Community care and creation care

Here's the sermon I shared at our joint service held at St Mary's Runwell this morning:

King Charles spoke of faith, fellowship and compassion in his second Christmas message. In his message he spoke about care for others, linking this to the provision of the stable in Bethlehem and Jesus's own acts of service, care for creation as the angel appeared to those who were close to nature, and universal values including the golden rule and creation care.

He said that Christmas is a time to “think … of those whose work of caring for others continues, even on this special day” and thanked the “selfless army of people” in this country who are volunteers, serving “their communities in so many ways and with such distinction”.

The “care and compassion we show to others”, he said, “is one of the themes of the Christmas story, especially when Mary and Joseph were offered shelter in their hour of need by strangers, as they waited for Jesus to be born”.

The stable in Bethlehem is where the shepherds find the baby Jesus (Luke 2.15-21). As we know, the holy family found their way to the stable after experiencing rejection on their arrival in Bethlehem. Yet, all it took, whether in the midst of apathy or overcrowding, was for one person to respond, even reluctantly, for the miracle of Jesus’ birth to occur in the way that is told to us in the Gospels. All it took was for one person to respond. We are fortunate in this country, as King Charles noted, to have many volunteers in many communities. Let us continue to offer our time in our community in support of those in need.

Next, the King spoke about the shepherds to whom the angels brought the message of hope that first Christmas night. He suggested that they were people who lived simply amongst others of God's creatures and that it was those close to nature who were privileged that night.

Around the mid-point of his life, my father switched careers from community work to retrain as a landscape gardener. We moved from the city of Oxford to a village in Somerset and, although the change was to some extent forced on him and caused financial difficulties for us as a family, he came to greatly appreciate the enhanced sense of being in nature and of living closer to the natural rhythms of the seasons and the circle of life. The well-known verse from Dorothy Frances Gurney’s poem ‘God’s Garden’ – “The kiss of the sun for pardon, / The song of the birds for mirth,– / One is nearer God’s heart in a garden / Than anywhere else on earth” - though somewhat sentimental, nevertheless touches on a truth.

My former colleague at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Revd Sally Hitchiner, was particularly struck by this aspect of the King's Christmas speech. She posted that, in all her years of preaching on them and hearing others preach about them, they have always spoken about either as simple working folk or those who were excluded from hoity-toity religious circles, not as those who were close to nature. She wrote therefore of being struck by the positive framework of the King and his natural theology.

King Charles spoke about how, because out of God's providence we are blessed with much, it is incumbent on us to use this wisely by caring for the Earth we have been given. He said that, "During my lifetime I have been so pleased to see a growing awareness of how we must protect the Earth and our natural world as the one home which we all share” and do so for the sake of our children's children. He finds great inspiration now from the way so many people recognise this and, as we reflect on the Shepherd’s being the first to hear the good news, can also be inspired to care more deeply for our environment knowing that, like them, we will encounter God there.

The King ended by speaking of his two themes – care for others and care for the world - as universal values. He said that to honour the whole of creation as a manifestation of the divine is a belief shared by all religions and "To care for this creation is a responsibility owned by people of all faiths and of none”. He also quoted the words of Jesus - 'Do to others as you would have them do to you' – saying that, at a time of increasingly tragic conflict around the World, these seem more than ever relevant. "Such values,” he noted, are also universal, “drawing together our Abrahamic family of religions, and other belief systems, across the Commonwealth and wider world”. They are, after all, what is known as the Golden Rule, a teaching found in all religions.

He could have referenced this from the Nativity story, too, as Jesus’ birth was also marked by a visit from wise astrologers of other faiths; Zoroastrian priests (the magi), and foreign kings. In our reading today, we can note the naming of Jesus, whose name, given by God through angels, derives from Hebrew roots meaning “the Lord is salvation.” In his incarnation, Jesus unites the divine and the human making God one of us and ourselves one with God. In this way, he shows that God is with all and for all.

In our Gospel reading, we hear of Mary pondering all the things that happened at the birth of Jesus in her heart and of the shepherds sharing the good news of Jesus’ birth with others. It is clear from his Christmas message, that King Charles has also pondered the events of the nativity long and hard and, in his Christmas message, has shared the good news found there with others too. This Christmas, we would do well to do the same.

Bringing all the themes of his Christmas message together, King Charles concluded: "my heart and my thanks go to all who are serving one another; all who are caring for our common home; and all who see and seek the good of others, not least the friend we do not yet know. In this way, we bring out the best in ourselves. I wish you a Christmas of 'peace on Earth and goodwill to all', today and always." May we know the same in our lives this Christmastide and in the year to come. Amen.

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The Holmes Brothers - Amazing Grace.

Living God's Future Now: w/c 14 November 2021

Living God’s Future Now is our online festival of theology, ideas and practice. Join us for talks, workshops and discussions. Living God's Future Now is designed to equip, encourage and energise churches—from leaders to volunteers and enquirers—at the heart and on the edge.

The online programme includes:

• Regular weekly workshops: 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’

Find recordings of earlier Living God’s Future Now sessions here.

For future events, check out the revamped events section of our website. HeartEdge partners can now promote their own events through the HeartEdge website. Just log in to the Partners' Area to submit your event details for both online and in-person events.

What's on this week

Monday

Autumn Lecture Series: A Dream for a New Social Order
Monday 15 November, 19:00-20:30 (GMT)
Register here to attend in person or here to watch online.

In the final lecture of this year’s Autumn Lecture Series, Sam Wells considers the long shadow of Archbishop William Temple’s 1942 book, Christianity and Social Order, which was so influential in the establishment of the welfare state. Is such a contribution from the church or a theologian appropriate in a much more plural society 80 years later? If so, what might such a vision encapsulate? Liz Adekunle responds with her own perspective on these questions and Sam’s proposals.

Tuesday

Sam and Sally's Sermon Preparation Workshop
Tuesday 16 November, 16:30-17:30 (GMT)
Livestreamed on the HeartEdge Facebook Page.

Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner discuss this Sunday's readings and offer practical tips on preaching.

Communion and Community: The Pandemic’s Refining Fire (HeartEdge and CEEP Transatlantic Conversation)
Tuesday 16 November, 20:00-21:00 (GMT)
Register here.

What has our experience of virtual church revealed theologically and pastorally about communion in all its many and varied forms? Join HeartEdge partners in the UK and USA for a discussion about how the pandemic has reshaped our congregational and liturgical life Panelists include Sally Hitchiner, Sam Wells, Andrew McGowan, Winnie Varghese and Manoj Mathew Zacharia.

Wednesday

Community of Practitioners
Wednesday 17 November 16:00-17:00 (GMT)
Email Rose Lyddon here to take part.

This is a space for practitioners, lay and ordained, to reflect on theology and practice. Each week, we alternate between 'Wonderings' and discussion of a work of theology. This week we will be discussing Howard Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited. Newcomers are very welcome.

Thursday

Creation Care Course Week 4: Taking Action
Thursday 18 November 19:30-21:00 (GMT)
Register here.

This 4-week Creation Care Course is a unique collaboration between Chester Diocese, HeartEdge, Melanesian Mission UK and Southampton University. In this session, we will hear about various options for climate change mitigation and adaptation that we can take as individuals, as parishes and as a Christian community.


If you would like to receive emails about our weekly events, sign up to our mailing list here. You can unsubscribe at any time.

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Julie & Buddy Miller - Orphans Of God.

Responding to the climate emergency

 

In the run-up to Cop26 HeartEdge is programming a range of workshops on response to the climate emergency to assist churches in raising awareness and responding within parishes.

We begin by repeating the Creation Care Course we ran earlier in the year. On this occasion in a unique collaboration between Chester Diocese, HeartEdge, Melanesian Mission UK and Southampton University. The course begins on Thursday 7 October, 19:30-21:00, zoom. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkcu6opz4rEtFamJIs6M2cAlvzTQmJT0a_.

The environment is God’s gift to everyone. We have a responsibility towards each other to look after God’s Creation. Tackling climate change is a vital part of this responsibility. In a recent address to faith leaders on 4th February, ahead of the Glasgow conference on climate change in November 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: “To think climate change is a problem of the future rather than a scourge of the present is the blind perspective of the privileged. We look around and see that Mozambique has been hit again by tropical storms. In Nigeria, desertification has contributed indirectly to conflict between people competing for dwindling resources. Floods and cyclones have devastated crops in Melanesia, risking poverty and food insecurity.”

In this 4-week Creation Care Course, we will provide you with vital information about climate change, its impacts on people, and reflect on our role as Christians in taking practical climate action.

Biography of Principal Contributors: Marie Schlenker is a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton, researching climate change impacts in Solomon Islands. Marie conducts her research in close collaboration with the Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Melanesian Mission UK. She holds a BSc in Geosciences, a MSc in Environmental Physics and a Postgraduate Certificate in Disaster Management. Catherine Duce is the Assistant Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the-Fields. She works for HeartEdge – a movement for congregational renewal in the broad church. https://www.heartedge.org/.

There will be further input from members of Melanesian Mission UK and wider organisations promoting church engagement on this vital topic as we journey towards COP 26. To get the most out of this consecutive course, we highly recommend attending all four sessions. However, individual bookings will be possible as well.

Next, is Reconciling Mission: Healing the Earth - Tuesday, 12 October, 14:00 (BST), zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/healing-the-earth-reconciling-mission-tickets-139537379057.

What contributions can Christians and Anglican Churches make to addressing the global environmental crisis, and what it might mean for us to play a part in healing the earth, instead of exploiting it? Alastair McKay (facilitating), Executive Director, Reconciliation Initiatives, Ali Angus, Leader of Eco Church, St Leonard’s Streatham, Alex Hilton, Head of Sustainability, HM Revenue & Customs, and Rachel Mash, Environmental Coordinator, Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

Then we explore the impact of climate change on the Pacific Islands through two panels entitled Making UK Connections: Voices of the Pacific. On Thursday 21 October (online 20:00 BST / 7am Pacific Time (22/10), zoom) a panel of artists and performers will talk about Pacific arts and culture plus the impact climate change has had on artist livelihoods in the Pacific. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-connections-voices-from-the-indigenous-pacific-tickets-173884562407. On Thursday 28 October (10:00 BST (9pm Pacific Time), zoom) a panel of faith and climate mitigation leaders including His Excellency The Most Rev. Dr Peter Loy Chong DD, Archbishop of Suva, discuss what pacific island communities most need from Cop26 and how communities of faith can connect anew to amplify the calls for urgent action. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-connections-voices-from-the-indigenous-pacific-tickets-173888614527.

These panel sessions are part of a celebration of Pacific arts and culture in the lead up to COP26, a three-week festival running 9-30 October 2021, is being produced by Pacific Island Artists Connection and hosted by St Martin-in-the-Fields in London's Trafalgar Square. This inaugural event brings together communities from Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea who are based in the Pacific region as well as the UK's large Pacific diaspora. The festival is free and includes an art exhibition curated by the talented Sulu Daunivalu (Director, Museum of Pacific & Oceanic Art, Latvia), heritage arts and products, on-line panel discussions, interactive activities live-streamed with Fijian speakers and performers.

Showcasing both heritage and contemporary arts, including a wide variety of visual art that has never been shown before, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey across the Pacific region whilst highlighting the impact climate change is having on these small island nations and how Pacific communities are fighting back.

Many of the works on display will be for sale and this income will directly assist Pacific Islanders who have been so badly affected by the COVID pandemic. A selection of artists showing in the exhibition include Nicolai Michoutouchkine, Irami Buli, John Danger and Robert Kua.

Fiji-based dance company VOU Fiji will be featured in a recorded film showcasing their award winning piece ‘Are We Stronger Than Winston?’. Choreographed by VOU’s Navi Fong after Fiji was devastated by category 5 Tropical Cyclone Winston in February 2016, the piece has been redeveloped by Fong to incorporate current conversations on climate change and climate action. At the opening ceremony, a live dance performance will follow the film, performed by Ta’Arei Weeks, also choreographed by Navi Fong, through virtual connections, highlighting the Covid-19 impact on travel and cultural tourism.

All event updates will be posted at Pacific Art Festival London 2021: 9th October - 30th October | Facebook. The exhibition will also be online from Saturday 9th October.

Also at St Martin-in-the-Fields is The Dream for Our Planet, a lecture by Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Dr Emily Grossman, Dr Austen Ivereigh on Monday 25 October, 19:00 – 20:30 (GMT). Tickets: www.smitf.org/lectures.

"After the ravages of the pandemic, it’s time for church and society to learn to dream again. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, had a dream of racial equality and social justice. Inspired by his dream, we’re gathering a chorus of dreamers from different walks of life to inform and shape our dreams for the years to come." (Revd Dr Sam Wells)

We have a dream, the Autumn Lecture Series at St Martin-in-the-Fields for 2021 brings together an inspirational group of speakers. It invites them to dream again on the vital issues of our nation and planet, after a pandemic that has changed the way we live and relate to one another and the world. Drawing on Martin Luther King Jr’s famous words, we aim in this series to address for today some of the essential choices and needs and hopes facing our precious and yet wounded world. Who are the prophetic voices for our time, and how can the church answer that challenge? How do we respond to the crucial issues reshaping our world like migration and those seeking sanctuary and safety through their journeys? How does racialised justice and ‘Black Lives Matter’ confront our history, our present inequalities and the way we live our future? What is the threat to our planet and the danger of extinction, and what is so crucial at the COP26 Global Summit? What is the place of theatre and the creative arts in the way we learn to understand our world and live our dreams? What is the vision of St Martin’s, at the heart, on the edge, seeking a vision of faith that can find God’s abundance even in scarcity that can inspire people to dream again even in the face of adversity?

These lectures will be live, in person, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and will also be live-streamed online. There will be a chance for questions from the audience, and we hope to gather with the speakers afterwards at a reception. We ask those booking tickets to make a donation of £10 towards the cost of the series, but it is also our aim to make the lectures open to all, so limited free places are available. Those who can give more are invited to pay for a free place for someone else to make sure this programme is available for all.

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Jackson Browne - World In Motion.

Living God's Future Now - October 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 online programme includes:

• Regular weekly workshops: Biblical Studies (Monday’s 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’

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/.

Wednesdays: Community of Practitioners workshop, 16:00 (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:

• 11 Oct: Lecture 19 John's Gospel The Book of Signs 1
• 25 Oct: Lecture 20 John's Gospel The Book of Signs 2

October

HeartEdge Youth Conversation: Heritage – Sunday 3 October, 14:00 BST (15:00 CAT), livestream. Livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm7v53KPweMpx2IPQnvE3tw. Following successful HeartEdge Lent conversations the HeartEdge hub for Southern Africa is holding a second series of conversations in October 2021. These will feature young people from the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin, Johannesburg. The first topic / theme is Heritage / Culture, September being Heritage month in South Africa. Panel members for this topic will be Fr. Guma, Jason, a member of the diaspora community, and Fr. Richard Carter from St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Autumn Lecture Series – We Have a Dream: The Dream and the Journey, Neil MacGregor, Issam Kourbaj, Ruth Padel and Lucy Winkett. Monday 4 October, 19:00 – 20:30 (GMT). Tickets: www.smitf.org/lectures. "After the ravages of the pandemic, it’s time for church and society to learn to dream again. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, had a dream of racial equality and social justice. Inspired by his dream, we’re gathering a chorus of dreamers from different walks of life to inform and shape our dreams for the years to come." (Revd Dr Sam Wells) We have a dream, the Autumn Lecture Series at St Martin-in-the-Fields for 2021 brings together an inspirational group of speakers. It invites them to dream again on the vital issues of our nation and planet, after a pandemic that has changed the way we live and relate to one another and the world. Drawing on Martin Luther King Jr’s famous words, we aim in this series to address for today some of the essential choices and needs and hopes facing our precious and yet wounded world. Who are the prophetic voices for our time, and how can the church answer that challenge? How do we respond to the crucial issues reshaping our world like migration and those seeking sanctuary and safety through their journeys? How does racialised justice and ‘Black Lives Matter’ confront our history, our present inequalities and the way we live our future? What is the threat to our planet and the danger of extinction, and what is so crucial at the COP26 Global Summit? What is the place of theatre and the creative arts in the way we learn to understand our world and live our dreams? What is the vision of St Martin’s, at the heart, on the edge, seeking a vision of faith that can find God’s abundance even in scarcity that can inspire people to dream again even in the face of adversity? These lectures will be live, in person, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and will also be live-streamed online. There will be a chance for questions from the audience, and we hope to gather with the speakers afterwards at a reception. We ask those booking tickets to make a donation of £10 towards the cost of the series, but it is also our aim to make the lectures open to all, so limited free places are available. Those who can give more are invited to pay for a free place for someone else to make sure this programme is available for all.

HeartEdge Spotlight – Suburbia: Thursday 7 October, 14:00-15:30, zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/spotlight-suburbia-tickets-174182302957. With Revd Justin Dodd, St Barnabas, Ealing. Interactive walking tour of this suburban location. Our new SpotLight series builds practitioner networks across similar geographical locations. Are you working in a suburban setting? This event is for you. SpotLight is a new HeartEdge initiative seeking to build supportive practitioner networks focusing upon particular geographical locations. SpotLight: suburbia, SpotLight: city centre, SpotLight :rural and SpotLight: coastal are experiments in being with God and sharing experience of using the HeartEdge 4 C’s in distinctive locations. In a 90 minute session on Zoom, one practitioner will tell their story with a livestream walking tour of their location in the first 20 minutes. This practitioner will seek insights from the group on one particular aspect of their mission or ministry relating to their context. Participants will listen and reflect together sharing joys and challenges of their work, and offering their own hard won wisdom. HeartEdge staff specializing in the 4Cs will collaborate too. These SpotLights will take place on a termly basis, each time livestreaming from a different location.

Creation Care Course Week 1: Thursday 7 October, 19:30-21:00, zoom. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkcu6opz4rEtFamJIs6M2cAlvzTQmJT0a_. This 4-week Creation Care Course is a unique collaboration between Chester Diocese, HeartEdge, Melanesian Mission UK and Southampton University. The environment is God’s gift to everyone. We have a responsibility towards each other to look after God’s Creation. Tackling climate change is a vital part of this responsibility. In a recent address to faith leaders on 4th February, ahead of the Glasgow conference on climate change in November 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: “To think climate change is a problem of the future rather than a scourge of the present is the blind perspective of the privileged. We look around and see that Mozambique has been hit again by tropical storms. In Nigeria, desertification has contributed indirectly to conflict between people competing for dwindling resources. Floods and cyclones have devastated crops in Melanesia, risking poverty and food insecurity.” In this 4-week Creation Care Course, we will provide you with vital information about climate change, its impacts on people, and reflect on our role as Christians in taking practical climate action. In Week 1: Caring for Creation (7 October 2021, 19.30-21.00), we will take a theological perspective on creation care and tackling climate change, using bible studies and a wide range of theological resources. Biography of Principal Contributors: Marie Schlenker is a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton, researching climate change impacts in Solomon Islands. Marie conducts her research in close collaboration with the Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Melanesian Mission UK. She holds a BSc in Geosciences, a MSc in Environmental Physics and a Postgraduate Certificate in Disaster Management. Catherine Duce is the Assistant Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the-Fields. She works for HeartEdge – a movement for congregational renewal in the broad church. https://www.heartedge.org/. There will be further input from members of Melanesian Mission UK and wider organisations promoting church engagement on this vital topic as we journey towards COP 26. To get the most out of this consecutive course, we highly recommend attending all four sessions. However, individual bookings will be possible as well.

Ideas and inspiration for All Souls, Remembrance, Funeral Ministry and times of grieving: Saturday, 9 October 2021, 11:30 – 15:45 BST, Sacred Trinity Church, Chapel Street, Salford M3 5DW. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/music-and-liturgy-for-times-of-loss-and-lament-tickets-169429798087. This half day will be perfect for clergy, church musicians and lay leaders to find inspiration for the times when we want to grieve with others. We will be introducing new songs, hymns and chants, giving some tips on liturgy, sharing resources and hearing from one another. This is organised by HeartEdge and will be led by Andrew Earis, Director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Andy Salmon, North West Coordinator of HeartEdge and Rector of Sacred Trinity. The communal music-making will be supported by the new Manchester HeartEdge Choral Scholars. The day costs £5 and we will supply plenty of tea, coffee and cake but you need to bring your own lunch. Please note that there are very limited parking spaces outside the church but it is a short walk from Manchester Victoria and Salford Central and on many bus routes. There are car parks near by. The day will finish with a public concert of about 40 minutes, which is part of the new Great Sacred Music series run by HeartEdge Manchester.

HeartEdge Youth Conversation: Vaccinations – Sunday 10 October, 14:00 BST (15:00 CAT), livestream. Livestreamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm7v53KPweMpx2IPQnvE3tw. Following successful HeartEdge Lent conversations the HeartEdge hub for Southern Africa is holding a second series of conversations in October 2021. These will feature young people from the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin, Johannesburg. The second topic / theme is Vaccinations. Panel members for the vaccination topic will be an already vaccinated young person, a young person reluctant to vaccinate and a medical doctor. In addition, the Revd Catherine Duce, from St Martin-in-the-Fields, will speak about the spiritual aspects of vaccination.

Reconciling Mission: Healing the Earth: Tuesday, 12 October, 14:00 (BST), zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/healing-the-earth-reconciling-mission-tickets-139537379057. What contributions can Christians and Anglican Churches make to addressing the global environmental crisis, and what it might mean for us to play a part in healing the earth, instead of exploiting it? Alastair McKay (facilitating), Executive Director, Reconciliation Initiatives, Ali Angus, Leader of Eco Church, St Leonard’s Streatham, Alex Hilton, Head of Sustainability, HM Revenue & Customs, and Rachel Mash, Environmental Coordinator, Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

Commerce event: Wednesday 13 October 2021, 10.00 am - 3.30 pm, at Belle Vue Baptist Church, Southend-on-Sea SS1 2QZ. Lunch included. To book email Nicky Snoad at nicky.snoad@stbbc.org.uk. A day exploring creatively extending mission and generating finance through commerce, enterprise and hospitality.

Creation Care Course Week 2: Thursday 14 October, 19:30-21:00, zoom. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkcu6opz4rEtFamJIs6M2cAlvzTQmJT0a_. This 4-week Creation Care Course is a unique collaboration between Chester Diocese, HeartEdge, Melanesian Mission UK and Southampton University. The environment is God’s gift to everyone. We have a responsibility towards each other to look after God’s Creation. Tackling climate change is a vital part of this responsibility. In a recent address to faith leaders on 4th February, ahead of the Glasgow conference on climate change in November 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: “To think climate change is a problem of the future rather than a scourge of the present is the blind perspective of the privileged. We look around and see that Mozambique has been hit again by tropical storms. In Nigeria, desertification has contributed indirectly to conflict between people competing for dwindling resources. Floods and cyclones have devastated crops in Melanesia, risking poverty and food insecurity.” In this 4-week Creation Care Course, we will provide you with vital information about climate change, its impacts on people, and reflect on our role as Christians in taking practical climate action. In Week 2: Understanding Climate Change (14 October 2021, 19.30-21:00), we will look at climate change, its drivers and impacts from a scientific perspective. Biography of Principal Contributors: Marie Schlenker is a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton, researching climate change impacts in Solomon Islands. Marie conducts her research in close collaboration with the Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Melanesian Mission UK. She holds a BSc in Geosciences, a MSc in Environmental Physics and a Postgraduate Certificate in Disaster Management. Catherine Duce is the Assistant Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the-Fields. She works for HeartEdge – a movement for congregational renewal in the broad church. https://www.heartedge.org/. There will be further input from members of Melanesian Mission UK and wider organisations promoting church engagement on this vital topic as we journey towards COP 26. To get the most out of this consecutive course, we highly recommend attending all four sessions. However, individual bookings will be possible as well.

(Still) Calling from the Edge: Saturday 16 October, 10:00-16:30, zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/still-calling-from-the-edge-tickets-164001249151. (Still) Calling from the Edge is the 10th annual conference on Disability & Church. It's a partnership between St Martin in the Fields and Inclusive Church, hosted online by HeartEdge. Since 2012 these conferences have held space for disabled people to gather, to resource each other and the church. They are uniquely for rather than about disabled people, who are a majority of planners, speakers and delegates. In this year's conference we explore call as challenge, lament and vocation. Through art, music, story and theology, in plenary talks, small groups, workshops and liturgy. It's a cry for justice that marks a milestone: 10 years of calling from the edge. ''Disabled people have a distinct prophetic ministry to the church. In order for the church to fulfil its prophetic ministry to society, it needs disabled people.” John Hull (Opening the Roof, 2012)

Culture Clinic: Monday 18 October, 11:00-12:00, zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/culture-clinic-tickets-165198654623. Culture Clinic is for anyone and everyone looking to develop their church cultural activity. Stuck? Ideas? Check in for 1:1 support. Culture Clinic is the new monthly offer for anyone and everyone looking for support in developing their church cultural engagement - from setting up a gallery space, developing space gigs, hosting comedy or movie nights. The clinic offers 'how to'... helps. Space to share your stories, experience, ideas... Space to find support. Culture vulture - but stuck? Or have ideas to share? Or looking for a fellow conspirator? Why not check into the clinic? Always practical, useful, full of ideas and tactics. The clinic is monthly 1:1 support with Sarah Rogers - HeartEdge Culture Development coordinator.

Autumn Lecture Series – We Have a Dream: The Dream and Racialised Justice, Robert Beckford, Chine McDonald and David Lammy MP. Monday 18 October, 19:00 – 20:30 (GMT). Tickets: www.smitf.org/lectures. "After the ravages of the pandemic, it’s time for church and society to learn to dream again. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, had a dream of racial equality and social justice. Inspired by his dream, we’re gathering a chorus of dreamers from different walks of life to inform and shape our dreams for the years to come." (Revd Dr Sam Wells) We have a dream, the Autumn Lecture Series at St Martin-in-the-Fields for 2021 brings together an inspirational group of speakers. It invites them to dream again on the vital issues of our nation and planet, after a pandemic that has changed the way we live and relate to one another and the world. Drawing on Martin Luther King Jr’s famous words, we aim in this series to address for today some of the essential choices and needs and hopes facing our precious and yet wounded world. Who are the prophetic voices for our time, and how can the church answer that challenge? How do we respond to the crucial issues reshaping our world like migration and those seeking sanctuary and safety through their journeys? How does racialised justice and ‘Black Lives Matter’ confront our history, our present inequalities and the way we live our future? What is the threat to our planet and the danger of extinction, and what is so crucial at the COP26 Global Summit? What is the place of theatre and the creative arts in the way we learn to understand our world and live our dreams? What is the vision of St Martin’s, at the heart, on the edge, seeking a vision of faith that can find God’s abundance even in scarcity that can inspire people to dream again even in the face of adversity? These lectures will be live, in person, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and will also be live-streamed online. There will be a chance for questions from the audience, and we hope to gather with the speakers afterwards at a reception. We ask those booking tickets to make a donation of £10 towards the cost of the series, but it is also our aim to make the lectures open to all, so limited free places are available. Those who can give more are invited to pay for a free place for someone else to make sure this programme is available for all.

Fast Futures: Thursday 21 October, 19:00-20:30 (BST), zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fast-foward-tickets-163532577341. Foresight is the ability to think effectively about how the future might be different, so you can prepare for anything, and start to make changes in your own life, in ministry, and in society, for the better. Fast Futures is TryTank’s foresight training and is led by Lorenzo Lebrija. Fast Futures is a 90-minute, introductory-level learning experience that will teach you how to get started with your own creative foresight. This course is for you if: You’re curious about foresight, but don’t know anything about it yet! You want to learn a few habits that can help you spot changes faster, so that you can act faster and adapt faster. You’re excited to stretch your imagination. You want to take away practical skills you can share with others, to help them think faithfully about the future more creatively and optimistically.

Creation Care Course Week 3: Thursday 21 October, 19:30-21:00, zoom. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkcu6opz4rEtFamJIs6M2cAlvzTQmJT0a_. This 4-week Creation Care Course is a unique collaboration between Chester Diocese, HeartEdge, Melanesian Mission UK and Southampton University. The environment is God’s gift to everyone. We have a responsibility towards each other to look after God’s Creation. Tackling climate change is a vital part of this responsibility. In a recent address to faith leaders on 4th February, ahead of the Glasgow conference on climate change in November 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: “To think climate change is a problem of the future rather than a scourge of the present is the blind perspective of the privileged. We look around and see that Mozambique has been hit again by tropical storms. In Nigeria, desertification has contributed indirectly to conflict between people competing for dwindling resources. Floods and cyclones have devastated crops in Melanesia, risking poverty and food insecurity.” In this 4-week Creation Care Course, we will provide you with vital information about climate change, its impacts on people, and reflect on our role as Christians in taking practical climate action. In Week 3: Living Climate Change – Stories from Melanesia (21 October 2021, 19.30-21.00), we will learn about the effects of climate change on people and draw upon examples of climate impacts and human responses in Melanesia. Biography of Principal Contributors: Marie Schlenker is a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton, researching climate change impacts in Solomon Islands. Marie conducts her research in close collaboration with the Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Melanesian Mission UK. She holds a BSc in Geosciences, a MSc in Environmental Physics and a Postgraduate Certificate in Disaster Management. Catherine Duce is the Assistant Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the-Fields. She works for HeartEdge – a movement for congregational renewal in the broad church. https://www.heartedge.org/. There will be further input from members of Melanesian Mission UK and wider organisations promoting church engagement on this vital topic as we journey towards COP 26. To get the most out of this consecutive course, we highly recommend attending all four sessions. However, individual bookings will be possible as well.

Making UK Connections: Voices of the Pacific – Pacific arts & culture – Thursday 21 October - online 20:00 BST / 7am Pacific Time (22/10), zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-connections-voices-from-the-indigenous-pacific-tickets-173884562407. A panel of artists and performers talk about Pacific arts and culture plus the impact climate change has had on artist livelihoods in the Pacific. A celebration of Pacific arts and culture in the lead up to COP26, a three-week festival (9-30 October 2021) is being produced by Pacific Island Artists Connection and hosted by the iconic St Martin-in-the-Fields in London's Trafalgar Square. This inaugural event brings together communities from Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea who are based in the Pacific region as well as in the UK's large Pacific diaspora. The festival is free to enter and includes an art exhibition curated by the talented Sulu Daunivalu (Director, Museum of Pacific & Oceanic Art, Latvia), heritage arts and products, panel discussions, interactive activities and more. Showcasing both heritage and contemporary arts, including a wide variety of visual art that has never been on show before now, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey across the Pacific region whilst highlighting the impact climate change is having on these small island nations and how Pacific communities are fighting back.

Autumn Lecture Series – We Have a Dream: The Dream for Our Planet, Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, Dr Emily Grossman, Dr Austen Ivereigh. Monday 25 October, 19:00 – 20:30 (GMT). Tickets: www.smitf.org/lectures. "After the ravages of the pandemic, it’s time for church and society to learn to dream again. Dr Martin Luther King Jr, had a dream of racial equality and social justice. Inspired by his dream, we’re gathering a chorus of dreamers from different walks of life to inform and shape our dreams for the years to come." (Revd Dr Sam Wells) We have a dream, the Autumn Lecture Series at St Martin-in-the-Fields for 2021 brings together an inspirational group of speakers. It invites them to dream again on the vital issues of our nation and planet, after a pandemic that has changed the way we live and relate to one another and the world. Drawing on Martin Luther King Jr’s famous words, we aim in this series to address for today some of the essential choices and needs and hopes facing our precious and yet wounded world. Who are the prophetic voices for our time, and how can the church answer that challenge? How do we respond to the crucial issues reshaping our world like migration and those seeking sanctuary and safety through their journeys? How does racialised justice and ‘Black Lives Matter’ confront our history, our present inequalities and the way we live our future? What is the threat to our planet and the danger of extinction, and what is so crucial at the COP26 Global Summit? What is the place of theatre and the creative arts in the way we learn to understand our world and live our dreams? What is the vision of St Martin’s, at the heart, on the edge, seeking a vision of faith that can find God’s abundance even in scarcity that can inspire people to dream again even in the face of adversity? These lectures will be live, in person, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and will also be live-streamed online. There will be a chance for questions from the audience, and we hope to gather with the speakers afterwards at a reception. We ask those booking tickets to make a donation of £10 towards the cost of the series, but it is also our aim to make the lectures open to all, so limited free places are available. Those who can give more are invited to pay for a free place for someone else to make sure this programme is available for all.

Making UK Connections: Voices of the Pacific: New solidarity-our faiths – Thursday 28 October – 10:00 BST (9pm Pacific Time), zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/making-connections-voices-from-the-indigenous-pacific-tickets-173888614527. A panel of faith and climate mitigation leaders including His Excellency The Most Rev. Dr Peter Loy Chong DD, Archbishop of Suva, discuss what pacific island communities most need from Cop26 and how communities of faith can connect anew to amplify the calls for urgent action. A celebration of Pacific arts and culture in the lead up to COP26, a three-week festival (9-30 October 2021) is being produced by Pacific Island Artists Connection and hosted by the iconic St Martin-in-the-Fields in London's Trafalgar Square. This inaugural event brings together communities from Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea who are based in the Pacific region as well as in the UK's large Pacific diaspora. The festival is free to enter and includes an art exhibition curated by the talented Sulu Daunivalu (Director, Museum of Pacific & Oceanic Art, Latvia), heritage arts and products, panel discussions, interactive activities and more. Showcasing both heritage and contemporary arts, including a wide variety of visual art that has never been on show before now, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey across the Pacific region whilst highlighting the impact climate change is having on these small island nations and how Pacific communities are fighting back.

See www.heartedge.org to join HeartEdge and for more information.

Are we missing something? Be in touch with your ideas for development.

Want to run an online workshop or series with HeartEdge? Don't keep it to yourself. Be in touch and let's plan.

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Karen Peris - I Would Sing Along.

Living God's Future Now: w/c 20 June 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.

W/c 20 June 2021

Sunday

God’s Unfailing Word
Zoom
Sunday 20 June, 19:00 (GMT)
Register here.
A conversation between Rabbi Daniel Epstein and Revd Dr Sam Wells based on the recently (2019) published God’s Unfailing Word (https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/godsunfailingwordweb.pdf).

Tuesday

Sermon Prep Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells
Livestream
Tuesday 22 June, 16:30 (GMT)
Live streamed on the HeartEdge Facebook page here.
Discussion of preaching and the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday with Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner.

Wednesday

Community of Practitioners
Zoom
Wednesday 23 June, 16:00 (GMT)
Email Jonathan Evens here to take part.
This is open to all, including ordinands and lay leaders. Church leaders join in community, share and reflect together on their recent experiences in the form of wonderings with one of the HeartEdge team and book discussions.

Thursday

Creation Care Course
Zoom
Thursday 24 June, 4.00-5.30 pm (GMT)
Register here.
In this 4-week Creation Care Course, we will provide you with vital information about climate change, its impacts on people, and reflect on our role as Christians in taking practical climate action. Week 2: Understanding Climate Change, we will look at climate change, its drivers and impacts from a scientific perspective.

Friday

Jesus Is Just Alright: What Pop Songs About Jesus Can Teach Christians Today (SESSION 4: If I Believe You)
Zoom
Friday 18 June, 16:30 (BST)
Register here.
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. SESSION 4: 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.

Coming Up

Mission Summer School - 12 – 16 July 2021
Zoom
12-16 July 2021
For more details and to reg click here
An opportunity to engage more deeply with the theology of mission and to explore how it relates to your own practice.Input structured around the four Cs of Commerce, Culture, Congregation and Compassion. A mix of teaching and conversation with leading scholars and practitioners including the Revd Dr Sam Wells, Professor Anthony Reddie, Dr Cathy Ross, and Revd Heather Cracknell, among others. Workshops to engage with the themes and issues presented. Encounters with churches, organisations and projects (HeartEdge and Fresh Expressions) to get a hands-on feel for how it works out in practice.

For more information please have a look at this video of Sam Wells telling us more, here.

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Martyn Joseph - When We Get Through This.

Living God's Future Now: W/c 13 June 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:

• 7 Jun: Lecture 11 Luke-Acts
• 14 Jun: Lecture 12 Luke-Acts

W/c 13 June 2021

Sunday

Inspired to Follow
Zoom
Sunday 13 June, 14:00 (GMT)
Register here.
‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’ helps people explore the Christian faith, using paintings and Biblical story as the starting points. The course uses fine art paintings in the National Gallery’s collection as a springboard for exploring questions of faith. Session 22: The New Jerusalem.

Monday

Biblical Studies class: Monday 14 June, 19:30-21:00 (GMT), Zoom meeting. Register in advance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrcOmgrTgsHt2ceY7LepLhQYqQxS1G1ix9 2021 dates - Lecture 12 Luke-Acts.

Tuesday

Sermon Prep Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells
Livestream
Tuesday 15 June, 16:30 (GMT)
Live streamed on the HeartEdge Facebook page here.
Discussion of preaching and the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday with Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner.

Wednesday

Community of Practitioners
Zoom
Wednesday 16 June, 16:00 (GMT)
Email Jonathan Evens here to take part.
This is open to all, including ordinands and lay leaders. Church leaders join in community, share and reflect together on their recent experiences in the form of wonderings with one of the HeartEdge team and book discussions.

Thursday

Creation Care Course
Zoom
Thursday 17 June, 4.30-6.00 pm (GMT)
Register here.
In this 4-week Creation Care Course, we will provide you with vital information about climate change, its impacts on people, and reflect on our role as Christians in taking practical climate action. Week 1: Caring for Creation, we will take a theological perspective on creation care and tackling climate change, using bible studies and a wide range of theological resources.’

Serving God and Mammon?
Zoom
Thursday 17 June, 5.30-6.30 pm (GMT)
Register here.
Commerce affects culture, congregation and compassion in many ways. One is when business executives are brought into a faith or not-for-profit context in leadership roles. Joanna Moriarty and Douglas Board, will engage in conversation to bring out many fascinating and practical insights which can help any values-driven organisation looking to add commercial skills, after which they will respond to your questions.

HeartEdge/CEEP transatlantic conversation – Big Tech, the Church & society
Zoom
Thursday 17 June, 8.00 pm (GMT)
Register here.
Fellowship, community-building, and Christian education all became hybrid experiences; in-person and online. During this panel, our participants; Genelle Aldred, Stacy Williams Duncan, Mark Howe and John Reader; will tackle questions like: Is ‘online church’ simply about accessing the tech needed for online services or are we baptizing Facebook, Instagram, whatever, and calling it 'church’? How do we avoid re-creating Christian subcultures online while imagining different and better futures in which all can contribute towards a new understanding? And how underlying these questions are societal and ethical issues raised by the actions of Big Tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Friday

Jesus Is Just Alright: What Pop Songs About Jesus Can Teach Christians Today (SESSION 3: Jesus, Forgive Me for the Things I’m About to Do)
Zoom
Friday 18 June, 16:30 (BST)
Register here.
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. 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?

Coming Up

Mission Summer School - 12 – 16 July 2021
Zoom
12-16 July 2021
For more details and to reg click here
An opportunity to engage more deeply with the theology of mission and to explore how it relates to your own practice.Input structured around the four Cs of Commerce, Culture, Congregation and Compassion. A mix of teaching and conversation with leading scholars and practitioners including the Revd Dr Sam Wells, Professor Anthony Reddie, Dr Cathy Ross, and Revd Heather Cracknell, among others. Workshops to engage with the themes and issues presented. Encounters with churches, organisations and projects (HeartEdge and Fresh Expressions) to get a hands-on feel for how it works out in practice.

For more information please have a look at this video of Sam Wells telling us more, here.

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The Chieftans (featuring Jackson Browne) - The Rebel Jesus.

Together for the Common Good

Here's the sermon that I preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields today. 

Readings of address: 1 Samuel 8.4-20, Mark 3.20-35.

Yves Klein was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. From 1956 onwards, he sold ‘zones’ of empty space – ‘Zones of Immaterial Sensibility’ - in exchange for gold ingots. He gave his buyers receipts, which they then solemnly burnt. In turn, Klein would ritually dispose of half the gold he had earned, by throwing it into rivers or oceans and thereby returning it to its source in creation, or, by creating an ex voto – a devotional offering. He made just such a devotional offering in 1961 presenting it to the Convent of Santa Rita in Cascia, Italy; St Rita being the patron of lost causes. This ex voto is a small plexiglass box containing five compartments: one filled with blue pigment, one with pink pigment, one with gold leaf, and the other two with a handwritten prayer to St Rita and three gold bars from his sale of the sensibility zones. The prayer proclaimed Klein’s gratitude to St Rita, and his desire to secure her continued protection.

Klein’s art enables a reflection on what can and cannot be owned. His work opens up the possibility that intangible and invisible qualities such as love are of more importance than tangible assets that can be held or owned. The purchasers of his zones owned nothing tangible that could be shown to another person, yet the experience in which they participated was profound. Michael Blankfort, a collector who purchased one of the Zones shortly before Klein’s death, said that he would cherish and remember forever this intangible artwork that he had bought but did not physically possess. He said that he carried the memory of it with him, always thinking about it, accompanying him all over the world, all the time. In the prayer Klein wrote to St Rita, he asked that he might live in his works and that they might become ever more beautiful. In other words that, when his physical body was gone, the intangible essence of the person he was might live in intangible works such as his ‘Zones of Immaterial Sensibility.’

Klein’s work is relevant to our Old Testament reading today because at the heart of this reading is the understanding that life is gift and not possession. The land in which the Israelites lived was given them by God in fulfilment of promises made to Abraham and his descendants. Although the Israelites lived in the land, the land was not theirs as, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it’ (Psalm 24.1). Because the land was both promise and gift, the whole of Israel’s socio-economic life and practice was based on this covenant relationship with God and its tradition of redemption and land gift.

Walter Brueggemann writes that, ‘As an alternative to pretentious, oppressive political authority, represented early in Israel’s imagination, by pharoah, Israel [ordered] its public life under the direct rule of [God], in a sort of theocracy.’[i] The Israelites were led by groups of Judges so that power was not concentrated in the hands of one person and the Law that had been given them by God at Mount Sinai set out a way of life based on redemption and gift that was a genuine alternative to the surrounding nations. One example of this is the Year of Jubilee which required the compulsory return of all property to its original owners or their heirs. That essentially prevented the centralisation of land and wealth in the hands of a few. As a light to the nations, Israel’s task in the world was to draw those nations into a similar relationship to creation and to God. The visions of the prophet Isaiah describe just such a relationship. He showed us the wolf living with the lamb, the leopard lying down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child leading them while nations stream to the mountain of the Lord that they might walk in his paths.

So, when the Israelites asked for a king, this was a betrayal of their entire way of life and purpose under God. Why did they do it? Three reasons have been identified. First, imitation of other nations. They looked at the surrounding nations and were envious of the sustained forms of political power they saw there which contributed to security and prosperity. Second, they faced imminent military threats and saw the establishment of a monarchy as a reasonable response to concrete threats. Third, those who had, despite the laws of redemption and land gift, monopolised wealth for themselves wanted a strong central government to protect and legitimate their already considerable economic and political advantages. In this way external threats were used by those with position and wealth to create greater advantage for themselves. We still see similar approaches to power and advantage used within our own political and socio-economic systems today. They, too, are based on: first, envy; second, fear; and third, greed.

As Sam Wells, our Vicar, has said, ‘In a community of fear we begin with our hurts and our stereotypes, and find a hundred reasons why we can’t do things or certain kinds of people don’t belong.’ Yet, if land is understood as a gift from God, then God becomes the principle for egalitarian distribution and a gift economy that stands in contrast to the centralisation of power, land and access found in a monarchy. Instead of that centralisation of power which can easily become, as was to be the case in Israel, an engine for preference, privilege, monopoly, and self-indulgence, the gifts of all can be released and we can build one another’s assets.

What might that approach to ownership and wealth mean for our society? I want to suggest three areas for reflection. First, the idea of the “common good” which refers to those facilities—whether material, cultural or institutional—that the members of a community provide to all in order to fulfil a relational obligation all have to care for those interests that we have in common. Examples in a modern liberal democracy include: the road system; public parks; police protection and public safety; courts and the judicial system; public schools; museums and cultural institutions; public transportation; civil liberties, such as the freedom of speech and the freedom of association; the system of property; clean air and clean water; and national defence. So, in the words of Together for the Common Good, a charity helping people play their part to strengthen the bonds of social trust, the Common Good is ‘the shared life of a society in which everyone can flourish - as we act together in different ways that all contribute towards that goal, enabled by social conditions that mean every single person can participate.’

Our society today is more polarised and fragmented than it has been for many years. Decades of individualism have infected our life together. In the fallout, we see a weakening of our local institutions, with whole communities marginalised, and an identity politics which is driving people apart. There is an urgent need to strengthen the bonds of social trust, at all levels and in all sectors. People are yearning for a sense of meaning and belonging. We need a vision of a world being transformed as more and more people take responsibility for the flourishing of all with everyone having a part to play, from the grassroots to the boardroom.[ii]

Second, is Creation Care. Based on the themes we are exploring of promise and gift Operation Noah’s call to the Church on ‘Climate change and the purposes of God’ says that: ‘According to the witness of our Scriptures, everything that we have, life and the means of life, comes to us as gift. This is the ground of our worship. The beauty and harmony of God’s creation is for all cultures a source of human wellbeing, spiritual nourishment and joy.’ As humans, made in God’s image, we have unique responsibility for the wellbeing of creation. We are to care for the earth because it is gift, the product of God’s love. No sparrow falls without God knowing. Humanity has always had the capacity to destroy our environment, but today we have this to an unprecedented extent. Whereas previous generations did not know the damage they were causing, we do. We must use our power wisely to promote the flourishing of future generations and the diversity of life on earth.

This is also an issue of justice; justice that applies to poor communities already suffering the devastating consequences of climate change, to future generations, and to all other creatures. The prophets put economic behaviour at the forefront of their call to justice. The primary driver of human induced climate change is the belief that prosperity depends on limitless consumption of the earth’s resources. Today, our challenge is to seek a different, sustainable economy, based on the values of human flourishing and the wellbeing of all creation, not on the assumption of unlimited economic growth, on overconsumption, exploitative interest and debt.[iii]

Third, generosity. Sam has said that ‘Christians don’t have to look far for a mission statement for the church.’ He was referring to John 10.10 where Jesus says, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ Living abundant life. That’s what the Father intends, the Son embodies, the Spirit facilitates. Christians are called to live in such a way that gratefully receives the abundance God is giving them, evidences the transformation from scarcity to abundance to which God is calling them, dwells with God in that abundant life, and shares that abundance far and wide. Tom Wright has said, 'God’s grace … is not the sort of thing you can bargain with or try to store up. It isn’t the sort of thing that one person can have a lot of and someone else only a little … God doesn’t make contracts with us, as if we could bargain or negotiate for a better deal.’ God makes covenants, in which we are promised everything but where everything is asked of us in return. When God keeps promises, we are not being rewarded for effort, but instead receiving what comes naturally to God’s overflowingly generous nature.[iv] To operate in that spirit of generosity involves being ecumenical, empowering, encouraging and relational, and to commit to resourcing others.

Although by living in a capitalist society we are all participants in systems that contribute to the centralisation of wealth and power in the hands of a few, we need to be mindful of the proverb that Jesus quoted in our Gospel reading, ‘A house divided against itself must fall.’ Taking action in relation to the common good, creation care and generosity can help us reduce the sense of division in our lives and community. Sam has encouraged us to see that ‘Christianity must take the present opportunity to be what it was always called to be: an alternative society, overlapping and sharing space with regular society, but living in a different time – that’s to say, modelling God’s future in our present.’

Yves Klein’s ex voto or devotional offering was formed of three sections; the colours, the prayer, and the gold ingots. There were also three colours – blue, pink and gold – and three gold ingots, making the work a thoroughly Trinitarian offering. The significance of this ex voto was, however, overlooked for many years and was only rediscovered in 1980 when a restorer working at the Convent needed gold leaf and Klein’s box was brought to him. The restorer recognised its significance and the ex voto has subsequently been displayed in several significant exhibitions of Klein’s work. This private offering, which was nearly lost by being used to restore another work of art, has now been shared with all who value what we see of the artist in his work. What was lost has been found; perhaps an indication that in God’s economy nothing is lost or wasted. Certainly not the urgent task of modelling God’s future in our present by creating the example of an alternative society; one that has a Trinitarian basis by moving beyond envy, fear and greed through the valuing of first, the common good, second, creation care, and third, generosity.

[i] Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy by Walter Brueggemann
[ii] https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/
[iii] http://operationnoah.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Final-ON_Declaration_web.pdf
[iv] Matthew for Everyone, Part 2: Chapters 16-28, by N. T. Wright

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Linda Perhacs - When Things Are True Again.