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Showing posts with label boundaries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boundaries. Show all posts

Monday, 4 November 2024

Artlyst - November Art Diary

My November Art Diary for Artlyst begins with exhibitions by artists with whom I have some former connections, starting with some I have interviewed, such as Michael Petry, Sean Scully and Genesis Tramaine. Then, I highlight some other artists and exhibitions that address aspects of spirituality and mythology. These include Stanley Spencer, Takis and Jonathan Clarke. Finally, I end with exhibitions exploring themes of equality and inclusion, which enable difficult conversations to take place across boundaries:

'Another former interviewee of mine for Artlyst is Paul Chandler, who runs CARAVAN, an international arts NGO. Their latest exhibition, ‘SYMBOLS OF LIFE: BEYOND PERCEPTION: An Artistic Exploration of the Human Soul’, is part of the programming around the Biennale de Dakar, the premiere art event on the African continent. This exhibition features two remarkable artists whose work enhances our experience and understanding of each other and the transcendent. Tidiane Ndongo and Djibril Coulibaly brilliantly embody CARAVAN’s vision of seeing the arts play a strategic role in transforming our world; they touch the spiritual dimension of our human existence. Art is a universal language that can dissolve the differences that divide us. As long as division has torn apart the human family, art has offered a mode of reconciliation and wholeness. As is evident in this exhibition, artistic initiatives by their very nature, are “encounter points,” bringing people together from different backgrounds who might otherwise remain apart, deepening understanding across cultures and spiritual traditions.'

The interviews that I mention in this Art Diary can be found at: Michael Petry; Genesis Tramaine; Sean Scully; and Paul Chandler. I also mention the following reviews: ‘In The Black Fantastic’; ‘Rites of Passage’; and ‘A World In Common’.

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David Fanshawe: African Sanctus: 9. The Lord's Prayer (The Offertory).
Posted by Jonathan Evens at 18:09 0 comments
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Wednesday, 30 October 2024

Artlyst: Leonora Carrington Still Relevant - Firstsite Colchester

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on ‘Leonora Carrington: Avatars & Alliances’ at Firstsite Gallery:

'As is clear from this exhibition, the many visionary elements of her work, including her feminism, ecological awareness, interest in spirituality outside of organized religion, and understanding of a world without boundaries, not only result in the creation of extraordinary artistic and personal worlds but connect to key themes and challenges in contemporary society. Her cousin and friend, Joanna Moorhead, has said “The themes that were important to her, as long ago as the 1940s, are the themes that are important to all of us today – especially the natural world, our place in it, and the interconnectedness of everyone and everything.” By offering us a holistic view of Carrington’s life and work, this exhibition fully demonstrates the truth of that statement.'

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Posted by Jonathan Evens at 17:55 0 comments
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Sunday, 11 June 2023

The possibility and the challenge of change

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

Imagine for a moment what it would have been like to be Matthew, the tax collector. You would sit day-by-day in a hot little booth waiting for travelers to pay the toll as they passed from one province to the next, just like people used to do at the Dartford Crossing. Just like today people didn’t enjoy paying tolls in order to continue on their journey, and it wouldn’t have been much fun for you either. On top of that, those who come to the toll booth and those in the villager or town where you live were constantly angry with you. Angry, because you were collaborating with the hated authorities and angry, because you were making extra money for yourself by collecting too much. As a result, tax collectors like you are lumped together with ‘sinners’ and ‘outcasts’ in the places where you live and work. And this goes on day by day, year by year for most of your life.

Then think what it would be like to have a young prophet with a spring in his step and God’s kingdom in his heart coming past one day and simply asking you to follow him. How would that feel? Well, we are told in the story itself because when it says that Matthew responded by getting up and following Jesus, a resurrection word is used that means he arose, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. The act of getting up was for Matthew an entry into a completely new way of life. It was a coming alive all over again, a resurrection.

Each of these three stories is a story of resurrection (Matthew 9. 9-13, 18-26). Jesus touches the lives of Matthew, the woman who had suffered from severe bleeding, and the dead girl in ways that transformed their existence and brought them back to life. For Matthew, his work was a dead end. For the woman who touched Jesus, her illness meant that her life-blood was literally draining away and, in the case, of the Official’s daughter, the girl was quite literally dead!

And these stories raise the same questions for us this morning. Are there places in our lives where we are at a dead end? Are there things in our lives that drain the life-blood from us? And are there areas of our lives where we feel dead, as though life itself has come to an end for us?

Jesus brings the life of God into all that was dead about these people’s lives. He is the catalyst for change. His arrival on the scene brings the opportunity for hope and faith and so we see Matthew getting up, leaving his work but not his friends, and following Jesus. We see the Jewish official coming to Jesus believing that his daughter will live and we see the woman with severe bleeding reaching out to touch the very edge of Jesus’ cloak believing that if she can only touch his cloak she will get well.

Jesus’ arrival and presence are the catalyst and opportunity for change and for the faith that life can be different, can be better than it is now. How will you respond to Jesus this morning? We are in the presence of Christ as we come together to worship, how will we respond? Will we ask for his help, reach out to touch his life, and get up to follow him this morning? He is here and his presence can be the catalyst for our change in our lives and communities. What change is it that we need to see?

Jesus becomes a catalyst for change because he crosses boundaries. Each of these three people was an outcast in some way: Matthew was a hated collaborator and the woman and girl were because they were considered ritually unclean. By touching a dead body and by being touched by an ‘unclean’ woman, Jesus would have become doubly ‘unclean’ and should have had to bathe himself and his clothes and wait until the next day before resuming normal social contact. But instead of becoming contaminated himself, Jesus’ touch brought the opportunity for change, for health and life. People asked, ‘Why is Jesus eating with outcasts, with tax collectors and sinners?’, and the answer was the same; that by crossing those boundaries he brought the opportunity for change. His work was not to protect himself from ‘outcasts’ or those considered ‘unclean’ but to bring the possibility of change into the lives of such people by crossing the barriers that kept other people out.

It was into this way of life – the crossing of boundaries in order to bring the possibility of change – that Matthew was called. Jesus called him to be a disciple. In other words, someone who sat at the teacher’s feet to hear his words and who followed the teacher everywhere to see his actions in order to learn what to say and do himself. As followers of Christ, we have the same calling; to see what Jesus does and get involved ourselves. As such we need to ask ourselves, ‘Who are the people considered as ‘outcasts’ or ‘unclean’ in our workplaces, communities and nation?’ We need to know because, if we are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, those are the very people with whom we should be meeting, eating, and seeking transformation. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What are the boundaries and barriers separating people from others?’ We need to know because those are the boundaries and barriers which we need to cross in order to bring the possibility of change?

And so, these stories bring us both the possibility and the challenge of change. What are the dead-ends and dead aspects of our lives that need to be brought back to life? What are the boundaries that we can cross to bring the possibility of change to those who our outcasts in our day and time?

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you were despised and rejected by human beings, so we bring before you the needs of those who are despised and overlooked in our world, including ourselves. You value all and call us to put aside our sinful tendency to scapegoat and ignore others in order that we see what is unique and especially valuable both in those who are other than us and also in ourselves. Amen.

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Posted by Jonathan Evens at 12:06 0 comments
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Monday, 21 September 2020

Crossing boundaries to bring the possibility of change

Here's the reflection that I shared during today's lunchtime Eucharist for St Martin-in-the-Fields: 

Imagine for a moment what it would have been like to be Matthew, the tax collector (Matthew 9. 9-13). You would sit day-by-day in a hot little booth waiting for travellers to pay the toll as they passed from one province to the next, just like people used to do at the Dartford Crossing.

Just like today people didn’t enjoy paying tolls in order to continue on their journey, and it wouldn’t have been much fun for you either. On top of that, those who come to the toll booth and those in the villager or town where you live were constantly angry with you. Angry, because you were collaborating with the hated authorities and angry, because you were making extra money for yourself by collecting too much. As a result, tax collectors like you are lumped together with ‘sinners’ and ‘outcasts’ in the places where you live and work. And this went on day by day, year by year for most of your life.

Then think what it would be like to have a young prophet with a spring in his step and God’s kingdom in his heart coming past one day and simply asking you to follow him. How would that feel? Well, we are told in the story itself because when it says that Matthew responded by getting up and following Jesus, a resurrection word is used that means he arose, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually as well. The act of getting up was for Matthew an entry into a completely new way of life. It was a coming alive all over again, a resurrection.

This is a story of resurrection. For Matthew, his work was a dead end. Jesus touched the life of Matthew in a way that transformed his existence and brought him back to life. And this story raises the same question for us this morning. Are there places in our lives where we are at a dead end?

Jesus brought the life of God into all that was dead about Matthew’s life. He was the catalyst for change. His arrival on the scene brought the opportunity for hope and faith and so we see Matthew getting up, leaving his work but not his friends, and following Jesus.

Jesus’ arrival and presence was the catalyst and opportunity for change and for the faith that life can be different, can be better than it is now. How will you respond to Jesus today? We are in the presence of Christ as we come together to worship, how will we respond? Will we ask for his help, reach out to touch his life, and get up to follow him this morning? He is here and his presence can be the catalyst for our change in our lives and communities. What change is it that we need to see?

Jesus becomes a catalyst for change because he crosses boundaries. Matthew was an outcast to his community because he was a hated collaborator with the Romans. People asked, ‘Why is Jesus eating with outcasts, with tax collectors and sinners?’, and the answer was that by crossing those boundaries he brought the opportunity for change. His work was not to protect himself from ‘outcasts’ but to bring the possibility of change into the lives of such people by crossing the barriers that kept other people out.

It was into this way of life – the crossing of boundaries in order to bring the possibility of change – that Matthew was called. Jesus called him to be a disciple. In other words, someone who sat at the teacher’s feet to hear his words and who followed the teacher everywhere to see his actions in order to learn what to say and do himself. As followers of Christ, we have the same calling; to see what Jesus does and get involved ourselves. As such we need to ask ourselves, ‘Who are the people considered as ‘outcasts’ in our workplaces, communities and nation?’ We need to know because, if we are to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, those are the very people with whom we should be meeting, eating, and seeking transformation. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What are the boundaries and barriers separating people from others?’ We need to know because those are the boundaries and barriers which we need to cross in order to bring the possibility of change?

And so, the story of Matthew’s call brings us both the possibility and the challenge of change. What are the dead-ends of our lives where we need to be brought back to life? What are the boundaries that we can cross to bring the possibility of change to those who our outcasts in our day and time?

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, you were despised and rejected by human beings, so we bring before you the needs of those who are despised and overlooked in our world, including ourselves. You value all and call us to put aside our sinful tendency to scapegoat and ignore others in order that we see what is unique and especially valuable both in those who are other than us and also in ourselves. Amen.

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Posted by Jonathan Evens at 19:33 0 comments
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