Coping in crises

Here's the sermon I shared this morning at St Chad’s Vange:

This church has stood here in Vange since 1958. However, it has not aged well and there are, as you are well aware, numerous issues with the fabric of the building. Therefore, if I was to predict that soon every part of this Church would be torn down so that not one stone would be left standing on another, you may well not be particularly shocked or disappointed. However, for those listening to Jesus as he spoke about the Temple in Jerusalem, it was a very different story (Mark 13: 1-8).

Jesus and his disciples had gone to the Temple in Jerusalem and were leaving when one of the disciples remarked on what a magnificent building the Temple was. Jesus’ response was to predict that it would shortly be completely and utterly destroyed. The Temple, at that time, was central to the whole Jewish faith. What Jesus was saying was that the whole way in which Judaism was practised at that time was going to be destroyed. A whole way of life wiped out. It was a shocking claim about a major crisis.

Mark records this for us because what Jesus predicted actually happened. In AD70 Titus, the adopted son of the Roman emperor Vespasian, “entered Jerusalem, burnt the Temple, destroyed the city and crucified thousands of Jews” (Wright). For Mark the fulfilment of Jesus’ prophecy, although a disaster for all those caught up in it, was the final vindication of all that Jesus had said and been and done. In that day, he says in verse 26 of this chapter, men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. In other words, people will realise that Jesus was who he claimed to be, the Messiah. The destruction of the Temple was proof that Jesus had spoken and acted truly.

We know from history that the destruction of the Temple also meant that Christians in Jerusalem had to flee the city and settle in other parts of the world. They took the message of Jesus with them wherever they went. So as a result of this crisis, news about Jesus spread throughout the region and eventually to the whole world. Truly, people saw the power and glory of the Son of Man.

But Jesus also knew what a terrible day that day would be and he prepared those who listened to him for that day. At the end of this chapter we read of him saying that no one will know the exact day or time when this disaster would come but that it would be within their own lifetimes and he taught them to look for the signs that the day was arriving so that could be ready to flee the city. He tells them to be ever vigilant and watchful so that they recognise when the crisis has come upon them.

So Jesus predicts a crisis, prepares his followers for that crisis and sees that the crisis will lead to the good news about him being understood and believed.

But that was all then. What does this passage say to us now? Well, we all still face crises whether they are personal crises (perhaps caused by crime or redundancy, abuse or family breakdown) or societal (as with global warming, natural disasters, riots or war). How should we react and respond to crises?

There is a realism about Jesus’ teaching. Crises will come, he says. We don’t know exactly when and where but we know that we will not go through life and avoid crises. So first, we need to expect crises and look out for the signs that they may be coming. Jesus in this chapter retells the story of the master going away and says that we need to be like watchmen always ready for the crisis of the master’s return. As we prepare during Advent to celebrate Christ’s first coming, so we must also always have an eye to the future and Christ’s return to bring his kingdom rule and reign throughout the world. Are we looking expectantly for the crisis of our Master’s return?

Second, we need to prepare for crises by being good stewards. Jesus in the story of the master going away said that the servants were left in charge. We know from the parable of the talents what this involves, the servants are to care for and use all that has been entrusted to them so that when the master returns his estate has grown and developed. God has entrusted us with his world, with those people who are our family, friends and colleagues, with money and possessions, and with our gifts and talents and abilities. All these we are to use for his praise and glory as a way of giving back to God in praise and thanksgiving for all he has given to us.

Finally, in crises God is revealed. At some point in the future each of us will meet with God and be asked to account for the use we have made of all that God has given to us. How will we stand in that moment of crisis? But in every crisis that we face God is alongside us and wishes to be known as the one who strengthens and supports us; the one who brings us through. Just as the good news about Jesus went out from Jerusalem as a result of the destruction of the Temple, so in each crisis that we face God wishes to bring good for us and for others. As Paul says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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Mahalia Jackson and Nat King Cole - Steal Away.

The crisis of Advent

Here's the sermon I'm sharing at St Catherine's Wickford this morning:

St Catherine’s has stood here in Wickford since 1876. It is a wonderful building that those of us who worship here love and which is greatly appreciated by lots of local people who have come here for many key moments in their family history - weddings, baptisms and funerals.

So, if I was to predict that soon every part of this Church would be torn down so that not one stone would be left standing on another, you would no doubt be shocked (despite the cracks in the building which occurred in 2022). But that is an equivalent to what Jesus said at the beginning of Mark 13. Jesus and his disciples had gone to the Temple in Jerusalem and were leaving when one of the disciples remarked on what a magnificent building the Temple was. Jesus’ response was to predict that it would shortly be completely and utterly destroyed. The Temple, at that time, was central to the whole Jewish faith. What Jesus was saying was that the whole way in which Judaism was practised at that time was going to be destroyed. A whole way of life wiped out. It was a shocking claim about a major crisis.

Mark records this for us because what Jesus predicted actually happened. In AD70 Titus, the adopted son of the Roman emperor Vespasian, “entered Jerusalem, burnt the Temple, destroyed the city and crucified thousands of Jews” (N.T. Wright). For Mark the fulfilment of Jesus’ prophecy, although a disaster for all those caught up in it, was the final vindication of all that Jesus had said and been and done. In that day, he said, people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. In other words, people will realise that Jesus was who he claimed to be, the Messiah. The destruction of the Temple was proof that Jesus had spoken and acted truly.

We know from history that the destruction of the Temple also meant that Christians in Jerusalem had to flee the city and settle in other parts of the world. They took the message of Jesus with them wherever they went. So as a result of this crisis, news about Jesus spread throughout the region and eventually to the whole world. Truly, people saw the power and glory of the Son of Man.

But Jesus also knew what a terrible day that day would be and he prepared those who listened to him for that day. In our Gospel reading today he says that no one will know the exact day or time when this disaster would come but that it would be within their own lifetimes and he teaches them to look for the signs that the day has arrived so that can be ready to flee the city. He tells them to be ever vigilant and watchful so that they recognise when the crisis has come upon them. So, Jesus predicts a crisis, prepares his followers for that crisis and sees that the crisis will lead to the good news about him being understood and believed.

But that was all then. What does this passage say to us now? Well, we all still face crises whether they are personal crises (perhaps caused by crime or redundancy, abuse or family breakdown) or societal (as with global warming, natural disasters, pandemics, riots or war). How should we react and respond to crises?

There is a realism about Jesus’ teaching. Crises will come, he says. We don’t know exactly when and where but we know that we will not go through life and avoid crises. So first, we need to expect crises and look out for the signs that they may be coming. Jesus here retells the story of the master going away and says that we need to be like watchmen always ready for the crisis of the master’s return. As we prepare during Advent to celebrate Christ’s first coming, so we must also always have an eye to the future and Christ’s return to bring his kingdom rule and reign throughout the world. Are we looking expectantly for the crisis of our Master’s return?

Second, we need to prepare for crises by being good stewards. Jesus, in the story of the master going away, said that the servants were left in charge. We know from the parable of the talents what that involves, the servants are to care for and use all that has been entrusted to them so that when the master returns his estate has grown and developed. God has entrusted us with this world, with those people who are our family, friends and colleagues, with money and possessions, and with our gifts and talents and abilities. All these we are to use for his praise and glory as a way of giving back to God in praise and thanksgiving for all he has given to us. How will we seek to do so this Advent?

Finally, in crises God is revealed. At some point in the future each of us will meet with God and be asked to account for the use we have made of all that God has given to us. Each Advent points us towards that moment. How will we stand in that moment of crisis? 

But in every crisis that we face God is alongside us and wishes to be known as the one who strengthens and supports us; the one who brings us through. Just as the good news about Jesus went out from Jerusalem as a result of the destruction of the Temple, so in each crisis that we face God wishes to bring good for us and for others. As Paul says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” May it be so for each one of us this Advent. Amen.

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St Martin's Voices - Advent Calendar.

Conversation that will transform creation for good

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

The book of Job is told as a series of conversation – conversations between God and Satan, between Job and his friends, and between Job and God - because being in conversation with God is what the book is all about. At the end of the book Job says to God, “In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” and this is perhaps the key statement to understanding what is going on in this book.

The book of Job is concerned with the problem of pain; why does suffering occur and why do good people suffer? But the book does not provide answers to these questions. Job’s friends try to tell him that because he is suffering then he must be at fault in some way. But Job knows that that is not the case and this is confirmed at the end of the book when God is angry with Job’s friends because they did not speak the truth about him as Job did. Instead of accepting the advice of his friends and saying that he is at fault, Job decides to state his case to God and by doing so starts a conversation with God in which he begins to see God with his own eyes instead of hearing about God from what others had to tell him. The important thing that happens in this book; the thing that changes Job and his situation is that he begins this conversation.

It is part of this conversation with God that we have heard read today (Job 38:1, 12-21, 40:3-5) and what we have heard is mainly God’s contribution to the conversation. One of the most obvious things to jump out at us from what God says is that he doesn’t provide any answers to Job’s questions. Instead, he asks a series of other questions which give Job a sense of the awesome nature of God as creator and sustainer of life. It is God who created and ordered the world and who understands its patterns and cycles of life: the times of birth for mountain goats and wild deer; the freedom of wild donkeys; the strength of wild oxen and horses; the speed of the ostrich; the flight of the hawk and the nesting of the eagle. All of these and more God created and understands their pattern of life and their place in the tapestry of nature and circle of life. All of these and more God understands while Job does not.

It is easy to read these passages and think that what God wants to do is to belittle Job by making him realise just how insignificant he is as a human being and therefore that he should simply respond by accepting what God does and says. Job seems to feel like that too because when God challenges him to answer his questions Job throws up his hands and says, “I spoke foolishly, Lord. What can I answer? I will not try to say anything else. I have already said more than I should.” Often people read the book of Job as though that is the answer to the problem of suffering; it is all in God’s hands, we can’t understand and therefore we should just trust him.

But that isn’t what God wants at all. Instead, God goes on to say, “Stand up like a man, and answer my questions.” God challenges Job to give an answer to his questions and says that it is in the nature of his humanity that Job should answer these questions. God wants to be in a conversation with human beings where we take responsibility for our lives and our world. Where we find answers to the questions that God poses to human beings but where we find those answers in conversation with God.

When we are out of conversation with God or only have knowledge of God through others, then we are not working in partnership with God for the benefit of the world in which we live. That is the situation in which humanity finds itself in relation to the questions that God asked of Job: Do you know when mountain goats are born? Do you know how long wild deer carry their young? Will the wild ox work for you? Human beings now know the answers to these and many of the other questions that God asked of Job. That is not wrong. God wanted us to be able to explore his creation and find answers to those questions. But he wanted humanity to do that together with him, in conversation with him. Instead for most of human history, we have ignored God and explored his creation on our terms and in our way exploiting creation for our own gain. We know now where that has got us; that we stand in danger of destroying God’s creation and ourselves along with it. We have a desperate and urgent need as human beings to be talking to God about the answers to the questions he posed to Job.

God wants us to be in conversation with him and when we are, as Job found, it transforms our understanding of ourselves and our world. Throughout history God has been seeking people who will be in conversation with him and who through that conversation will transform his creation for good and not for ill. Because of our selfish exploitation of the world and its resources it seems that we stand on the precipice of an ecological disaster. Will that realisation be sufficient to bring our generation back into conversation with God just as the destruction of his world propelled Job into his challenge to God which opened a life-changing conversation through which he saw God with his own eyes? 

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Marvin Gaye - What's Going On?

It's time ...

From the 1920s to the 1980s, strange adverts were spotted on billboards and the sides of British buses, which read: ‘Crime, banditry, distress and perplexity will increase until the bishops open Joanna Southcott’s box.’ From 1792, Joanna Southcott, increasingly aware of her divine mission as a prophetess with messianic connections, filled a "Box of Sealed Prophecies" that could only be opened under certain conditions.

When the First World War began in 1914, many believers in Southcott’s prophecies thought that this must be the predicted time of national danger. A number of different groups and people tried to persuade the bishops of the Church of England to open the box. During the 1920s and 1930s, the unopened box remained central to the beliefs and activities of the Millenarian Panacea Society – and for decades they continued to issue their adverts calling on the bishops to open the box.

In 2018 while we may not face a Millenarian catastrophe, although groups continue to exist which believe in that possibility, we do nevertheless, as Greek artist Danae Stratou believes, live in a time of multiple crises in which it is ever so easy to fall into a state of fear-induced paralysis. ‘It’s time to open the Black Boxes!’ is a participatory art project which is a reaction to just such a prospect.

For a two month period prior to the Pollença exhibition, through a blog, social media and conventional local media, an open call was made inviting the local community to participate in the project by submitting the one word that best expresses either what frightens or threatens them the most, or what they believe is in urgent need of protection. In this way the project reveals local concerns, hopes and fears to give voice to and to assist materially as many people as possible to attain a deeper understanding of our collective predicament. The words submitted include: Affection; Balance; Calm; Dagger; Education; Failure; Generosity; Hate; Ignorance; Justice; Laughter; Magic; Nationalism; Ocean; Plastics; Recognition; Sensibility; Time; Uncertainty; Values; War; Xenophobia; and Yellow.

At Eglésia del Convent de Sant Domingo in Pollença, Mallorca, 100 black aluminium boxes are geometrically positioned on the floor equidistant from another, so as to form a rectangular grid. The boxes’ lids are open at an angle. Inside each box a black screen is positioned at a 450 degree angle in relation to the floor. The boxes are surfaced with translucent mirrors, thus creating the illusion that they are filled to the rim with a liquid substance and that the screens within them are submerged in polluted water akin to an oil slick.

Upon entering the exhibition space the viewer is confronted by a mixture of sounds such as beeps, heart beats, explosions and flat-lines. The screens inside the boxes display words and numbers. The words displayed are the 100 considered most representative of those submitted through the open call. Each word appears for a few seconds before being replaced by either a countdown or a count-up (depending on the word). As the numbers race (down toward zero or up to a specially chosen limit), their pace, style and accompanying sounds resemble a ticking bomb. When the countdown, or count-up, reaches its climax, each box emits the sound of either an explosion or a flat-line. These sounds are designed so as to intensify the sensation of tension, crisis, and alarm.

By the opening of these ‘Black Boxes’ there is a symbolic bringing to light of the words from the open call that reflect what threatens us the most, or that which we are desperately eager to preserve. Black boxes are used after disasters to ascertain the causes, but these black boxes equate more closely to Joanna Southcott’s box with its warning of approaching disaster. These Black Boxes seek to open a public dialogue that examines how art in conjunction with new technologies can promote direct, sophisticated and advanced democratic models and practices. A catalogue essay by Stratou’s husband, the economist Yanis Varoufakis, aims to expose ‘the powers-that-be with the power to control our lives (the state, corporations, the media, banks, organised pressure groups etc.)’ and advocates getting inside the network and disrupting the information flow.

The hope is that, in a world in which we see the rise of misanthropy, xenophobia and toxic nationalism, projects such as this can lay the foundations for a new trans-European, reflective, participatory and tolerant community. The challenge is that the technology used by this project can as readily, if not more so, be used by business people intent on using populism to undermine the current checks and balances of economics and politics in order to create unregulated markets for the unscrupulous to exploit.

Curator Inés Muñozcano explores the synergies and dissonances of staging this installation in a hall used to exhibit contemporary art that was originally built in the 17th century as a church of the Dominican Order. As with the project and its wider context, the immediate context for this installation is ambiguous and complex; while noting the democratic principles of St Dominic’s Rule of Life, Muñozcano also notes its involvement in the Spanish Inquisition and, therefore concludes that this former church ‘reflects these internal contradictions, and the frustrated attempts to create a ‘bottom-up’ system eager to assume the principles of dialogue and responsibility.’

Joanna Southcott’s box has not been opened, the black boxes of airplanes are only opened following catastrophe and if found, the one box or container that was opened was that of Pandora, from which all the evils of the world are said to derive. The opening of boxes is not without consequence. This installation, while intending to encourage a degree of democratic participation to address populism, may instead be an indicator that by entertaining populism we have already reopened Pandora’s box.

‘It’s time to open the Black Boxes!’, Museu de Pollença, until 30 September 2018.

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Spiritualized - Broken Heart.

The Ethics of Humanitarian Aid in a Time of Crisis

The Ethics of Humanitarian Aid in a Time of Crisis
Tuesday 10 May 2016 7.00-8.30pm
St Martin-in-the-Fields

Peter Gill presents a paper based on his challenging new book: Today We Drop Bombs, Tomorrow We Build Bridges: How Foreign Aid became a Casualty of War.

Followed by a panel discussion chaired by Mike Wooldridge, former BBC foreign correspondent.

The panel:

• Matthew Carter (Humanitarian Director, CAFOD)
• Atallah Fitzgibbon (Policy and Strategy Manager, Islamic Relief Worldwide)
• Fr George Sigamoney (Director of Caritas Sri Lanka)
• Revd Rachel Carnegie (Co-Director, Anglican Alliance).

Opportunity will be given for questions and comments from the floor.

This event is free and open to all, with a retiring collection to cover costs.

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Martyn Joseph - This Fragile World.

Grief & Hope: reflecting on the refugee crisis

Grief & Hope: reflecting on the refugee crisis began with Michael Takeo Magruder sharing his interest in working with a range of digital technologies and physical materials to blend new and old, aligning contemporary art and theological study, creating new ways of looking at ancient texts and making them relevant for modern audiences

For Stations of the Cross 2016 he was commissioned to create an artwork for the 13th station, in which Christ’s body is taken down from the cross. His work, Lamentation for the Forsaken, “offers a lamentation not only for the forsaken Christ, but others who have felt his acute pain of abandonment. In particular, he evokes the memory of Syrians who have passed away in the present conflict, weaving their names and images into a contemporary Shroud of Turin”

Dionne Gravesande explained how Christian Aid work with partners in the ACT Alliance and other agencies to support practical and political action to help those fleeing conflicts, and address the longer term issues. Christian Aid urge governments to play a full and constructive role in efforts to find safe routes, and provide adequate support for refugees world-wide. And we appeal to them to meet fully their own international, legal obligations to all those affected, respecting their universal rights and demonstrating care and compassion rather than just being driven by alarmist headlines at home. To support refugees in Europe and to help people in the countries they are fleeing from, please donate to Christian Aid's Refugee Crisis Appeal here.

Revd Richard Carter spoke of the way in which many at St Martin-in-the-Fields have been coming to see, listen and learn more about the people that are very much part of our congregation. They are not “homeless people”, they are people, real people with such gifts to share. At the Sunday International Group which offers welcome and hospitality to foreign nationals facing destitution in London, they have met people from more than 26 different countries and have been enriched by each other. Many people talk about this meeting being the highlight of the week and that includes both guests and hosts. Why? Richard believes it to be because they discover in one another how we all long to belong and the joy of both giving and receiving. It is not an exaggeration to say that in this meeting they discover our humanity.

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Michael Takeo Magruder - Apocalypse Now?

Arriving at Station XIII: 4. Installation

Arriving at Station XIII is a short series of videos by Emma Puente exploring the development of a newly commissioned artwork for the Stations of the Cross project, running from February 10 to March 28 in 14 locations around London, from museums to cathedrals.

The videos follow the progress of the artist Michael Takeo Magruder as he conceives, develops and finally presents his installation at St. Stephen Walbrook. In this fourth video, Installation, I discuss the Stations project and Michael's work - Lamentation for the Forsaken - as it is being installed. Click here to see the latest video.

For more information about the exhibition, including podcasts and associated events, visit: coexisthouse.org.uk/stations2016.html.

Tonight at 6.00pm, the installation can be viewed in the context of 'Grief and Hope: reflecting on the refugee crisis’ an awareness raising event held at St Stephen Walbrook. Takeo will speak about the motivations behind his installation and Dionne Gravesande, Head of Church Advocacy at Christian Aid, will speak about the refugee crisis and the work which Christian Aid is doing with partners in the ACT Alliance and other agencies to support practical and political action to help those fleeing, and address the longer term issues. There will also be contributions from David Glasser (Chairman, Ben Uri Gallery - Museum of Art, Identity & Migration) and Revd Richard Carter (Associate Vicar, St Martin-in-the-Fields). All are most welcome.

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Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye.

Grief & Hope: reflecting on the Refugee Crisis

Those speaking tomorrow at St Stephen Walbrook (6.00pm) as part of Grief & Hope: reflecting on the Refugee Crisis are:

Michael Takeo Magruder is a visual artist and researcher who works with digital and new media including real-time data, digital archives, immersive environments, mobile devices and virtual worlds. His practice explores concepts ranging from media criticism and aesthetic journalism to digital formalism and computational aesthetics, deploying Information Age technologies and systems to examine our networked, media-rich world.

Dionne Gravesande is Head of Church Advocacy at Christian Aid. She is responsible for leading the organisation’s work with church leadership on key global policy and advocacy issues. This work is embedded in the organisation’s mandate to expose the scandal of poverty and to challenge and change unjust structures and systems that work against the interest of the poor and marginalised.

Christian Aid is the official relief, development and advocacy agency of 41 sponsoring churches in Britain and Ireland. Christian Aid is also part of the global ACT Alliance family - a coalition of 137 churches and faith-based organisations working together in over 100 countries.

Revd Richard Carter is Associate Vicar for Mission at St Martin-in-the-Fields. He was ordained in 1992 and has been a full time priest at St Martin’s since 2006. He has special responsibility for the education programme, international links and hospitality of the church and links up with the Connection at St Martin’s for services, events and to lead the Spirituality Group. Before coming to St Martin’s Richard was Chaplain to the Melanesian Brotherhood in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

David Glasser is Chairman and Chief Executive of Ben Uri Gallery (Museum of Art, Identity & Migration). The Ben Uri Collection has over 1300 works by nearly 400 émigré artists and artists of primarily European Jewish descent, including major work by Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg and Mark Gertler.

During Lent we are hosting an art installation by Takeo entitled Lamentation for the Forsaken, 2016. In this work, Takeo offers a lamentation not only for the forsaken Christ, but others who have felt his acute pain of abandonment. In particular, he evokes the memory of Syrians who have passed away in the present conflict, weaving their names and images into a contemporary Shroud of Turin. He writes that, "The Shroud, of course, is itself an image—an ‘icon’ in Pope Francis’ words—better known by its photographic negative than its actual fabric. Takeo’s digital re-presentation participates in and perpetuates this history of reproduction. But the real miracle isn’t the Shroud itself, it’s our capacity to look into the eyes of the forsaken—and see our Saviour."

We wish to use Takeo's installation to generate debate and response to the refugee crisis and therefore have organised ‘Grief and Hope: reflecting on the refugee crisis'.

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Martyn Joseph - Still A Lot Of love Round Here.

Armageddon: Mariano Chelo

Rather late in the day, as the exhibition is over, but here is my review of Armageddon at ArtMoorHouse:

Armageddon has begun in the City of London. The countdown to Apocalypse is over and an existential explosion has covered the ground floor walls of Moor House in Moorgate.

Mariano Chelo, from Bosa in Sardinia, is an abstract, installation and performance artist who founded MAP (Movementi Artistici Periferici), a gallery/workshop where he has exhibited his own and other artists’ works. While he has shown work internationally, this is his first solo show in the UK. In his work Chelo has journeyed from traditional beginnings – landscapes, still life and figure studies – through a period of collaboration with advertising agencies - as he abandoned painting for photography and graphic design in the 1980s – to the extravagant expressionism of his current abstractions and action painting performances.

Armageddon features paintings formed out of darkness. Beginning with inky blacks swirled and dripped and covered in the sheen and shimmer of varnish, these are works exploring the emotions of an underworld – physical or personal, in which a limited palette of colours, under pressure, boil and churn to rise in spurts and splurges of volcanic red. ‘Illusione Russo’ is split by a jet-black crevice from which beautiful surges of fiery oranges and reds flow to fill the canvas. ‘Confusamente Russo’ and ‘Russo’ fill their canvasses with the flicker and flare of flame.

Fire is, therefore, one motif Chelo uses for the experience of personal and social Armageddon. Water is another. Biblical motifs underpin much musing generally on apocalypse and Chelo, while not foregrounding Biblical references, certainly has images of deluge and flood within his frame. ‘Oblivion’, in particular, evokes - in blues, blacks and whites - the submerging of our world and consciousness. He ends the show more peacefully, using blacks, greys and whites, by depicting the stillness of the sea in evocative works (‘Mare’ and ‘Mare II’) which divide at the horizon as we are enveloped in darkness by the setting of the sun.

Chelo maintains a balance throughout between the personal, the natural and the social in these works. It could be personal and cultural apocalypse that we are viewing. At times, his shapes suggest cityscapes or caverns yet, here too, our perceptions can be both of physical chaos and of the collapse of our interior world. As the exhibition catalogue suggests, this sequence of images is a migration ‘through a deep dark sea’, ‘a “passage” towards the unexplored, a metaphor to express our inability to fully know the result of our quests.’

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Extreme - Politicalamity.

Temple: a crisis of faith

Temple is a new play by Steve Waters at the Donmar Warehouse which is a fictional account inspired by the Occupy London movement in 2011.

On 15 October 2011 Occupy London makes camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral. On 21 October 2011 a building that had kept open through floods, the Blitz and terrorist threats closes its doors. On 28 October City of London initiates legal action against Occupy to begin removing them from outside the Cathedral ...

Set in the heart of a very British crisis, the play explores a crisis of conscience, a crisis of authority and a crisis of faith.

Giles Fraser, who was at the centre of these events, writes about them in today's Guardian as exploring "a theological question that takes us back to the very foundations of the Christian faith"; the tension, inherent within the Christian faith, "between swapping the rags of the oppressed for the ermine of high office."

Fraser suggests that it is if the play captures something of this theological dynamic, with justification on both sides, that it will have succeeded.

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Neal Morse - Temple Of The Living God.

still small voice: British biblical art in a secular age

still small voice: British biblical art in a secular age at The Wilson in Cheltenham is an exclusive opportunity to see major works by influential 20th century British artists including Stanley Spencer, Eric Gill, Jacob Epstein, Barbara Hepworth, Edward Burra and Graham Sutherland. Exploring ideas around creativity, crisis and the human experience, this is a major exhibition for 2015.

The works on show are normally held in an international private collection, and this is the first time this exhibition has been displayed in the UK. It explores a diverse range of media, including major paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture by some of the most important and beloved 20th century British artists, some of whom are also shown in The Wilson's own collection.

Dr Chloë Reddaway (Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Religion at The National Gallery) will speak at The Wilson during the exhibition on Speech and Silence, Word and Image (5.30pm on 22 April). In this talk she will discuss the relationship between Christian language and image making, the challenge of painting God incarnate, and the theological potential of silence, empty spaces, and dissemblance in indicating the dual nature of Christ.

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Charles Ives - Psalm 90.

The Book of Strange New Things

Michel Faber's The Book of Strange New Things is a novel with themes of communication, love and language across distance and cultures and within faith and doubt. The story unfolds against a background of apocalyptic societal collapse through a combination of climate change and food shortages. As a result, the novel shares themes with Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle For Leibowitz.

Sophia Waugh summarises effectively: 'Peter, ex-junkie, loving husband, cat-lover, sets off on a journey. The novel opens with his farewell to his wife, and we gather that he will be gone a while and that he might be in danger. It is not immediately revealed that he is a missionary, and when we do realise this, it comes as a surprise to learn that his mission is not in the far reaches of some Amazonian jungle, but in outer space. We are in a future in which Nasa no longer exists, but a major space programme does. Peter is being sent to a planet named Oasis, where he will be not so much a pastor to the crew stationed out there, but a missionary for its inhabitants, the Oasans.'

Hannah McGill writes that the novel 'is as much about the minor failures of communication that can erode marital intimacy as it is about contacting other beings, and as much about the existential terror inherent in putative parenthood as it is about travel to far-off worlds. As the once-inseparable Peter and Beatrice, now worlds apart, struggle to comprehend one another’s day-to-day lives, Faber lets a devastating possibility shuffle to the fore: every relationship is long-distance, and every person a strange new planet. The methods whereby we try to minimise difference, meanwhile, are themselves unstable – language most palpably so.'

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Lou Reed - Satellite Of Love.

The measure of judgement

How do we react when the most significant person in our life isn’t around? Teenagers sometimes throw a party and trash the house when their parents are away. Workers might put their feet up and relax when their boss has gone away to a conference or training course. In the parables of Jesus that we have heard read over the past few weeks, one servant got drunk and beat his fellow servants when his master was away while another buried the money he’d been given in the ground and did nothing with it for fear of what the master would do to him if he lost it.

Jesus told today’s parable (Matthew 25. 31 - end), and those that we have heard read over the past three weeks, to prepare his disciples for his death, resurrection and ascension. He was going to leave them but he was entrusting them with the responsibility of continuing his mission and ministry in his physical absence.

He wanted them to be like the servant that kept the household running efficiently and well while the master was away. To be like the young women who prepared well for the bridegroom’s absence so that they had enough supplies to welcome him when he did return. And to be like the servants who used the resources their master gave them before he left to increase and develop his property. Through these stories Jesus was telling his disciples at the time and his disciples through the ages to be prepared and ready to continue and to develop his work after his ascension.

So what was and is the work that they are to be prepared to continue and develop? Well, the answer comes in today’s story which is the last in the sequence.

Each story has included a moment of crisis or judgement in which the most significant person in the story – the master or the bridegroom – returns and it becomes clear whether those who were left behind have responded well or badly to his absence. This story is no different only this time the central figure who returns is Jesus. Previous judgements were on whether the master’s work had been continued, whether the women had been prepared, and whether the master’s resources had been used or developed. But what is the master’s work, what are we to be prepared to do, what is that we are to use our resources to develop? The answer comes loud and clear in this parable because Jesus’ judgement is on our compassion.

The measure of judgement is how we have responded to those who are hungry or thirsty or strangers or naked or sick or in prison. Have we fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, clothed the naked and visited the sick or those in prison? When we do, we do these things to Jesus, when we refuse, we are refusing Jesus.

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Curtis Mayfield - Keep On Keeping On.

Remembrance Sunday: Are you ready?

Here is my Remembrance Sunday sermon using materials prepared by the Bible Society for the 100th Anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War:

Some 65 million men were mobilized across Europe during WW1. Nearly a third of them – 21 million – were wounded. Another 8.5 million were killed. And 7.7 million were taken as prisoners of war. That means that over half of all soldiers that went to the war were killed, wounded or captured.

It was considered vital that each man could read the Bible to search for comfort, understanding or simply a link with home. So every one of the 5.7 million British soldiers, sailors and airmen who joined up were given a copy of the New Testament with the rest of their kit. Between August 1914 and August 1918 Bible Society distributed more than 9 million copies of Scripture in over 80 languages to members of the Armed Forces and prisoners of war on all sides.

It managed this despite immense challenges. There were supply shortages. The cost of paper had risen and it was rationed. There were submarine blockades and merchant ships carrying the Bibles were sunk. There was also an emotional toll. Former Bible Society colleagues suddenly found themselves fighting on opposing sides. Bible salesmen throughout Europe (known as colporteurs) were conscripted, or volunteered into their respective armies.

Despite all the difficulties, Bibles and New Testaments continued to find their way into the hands of the millions that wanted them. Bible Society printed New Testaments in khaki, stamped with a cross, for distribution via the Red Cross among the sick and wounded as well as prisoners of war. Nationality was no bar to receiving Scriptures. We know that Germans, Austrians, French, British and more all received the Bible and found comfort in it, thanks to first-hand reports. The response from soldiers in the trenches was shared with Bible Society supporters. Here is just one of those stories:

It’s not surprising that Pte Wilf Kreibich’s tattered, khaki New Testament which he had with him during the whole of WW1 falls open at Matthew 14: the feeding of the 5,000. For Pte Kreibich, a clerk from Manchester, was involved in his very own version of the biblical miracle.

Wilf joined the Armed Service Corps at the age of 23, in 1914. By 1918, he and his colleagues were responsible for feeding some 3 million men and 500,000 horses. Every month they dealt with 67,500,000lbs of meat and some 90,000,000lbs of bread. A photograph taken at the ASC station in Rouen shows Wilf with more than 100 comrades, where they were in charge of feeding the sick and wounded as well as sending supplies, reinforcements and fresh horses to the front. His New Testament is daubed with spots of wax from where he read the Scriptures by candlelight at night.

An ‘easy-going, affable’ man, Wilf had a great sense of humour. Though he was at Ypres and Arras, he barely spoke of the war later in life. But he did refer to shooting dead three Germans who attacked his unit, and taking part in a Christmas Day football match between England and Germany. Nonetheless, according to his son Gerry (80), Wilf leant on his faith during those four tough years. ‘He was a person who took things in his stride,’ he says. ‘But it must have meant a lot to him to have his Bible with him. It must have been a comfort to him. I like to think of him being bolstered by this when he was in the trenches and behind the lines.’

Wilf was the eldest of five children and had a lifelong love of children. On his return from the war he became Sunday School superintendent at St Mary’s church in Cadishead in Manchester. But his wartime Bible speaks of his compassion for children, as he underlined Mark 10.14, where Jesus says, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these’. His wartime diary also reveals this care. In an entry entitled ‘an afternoon off’ Wilf describes playing ball with the local French children. ‘Those playing ball consider that their cup of happiness is full to the brim if they can get a Tommy to play with,’ he wrote. ‘Several French people have told me that they are very much amused at the way the English soldiers take to the kiddies.’

Only one other verse is underlined in Wilf’s much-used New Testament. And it was a verse that he clung to: Ephesians 6.10-17 – putting on the armour of God.

The day before Wilf set off for France in 1914, he wrote to his future wife Gladys to say ‘goodbye’ and that he hoped ‘to be home by Christmas’. It was four more Christmases before Wilf was safely home and he carried his New Testament with him every day of those four years separated from the people he loved.

This is a wonderful example of what Jesus meant when he spoke about the importance of being ready in the Parable of the Young Women (Matthew 25. 1 - 13). What Jesus was doing through this story was to try to get his disciples ready for a coming crisis (an attack on Jerusalem which would destroy its temple in AD70) so that they would respond appropriately. In this story, the coming crisis equates to the unexpectedly late arrival of the bridegroom and only half of those waiting for that event are ready when the moment finally arrives. Half of the women thought ahead, realised that they may well have to wait some time and brought with them sufficient supplies of oil so that when they bridegroom did finally arrive, much later than planned, they had all they needed to be ready for his arrival, unlike the other five who had to go to buy more oil and then were too late for the wedding feast. Jesus wanted his disciples to be like the wise women; he was emphasising to them the vital importance of being ready and prepared for what was to come.

How prepared are we, I wonder, for the crises that we face in our day and time and are we ready to use them as opportunities to share and show the good news of Jesus? That is ultimately, the challenge of this story for us. We can, in a sense, lay this story like a template across the crises that we remember and face and use it to assess whether we are more like the wise or foolish women in our response. As in the story, the question is, how will we respond to the crises we face? Will our response be wise or foolish? Will we be prepared or unprepared for the crises that are to come? For us, as Christians, the question of how we respond is also a question of how prepared we are to share the good news of Jesus in the face of the crises that we face now and those still to come. What have we to say as Christians about conflicts and crises that face us within our world? Jesus’ call is clear we are to be ready to face the crisis and prepared to share his good news. As we look back today to honour those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus’ question needs to echo and re-echo in our lives and world; are we ready?

How does this work out in practice? Let’s close by hearing the thoughts of two war poets. Although he grew up in the village of Good Easter, near Chelmsford, Cyril Mead was conscripted into an Irish regiment, the Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers. He fought in France, Macedonia, Palestine and Egypt. Before the war, his son-in-law, Anthony Hasler, recalls a man whose ‘faith meant a lot to him’. ‘His faith was everything to him,’ says Anthony (82). ‘He was active in the village church and was the organist and also the secretary there. His faith sustained him through the war without any doubt at all.’ Cyril wrote poems that he sent to his sister, Sissy. Many express his faith. In one about the Bible, written while he was in Satliki, Greece, Cyril claims the Bible has ‘pearls of precious worth’:

‘Oh may I read with open eyes
And with sincere desire
That God may bless me and bestow on me His Spirit’s fire’.

For Cyril, reading and applying the Bible led him to the place where, in a poem called A Trusting Soldier’s Prayer, he could write:

‘When death sweeps o’er the battle field
I pray thou wilt thy servant shield’
Or if sore wounded I should fall
Thy grace will strength me through all
Oh Lord to thy servant give grace
That bravely he may danger face

But if to me the call should come
I’ll have a hearty welcome home
Where war and turmoil all are past.

This poem tells us that he was ready; ready for war, ready for Jesus, and ready for his own death, were that to come.

Siegfried Sassoon was another, more famous, war poet. He joined the Sussex Yeomanry on the day that war broke out but a severely broken arm from a riding accident kept him out of action until 1915. Then he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. His extraordinary courage, particularly on night raids, gained him the nickname ‘Mad Jack’ from his colleagues, and won him the Military Cross. He survived the war, dying at the age of 80.

Sassoon began by writing war poetry reminiscent of Rupert Brooke; he mingled with such war poets as Robert Graves and Edmund Blunden; he spoke out publicly against the war (and yet returned to it); he influenced and mentored the then unknown Wilfred Owen; he spent thirty years reflecting on the war through his memoirs; and at last he found peace in his religious faith.

He, too, was ready as we can sense in his poem entitled ‘Absolution’:

The anguish of the earth absolves our eyes
Till beauty shines in all that we can see.
War is our scourge; yet war has made us wise,
And, fighting for our freedom, we are free.

Horror of wounds and anger at the foe,
And loss of things desired; all these must pass.
We are the happy legion, for we know
Time’s but a golden wind that shakes the grass.

There was an hour when we were loth to part
From life we longed to share no less than others.
Now, having claimed this heritage of heart,
What need we more, my comrades and my brothers?

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Siegfried Sassoon - Aftermath.

An introduction to Transition Town Redbridge

Here is information from Transition Town Redbridge about their introductory event this Saturday:

'"Transition" is one manifestation of the idea that local action can change the world. The aim of Transition is to help you be the catalyst in your community to make where you live more resilient, healthier and bursting with strong local livelihoods, while also reducing its ecological footprint. It’s something that can only happen from the ground up, driven by ordinary people.

Transition Town Redbridge was formulated in 2013 and is hosting its first ‘mini-conference’. An Introduction to Transition Town Redbridge will be talks, discussion and other tasters of how to get involved in our Transition Town.

Time: 2pm – 3.30pm
Date: 25th October 2014
at the ‘Enterprise Exchange’, Top Floor, (3rd floor), The Exchange, Ilford.

Draft Programme
2.00pm Food in Transition
2.30pm The Brixton Pound / Alternative Economies
3.00pm Saving Energy / Cutting Bills
3.10pm The Sharing Economy
3.15pm Seven Kings Time Bank

Please drop in and find out more about Transition Town Redbridge due to have its official launch early in the new year.'

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Deacon Blue - The Living.

Greenbelt Festival: Saturday

Yesterday I enjoyed a day at Greenbelt seeing the Festival in its new setting at Boughton House. The new venue comes with different opportunities for layout, programming and artworks.

The Allotment Gallery is Greenbelt’s garden shed and is playing host to around 20 artists throughout the weekend, each exhibiting their work in their own two-hour slot. Six artists have also created temporary sculptural, performance and installation works for the grounds of Boughton House. I also briefly heard Beth Rowley, Martyn Joseph, Hope & Social, Levi Hummon, Dizraeli and the Small Gods, and The Travelling Band. 

The highlights for me (in addition to the friends I met up with) were the seminars I attended. I caught the end of Nadia Bolz-Weber's talk, heard Linda Woodhead talk on 'The Crisis of Religion in the UK,' Brian McLaren on 'What will Religion become?' and a panel session on 'Can we reimagine marriage?' (see post here).

Linda Woodhead said that crises are tipping points requiring decisions. A crisis in a fever is the moment at which the fever breaks. 

Society and Christianity have generally been on different tracks in recent years. Historic forms of Christianity are generally in decline and opposition to the growing liberalism of society is part of the reason for this decline. New forms of religion are increasing. The current social context is the second demographic transition, where the birth rate falls below the mortality rate. The first demographic transition was focused around the nuclear family but in the second, population declines, the marriage rate drops and there is a rise in divorce and cohabitation, meaning that the nuclear family unit is no longer the norm. there is a growth of affluence and education combined with the impact of greater equality for women. These are unprecedented historical changes. 

These changes go hand in hand with a growth in liberalism - defined as personal freedom - which is the opposite of authoritarianism and paternalism. Each generation is becoming more liberal. However, religious groups contain a higher proportion of the 'moral majority'. The leadership of churches is generally more conservative than there members meaning that a values gap exists between leaders and members. Overall belief in God is declining but not at the extent that participation in organised religion is declining. There is an active spirituality which is not expressed within the established churches.  Research in Kendal found 126 kinds of alternative spirituality; largely hidden and led by women. 

There seems to be no correlation between church tradition and growth or decline. Mini or maxi does best when it comes to Church. Midi (congregations of 50 - 120) is in trouble. Occasional events such as festivals also do well. The established churches do have adavantages which could be used more effectively; these include occasional offices, chaplaincy, schools, cathedral services, heritage. Of Fresh Expressions, Messy Church seems most effective. Churches need to give people voice, choice and participation. Choice requires branding. Variety is essential because of the diversity within society. religion needs to be presented as a whole-life resource.

Alternative ways of funding religion can be identified. People will pay for alternative spiritualities. A membership model, like that of the National Trust, could be used. In countries where a Church Tax exists, people who don't attend contribute because they want the Church to provide a resource in society. Where a congregational model of funding is used, the Church becomes controlled by conservatism.

Brian MacLaren also spoke about the challenges of our current context, in particular the challenges that all religions face regarding the planet, poverty and peace. He argued that the Faiths will need to collaborate to address these challenges. We need people prepared to do in our own age what the founders of our faiths did in their own age, rather than simply repeating what they said. The key question in a pluralistic world is what benefits do religions bring to non-members. Religions say different things in response to different problems; they are all answering different questions. We need to bring the treasures from our faith and shares these with people of other faiths, as they do the same with us. We need to rub up against those who are different from us in order to experience disruption and to be converted all over again.

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Hope & Social - The Big Wide.      

There is a need for models of sacrifice in society

Madeleine Bunting highlights the ideas of theologian Sarah Coakley in today's Guardian. Coakley argues that sacrifice needs to be restored as a central biological, ethical and theological principle. Far from sacrifice being an outmoded ritual, it is central to human experience:

'She cites recent evolutionary theory that puts sacrificial co-operation on a par with mutation and selection as a fundamental "principle" of evolution. "Individual evolutionary loss can be group evolutionary gain," she says.

Rather than imagining our genes as selfish, struggling in a race for the survival of the fittest, we can see evolution as requiring ceaseless sacrifices, small and large, to ensure the survival of the group ...

What makes Coakley's ideas so challenging is that, as she suggested in her 2012 Gifford lectures, "there is a need for models of sacrifice in a society" – that the existence of people dedicated to an "altruism beyond calculation" plays a critical role in challenging, inspiring and provoking the social order around them ...

We are living in an age of sacrifice on a near apocalyptic scale: a great extinction is under way with hundreds of species being eliminated as their habitats are destroyed. Looking at another dimension of this age of sacrifice, we have developed a global economy in which people's wellbeing and communities are routinely sacrificed for the sake of economic growth and efficiency – strange gods built on fantasies that allege rationality.

This is the ugly sacrifice that consumer capitalism attempts to conceal with its glamorous illusions and ideology of desire and entitlement, of self-fulfilment and self-expression. Capitalism offers speed, convenience and choice, but behind all of these lies sacrifice, from the poor working conditions of an exhausted workforce to the water-stressed cotton fields.

The urgency of us grasping the importance of sacrifice in human experience must surely be a vital part of any sustainable future.

Any proposal to slow down or reverse our destructive impact on the natural environment leads to talk of sacrifice on the part of consumers in western developed economies. Only when we understand how sacrifice can be a force for good have we any hope of restraining our destructive capabilities.'

Among other excellent Easter-themed coverage is John Dugdale's listing of 10 key Easter scenes to be found in writers ranging from Shakespeare to Yeats and Goethe to Tolstoy.

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Linda Perhacs - The Soul Of All Natural Things.

Finding a Myth for the 21st Century

Alex Evans' presentation to Modern Church Annual Conference 2013 is well worth a read.

 

In it he tells the story of how he went from "working as a policy wonk, a special adviser in Tony Blair’s government", to "the belief that a 3,000 year old set of myths about covenant, atonement and renewal are actually profoundly relevant to our current moment of crisis and transition – and might even have the potential to succeed where our politics seem to be failing so miserably."

 

He draws on the work of Margaret Barker, in particular, to argue that the eternal covenant’s myths should be read symbolically to "offer remarkably clear explanations of social and ecological breakdown as the result of breaches in the creation covenant, and of atonement as the route towards restoration, in both the social and the environmental sense."

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U2 and Daniel Lanois - Falling At Your Feet. 

Still you make what purchases you please

Lent begins a series of progressions or stages starting with the temptation of Jesus and tracing Jesus’ road to the cross and beyond, step by step, through Lent, Holy Week and Easter.

As Lent begins we are invited to join Jesus for forty days in the wilderness. Our victory in the temptation comes through confession and the Word. We are also invited to look across the wilderness to the promised land of Easter. We progress with movement to the cross. Jesus laments over Jerusalem displaying the heart of God. We are invited to put our trust in him and take our victory in Jesus but we also sense something of the hope, apprehension and desolation which Jesus’ friends felt in Lent and Holy Week, before being ambushed by the wholly unexpected, deep joy of Easter. In short, Lent prepares us to experience Easter.

The beginning of Lent is itself marked by Ash Wednesday which is always six-and-a-half weeks before Easter. Palms kept from last year’s Palm Sunday are burnt and the ashes mixed with holy water to make the greyish paste used to make the sign of the cross on the foreheads of those attending services on Ash Wednesday.

Ashes are a symbol of being sorry for things we have done wrong and want to get rid of forever. The ashing is also a reminder to that we all come from ashes, and to ashes we all will return. The marking on our forehead with ash marks our renewed commitment to Christ. We want to show we are sorry for the wrong things done in the past year.

None of this is intended to be simply personal or simply about the past. For instance, Operation Noah have made an Ash Wednesday Declaration supported by the leaders of many churches calling for repentance over the prevailing ‘shrug-culture’ towards climate change.

‘Traditionally, Christians commit themselves to repentance and renewed faith in Jesus Christ on Ash Wednesday,’ said David Atkinson, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark. ‘We must live out that faith in relation to our damaging consumer economy, over-dependence on fossil fuels and the devastation we, as a species, are inflicting on God’s world. We believe that responsible care for God’s creation is foundational to the Gospel and central to the church’s mission.’

Some of those themes are visited in this sonnet which was inspired as Malcolm Guite set about the traditional task of burning the remnants of last Palm Sunday’s palm crosses: ‘I was suddenly struck by the way both the fire and the ash were signs not only of our personal mortality and our need for repentance and renewal but also signs of the wider destruction our sinfulness inflicts upon God’s world and on our fellow creatures, on the whole web of life into which God has woven us and for which He also cares.’

Receive this cross of ash upon your brow,
Brought from the burning of Palm Sunday’s cross.
The forests of the world are burning now
And you make late repentance for the loss.
But all the trees of God would clap their hands
The very stones themselves would shout and sing
If you could covenant to love these lands
And recognise in Christ their Lord and king.

He sees the slow destruction of those trees,
He weeps to see the ancient places burn,
And still you make what purchases you please,
And still to dust and ashes you return.
But Hope could rise from ashes even now
Beginning with this sign upon your brow.

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Bruce Cockburn - If A Tree Falls In The Forest.