Seen and Unseen - Annie Caldwell: “My family is my band”

My latest article for Seen and Unseen is entitled 'Annie Caldwell: “My family is my band”':

'They say that good things come to those who wait. Annie Caldwell is someone who has experienced the truth of that proverb.

 
The album she and her siblings (known as the Staples Jr. Singers) made and paid for themselves in 1975 sold only a few hundred copies but, when reissued in 2022, was received as a stone-cold classic and led to the recording of a second album 49 years after the first. Now, her other group, Annie and the Caldwells, have released their major label debut to rave reviews, 30 years after they first began performing.'

For more on music see my article for Seen and Unseen on 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion' and my co-suthored book 'The Secret Chord'.

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.'

My 23rd article was entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space.

My 24th article was an interview with Alastair Gordon on the artist’s attention which explores why the overlooked and everyday capture the creative gaze.

My 25th article was about Stanley Spencer’s seen and unseen world and the artist’s child-like sense of wonder as he saw heaven everywhere.

My 26th article was entitled 'The biblical undercurrent that the Bob Dylan biopics missed' and in it I argue that the best of Dylan’s work is a contemporary Pilgrim, Dante or Rimbaud on a compassionate journey.

My 27th  article was entitled 'Heading Home: a pilgrimage that breaks out beauty along the way' and focuses on a film called 'Heading Home' which explores how we can learn a new language together as we travel.

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Annie & the Caldwells - Wrong.

Spring Harvest

Spring Harvest is coming of age. In terms of James Fowler’s Stages of Faith it stands between stages four and five, where what was once unquestioned is now subjected to critical scrutiny and a "bigger picture" is glimpsed which makes room both for mystery and a new sense of justice.

Over the past three years Spring Harvest has been redefining itself through its ongoing theme of One God, One Church and this year, One Hope. As illustration of this ongoing redefinition, here is a selection of things said and done around the Skegness site in Week 3:

• Recognition of hypocrisy within Evangelicalism - “There has been something of the Pharisee about us; we have been protective of our theology and selective in our targets.”
• Revised understandings of scripture i.e. “Scripture is reticent on the mechanics of the atonement but profoundly insistent on its reality”; “Taking the Bible seriously does not mean taking the Bible literally”; and revised understandings of hell ruling out eternal conscious torment.
• Importance of facing issues of inclusivity in the Church i.e. an apology to those people with disabilities who have been told by their church that they don’t have the faith to be healed or that they must have unconfessed sin in their lives because they have not been healed; and stories of being on reality TV alongside a representative of a gay and lesbian group to oppose a fundamentalist group claiming that “God hates fags”.
• Need to be real about faith - “raw and real in prayer”; dangers of self-congratulatory or romantic worship.
• Respect for the great world religions. No ‘no-go’ areas in interfaith, relationships can be built with side by side conversations on issues of the common good and intra-faith conversations on issues of belief.
• The Kingdom of God is about rehumanising the dehumanized and involves God in renewal of the whole world therefore salvation is not just about me and my sins but also about the overthrow of oppression.

Some things, of course, have not changed. Worship remains upbeat, uptempo and uplifting. There are moments of reflection, often when some sort of response is called for, but emotions are quickly lifted or whipped up once again. Dance, drama and painting are also fully utilised in worship with the drama during this week being particularly apposite.

Spring Harvesters continue to love an emotional appeal and, as a result, took to first-time Big Top speaker Andy Caldwell who became so caught up in the passion of the moment that he forgot the third point of his sermon which, as a good Baptist, he had earlier promised to us. No one else seemed to notice or mind, least of all the hundreds who knelt on the creaking boards of the Big Top to renew their sense of astonishment at the Son of God.

Caldwell was clearly being groomed in the standard style for Spring Harvest sermons; the after-dinner sermon which aims to combine humorous anecdotes with punchy bible-based points. Jeff Lucas is the star performer when it comes to the after-dinner sermon and he did not disappoint on the final evening with stories and delivery equivalent to a stand-up comic combined with direct and poignant teaching drawn directly from the passage. In this case, the story of Jesus turning water into wine which afforded great scope for reflecting on humour as a symbol of joy, including a quote from the Pope on the subject.

The Anglican input was particularly marked this year with the Bishop of Willesden, Pete Broadbent, delivering the daily Bible expositions and the Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, lecturing, preaching and in late night discussion. Pete Broadbent moved rather ploddingly through the Isianic Servant songs and, although he outlined the exilic background of these passages, seemed to miss a trick by choosing not to make the link to the situation of the post-Christendom church. Instead, we were asked to think mainly in terms of other generic experiences of exile like migration or a house move.

Tom Wright, however, was a whirlwind of Biblical connections as he explored the centrality of Christ to creation and the impact of his crucifixion and resurrection on the coming of the Kingdom of God. In his lecture and sermon he gave a vision of a Kingdom that overthrows the oppressors to bring forgiveness and wholeness to all. This vision was received with spontaneous applause but to what extent it was fully grasped was unclear from the late night q&a where the questions asked – Christian political parties, belief in a fiery hell, cremation versus burial - were mainly peripheral to the content of his talks. My question about his use of the five act play as a way of imaging salvation history drew from him an image for the work of the Kingdom which still lies ahead; that of the jazz musician listening deeply to the structure of the music in order to improvise his or her individual contribution.

Wright’s image could stand as an appropriate metaphor for Spring Harvest itself as it seeks to equip the Church in a way that is open, compassionate, humorous, self-deprecating, passionate, transforming, uplifting and evangelical.

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Albert Ayler.