Between: conversation

Showing posts with label conversation. Show all posts

Wednesday, 2 October 2024

A real relationship and conversation with God

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

Although he doesn’t deserve it, Job is a man on whom all the troubles of the world have come (Job 9.1-12, 14-16). In rapid succession he loses all his livestock, servants and children. Then sores break out all over his body and his wife tells him to curse God and die. If we think life is hard for us, we might want to look at the story of Job and think again.

The book of Job is told as a series of conversations. It begins with a conversation between God and Satan about Job, continues with a conversation between Job and his friends about God and his response to suffering and ends with a conversation between Job and God himself.

Job asks in 9.14-16:

“How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
… If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.”

However, Job’s experience, as the story progresses, is that it is possible for him to discuss and debate with God and what changes Job in this story is not the arguments and words of other human beings but the experience of genuinely meeting and speaking with God himself. Job asks why good people suffer and his friends reply that people suffer because of their wickedness, because they have not helped others and that we are punished in order to repent and be healed. Job knows in his heart and in his conscience that he has helped others and has not done wrong. Job’s friends are only able to tell Job what they think about God what they aren’t able to do is to help him encounter God himself. The story is told as a series of conversation because Job entering in to a conversation with God himself is what the book is all about.

Job’s friends - and, to begin with, Job, himself - think that being in relationship with God is primarily to do with our keeping a set of rules and regulations. If we do the right things then we will have God’s favour. The problem with this view is that we can look around the world and see wicked people who seem to prosper and good people who experience tragedy. This problem is acute for Job because he is one of those good people who experience tragedy. This view is still apparent in many churches today despite our knowledge of God’s grace and forgiveness in Jesus. Yet, when we act like that we are, like Job’s friends, setting up a series of standards which we believe come from God, and saying that if you don’t meet those standards or don’t repent, then you are outside of God’s will and no longer a follower of God.

But at the end of this story, it is Job’s friends with whom God is angry, not Job. In fact, Job himself has to pray for his friends so that they are not disgraced by God. The problem God has with Job’s friends is that they have not spoken the truth about God, as Job did. And yet much of what they had to say about God is standard theology about God. So, what is the difference between Job’s friends and Job? The difference is that Job wants to speak with God while his friends want to speak about God.

Job’s friends have a black and white view of God with no shades of grey and this is actually a way of avoiding encounter with God. In this way of thinking if life is going well then you know you must be keeping the rules because you have God’s favour and if life is not going well then you know you must have done something wrong and need to repent. Life is very simple and when you understand life like that you can keep God at arms length and don’t need to talk with him because you know what you have to do and all that matters is doing it right.

Job, however, knows that life is not as simple as that and, as a result, he wants to ask God about it direct. And when he starts talking to God, God starts talking to him. And what God has to say isn’t about giving Job rules and regulations to follow; it isn’t even about answering Job’s questions. It is simply about allowing Job to experience the magnitude of being in a real relationship and conversation with God. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Midnight Oil - World That I See.

Sunday, 14 January 2024

Conversations that enlarge our world

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford and St Mary’s Runwell this morning:

The two stories that we have heard read this morning (1 Samuel 3: 1-10 & John 1: 43-end) are linked by the idea that conversations can surprise us and enlarge our understanding of life.

Samuel is surprised by the voice that he hears in the night. At first, he can only think of it in terms of his known frame of reference and therefore he thinks that the voice he is hearing must be that of Eli, the Temple Priest, although Eli assures him that this is not the case. After hearing the voice three times his world is enlarged by the understanding that God can and wants to speak to him. What a revelation! His whole world is changed in a moment and the direction of his life shifts in that moment. He goes on to listen to and talk with God throughout his life and becomes one of the greatest leaders in Israel as a result.

In our gospel reading, Nathanael has a conversation with Jesus which begins with Nathanael closing down possibilities – “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” – but ends with him acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God and King of Israel. What a transformation brought about through a brief conversation.

Just think for a moment about what happens when we are in conversation with other people. First, we have to become aware of someone other than ourselves. Jonathan Sacks says, “we must learn to listen and be prepared to be surprised by others … make ourselves open to their stories, which may profoundly conflict with ours … we must learn the art of conversation, from which truth emerges … by the … process of letting our world be enlarged by the presence of others who think, act, and interpret reality in ways radically different from our own.”

Second, by these conversations we become aware of ourselves. As people, we are not autonomous constructions. Instead, our individual identities are gifted to us by the people, events, stories and histories that we encounter as we go through life. If there was no one and nothing outside of ourselves we would have no reference points in life, no way of knowing what is unique and special about ourselves. In conversations we become aware of how we differ from others and therefore what is unique about ourselves.

Finally, in conversations we also become aware of what we have in common with others. Conversation is something that you can only do with someone else. Therefore, Charles Taylor has argued that, opening a conversation is to inaugurate a common action. A conversation is ‘our’ action, something we are both involved in together. In this way, conversation reminds us of those things that “we can only value or enjoy together” and is, as Rowan Williams has said, “an acknowledgement that someone else’s welfare is actually constitutive of my own.”

Conversation with others can enlarge our understanding of reality, help us come to know ourselves better and make us aware of all that we share with others. It is perhaps because of these possibilities that the Bible is full of conversations and that God appears to want to draw us into conversation with himself. The philosopher, Martin Buber, has argued that “God is not met by turning away from the world or by making God into an object of contemplation, a “being” whose existence can be proved and whose attributes can be demonstrated.” Instead, I know God only in dialogue with him and this dialogue goes on moment by moment in each new situation as I respond with my whole being to the unforeseen and the unique.

This way of thinking about life as a constant conversation with God, I think, makes sense of Paul’s statement that we should pray without ceasing. If we talk to God about all that we encounter and feel in our daily lives and if we constantly look to hear from and encounter God in the ordinary, everyday things, people and situations around us, then we will be in a constant conversation with God. Life itself will be a conversation and that enlargement of understanding, increased self-knowledge and awareness of what we share with others will become our reality.

These are particularly valuable reflections for us near the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Some measure of unity will only come within the Church as we engage in and remain in conversation with each other. Often the issues that divide us seem to push us towards the breaking off of conversation but, if we are serious, about the unity of the Body of Christ and about the importance that the Bible places on conversation then ending conversations should be the last thing that we consider.

So, as the week of prayer for Christian Unity approaches, let us enter into prayer as a lifelong constant conversation with God and let us enter into conversation with others as a means of affirming what we share despite our differences. Then we will know our world being enlarged in the way that was the case for both Samuel and Nathanael. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Gerry Rafferty - Who Cares.

Wednesday, 14 June 2023

Artlyst - Chris Ofili: Exploring Sin at Victoria Miro

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on Chris Ofili: The Seven Deadly Sins at Victoria Miro:

'Ofili’s focus is either on moments when sin is conceived – moments which, to be effective as temptations, must be attractive to us – or could represent a reconfiguring of our concept of sin. If heaven, as some theologians have suggested, involves a simple enjoyment of relationships with the divine, other human beings, and the creatures and plants of creation, then isolation becomes the key sin, making Ofili’s imagery fully paradisical without any sense of impending judgement.'

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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Maria McKee - You Gotta Sin To Get Saved.

Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Invited in to the Dance of Love

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

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.” (John 5. 17-30)

“God wants to communicate with humanity, and … Jesus represents the essence of that desire to talk,” says Mike Riddell. As God’s Son, Jesus was in a constant conversation with both God the Father and with God the Spirit. In these verses and others, the Son claims that he hears from the Father and speaks just what the Father has taught him (John 8: 26 – 29). He also claims that his relationship with the Father is not just one way, rather the Father also always hears the Son (John 11: 41 & 42). Similarly, he says that the Spirit will not speak on his own but only what he hears (John 16: 13). The Spirit is sent, like the Son, by the Father, but comes in the name of the Son to remind the disciples of everything that the Son said to them (John 14: 26 & 27). This interplay or dialogue within the Godhead between Father, Son and Spirit can be summed up in the words of John 3. 34-35: “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God; to him God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.”

Stephen Verney calls this interplay between Father, Son and Spirit, which he believes we are called to enter, ‘the Dance of Love.’ He writes: “”I can do nothing”, [Jesus] said, “except what I see the Father doing”. If he lays aside his teaching robes and washes the feet of the learners … it is because he sees his Father doing it. God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, is like that; he too lays aside his dignity and status as a teacher. He does not try to force his objective truth into our thick heads, but he gives himself to us in acts of humble service; he laughs with us and weeps with us, and he invites us to know him in our hearts through an interaction and an interplay between us. It is this knowledge that Jesus has received from the Father, and in the to and fro of this relationship he and the Father are one. They need each other. That is the pattern of how things potentially are in the universe, and of how God means them to be”.

The beginning of John’s Gospel can be read as saying that this kind of conversation, dialogue and partnership with God is actually what life is all about: “It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God, in fact the conversation was God. So God started the discussion, and everything came out of this, and nothing happened without consultation.

This was the life, life that was the light of human beings, shining in the darkness, a darkness which neither understood nor quenched its creativity …

The subject of the conversation, the original light, came into the world, the world that had arisen out of his willingness to converse. He fleshed out the words but the world did not understand. He came to those who knew the language, but they did not respond. Those who did became a new creation (his children). They read the signs and responded.

These children were born out of sharing in the creative activity of God. They heard the conversation still going on, here, now, and took part, discovering a new way of being people.

To be invited to share in a conversation about the nature of life was for them, a glorious opportunity not to be missed.” (John 1: 1-14 revisited)

God wants us to be in conversation, in dialogue, in debate, with him so that we can find him for ourselves, find ourselves in him, and embody his characteristics and interests in ourselves. The philosopher, Martin Buber, has argued that “God is not met by turning away from the world or by making God into an object of contemplation, a “being” whose existence can be proved and whose attributes can be demonstrated.” Instead, we can know God only in dialogue with him and this dialogue goes on moment by moment in each new situation as we respond with our whole being to the unforeseen and the unique.

Our dialogue with God interrogates the very nature of what we are, and how we understand our identity, as it is from the art of conversation that truth emerges and our identity is constructed. It is through this conversation that the Father loves us, showing us all that he is doing. Truth emerging and identity constructed are the greater works which he shows to us through this conversation and which astonish us.

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U2 - Invisible.

Sunday, 11 December 2022

The mystery at the heart of music

Michael Hann writes in The Guardian: 'If it feels as though you can’t move for new music, then books about pop aren’t far behind. This Christmas alone has brought weighty tomes by Bono and Bob Dylan, Nick Cave’s conversations with the writer Sean O’Hagan, Bez’s autobiography, and former GQ editor Dylan Jones’s book about 1995.'

For Surrender, Bono 'chose the title because, having grown up in Ireland in the 1970s, the act of surrendering was not a natural concept to him. Bono, whose lyrics have frequently been inspired by his Christian beliefs, said that “surrender” was “a word I only circled until I gathered my thoughts for the book”.

“I am still grappling with this most humbling of commands. In the band, in my marriage, in my faith, in my life as an activist,” he added, describing the book as “the story of one pilgrim’s lack of progress … With a fair amount of fun along the way.”'

Kitty Empire writes, 'The real eye-opener throughout is the depth, breadth and idiosyncrasy of his faith, a non-sectarian Catholicism that’s not strictly church-y.'

Wesley Stace begins his review of The Philosophy of Modern Song by pointing out that: 'In a 1997 Newsweek interview, Bob Dylan told “the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music . . . I’ve learned more from the songs than I’ve learned from . . . rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that.”

He made the point again in 2020’s “Goodbye Jimmy Reed,” his valediction to the man he calls “the most country of all the blues artists in the fifties,” one of whose songs is under consideration in “The Philosophy of Modern Song”: “Goodbye Jimmy Reed, Jimmy Reed indeed; / Give me that old time religion, it’s just what I need.” Dylan’s religion, his philosophy, his code, is the music.'

In The Philosophy of Modern Song Raymond Foye writes 'Dylan finds profundities where others find ditties ... [in] chapters [which] take the song as a jumping-off point for stand-alone meditations on art, money, war, religion, etc. ...

Dylan’s view of life seems to be a lot of horror and a little bit of joy, which is where the songs come in: they are a source of comfort and hope for the downtrodden. They “take the sting out of life.” ...

Dylan sees the world crowded with angels and demons, with songs as the intercessors. Songs also represent a better life: you get there by wishing, hoping, and dreaming. For three minutes you too can be a king, a lover, or an outlaw.'

In Faith, Hope and Carnage Nick Cave 'explains his personal crossroads of rock and religion: “All my songs are written from a place of spiritual yearning, because that is the place that I permanently inhabit. To me, personally, this place feels charged, creative, and full of potential.”'

Lyn McCredden writes that 'One of the chastening effects of grief, for Cave, is registered in the experiences and expressions of religious faith. The conversation between Cave and O’Hagan leaves us in no doubt about Cave’s deepened religious beliefs. These have always been a part of him, through his post-punk, drug-fed years, but they are taking new turns.

To his strengthened Christian faith, Cave, often to O’Hagan’s bemusement, attaches a suite of moral human values he would now, through living with his grief and doubt and fear, like to nurture in himself: values of empathy, humility and vulnerability, mercy towards others, openness and tolerance, and acknowledgement of his need for atonement.'

Trailblazing saxophonist Albert Ayler, who remains an important influence among jazz and experimental musicians long after his death, is explored in an important new biography, Holy Ghost: The Life and Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler by Richard Koloda.

'Ayler's turbulent, often polarising, music career and life, which lasted a brief 34 years, has been subject to myth and rumour right from his debut free jazz recording, Witches And Devils in 1964, through his 1964/5 dates for ESP (including the highly acclaimed, landmark album Spiritual Unity, which featured at No.28 in Jazzwise's The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World book) to his recordings for the Impulse! label, which signed him following a recommendation by John Coltrane. These included 1967's avant-garde extravaganza Live in Greenwich Village, Love Cry and 1969's Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe, which saw Ayler's music moving closer to spiritual redemption and R&B (the latter a return to the music he started out playing with bluesman Little Walter in the early 1950s), before his mysterious death in 1970.'

Ayler 'had a sound that was as big as a house and a way of improvising at times that blended tones into one big mixture that disregarded individual notes. He was as free as they come in avant-garde jazz, yet his themes were at times a mixture of gospel, folk and even simple nursery rhymes.'

'Ayler's work eerily recalled the ragged polyphonies, street-march beats, gospel songs and spirituals of the earliest African-American music.'

Nick Cave says that he believes 'that there exists a genuine mystery at the heart of songwriting' that 'Through writing, you can enter a space of deep yearning that drags its past along with it and whispers into the future, that has an acute understanding of the way of things.' In different ways, these books and the music they describe inhabits that space.

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Nick Cave - Spinning Song.

Sunday, 25 September 2022

Unveiled: Ho Wai-On in conversation

Unveiled on Friday 7 October, 7.00 - 9.00 pm, at St Andrew's Wickford featuring composer Ho Wai-On in conversation with Jonathan Evens. The evening will include audio and video clips from her work. Wai-On will speak about her compositions and cross-cultural combined arts work.

Ho Wai-On (surname: Ho, aka Ann-Kay Lin) is from Hong Kong but has lived most of her life in or near London. She is best known as a composer, and creator/director of cross-cultural combined arts projects. She has written more than one hundred compositions for various combinations − vocal, choral, instrumental, ensemble, orchestral, electro-acoustic, music theatre, dance, music for the stage, multi-media, and the scores for three short films. Her works reflect different cultures including Western, Chinese, Japanese and Indian; and span various art forms including music, dance, theatre, design, multi-slide projection and music videos. She has lectured and received numerous commissions.

Unveiled
A regular Friday night arts and performance event
at St Andrew’s Church, 7.00 – 9.00 pm
11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN
Exhibitions, open mic nights, performances, talks and more!

Unveiled – a wide range of artist and performers from Essex and wider, including Open Mic nights (come and have a go!).
Unveiled – view our hidden painting by acclaimed artist David Folley, plus a range of other exhibitions.

Initial Autumn Programme

30 September - Simon Law in concert. Simon has fronted the rock bands Fresh Claim, Sea Stone and Intransit, as well as being a founder of Plankton Records and becoming an Anglican Vicar.
7 October – Conversing with composers – Hear Classical composer Ho Wai-On speak about her work and view videos of her work - https://www.howaion.co.uk/aboutme.html.
14 October – Visit to Luke Jerram’s ‘Gaia’ installation at Chelmsford Cathedral. Measuring seven metres in diameter and created from 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface the artwork provides the opportunity to see our planet, floating in three dimensions. Tickets cost £4.00.
21 October – ‘Wickford Famous’ – a talk by Ken Porter (Basildon Heritage)

Unveiled’s Autumn Programme will continue to 25 November.

Advance Notice: Unveiled - Rev Simpkins & the Phantom Folk, Friday 18 November, 7.00 - 9.00 pm, St Andrew's Wickford.

Rev Simpkins’ music mixes the colourful folk tradition of Appalachians Mountains with the melodiousness and carefully-observed lyrics of the Kinks. Close harmonies intertwine with banjo, French horn, and bass.

At this concert the band will perform the Rev’s acclaimed fourth album and book, Saltings in its entirety.

Created with the Illustrator, Tom Knight, Saltings is a loving portrait of the mystery and beauty of Essex's salt marsh wilderness, and a meditation on the real human cost of the wilderness time of the pandemic.

Found within 50 miles of London, the saltings are one of England’s last natural wild spaces. Working as a parish priest a few miles away, Matt came to the saltings to retreat and compose these compelling and compassionate songs about his community’s real-life experiences during the pandemic. Saltings portrays hope found amid wilderness.

The Reverend Matt Simpkins is the fourth generation of his family to be ordained priest in the Church of England. Prior to ordination, Matt was a professional musician having been a choral scholar at Oxford University and a Lecturer in Music. He collaborated with Kenney Jones of the Small Faces to reconstruct the orchestral parts of their 1968 psychedelic masterpiece Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake. In 2019 a diagnosis of cancer and a period of illness brought an opportunity to make new music and the Rev released the hope-filled album Big Sea in 2020, which was selected as one of Louder than War’s albums of 2020.

‘a triumph…hypnotic and compulsive listening’ Fatea on Saltings

‘tender...magnificent...outstanding’ Vive le Rock on Saltings

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Ho Wai-On - Fly Wild.

Wednesday, 30 March 2022

The conversation was God

Here's the reflection I shared during today's Choral Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.” (John 5. 17-30)

“God wants to communicate with humanity, and … Jesus represents the essence of that desire to talk,” says Mike Riddell. As God’s Son, Jesus was in a constant conversation with both God the Father and with God the Spirit. In these verses and others, the Son claims that he hears from the Father and speaks just what the Father has taught him (John 8: 26 – 29). He also claims that his relationship with the Father is not just one way, rather the Father also always hears the Son (John 11: 41 & 42).

Similarly, he says that the Spirit will not speak on his own but only what he hears (John 16: 13). The Spirit is sent, like the Son, by the Father, but comes in the name of the Son to remind the disciples of everything that the Son said to them (John 14: 26 & 27). This interplay or dialogue within the Godhead between Father, Son and Spirit can be summed up in the words of John 3. 34-35: “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God; to him God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.”

Stephen Verney calls this interplay between Father, Son and Spirit, which he believes we are called to enter, ‘the Dance of Love.’ He writes: ‘“I can do nothing”, [Jesus] said, “except what I see the Father doing”. If he lays aside his teaching robes and washes the feet of the learners … it is because he sees his Father doing it. God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, is like that; he too lays aside his dignity and status as a teacher. He does not try to force his objective truth into our thick heads, but he gives himself to us in acts of humble service; he laughs with us and weeps with us, and he invites us to know him in our hearts through an interaction and an interplay between us. It is this knowledge that Jesus has received from the Father, and in the to and fro of this relationship he and the Father are one. They need each other. That is the pattern of how things potentially are in the universe, and of how God means them to be.’

The beginning of John’s Gospel can be read as saying that this kind of conversation, dialogue and partnership with God is actually what life is all about: “It all arose out of a conversation, conversation within God, in fact the conversation was God. So God started the discussion, and everything came out of this, and nothing happened without consultation.

This was the life, life that was the light of human beings, shining in the darkness, a darkness which neither understood nor quenched its creativity …

The subject of the conversation, the original light, came into the world, the world that had arisen out of his willingness to converse. He fleshed out the words but the world did not understand. He came to those who knew the language, but they did not respond. Those who did became a new creation (his children). They read the signs and responded.

These children were born out of sharing in the creative activity of God. They heard the conversation still going on, here, now, and took part, discovering a new way of being people.

To be invited to share in a conversation about the nature of life was for them, a glorious opportunity not to be missed.” (John 1: 1-14 revisited)

God wants us to be in conversation, in dialogue, in debate, with him so that we can find him for ourselves, find ourselves in him, and embody his characteristics and interests in ourselves. The philosopher, Martin Buber, has argued that “God is not met by turning away from the world or by making God into an object of contemplation, a “being” whose existence can be proved and whose attributes can be demonstrated.” Instead, we can know God only in dialogue with him and this dialogue goes on moment by moment in each new situation as we respond with our whole being to the unforeseen and the unique.

Our dialogue with God interrogates the very nature of what we are, and how we understand our identity, as it is from the art of conversation that truth emerges and our identity is constructed. It is through this conversation that the Father loves us, showing us all that he is doing. Truth emerging and identity constructed are the greater works which he shows to us through this conversation and which astonish us.

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Johannes Brahms - Missa Canonica.

Tuesday, 6 April 2021

Music and HeartEdge

HeartEdge is programming some excellent sessions on music over the next few weeks:

Living God's Future Now conversation - Maggi Dawn
Register for a Zoom invite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/living-gods-future-now-conversation-maggi-dawn-tickets-146404655265.

At 6.00 pm (GMT) on Thursday 8 April 2021, Sam Wells and Maggi Dawn will be in conversation to discuss how to improvise on the kingdom.

The Rev’d Professor Maggi Dawn is Principal, St Mary’s College, Durham University and Professor of Theology, Department of Theology and Religion.

Maggi’s first career was in the music industry as a songwriter, guitarist and singer. She recorded five albums under her own name, and was a session player in numerous other bands.

Maggi studied Theology at the University of Cambridge in the 1990s, where her PhD research explored S. T. Coleridge’s theological language. Her ongoing research interests are the role of voice and form in the creation of theological meaning, and the role of the arts in theology and liturgy.

She began her career in academia as college Chaplain and teaching fellow at the University of Cambridge. She has five books in publication, one of which was quoted in Parliament in 2012 to launch a Private Members Bill. Before coming to Durham she spent eight years as Associate Dean, and Associate Professor of Theology and Literature, at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music.

In the shadow of your wings: Musical Bible study on the Psalms -

Thursday 15 April, 4.30 pm (BST).

Register for a Zoom invite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/in-the-shadow-of-your-wings-tickets-145553260721.

A unique ecumenical event that combines three new musical interpretations of Psalm 57 with small-group discussion.

An Interactive Online Event Presented by Deus Ex Musica in which participants watch pre-recorded live performances of three brand-new vocal settings of a beloved psalm, each of which has been set to music by a composer representing a different Christian tradition.

This workshop will look at three settings of Psalm 57. After viewing each set of performances, participants engage in moderated small-group discussions. Since the psalm is set to music by more than one composer, participants hear how different musical responses to the same text bring to life various dimensions of each psalm. This provides a unique and memorable way for participants to experience the depth and beauty of Scripture in ways that promote both learning and discipleship. It also provides a rare opportunity for Christians of all stripes to gather in fellowship and dialogue about something we all agree on: the power and importance of the Bible.

No musical experience or expertise is required by any participants.

Deus Ex Musica is an ecumenical organization comprised of musicians, educators, and pastors, and scholars, that promotes the use of sacred music as a resource for learning and spiritual growth. www.deus-ex-musica.com.

Jesus Is Just Alright

For over fifty years, pop musicians in all genres have explored the meaning and significance of Jesus in their music. The result is a rich collection of songs that consider important spiritual questions like faith, doubt, and prayer in unique and often provocative ways. Through a combination of listening and discussion, this four-part series invites participants to explore a different spiritual topic each week. Join us to listen to great music that asks tough questions about our faith and our lives as Christians.

Fridays in June 2021, 16:30 BST. Register for a Zoom invite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jesus-is-just-alright-tickets-145857685263.

SESSION 1: Beer With Jesus

Cowboy, soldier, friend, mother, gangsta: Jesus has appeared in all these guises – and many more – in pop songs over the past 50 years. By exploring what these different incarnations say about the ways modern Christians have imagined Jesus, this session will challenge us to consider how our own assumptions affect the way we relate to him. Do they help us to follow him – or are they a hindrance? And do we fall into the trap of recreating Jesus in our own image?

SESSION 2: Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?

What would Jesus think if he came back today? That’s a question posed by artists working in genres as diverse as folk, hip-hop, punk, country, and heavy metal. Though written by non-Christians, most of these songs have no problem with Jesus, but instead with his followers, accusing them of sins including hypocrisy, judgmentalism, intolerance, and greed. Listening to these “prophetic” songs will challenge participants to consider how they can better follow Christ in their own lives and as representatives of the Church.

SESSION 3: Jesus, Forgive Me for the Things I’m About to Do

Pop songs are full of prayers. But rather than relying on familiar words, musicians lift their voices to Jesus in ways that are often highly personal and heartbreakingly honest. This session explores what we can learn about prayer – and faith – from the pleas and tears of a wide variety of artists. What to do they pray for? Why and how? How do we see ourselves in these songs, and how might it affect the way we think about prayer?

SESSION 4: If I Believe You

Pop songs include some of the most honest and powerful examples of spiritual searching that you can find. Whether they are doubting believers, faithful doubters, unwilling atheists, or simple humans hungering for meaning, pop musicians bring to life approaches to faith that rival the psalms in their depth and nuance. This session will use these songs to help us understand and articulate the various ways we consider “belief”, and how that relates to our identities as modern Christians.

With Delvyn Case, a composer, conductor, scholar, performer, concert producer, and educator.

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Deus Ex Musica - Psalm 57.

Wednesday, 31 March 2021

Living God's Future Now - April 2021

'Living God’s Future Now’ is our mini online festival of theology, ideas and practice.

We’ve developed this in response to the pandemic and our changing world. The church is changing too, and - as we improvise and experiment - we can learn and support each other.

This is 'Living God’s Future Now’ - talks, workshops and discussion - hosted by HeartEdge. Created to equip, encourage and energise churches - from leaders to volunteers and enquirers - at the heart and on the edge.

The focal event in ‘Living God’s Future Now’ is a monthly conversation where Sam Wells explores what it means to improvise on God’s kingdom with a leading theologian or practitioner.

The online programme includes:

Regular weekly workshops: Biblical Studies (Mondays fortnightly), Sermon Preparation (Tuesdays) and Community of Practitioners (Wednesdays)
One-off workshops on topics relevant to lockdown such as ‘Growing online communities’ and ‘Grief, Loss & Remembering’
Monthly HeartEdge dialogue featuring Sam Wells in conversation with a noted theologian or practitioner

Find earlier Living God’s Future Now sessions at https://www.facebook.com/pg/theHeartEdge/videos/?ref=page_internal.

Regular – Weekly or Fortnightly

Tuesdays: Sermon Preparation Workshop, 16:30 (GMT), livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/theHeartEdge/. Please note there will be no Sermon Preparation workshop on Tuesday 6 April.

Wednesdays: Community of Practitioners workshop, 16:30 (GMT), Zoom meeting. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org to register.

Fortnightly on Mondays: Biblical Studies class, 19:30-21:00 (GMT), Zoom meeting. Register in advance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrcOmgrTgsHt2ceY7LepLhQYqQxS1G1ix9. 2021 dates - Gospels & Acts:

12 Apr: Lecture 07 Matthew
26 Apr: Lecture 08 Matthew

April

Stations of the Cross: Thursday 1 April 2021, 16:00 – 17:30 BST. Register for a Zoom invite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stations-of-the-cross-tickets-147886712137. Monuments to the Future, Global, 2021, is an exhibition that uses art and reflection to explore the way in which, for people of all faiths and none, the Stations of the Cross speak into issues of injustice. The exhibition takes viewers on a virtual journey around the world. Each station responds to a monument or memorial, reflecting a tumultuous year in which fresh memorials sprung up to grieve the dead and historic monuments to prejudice were toppled and dismantled. In this workshop Revd Dr Catriona Laing, Dr Aaron Rosen and guest artists featured in the exhibition will reflect on the relevance of the Stations of the Cross, the way in which they speak into issues of injustice and the virtues of the physical experience of the first four years versus this year’s online experience. Revd Dr Catriona Laing’s call to the priesthood was influenced by her desire to join those building the Kingdom of God with the poor and marginalized. Her academic interests, which stem from a childhood spent in the Middle East, are in the area of Muslim Christian relations and specifically the role of prayer in deepening inter-faith relations. Before coming to Brussels, she worked in parishes in London and Washington D.C.. In addition to serving St Martha & St Mary’s Anglican Church Leuven, Catriona is Associate Chaplain at Holy Trinity with a particular remit to encourage the chaplaincy’s social justice ministry. Dr. Aaron Rosen is Professor of Religion & Visual Culture and Director of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts & Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary. As director of the Luce Center, he overseas research, teaching, and outreach, as well as exhibitions at the seminary's Dadian Gallery. He is also Visiting Professor at King’s College London, where he was previously Senior Lecturer in Sacred Traditions & the Arts and Deputy Director of the Center for the Arts and the Sacred.

Living God's Future Now conversation - Maggi Dawn: Thursday 8 April, 18:00 – 19:00 BST. Register for a Zoom invite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/living-gods-future-now-conversation-maggi-dawn-tickets-146404655265. ‘Living God’s Future Now’ describes a series of online seminars, discussions and presentations hosted by HeartEdge. They are designed to equip, encourage and energise church leaders, laypeople and enquirers alike, in areas such as preaching, growing a church, shifting online, deepening spirituality in a congregation and responding to social need. The focal event in 'Living God's future now' is a monthly conversation in which Sam Wells explores what it means to improvise on God’s kingdom with a leading theologian or practitioner. Earlier conversations were with Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight, Chine McDonald, +Rachel Treweek, Stanley Hauerwas, Barbara Brown Taylor, Kelly Brown Douglas, Steve Chalke, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Sarah Coakley, and Jonathan Tran. At 6.00 pm (GMT) on Thursday 8 April 2021, Sam Wells and Maggi Dawn will be in conversation to discuss how to improvise on the kingdom. The Rev’d Professor Maggi Dawn is Principal, St Mary’s College, Durham University and Professor of Theology, Department of Theology and Religion. Maggi’s first career was in the music industry as a songwriter, guitarist and singer. She recorded five albums under her own name, and was a session player in numerous other bands. Maggi studied Theology at the University of Cambridge in the 1990s, where her PhD research explored S. T. Coleridge’s theological language. Her ongoing research interests are the role of voice and form in the creation of theological meaning, and the role of the arts in theology and liturgy. She began her career in academia as college Chaplain and teaching fellow at the University of Cambridge. She has five books in publication, one of which was quoted in Parliament in 2012 to launch a Private Members Bill. Before coming to Durham she spent eight years as Associate Dean, and Associate Professor of Theology and Literature, at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music.

In the shadow of your wings: Musical Bible study on the Psalms – Thursday 15 April, 4.30 pm (BST), zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/in-the-shadow-of-your-wings-tickets-145553260721. A unique ecumenical event that combines three new musical interpretations of Psalm 57 with small-group discussion. An interactive online event Presented by Deus Ex Musica in which participants watch pre-recorded live performances of three brand-new vocal settings of a beloved psalm, each of which has been set to music by a composer representing a different Christian tradition. This workshop will look at three settings of Psalm 57. After viewing each set of performances, participants engage in moderated small-group discussions. Since each psalm is set to music by more than one composer, participants hear how different musical responses to the same text bring to life various dimensions of each psalm. This provides a unique and memorable way for participants to experience the depth and beauty of Scripture in ways that promote both learning and discipleship. It also provides a rare opportunity for Christians of all stripes to gather in fellowship and dialogue about something we all agree on: the power and importance of the Bible. No musical experience or expertise is required by any participants. Deus Ex Musica is an ecumenical organization comprised of musicians, educators, and pastors, and scholars, that promotes the use of sacred music as a resource for learning and spiritual growth. www.deus-ex-musica.com. Info and headshots about each composer may be found here. https://www.deus-ex-musica.com/isw-boston-2019.

St Martin-in-the-Fields and HeartEdge Theology Reading Group: Sunday 18 April, 18:00 (BST), zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/st-martin-in-the-fields-and-heartedge-theology-reading-group-tickets-136190231649. Explore and discuss Dante’s The Divine Comedy with Revd Dr Sam Wells, St-Martin-in-the-Fields congregation and HeartEdge partners. Join this journey through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The greatest single work of Western literature???

Building for the Future: A Zoom conference, for all interested parties, to consider strategies for churches and church buildings – Monday 19 April, 15:00 – 16:30 (BST). Some of the questions that many churches have been wrestling with during the pandemic have concerned the implications for the way in which our buildings play a part, for better or for worse, in God’s mission and in local communities and neighbourhoods. The URC Buildings Forum has existed for several years with a focus on these questions and this online conference is intended to be the first of a series that will focus on different aspects of exploring the use of our buildings and capital assets. The General Secretary, John Bradbury, will give a keynote address to guide our thinking about the purposeful and creative use of our premises; the HeartEdge movement, begun by St Martin-in-the-Fields, will share a little about the ways in which they can support you in the use of your buildings, and there will be at least one story of a creative idea that is being put into practice. It will also be an opportunity for conversation in breakout rooms and importantly will be a listening exercise to hear the questions that you have, the challenges that particular churches face and hopefully something of positive ideas and news. This will assist us in planning further conferences. This online event is open to everyone, whether or not you’ve been part of the Forum previously. The meeting will be recorded in speaker view so only those providing input will be recorded. To register please email mission@urc.org.uk with ‘Building for the Future’ in the subject line, by April 16th. Along with your name and email address, please tell us which church you belong to or are representing, if appropriate. Login details will be sent a few days before the meeting.

Wizards, Muggle Crust and the Human Purpose of Business – Thursday 22 April, 19:00 (BST), zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wizards-muggle-crust-and-the-human-purpose-of-business-tickets-146820156039. 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, Douglas will draw 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. With: Jo Hill, a regulatory director and member of the Gambling Commission; Monisha Shah, a media professional whose current appointments include the Committee on Standards in Public Life; Professor David Grayson CBE, an international thought leader and campaigner on responsible business; Richard Goold, CEO of organisation consultancy Wondrous; and Rev Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Theology Group: Sunday, 25 April 2021, 18:00 – 19:00 BST, zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theology-group-tickets-146164063649. The St Martin-in-the-Fields and HeartEdge Theology Group provides a monthly opportunity to reflect theologically on issues of today and questions of forever with Sam Wells. Each month Sam responds to questions from a member of the congregation of St Martin-in-the-Fields who also chairs the session and encourages your comments and questions.

Back in the Building, Still Online! Monday 26 April, 14:00 – 15:30 BST, zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/back-in-the-building-still-online-tickets-148637251019. How can we keep it manageable and build community as we return to our buildings but try not to abandon our online connections? With: Eve Powers, Digital Communications Officer in the Diocese of Manchester; Bill Braviner, Parish Priest of Stockton St Peter & Elton St John, in the Diocese of Durham; Kim Lafferty, Team Vicar in Farnworth, Kearsley and Stoneclough; Cath Duce, Assistant Vicar for Partnership Development working with HeartEdge in London; and Andy Salmon, North West Coordinator for HeartEdge and Rector of Sacred Trinity Church in Salford.

HeartEdge/CEEP transatlantic conversation – Art & the Church calendar: Monday 26 April, 20:00 (GMT). See https://www.ceepnetwork.org/webinar-resources/ for more information. This webinar explores ways of engaging artists with churches/congregations using the Church calendar. What might inspire artists in engaging with the patterns that underpin the life of many churches and how might engaging with artists open up understandings of faith in new ways for congregations? Examples of the kind of projects we will explore include initiatives using the visual arts in dialogue with scripture or exhibitions/installations in particular seasons such as Advent or Lent. Fundamentally, though, this webinar seeks explore a range of ideas and approaches and to hear about the benefits both for artists and congregations. Panellists include: Janet Broderick - Rector, All Saints Beverly Hills; Beverly Hills, California; Paul-Gordon Chandler - Bishop, Diocese of Wyoming; Jackson Hole, Wyoming (moderator); Catriona Laing - Chaplain, St. Martha & St. Mary’s Anglican Church Leuven; Associate Chaplain, Holy Trinity Brussels; Brussels, Belgium; Ben Quash - Professor, Christianity and the Arts & Director, Center for Arts and the Sacred, King’s College London; Director, Visual Commentary on Scripture Project; London, United Kingdom; and Aaron Rosen - Professor, Religion and Visual Culture; Director, Henry Luce III Cener for the Arts and Religion, Wesley Theological Seminary; Co-founder, Stations of the Cross Public Art Project; Washington, D.C.

Anglicans in Europe Post-Brexit and the Pandemic: Bishops in Dialogue - Tuesday, 27 April, 14:00 (GMT), zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/anglicans-in-europe-post-brexit-and-the-pandemic-bishops-in-dialogue-tickets-139455213297. Exploring issues and challenges facing the Anglican Churches in Britain and Ireland, post-Brexit and in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and what the Church’s role now looks like in contributing to God’s reconciling work in the world, in this new context. Alastair McKay (facilitating), Executive Director, Reconciliation Initiatives; Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields; Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford, Church of England; June Osborne, Bishop of Llandaff, Church in Wales; Andrew Swift, Bishop of Brechin, Scottish Episcopal Church; and Patricia Storey, Bishop of Meath & Kildare, Church of Ireland.

Introducing the Visual Commentary on Scripture: Thursday 29 April, 14:00 (BST), zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/introducing-the-visual-commentary-on-scripture-tickets-148377347641. The Visual Commentary on Scripture, TheVCS.org, is the first online project to introduce visitors to the entirety of Christian Scripture in the company of art and artists. Celebrated with a launch event in November 2018 at Tate Modern, TheVCS.org seeks to connect the worlds of art and religion as a ground-breaking resource for scholars, educators, churches and interested readers looking for insightful, original explorations of art and the Bible. In this talk, Canon Ben Quash, the project’s director, will share some of the challenges and discoveries he has encountered so far in this ambitious undertaking. Ben Quash came to King’s College London as its first Professor of Christianity and the Arts in 2007. Prior to that, he was a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College and then of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. He is fascinated by how the arts can renew people’s engagement with the Bible and Christian tradition, and is directing a major 7-year project to create an online Visual Commentary on Scripture. He runs an MA in Christianity and the Arts in association with the National Gallery, London, and broadcasts frequently on BBC radio. He is a Trustee of Art and Christianity Enquiry, and Canon Theologian of both Coventry and Bradford Cathedrals. His publications include Abiding: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2013 (Bloomsbury, 2012) and Found Theology: History, Imagination and the Holy Spirit (T&T Clark, 2014), and he has written catalogue essays for exhibitions at Ben Uri Gallery, London, the Inigo Rooms in Somerset House, and the Vatican Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2015.

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Natalie Bergman - Home At Last.