of faith continues in the work of Eric Bibb, Blessid Union of Souls, Creed, Brandon Flowers, Good Charlotte, Ben Harper, Michael Kiwanuka, Ed Kowalczyk, Lifehouse, Live, Low, Neal Morse, Mumford and Sons, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Scott Stapp, Social Distortion, and Woven Hand.

I've created a playlist on Spotify called 'Closer to the light'. 'Closer To The Light' is a song by Bruce Cockburn that he said "was written addressed to the late Mark Heard ... He was a fantastic songwriter. His death sent a shockwave through our whole community, and what that did in me was that song." As a result, 'Closer to the Light' is a song that straddles both CCM and mainstream artists suggesting that both can bring us closer to the light. Similarly, this playlist, which includes blues, choral, classical, country, folk, gospel, jazz, pop, rap, rock, and soul music, aims to straddle music from both CCM and the mainstream which also brings us closer to the light.

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Bruce Cockburn - Closer To The Light.

Chaiya Art Awards: A different kind of treasure

A different kind of treasure: Winners Exhibition, Affordable Art Fair at the Oxo Gallery

An invitation to revive and refresh our senses. The Chaiya Art Awards is the UK’s largest awards exploring spirituality through the visual arts with a top prize of £10,000, an inclusive competition for artists, whatever their faith or views on God.

From over 700 entries, the 50 visual artists featured in this juried and curated exhibition explore the theme “God is…” and encourage us to look beyond, to discern what cannot be seen and grasp what cannot be described. A liminal space where life's pain and pleasure dissolve, where questions and answers fade into shadow, where the indefinable lies, a treasure waiting to be found.

“Today, in a world full of conflict and shocks, art bears witness to the most precious part of what makes us human … At a time of global disorder, art embraces life.” Christine Macel

'God is …’ a mystery explored through canvas and paper, photographs and video, others cloth and stitch; 3D metalwork and pottery; bronze and stone sculpture; glass and pipework; a movement sensitive robot alongside an interactive sign with sonic sensors.

The panel of five judges, all well respected experts in the arts arena, will be announcing the winner of the top prize of £10,000 along with other prizes. But visitors will also have their say, in voting for public prize of £1,000 from the artwork on display during the exhibition.

EVENT: Chaiya Art Awards 2021, Winners Exhibition, Affordable Art Fair

DATES: Fri 14 May – Sun 23 April 2021
OPEN: 11am – 6pm every day (till 4pm on last day)
VENUE: Gallery@OXO, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London, SE1 9PH

Entrance is free. Artwork for sale, prices from £50 - £20,000

10% of all artwork sold goes to our Charity partner UNSEEN - working to end human trafficking and modern slavery.

THE EXHIBITION WILL ALSO BE ONLINE SIMULTANEOUSLY from 14-May to 31 July 2021, to allow access from all over the world.

For more information, visit: chaiyaartawards.co.uk

Facebook: @ChaiyaArtAwards
Twitter: @ChaiyaArtAwards
Instagram: chaiyaartawards

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Mica Paris - Mamma Said.

The human purpose of business

In our lifetimes the purpose of business is being reformed. The idea that this was, exclusively, to make shareholders wealthier is dying (slowly). In relation to the climate emergency, boardrooms have the language (eg net zero) but need more action. But on the human and social side purpose of business our language is lacking (argues Douglas Board). After Grenfell and similar events we react with outrage: but what can guide us beforehand, capturing the positives of commerce as well as its problems?

A thinker and writer on leadership and a coach, in yesterday's HeartEdge workshop Wizards, Muggle Crust and the Human Purpose of Business Douglas (@BoardWryter) drew on his book ‘Elites: can you rise to the top without losing your soul?’ to propose that the human purpose of business is to create places (organisations, systems, communities) of extraordinary achievement in which ordinary lives matter. 

He then discussed that proposal with his guests: Jo Hill, a career regulator; Monisha Shah, Committee on Standards in Public Life; Professor David Grayson CBE, an international thought leader and campaigner on responsible business; and Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields. View their conversation at https://www.facebook.com/506026059544325/videos/2750438071885864 and read Douglas' introduction to his proposal here.

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Pierce Pettis - Instrument.

Seeing is Receiving: The art of contemplation (1)

Today I'm beginning a new series exploring the art of contemplation. This post introduces the series and I'll post the remainder of the series on a weekly basis.

Introduction - Seeing

This is a book about prayer. But it is not a book about prayer like any you will have read. Most books about prayer are about the words we should speak or, if they are books of prayers, give us the words we are to speak. This is a book using words to bring us to silence.

Why? Because when we fall silent is when we begin to see. All we do and all we stop doing begins and ends in silence. Silence wraps itself around our lives through birth and death but also all our activity and speech within life.

This is perhaps most evident when music is played. Music fills the spaces in which it is performed for the duration of the performance but there is silence before and after. It may even be that the purpose of the sounds is that when they end we notice the silence more acutely than before. That is the movement – lyrically and musically – of Van Morrison’s ‘Summertime in England’ – one of the most meditative pieces created within the canon of noise that is rock music. It may also be why – in his most famous work – John Cage gave us 4 minutes 33 seconds of silence structured as a musical composition. Morrison takes us on a lyrical journey from the Lake District through Bristol to Glastonbury picking up on the literary and spiritual references as we travel to reveal that what we find in nature, literature and religion is the opportunity to rest, to experience, to be, to see, in silence.

We are led into silence in order to see because seeing is foundational to understanding. Seeing precedes speech. That is the sequence of human development, one that we ignore at our peril. It is also the sequence of the foundational story in the book of Genesis where Adam names the animals. Naming is a key human speech-act. Describing and defining is a tool for navigating existence and is the basis of scientific discovery, but it begins with seeing.

In order to accurately describe or define or map, you have first to see what is there. That is the sequence within this story. God brings animals to Adam. He looks at each one and then describes or defines each by naming it. Names in ancient times described the essence of the creature or object so named. That is what Adam does in this story. He looks for the essence of each creature and then names that essence.

With God the sequence is the same but on a cosmic scale, as God is creator. The account of creation in Genesis 1 begins with the Spirit hovering over the waters. We do not know how long this state lasted - it was a time out of time, as time did not yet exist – but it is clearly a preparatory time without speech. God then speaks and the world comes into existence. But then God looks. God looks, and sees that it is good. Then he rests; in silence. The end of speech is silence. The end of creation is rest. That is where our co-creation with God begins, in contemplation.

The Bible is full of words and speech and action but we are told that God continues to look. He sees us in the womb; Psalm 139.15-16 tells us that our frames were not hidden from God when we were being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. God’s eyes beheld our unformed substance there. God saw into the hearts of Jesse’s sons - as also with each one of us - selecting David as the one after his own heart. He saw Jonah as he tried to evade God’s call on his life, he sees every hair upon our head to the extent that they can each be numbered, and he sees and numbers every sparrow that falls. The stories that Jesus told are often stories in which the central characters look for what is lost or hidden. The point of these stories is that we find by seeing what is lost, hidden or over-looked. The point is that we see, as God sees.

As seeing is fundamental to creativity, this book suggests that art and artists can teach us how to see. The inspiration for this book is an insight expressed by the art historian, critic and curator Daniel Siedell. He suggested that attending to details, ‘looking closely is a useful discipline for us as Christians, who are supposed to see Christ everywhere, especially in the faces of all people.’ He then argued that, if ‘we dismiss artwork that is strange, unfamiliar, unconventional, if we are inattentive to visual details, how can we be attentive to those around us?’[i]

Similarly, the philosopher Simone Weil said that attention - the kind of close contemplative looking that is fundamental to our experience of art – when ‘taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer’. That is because it ‘presupposes faith and love’. Therefore, ‘absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.’[ii]

To explore this connection between contemplative looking and contemplative prayer I’m going to take us on two journeys. The first is an exploration of 7 S’s which aid our ability to genuinely pay attention in the way Weil suggests. We are aided in contemplative seeing by slowing down, sustained looking, surrendering ourselves to art through our immersion within it, staying with the silence inherent in much art, study of sources, the sharing of experiences, and openness to inspiration, the sparking of the Spirit. Many of these aids to seeing are practices shared by those who pray contemplatively. In particular, there are significant parallels to the rule of life practised by the Nazareth Community at St Martin-in-the-Fields, the members of which each shape a personal rule of life, containing individual and communal activities, using the practices of Silence, Scripture, Sacrament, Service, Sharing, Sabbath, and Staying With.

Be Still was a visual arts trail that was a wonderful example of the 7 S’s being surfaced and used. In 2016, Be Still celebrated Lent through the mindful reflection of art in six of Manchester’s most iconic venues. Contemporary installations, paintings, sculpture and live performances by internationally renowned and local artists uncovered moments where the sacred inhabits the ordinary. Each art work in the trail was accompanied by a reflection to help viewers engage spiritually and practically with stillness, prayer and mindfulness.

In the accompanying booklet Lesley Sutton, the Director of PassionArt, summarised the gift that artists offer to use in regard to attentive looking and contemplative prayer:

‘The gift the artist offers is to share with us is the mindful and prayerful act of seeing, for, in order to make material from their thoughts and ideas, they have to spend time noticing, looking intently and making careful observation of the minutiae of things; the negative spaces between objects, the expression and emotion of faces, the effect of light and shadow, shades of colour, the variety of texture, shape and form. This act of seeing slows us down and invites us to pay attention to the moment, to be still, not to rush and only take a quick glance but instead to come into a relationship with that which you are seeing, to understand it and make sense of its relationship with the world around it. This is a form of prayer where we become detached from our own limited perspective and make way for a wider more compassionate understanding of ourselves, others and the world we inhabit.’[iii]

The second journey is one to view some of the art commissioned by churches in the period since modern art began. For a significant part of its history the Church in the West was the major patron for visual arts. In that period, content ruled for the Church as art illustrated Biblical narratives and the lives of the Saints for teaching the faith, inspiring praxis, and facilitating prayer. But by the time Impressionism initiated modern art, art had already freed itself in many ways from the patronage of the Church and, as form not content became its primary focus, the developments of modern art led to an increasingly strained relationship between the Church and the visual arts.

The story of modern art has often been told with little or no reference to Christianity and yet, as Daniel Siedell has noted, an alternative history and theory of the development of modern art exists ‘revealing that Christianity has always been present with modern art, nourishing as well as haunting it, and that modern art cannot be understood without understanding its religious and spiritual components and aspirations.’[iv]

Seeing art commissioned for churches as part of the twentieth century renewal of religious art in Europe, as I did as a Sacred Art Pilgrimage in 2014, enables reflection on the ways in which artworks in churches facilitate contemplation and prayer. On my pilgrimage I visited churches in Belgium, England, France and Switzerland and I’ll take you back to some of those churches in the pages that follow. The majority were connected in some way with the encouragement to commission contemporary for churches given by George Bell, Marie-Alain Couturier, Maurice Denis, Albert Gleizes, Walter Hussey and Jacques Maritain.

Near the beginning of the pilgrimage I sat in St Giles Cripplegate on a balmy summer’s evening in July. I was there to listen to The Revd. Dr. Samuel Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, speak about ‘Art and the renewal of St Martins’. I didn’t know it then, but within a year I would join the team at St Martin’s and become a colleague of The Revd. Dr.

I was nearing the end of one journey whilst being at the beginning of several others. At that point I was a Vicar in East London with a significant interest in the Arts and their connections to faith; more than that, an interest in faith connecting with the whole of life. Engaging with the Arts, with workplaces, with community life and social action; these had all been key motivations on my journey into ordained ministry and of my ministry in East London since ordination in 2003.

Sam’s talk, part of an International Conference organised by Art & Christianity Enquiry, was scene-setting for a journey that was part pilgrimage, part art trail; while wholly concerned with seeing and contemplating the connections between art and faith. After initial remarks on the theme of art as a plurality of possibility showing what could be by using form, media and idea for creation, appreciation and interpretation, he took John Calvin’s threefold office of Christ as a frame for speaking about art, St Martins and art at St Martins.

In speaking about the Prophet, he said that art holds up a mirror to society and asks, ‘Are you proud of what you see?’ Art can create a dream of society fulfilled and thereby the painful gap between the ideal and reality. Prophets often shock and some prophetic acts are shocking. The priestly dimension of it that it enables us to see beyond the stars; we can “heaven espie” through art and it can, therefore, be a sacrament. Through the arts the ordinary stuff of life speaks or sings of the divine. Artists are the high priests of creation. Finally, using the kingly dimension, art can show what humanity can be when we reach our full potential. Kingly art stretches us and is about glory, as with a road sweeper he had encountered who spoke of his love of opera as being “his glory.” Artists construct acts of worship. God is the great artist and each human life is an interpretation and improvisation on the creativity of God.

These were the exciting aspirations on which I reflected as I set out on my journey of discovery through an art pilgrimage. I hope they also excite you as we set out on our shared journey through the 7 S’s of contemplative looking in order to discover the place of silence where we see with prayerful attention.

Every journey needs to include points at which we rest, recuperate and reflect before moving on further. As such, each chapter on our journey ends with options to Explore, Wonder, Pray, and undertake a Spiritual Exercise or an Art Action. Explore is information enabling further exploration of the theme, usually through related artworks. Wonderings are open-ended while relevant to the theme of the chapter and the reader's experience. They are intended to move in the direction of entering the content of the chapter and your own lived experience more deeply. There are no right or wrong responses to wonderings. The prayers included seek to channel the main themes of the chapter into personal prayers. Alternatively, you may wish to write or pray your own. The spiritual exercises seek to suggest an activity to enable prayerful reflection on the themes in ways that could enhance your own spirituality. Finally, the Art Actions provide links to some of the artworks or art activities mentioned in the chapter.

Our journey together begins and ends with poetry:

Attend, attend, pay attention, contemplate.
Open eyes of faith to days, minutes,
moments of miracle and marvel; there is wildness
and wonder wherever you go, present
in moments that never repeat, running free,
never coming again. Savour, savour the present –
small things, dull moments, dry prayers –
sacraments of presence, sense of wonder,
daily divine depth in the here and now.
There is only here, there is only now,
these are the days, this is the fiery vision,
awe and wildness, miracle and flame. Take off
your shoes, stand in the holy fire; sacrament
of the burning, always consumed, never repeating
present moment, knowing the time is now.

[i] D. Siedell - https://imagejournal.org/artist/daniel-siedell/
[ii] S. Weil, Gravity and Grace, Routledge, 2004, p. 117
[iii] L. Sutton in Be Still: PassionArt Trail 2016, PassionArt, 2016, p. 38
[iv] D. A. Siedell, God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art, BakerAcademic, 2008

See also 'And a little child shall lead them' which explores similar themes.

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Van Morrison - Summertime In England.

ArtWay: The Light Without and Within

My latest visual meditation for ArtWay explores confession via images from S. Billie Mandle's monograph, Reconciliation:

'The confessionals that Mandle photographed over a ten-year period were pragmatic structures, often constructed with acoustic tiles, and more neglected than the churches themselves. Her images spoke to the beliefs that have defined these dark rooms and shaped this intimate yet institutional ritual. In the rooms themselves she found visible and invisible traces of people, communities, prayers and dogmas.

In the neglect of places and practices abandoned because of abuse, these seedy scruffy spaces that seem to share with us the shabby shame of sin, Mandle identifies the primary source of light and makes that the focus of her images. Light illumines and illuminates. In some images the light reveals the extent to which these spaces are rundown and gone to seed neglected. In others, the light irradiates the entire space transforming, changing, beautifying.'

My visual meditations for ArtWay include work by María Inés Aguirre, Giampaolo Babetto, Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Alexander de Cadenet, Christopher Clack, Marlene Dumas, Terry Ffyffe, Antoni Gaudi, Nicola Green, Maciej Hoffman, Giacomo Manzù, Michael Pendry, Maurice Novarina, Regan O'Callaghan, Ana Maria Pacheco, John Piper, Albert Servaes, Henry Shelton and Anna Sikorska.

My Church of the Month reports include: Aylesford Priory, Canterbury Cathedral, Chapel of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Hem, Chelmsford Cathedral, Churches in Little Walsingham, Coventry Cathedral, Église de Saint-Paul à Grange-Canal, Eton College Chapel, Lumen, Metz Cathedral, Notre Dame du Léman, Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Plateau d’Assy,Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem, St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Alban Romford, St. Andrew Bobola Polish RC Church, St. Margaret’s Church, Ditchling, and Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, St Mary the Virgin, Downe, and St Paul Goodmayes, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

Other of writings for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Church Times can be found here. Those for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.

ArtWay: Jazz, Blues, and Spirituals

My latest piece for ArtWay is a review of the republished 'Jazz, Blues, and Spirituals. The Origins and Spirituality of Black Music in the United States' by Hans Rookmaaker:

'Reading ‘Jazz, Blues and Spirituals’ has revived my gratitude for Rookmaaker’s teaching, writing and passions. It has revived my appreciation for the significant part his ideas and understandings played in my own appreciation of the Arts, and that of many others. It has enabled reflection on the personal journey I have made in appreciating the Arts, both in terms of understanding where that journey began and where I am in the present.

Most of all though, reading ‘Jazz, Blues and Spirituals’ has introduced me to musicians about whom I knew little previously and enlivened my appreciation for the roots of the music with which I am most familiar.'

I interviewed Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker, Editor-in-Chief of ArtWay, for Artlyst and asked her then about Hans Rookmaaker, her father, and his legacy. The interview can be read at  https://www.artway.eu/artway.php?id=1019&lang=en&action=show.

My visual meditations for ArtWay include work by María Inés Aguirre, Giampaolo Babetto, Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Alexander de Cadenet, Christopher Clack, Marlene Dumas, Terry Ffyffe, Antoni Gaudi, Nicola Green, Maciej Hoffman, Giacomo Manzù, Michael Pendry, Maurice Novarina, Regan O'Callaghan, Ana Maria Pacheco, John Piper, Albert Servaes, Henry Shelton and Anna Sikorska.

My Church of the Month reports include: Aylesford Priory, Canterbury Cathedral, Chapel of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Hem, Chelmsford Cathedral, Churches in Little Walsingham, Coventry Cathedral, Église de Saint-Paul à Grange-Canal, Eton College Chapel, Lumen, Metz Cathedral, Notre Dame du Léman, Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Plateau d’Assy,Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem, St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Alban Romford, St. Andrew Bobola Polish RC Church, St. Margaret’s Church, Ditchling, and Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, St Mary the Virgin, Downe, and St Paul Goodmayes, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

Other of writings for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Church Times can be found here. Those for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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King Oliver - Doctor Jazz.

Online exhibition: Where is God in our 21st Century World?

The Chaiya Art Awards are the UK’s biggest art awards exploring spirituality through the visual arts. Due to the coronavirus, the 2020 Chaiya Art Awards, for which I am one of the judges, has been postponed until Easter 2021 and will take place at gallery@oxo on London’s Southbank.

Chaiya Art Awards believe that art can play such an important role in our current situation, to calm the soul, to challenge our perspectives and world views, to inspire and encourage us, to engage with creativity and the mystery within. It can give us and other people fresh perspectives on what is happening in our neighbourhoods and across our world. Art can bring hope, comfort or challenge.

As the 2020 awards have been postponed until Easter 2021, they have decided to showcase an exhibition never seen online before. From over 450 submissions, they selected over 35 visual artists in this curated and judged exhibition as they respond to the theme of the inaugural Awards: 'Where is God in our 21st Century World?’

To visit this 3D virtual online exhibition, click here. After you have visited the exhibition you can vote for your favourite piece, the winner of the public vote will win £500.

There is also an accompanying hardback book featuring all the exhibition artists, plus an additional 35 artists, alongside inspiration writing, poems and quotes. During the online exhibition this is available at a special discounted price, click here to buy.

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Mavis Staples - All In It Together.

The desert in the city: Sabbath

Here's my reflection on Sabbath for tonight's Lent Course session at St Martin-in-the-Fields, based on Richard Carter's book 'The city is my monastery':

‘Living God’s future now’ will be the title for the next HeartEdge conference, but it is also a very effective description of what Sabbath is all about.

Discussions about the Sabbath often centre around moralistic laws and arguments over what a person should or should not be able to do either the Jewish Sabbath or on Sundays in the Christian tradition. Those of you who are my age or older will recall what Sundays were like before the introduction of Sunday trading in 1994. Sunday’s then commonly began with church worship, followed by roast lunch with the family and time at home together. Some people now miss the fact that Sunday is little different to other days in the week and the enforced slow down and battery recharge that the old Sundays had. For some the introduction of Sunday trading has eroded family time with a consequent deleterious effect on society. Others remember detesting Sundays as everything was either closed or seriously curtailed and think it's much better now with everything open and little curtailment. A French novelist in the 1950s had a retired British Army officer character declare that: ‘If England has not been invaded since 1066, it is because foreigners dread having to spend a Sunday there.’

Such debates about ways to keep a particular day are ultimately distractions from the deeper meaning of Sabbath. In tonight’s Word from the Edge (Hebrews 4. 1-10) we hear repeatedly the assertion that the promise of entering God’s rest is still open, it remains open for some to enter God’s rest and that a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews is saying that the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian practice of gathering for worship on Sunday are no more than stages on the way to the real Sabbath which will be experienced in heaven. They are rehearsals for the reality that we will experience then and that is why we can talk about seeking to live God’s future now.

In order to understand how to really live Sabbath as a rehearsal for the reality of heaven, we need to understand key characteristics of heaven itself. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews highlights particularly the idea that those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labours as God did from his.

In his writings about being with, Sam Wells has introduced us to the four categories of: being with, being for, doing for and doing with. He has challenged us and others with the thought that we spend much of our time, effort, energy and activism on doing things for or being for others, instead of being with others. When we are being for or doing things for others, we are in problem solving mode because there are things that we think we can fix and it is our activity that will provide or contribute to the solution. Heaven challenges our propensity to do and be for others because in heaven there is nothing to fix. In heaven God wipes every tear from our eyes, death is no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more. In heaven there is no being for or doing there is just being with. We cease from our labours as God did from his and simply enjoy God, each other, the world around us and ourselves for who we are.

We prepare for that reality, as Sam says, by learning to live with everybody now and receive their unexpected gifts with imagination and gratitude in recognition that these are the people with whom we’ll be spending eternity, lucky and blessed as we all are to be there. So, we’d best use these earthly years as a time for getting in the mood.

That means that Sabbath moments are primarily those times of appreciation, revelation and understanding towards God, others, creation and ourselves. ‘The City is my monastery’ is a book that gets us in the mood for heaven by taking us deeper into moments of realisation and wonder. Richard Carter writes that 'Rest is given to us as the culmination of creation’ and that the ‘whole of creation moves towards this time of Sabbath, and our lives have no meaning simply as cycles of survival without this arrival at the place of wonder and rest.’ The rest that is ultimately the culmination of creation is that which we will experience in heaven. Sabbath is our anticipation of that experience in the here and now.

‘Creation is not complete,’ he writes, ‘until God rests on the seventh day and contemplates all creation.’ Therefore, 'God blesses time’ and ‘consecrates it as holy.’ The whole of creation is moving towards this time of Sabbath, ‘and our lives have no meaning simply as cycles of survival without this arrival at the place of wonder and rest.'

‘When we rest, we imitate God - we enter into the rhythm of God's time,' but, more than that, 'if Sabbath is God's time, it does not end in the keeping of the Sabbath - the Sabbath enters into all our time.’ ‘When we keep Sabbath, everything we do can be infused with that sense of God's presence.'

He describes a day on holiday in Kefalonia where he pays attention to every moment of the day – the bread he buys from the bakery, the person who serves him, the wrapping in which it comes, the feel and taste of it. Later in the day, he writes, ‘I sat on the beach and watched people playing in the sea … I swam, ate bread and ripe tomatoes, and these actions were like a prayer.'

The poet Mary Oliver wrote that ‘Attention without feeling is only a report.’ To fully feel life course through us we must befriend our own attention, that ‘intentional, unapologetic discriminator.’ The philosopher, Simone Weil wrote that: ‘Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.’

That is true Sabbath - not a particular day or a particular set of actions (helpful as those can be) – but absolute unmixed attention presupposing faith and love. This is a style of prayer originally practised by the Celtic saints in this country and passed down the generations in Gaelic regions, in prayers said while undertaking daily tasks. In more recent years a renewal of interest in Celtic Christianity has revived this style of prayer for many.

Richard writes in ‘The city is my monastery’ that this is possible even in the midst of trouble, difficulty and challenge. He writes of time spent in hospital and says, 'It's sometimes only when we are a little stripped down, like this in your hospital night-gown, and tubes coming out of your arm, that God’s presence is once again uncovered.' He then tells of a conversation with a homeless man who was coming regularly to Morning Prayer:

‘Have you always been so faithful in your prayers?’ I asked him. ‘No,’ he said, ‘only when I am in trouble.’

‘Where did you learn to pray?’ He is silent for a moment. And then he tells me quietly: ‘In prison that’s when I realized I needed him most.’

‘Well,’ said Richard, ‘I learnt to pray again in hospital.’

I wonder whether, as with Richard and that homeless man, our current troubles – this enforced Sabbath - could be a moment in which we learn to pray again living God’s future now by practicing faith, love and thankfulness through prayerful attention. There is an unattributed poem circulating currently on facebook which suggests this might be so:

For years our land has groaned beneath the grind
Of work, work, work, of pounding feet, of churn;
For years we stopped our ears and would not mind
The gentle voice that urged us all to turn
From endless slog and strain that warps and rends
The sinews of the Spirit, toward rest:
The Sabbath's breathing wisdom God intends
For human flourishing and the land's best.
Now cafes rest, deserted and the shops,
The bank, the bustle, bargain, building, bar,
The tube's hot haggling hustle: it all stops.
Forced into stillness, now we breathe, we are.
Such tragic loss of love, of breath, to prove
How much we need to rest, to breathe, to love.

Open my heart that I might contemplate your presence in everyone and everything you have made; all that is good, all that is beautiful and all that is true. May wonder and awe at your goodness draw me closer to you and lead me to a sense of eternity now. Amen.

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Bruce Cockburn - No Footprints.

HeartEdge Mailer | November 2019

HeartEdge Mailer | November 2019

Initiated by St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, HeartEdge is an international ecumenical movement.

• We are churches and other organisations developing mission.
• Our practice is focused on 4 areas - commercial activity, congregational development, cultural engagement and compassion.

Each month we email stories and web links related to developing commercial activity, congregations, cultural engagement and compassion.

This month:

• Hannah Malcolm on hope, Liz Delafield on good society and Val Barren on enterprise - and young and olds sing a new song via Mesadorm.
• Setting up a community shop in church, plus living with a church building, how church can become a community hub plus - activism and Franciscan spirituality.
• Loads of Christmas ideas for congregations, plus community chaplaincy.
• An extract from 'The City is my Monastery: A Contemporary Rule of Life' by Richard Carter.

Read the Mailer here.

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Gungor - Brother Moon.

The City is my Monastery: A contemporary rule of life

My colleague at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Richard Carter has written a book called
The City is My Monastery: A Contemporary Rule of Life. It’s being published by Canterbury Press with Forward by Sam Wells and Afterword by Rowan Williams. The book is illustrated by Andrew Carter, Helen Ireland, and Vicky Howard.

On Wednesday 20 November 6.30pm in our service of Bread for the World at St Martin-in-the-Fields Richard will speak about the book.

Richard Carter swapped a life of simplicity with an Anglican religious order in the Solomon Islands for parish ministry in one of London’s busiest churches, St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Seeing a need for monastic values in the centre of the city, he founded the Nazareth Community. Its members gather from everyday life to seek God in contemplation, to acknowledge their dependence on God’s grace and to learn to live openly and generously with all.

Part story, part spiritual meditation, The City is My Monastery offers spiritual wisdom for daily life rooted in the Nazareth Community’s seven guiding principles: Silence, Service, Scripture, Sacrament, Sharing, Sabbath Time and Staying.

‘This wonderful book is both recognizable and startlingly new. What we are given here is not simply another book on ‘spirituality’ but a workbook for living in and with meaning, Christian meaning, Jesus-shaped meaning.’ Rowan Williams

‘This book is a generous gift. The City is My Monastery is rich and moving reading which warmed my spirit and encouraged me to stay.’ The Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London

‘This is a book that moved me deeply and will surely strengthen and give heart to many. It is an autobiography of poetry and prayer. Above all, a powerful poetic meditation on meeting God every day on the streets and in the people of London.’ Neil MacGregor, founding director of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, director of the British Museum 2002-2015

‘Precious few are the books that accomplish what this masterfully practical and inspiring book accomplishes. Nor do they do so with such grace, depth and unflinching insight. Those who tread the pathless path of contemplation will be grateful to be in Richard Carter’s debt for the gift of this remarkable book.’ Martin Laird OSA, author of An Ocean of Light

‘The City is my Monastery is beautiful, inspiring, humble and attractive. It is so deeply soaked in loving attention and that is what makes it so infectious.’ The Revd Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields

‘This is a life-changing book, and needs to be read as it is written - as a prayer.’ Sarah Coakley, Norris-Hulse Professor Emerita, University of Cambridge

‘There are treasures on every page: wisdom gathered, practised and shared. This book is so readable it could be a quick read, but linger and use it slowly over the months and years. This is a guide to life.’ The Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury

‘This is one of those books that can be a lifetime’s companion, holding before us what we are here for: Life.’ Father George Guiver, Community of the Resurrection.

‘Richard Carter has written a book not of abstract theory but of lived experience and practice. It will inspire urban and rural dwellers alike.’ Revd Lucy Winkett Rector St James's Church, Piccadilly

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Taize - Veni Sancte Spiritus.

Book Review - Church and Patronage in 20th Century Britain: Walter Hussey and the Arts

Oxford Academic Journals has just published my latest book review in The Journal of Theological Studies:

Church and Patronage in 20th Century Britain: Walter Hussey and the Arts. By Peter Webster.

Peter Webster is an historian based in London and Chichester, with interests in the history of Christianity in twentieth century Britain, particularly the relation of church, law and state, the religious arts, and evangelicalism.

"In this book Peter Webster reviews Hussey's work as a patron between 1943 and 1978, seeking to place Hussey in his theological, cultural and aesthetic context. As such, Hussey is a lens through which Webster views relationships between patrons and artists in the twentieth century and explores ways in which the Church of England met, resisted and negotiated with forces of cultural change in the arts and in the religious life of the nation."

My earlier book reviews for the Journal of Theological Studies are:

• The Sacred Community: Art, Sacrament, and the People of God. By David Jasper.
• Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty. By Cecilia González-Andrieu.
• Wording a Radiance: Parting Conversations on God and the Church. By Daniel W. Hardy with Deborah Hardy Ford, Peter Ochs, and David F. Ford.
• Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination. By Malcolm Guite.

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Malcolm Guite - Singing Bowl.

No Neutral Ground

Last night I was at the launch of No Neutral Ground by Pete Portal, whose drug rehabilitation home in the slums of Cape Town has received prayer and financial support from St Martin-in-the-Fields.

'Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world – often described as a kind of heaven on earth. But for the majority of its inhabitants it is hell. Ghettoes are everywhere, and for those living in Manenberg – a coloured township on the Cape Flats, purpose-built by the apartheid government as part of its forced removal plan – life is just as marginal today as it was during apartheid. The main differences now are the rampant drug use and widespread gang presence.

No Neutral Ground is the gripping account of Pete Portal’s move from London to Manenberg, of addicts and gangsters meeting Jesus and being transformed, and how he went from living with a heroin addict to helping establish a church community – and all the heartbreak and failure along the way. This is a story of mighty works of God, as well as relapse, hopelessness and despair; the miraculous and the mundane, heaven and hell, all balanced on a knife edge.

Offering searing insight and an inspiring vision of faith, Pete asks why anyone would choose this way of life, if giving up our lives for others is worth it – and what the church could become if we were willing to risk it all to reach the forgotten and the lost.'

‘Honest, inspiring, heartbreakingly convicting, spirit-infused, humble and holy. This book reeks of Jesus and the invitation he still gives to lose our lives for something so much better.’ – Danielle Strickland

‘inspiring stories, wild faith and insightful challenge’ – Pete Greig

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Martin Smith - You Have Shown Us.

Live the questions now

Here is my reflection on Book V of St Augustine's Confessions shared tonight as part of the Lent Course at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

In Book V of his Confessions Augustine tells of his travels in search of better students which take him from Carthage to Rome, and then to Milan, until his conversion. He meets the Manichean leader, Faustus, but finds no answers. He also encounters the doubt of the Academics and comes close to total scepticism in his own philosophy. In Milan he listens to Bishop Ambrose, whose homilies, little by little, answer many questions about Scripture which have been nagging at him for a long time.

In Book V Augustine shares several understandings that prepare him for his conversion. These are the place of science in belief, the value of questions, the necessity of faithful prayer, and non-literal interpretations of scripture. I want to explore each of these in turn.

In Chapter 3 Augustine compares the teachings of the Philosophers and the Manichees. He concludes that the teaching of Manes, the founder of the Manichees, was rambling and confused when it came to phenomena such as solstices, equinoxes or eclipses. By contrast, the observations of the Philosophers about creation could be verified by mathematics, by the progress of the seasons, and by the visible evidence of the stars.

Augustine is essentially saying that religious beliefs should not be in conflict with the findings of science and where they are, as in the case of the Manichees, this has to undermine the whole system of belief. How should we view this position in an age when scientists like Richard Dawkins believe there is no common ground between science and religion and when some Christians hold beliefs such as creationism which are opposed to scientific findings?

Sir John Polkinghorne, who is both a world-class physicist and an Anglican priest, is one who seeks to present an account of the friendship between science and theology, which he believes to be the truest assessment. Religion, he says, is our encounter with divine reality, just as science is our encounter with physical reality.

He notes that the intellectual strategy of science is neither an undue credulity nor a perpetual scepticism. A general scientific theory is broadly persuasive because it provides the best available explanation of a great swathe of physical experience. The cumulative fruitfulness of science encourages Polkinghorne to believe that this is an effective intellectual strategy to pursue. He then also wishes to engage in a similar strategy with regard to the unseen reality of God. God’s existence makes sense of many aspects of our knowledge and experience: the order and fruitfulness of the physical world; the multilayered character of reality; the almost universal human experiences of worship and hope; the phenomenon of Jesus Christ (including his Resurrection). He suggests that very similar thought processes are involved in both cases.

Therefore he does not believe that he shifts gear in some strange intellectual way when he moves from science to religion. In particular, he does not claim that religious belief springs from some mysteriously endorsed and unquestionable source of knowledge that is not open to rational assessment and, if necessary, to reassessment. Theology has long known that our images of God are inadequate to the infinite richness of the divine nature; that human concepts of God are ultimately idols to be broken in the face of the greater reality. So, in their search for truth, he claims that science and religion are intellectual cousins under the skin. This, it seems to me, is a position which equates to the approach advocated by Augustine in Book V.

Next, Augustine, in Chapter 6, complains that in the crowd that came to hear the Manichee teacher, Faustus, he was not allowed to voice his anxious questions, and place them before him in the relaxed give-and-take of discussion. The asking of questions is fundamental to Augustine’s approach in writing Confessions. In the first Chapter of Confessions he asks 6 questions, in the second Chapter he asks 12, in Chapter 3 he asks 8, and so it continues throughout the book. Augustine clearly believes that the asking of questions is fundamental to gaining true knowledge of God.

In Letters to a Young Poet the poet Rainer Maria Rilke calls for the unknown to be embraced, and not necessarily puzzled out. His call is one which I think equates with Augustine’s use of questions in Confessions. Rilke writes: “…have patience with everything unresolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves, as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing, live your way into the answer….”

That was what Monica, Augustine’s mother, had to do as she prayed that Augustine would come to faith. Augustine writes in Chapter 8 that God did not grant what she desired at that moment, but, true to his higher purpose, he met the deeper wish of her heart. Monica had to learn to persevere in prayer in the face of what seemed to be a lack of response from God to her prayer. When Jesus told parables about prayer the stories he told were of those who did what Monica did and kept on praying no matter what. When Monica’s prayer is finally answered it is the deepest wish of her heart that is realised as her son becomes one of the most influential figures in the history of Christianity.

Finally, Augustine explains that the change in his understanding of Christianity comes as he changes the way in which he interprets scripture. He is impacted by hearing Bishop Ambrose in Milan because Ambrose explains the spiritual meaning of Old Testament passages by figurative interpretations. Previously, Augustine says, taking these passages literally had been the death of me.

Literal understandings of the Bible claim that the meaning originally expressed by the writer is clear. Biblical literalism became an issue in the 18th century as a reaction to the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution. Some Christians, such as those who in 1978 wrote the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, have made this way of understanding scripture their test as to whether the Church is being faithful to God or not. They affirm the necessity of interpreting the Bible according to its literal sense. The literal sense is, as we have heard, the meaning which the writer expressed and they deny the legitimacy of any approach to Scripture that attributes to it meaning which the literal sense does not support.

The problem with this is that the Gospel writers and St Paul do not interpret scripture in that way. The Gospel writers constantly apply Old Testament passages to Jesus in ways that do not reflect the meanings that the writers originally expressed while St Paul, like Ambrose, regularly uses allegorical or figurative interpretations of Old Testament passages. As a result, if we are, like Augustine, to understand the spiritual meanings of scripture we cannot simply apply one interpretative method to our reading of scripture but have to embrace the diversity of ways in which scripture is interpreted and understood and used within the pages of scripture itself.

So, in Book V, Augustine gives us these four foundational approaches to faith: the taking seriously of science, living our questions, perseverance in prayer; and a diversity of approaches to the interpretation of scripture. These four approaches return Augustine to the place where, as he writes at the end of Book V, he becomes once again an inquirer in the Catholic Church. He would therefore, I believe, commend them to us in our ongoing inquiries and investigations into the truth of Christianity.   

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Rainer Maria Rilke - Letters To A Young Poet.

Review: Edward Burne-Jones and Seen & Heard

My latest exhibition review for Church Times covers Edward Burne-Jones: Pre-Raphaelite Visionary, at Tate Britain and Seen & Heard: Victorian Children in the Frame, at Guildhall Art Gallery.

'Offering us a visual narrative for the huge cultural shift in how society viewed, and treated, children over the course of the “long 19th century”, “Seen and Heard: Victorian Children in the Frame” plunges us into the maelstrom of innovation and exploitation, compassion and sentimentality, which characterised Victorian society.'

'Tate Britain’s exhibition, by bringing together more than 150 works in different media, including painting, stained glass, and tapestry, presents Burne-Jones as the polymath that he would have appeared to be to his contemporary audience; to whom he was a designer and decorative and fine artist with an exceptionally wide range of literary reference.'

The review also considers the legacy of the Victorians, a legacy that I also examined in a review for ArtWay of Adrian Barlow's book Kempe: The Life, Art and Legacy of Charles Eamer Kempe:

'The legacy and reputation of many significant Victorians is complex and contradictory because their often great achievements were fashioned on the oppression of Empire and the superiority and arrogance which fuelled aggressive expansion presenting exploitation of others and their natural resources as being the introduction of civilisation.'

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Rush - The Garden.

Encounter Series Videos

Encounter Series

The Autumn Lecture Series at St Martin-in-the-Fields featured lectures which focused on the theme of encounter. How are we changed by the people, events or objects we encounter when we meet them face-to-face? How do prejudices shift? How are new insights born? What inspires us to new ways of being and relating to God and to others? How do we become who we truly are through those we meet? How do we encounter God in our lives? In each of these lectures prominent and inspirational leaders, thinkers and practitioners speak from a personal but also public perspective about the way such encounters have changed the course of their lives.

This year, for the first time, we recorded the Autumn Lecture Series. Videos of Encounter 2018 are now available through our website. A study guide produced for churches wishing to use the videos with their congregations is available from jonathan.evens@smitf.org.


To watch Sam Wells introducing the Series click here


To watch Richard Carter introducing the speakers click here


To watch Rowan Williams Encountering the Other click here


To watch Christianity Encountering Islam (filmed at Baitul Futuh Mosque) click here


To Watch Encountering London click here


To watch Encountering Jesus of Nazareth
click here


To watch Encountering the Sacred click here


To watch Encountering God click here

The Encounters exhibition by Nicola Green which was shown at St Martin's during the Autumn Lecture Series is accompanied by a book published by Brepols publishers titled Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue.

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Christian service: transaction or gift?

Here's the sermon that I preached at St John's Seven Kings this morning:

Bob Dylan wrote, in ‘It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’, that ‘even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.’ Now, you may well have an understandable aversion to picturing the Donald in the altogether (you might prefer to picture him as Diaper Donald, the blimp that was flown during his visit to the UK), but the point that Dylan makes is that we are all fundamentally the same despite the position, prestige, wealth or power accorded to some.

The Church is, of course, not immune to the temptations of position and prestige. At St Martin-in-the-Fields last week the sermon began with a story about a minor canon in a Cathedral and the position she occupied in the processions that began and ended services. Woe betide her were she to stray from her allotted position. The story came with a wry acknowledgement that, at St Martin’s, we do not always avoid such issues ourselves.

Churches are formed of fallible human beings and so the seeking of and holding onto position and prestige is something that features in every Christian community, while being something which the example and teaching of Jesus’ leads us to try to eschew.

Jesus’ teaching that all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Luke 14. 1 - 14) connects with his regular use of the phrase the first shall be last and the last first. He also taught that anyone wishing to be great should be the servant of all and provided a visual example of this in washing the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper. There he said that his disciples were to follow his example of serving others. St Paul notes that Jesus provided the ultimate example of humble service which has no personal benefit, by becoming a human being and, as a human being, becoming obedient to death on a cross.

The connection between all of this teaching about humble service is the call for us to act in ways that are not transactional, but instead are about gift. As human beings, we generally act on the basis of transactions, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. We generally charge for products and services and when we do volunteer often expect to receive some benefit for our contribution, generally in the form of recognition, kudos or thanks.

At the end of the final parable in today’s Gospel, Jesus says you will be blessed if those you invite to meals or banquets cannot repay you. In other words, if you receive no benefit yourself from your invitation, then it is a genuine gift. Among the benefits he thinks we should aim to eschew is that of recognition and kudos. That is why in the Sermon on the Mount he consistently teaches that our giving, our fasting and our prayers should all be in secret so that God alone sees. If we receive the acclaim of others for our giving or serving, then we have already received our reward. Jesus encourages us, as Christians, to go beyond transactions into acts of service that generate no benefit for us in order that they are simply acts of love and generosity because that is how God relates to us.

This is what is called the Gift economy. Lewis Hyde writing about the gift economy says that ‘a gift that cannot be given away ceases to be a gift’ and ‘the spirit of a gift is kept alive by its constant donation’: ‘a cardinal property of the gift: whatever we have been given is supposed to be given away again, not kept. Or, if it is kept, something of similar value should move on in its stead … You may keep your Christmas present, but it ceases to be a gift in the true sense unless you have given something else away.’

Hyde explains that our ego is bound up with transactional exchanges: ‘In the ego-of-one we speak of self-gratification, and whether it's forced or chosen, a virtue or a vice, the mark of self-gratification is its isolation. Reciprocal giving, the ego-of-two, is a little more social. We think mostly of lovers. Each of these circles is exhilarating as it expands, and the little gifts that pass between lovers touch us because each is stepping into a larger circuit. But again, if the exchange goes on and on to the exclusion of others, it soon goes stale.’

Hyde goes on to say that, when giving is reciprocal: ‘The gift moves in a circle, and two people do not make much of a circle. Two points establish a line, but a circle lies in a plane and needs at least three points.’ It is only ‘When the gift moves in a circle [that] its motion is beyond the control of the personal ego, and so each bearer must be a part of the group and each donation is an act of social faith.’

Hyde suggests ‘we think of the gift as a constantly flowing river’ and allow ourselves ‘to become a channel for its current.’ When we try to ‘dam the river’, ‘thinking what counts is ownership and size,’ ‘one of two things will happen: either it will stagnate or it will fill the person up until he bursts.’

This is why Jesus wants us to give in ways that don’t involve our ego being flattered or satisfied. He is prepared to be the dinner party guest from Hell criticising all the other guests in these stories in order to get across the point that true greatness consists of service offered as part of the gift economy where we gain no reward for our actions other than that of God seeing what we have done in secret.

So, when we want everyone to know how much time we've given to the church or how much money we have raised or how many people we have visited, Jesus says to us that we have already received our reward. When we expect others to do things our way because of our many years of service or because of the role we play, Jesus questions our motivations for wanting those things and playing that role. When we hold onto our roles or our titles because of what these things mean to us, Jesus asks us to lay them down for the sake of our own souls.

Jesus, in these stories, acts a little like one of those full body scanners at the airport used to detect objects on a person's body for security screening purposes, without physically removing clothes or making physical contact. He can see through the masks that we hold up to prevent others seeing our true motivations. Before God, we are seen as we truly are, with all our underlying motivations made clear. As Bob Dylan reminds us, ‘even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.’ His underlying motivations, like those of us all, are fully revealed in the sight of God.

This is why confession is so important as a regular part of our services. We can easily gloss over that part of the service and think to ourselves that we have done nothing that was significantly wrong in the course of the past week. Jesus, however, is calling us to look more deeply at ourselves than we are often willing to do, because he wants us to examine the motivations that underpin the things we do and these are often more selfish or self-centred than we are willing to admit.

Such self-examination, however, is not an act of beating ourselves up and forcing ourselves to find something to confess. Instead, it is a challenge to move beyond our human love of rewards – whether those are to do with money or with approval – and become more godlike in our exchanges by genuinely gifting our contributions in ways which mean we receive no reward.

Jesus says to us, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite those who cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

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Carleen Anderson - Leopards In The Temple.