God with us like never before

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

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side … then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters” (Psalm 124). This is the Gospel in a nutshell.

To illustrate that statement, I want to share a story of one church in the pandemic. During the pandemic, I was at St Martin-in-the-Fields where, lockdown stopped our commercial activities overnight deleting two-thirds of the congregation’s income meaning that we had to shed three-quarters of our commercial and ministry staff. It was a devastating, depleting and distressing experience. Yet online, the congregation, its public ministry, and its music have found a reach, purpose, and dynamism like never before. All was made new. The musicians recorded music, weekly, for 4,000 churches across the land. HeartEdge seminars became a hub for innovation and evaluation. The Being With course drew participation from people far and wide, a good many of whom had been unable to attend services in a building before lockdown. Our national homeless charity had never been more in demand, or attracted more support, and worked fervidly to help people find secure accommodation.

Beautiful things happened – too many to recount - but it was also a complete nightmare, in which plans made and an institution crafted over generations were torn apart in ways a raging inferno couldn’t have achieved. And yet, like a ram in a thicket, something was always provided, or emerged, or suddenly changed. We were guided through the storm of these intense, distressing, but far from godless months, by some initial words from our Vicar, Sam Wells, who said:

“We come to church each Sunday, we pray and read our Bibles through the week, to prepare ourselves. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, travelled around Galilee to prepare himself for Jerusalem. In Jerusalem people discovered who he truly was, and what his words and actions really entailed. We’ve spent decades, many of us, preparing we knew not what for. Well, now we know. This is the moment when the world finds out whether being a Christian makes any difference or not.

In Britain, we say pray for a sunny day, but take an umbrella. I’m not saying in the face of the virus we don’t take sensible steps. We must follow public health advice. We do so not because others are a danger to us, but because we might, directly or indirectly, be a danger to them. We’re a community defined not by fear but by trust, not by scarcity but by plenty, not by anxiety but by communion. It’s time to show our true colours.

This is the moment to find ways to overcome isolation that don’t involve touch. We have this opportunity to explore the hinterland of the word with, that doesn’t always involve physical presence, but still means solidarity and kindness, generosity and love. We will limit our contact to protect the most vulnerable, but we still need to proclaim that there’s something more infectious than coronavirus – and that’s joy and peace, faithfulness and gentleness.

It was in its most bewildered hour that Israel in exile found who God truly was. This is our chance to discover what God being with us really means. None of us would for a moment have wished this crisis on anybody, let alone the whole world. But our faith teaches us that we only get to see resurrection through crucifixion; that we see God most clearly in our darkest hour.

Remember what Isaiah tells us. You shall cross the barren desert; but you shall not die of thirst. You shall wander far in safety – though you do not know the way. If you pass through raging waters in the sea, you shall not drown. If you walk amid the burning flames, you shall not be harmed. If you stand before the power of hell and death is at your side, know that I am with you through it all. Be not afraid, says our God. I am with you like never before.

This is our faith.”

In a sermon from that same time, Sam also said: “God doesn’t spare us from the fire. God doesn’t rescue us from the fire … God is with us in the fire. ‘Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me.’ ‘When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.’ That’s the gospel …

Jesus isn’t spared the cross. Jesus isn’t rescued from the cross. Jesus is with God on the cross. The bonds of the Trinity are stretched to the limit; but not ultimately, broken. When we see the cross we see that God is with us, however, whatever, wherever … forever. This is our faith.”

As a result, we can say with the Psalmist: “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side … then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters.” May we know that truth in whatever difficulty we face currently. Amen.

(Adapted from 'Finding Abundance in Scarcity')

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St Martin's Voices - All And More.

Prestige or servanthood?

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Andrew's Wickford on Wednesday:

In our Gospel reading (Matthew 20. 17 – 28), James, John and their mother were all thinking of what they could get out of the movement that Jesus began. What they wanted was prestige and power by being elevated over all the other disciples to what they thought of as the position of influence at the right hand of Christ. Jesus turned their thinking about what is important and about prestige and power on its head. In the kingdom of God, service; thinking of and care for others is what counts, not personal advancement, position or power. What can I do for you, not what can I do for me!

Significant moments in our lives - such as involvement in the movement for renewal initiated by Jesus - bring our underlying attitudes and understandings into focus and, if we pay attention, can challenge us to change our way of thinking and acting. The recent challenge of the coronavirus epidemic was one such moment. In the pandemic the Bishop of St Albans offered 4 Golden Rules to add to what he felt was missing from the official advice coming from the Government.

Golden Rule One. Each one of us can think about how we can protect and support our neighbours. So much of the public rhetoric was sowing fear about the danger of other people. So, he said, take all the official precautions, offer help and reassurance to others – and don’t demonise anyone or any group.

Golden Rule Two: Think about who may be suffering more than me. For those of us who are healthy there is much less to worry about but the elderly, the housebound and those with chronic health conditions may be very anxious.

Golden Rule Three. Don’t give into panic and start hoarding food. There is plenty to go around, so practise the Christian discipline of sharing. Ask your neighbours what they need and do your best to help them get it.

Golden Rule Four. Live today to the full. None of us ever know what the future holds. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6. 25 – 34), Jesus challenged his followers to live each day fully and not be afraid. Every time we are tempted to give in to fear we need to make a conscious choice to respond in trust and openness.

Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, in his statement on the coronavirus outbreak reminded us that: ‘Jesus came among us in the first place, to show us … how to live not simply as collections of individual self-interest, but how to live as the human family of God. That’s why he said love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself. Because in that is hope for all of us to be the human family of God.’ He then quoted several official statements, including the head of the World Health Organization saying, ‘This epidemic can be pushed back, but only with collective, coordinated, and comprehensive approach by us all,’ in order to make the point that ‘In each of those calls, and in the calls of many of our leaders, we have heard again and again, that we are in this together, we can walk through this together, and we will find our way in our life together.’

‘So look out for your neighbors, look out for each other. Look out for yourselves. Listen to those who have knowledge that can help to guide us medically and help to guide us socially. Do everything that we can to do this together, to respond to each other’s needs and to respond to our own needs.’

The pandemic brought the issue of whether we are living life for our own benefit and preferment or that of others into very sharp focus. Our Gospel reading, though, challenges us as to where we are in relation to these issues all the time, regardless of whether we are experiencing something as significant as the pandemic or not. Are we, like James and John, thinking of our reward or prestige and seeking to be privileged over others? Have we, like James and John, brought the values of the world into the kingdom of God and are we trying to follow Jesus for some form of personal gain?

The season of Lent is an opportunity for self-reflection on these issues and provides us with the possibility of aligning our thinking, values and deeds with those of Jesus as we become the servants of others; in order that we serve instead of being served and give our lives for the sake of others.

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U2 - Pride (In The Name Of Love).

Living God's Future Now: Kingdom Conversations

Living God's Future Now: Kingdom Conversations by Samuel Wells (Canterbury Press, £17.99; 978-1-78622-415-6).

"Arguably the most imaginative and energetic church response to the pandemic has been that of HeartEdge, the interdenominational church renewal movement founded at St Martin in the Fields by Samuel Wells but now extending beyond the UK to Europe, North America and Australia.

From serving thousands of meals on London's streets to becoming, in all but name, an online conference centre and theological college offering hundreds of events, one outstanding feature of its programme has been Samuel Wells' monthly conversations about the future of the Church with leading figures from Britain and America, attended by large online audiences.

This volume offers a distillation of those conversations which, instead of being preoccupied with decline, focus on what Christian presence and practice might look like in the world that is being reshaped by what the pandemic has revealed, and the theology that is needed to sustain such a vision."

HeartEdge is an international and ecumenical movement for renewal of the broad church. It aims to catalyze kingdom communities that use the 4 Cs of compassion, culture, commerce and congregation to connect with the ways in which God is already at work in the wider world and get involved.

The story of how HeartEdge grew through the pandemic (including the monthly Living God's Future Now conversations with Sam Wells and guests) is told in a chapter of  Finding Abundance in Scarcity: Steps towards church transformation. At the Launch of Finding Abundance I said the following about that time:

"Our activity during the pandemic has helped us grow to having over 1,300 partners across the UK and in other countries including The Netherlands, the US, Southern Africa, and Australia. We’ve become more ecumenically diverse and we begun developing a network of hub churches to be a more local embodiment of HeartEdge, with hubs currently in Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, and Southend.

Through the pandemic we lost our ability to connect with people in their buildings and local communities but we gained an online programme of workshops and seminars that explore the 4 Cs in the context of current challenges. Our events introducing HeartEdge and the 4 Cs and our consultancy days with individual churches and parishes exploring mission had to stop or change but, in their place, came more frequent gatherings to reflect on experience and theology and provide support in the pandemic. We have also shared resources like Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story which uses art from the National Gallery to explore bible stories and, once launched, will do the same the new Being With course. Fundamentally, we are a network which connects churches for the sharing of ideas, resources and approaches. That hasn’t changed because of the pandemic but connections with HeartEdge have become broader and deeper in that time.

Here’s what some of those who have taken part have said:

‘You made it feel really safe space to be real and authentic with whatever we were facing … I didn’t feel any embarrassment. Or shame in kind of turning up, feeling in a complete and utter mess. I don’t feel any pressure to be shiny, or to try and portray a shiny story. Which is different from many church gatherings.’

‘What I really needed was a reflection on our role as a church, especially now. I desperately needed it and that’s what the group was giving me.’

‘Being part of this network is fantastic - to be linked to others wrestling with the same issues of our day is liberating and humbling and it helps me as I don't feel as alone.’

So, our experience in lockdown has been that the connections and networks which a movement like HeartEdge can provide have never been more needed. We have also found that connecting virtually though our ongoing programming and our support or practitioner groups offers the inspiration, ideas, networks and sounding boards that people need in such challenging times."

The theology of HeartEdge has been set out by Sam Wells in A Future That's Bigger Than The Past: Towards the renewal of the Church.

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Don McLean - Genesis (In The Beginning).

Everyone in

Here's the sermon that I preached in this morning's Eucharist at St Mary's Runwell:

When the Covid-19 pandemic began, the government set up an initiative called Everyone In. This aimed to provide a hotel room plus support to everyone sleeping rough on the streets. This new national homelessness strategy proved extremely effective and resulted in a large number of formerly homeless people moving into longer-term accommodation and therefore leaving the streets.

The policy demonstrated that with the right levels of funding and support, homelessness can be almost eradicated. The government's motivation for this approach was not so much concern for homeless people, as concern that Covid-19 would circulate more rapidly and aggressively if homeless people remained on the streets.

Without that imperative driving government policy, approaches to tackling homelessness have now returned to what they were pre-pandemic and the numbers living rough on our streets have risen significantly once again, and will rise further due to the cost of living crisis.

In our Gospel reading today (Luke 14.1, 7-14), Jesus talks about the limitations of charitable activity that is based on calculations of benefit for ourselves but also uses self-interest as a motivation to move towards a greater degree of selflessness.

Jesus lived a life of self-sacrifice without benefit for himself in order to bring love to others. Through the incarnation he gave up equality with God the Father to become the servant of humanity, as the teacher of his disciples he gave them an example of service by washing their feet, and, on the cross, he laid down his own life for the sake of all.

His ultimate challenge to us is to live life for the benefit of others or, as he explains here, to invite and welcome all those unable to repay us for our hospitality precisely because they cannot repay. True love is only true when we gain no personal benefit from it. When we benefit from our relationships with others, even with God, it means that we are not loving simply for the sake of the other but for a range of other reasons.

Jesus recognises, however, the challenge that this poses to people like us - each and every human being – as those for whom self-interest and survival are hard-wired into our being. Therefore, he teaches us by means of the Parable of the Dishonest Steward, a story of a shrewd manager who learns the benefits of relationships through self-interest after losing his job or challenges us to go further towards self-sacrifice by saying in the Parable of the Persistent Widow that, if hard-hearted people, like the Judge in that story, can do kind things for selfish reasons, should we not go further.

On this occasion, he challenges those who are self-interestedly taking the places of honour at a meal by using the logic of their self-interest to argue for greater humility on their part. He says it's actually of greater benefit to you to take the lower place initially and be called up, than to take the higher place and be demoted. He makes this argument, however, to try to start them on a journey towards greater humility and awareness of others, not to simply maintain them in a mindset of self-interest.

So, where, I wonder, are we on this journey towards selflessness? Are we at the beginning, like the guests at the meal, competing for the places of honour but open to the idea that there may be a different way to achieve their goals? Or are we further down the road of selflessness finding ways to be with others that don't involve personal benefit for ourselves? The important thing is to begin and to recognise that it's a lifelong journey.

Like any journey, though, it is one with a destination. The destination towards which we are heading is heaven, a place where we enjoy God, others, and ourselves for who and what we are, rather than for the benefit we can receive from others.

In heaven there is nothing to fix and nothing we need – no more death, mourning, crying or pain - instead there is just the experience of being with others and growing in appreciation for who they are as themselves. That is the reality Jesus is looking towards here with his talk of relationships that don't involve repayments for us. Once we go beyond relationships from which we get personal benefit and move into relationships which are simply about enjoying others for who they are, then we are approaching heaven.

With that mindset, the name of the government's pandemic homelessness strategy takes on additional significance. Everyone in. That's what Jesus is talking about when he says we should invite to our meals those who are normally excluded and cannot repay us. Everyone in. That's what our churches should be like, because they should be providing a taste of heaven. Everyone in.

But note that what Jesus commends here is also just a stage on the journey. Inviting those who cannot repay because they cannot repay is a way of creating in us a mindset of seeing God in others by appreciating others for who they are, rather than what they can do for us. When we have that mindset, then we are in heaven by being with others and enjoying them for who they are. That is when inclusion becomes reality, with others and ourselves accepted and appreciated and understood and loved as we are. Everyone in. A real taste of heaven. That's the destination towards which Jesus wants us to travel. Have we begun?

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Ho Wai-On - You Are Not Alone.

Realising the sovereignity of God

Here's the sermon I prepared for St Catherine’s Wickford this morning:

I wonder how you feel at this stage in the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of us have been unwell. Many of us know people who have died. Many of us, understandably, feel anxious about the extent to which Covid continues to circulate. Many of us have concerns about the impact the pandemic has had on the Church, the extent to which people have come back since we were able to reopen and the underlying financial challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Our feelings in this situation are not so dissimilar to those experienced by Elijah in our Old Testament reading (1 Kings 19:1-15). Elijah was depressed, disheartened, isolated and on the run. He felt as though the whole world had turned against him and that he was left bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders alone.

He had gone from a great triumph in which he alone had stood up for God against King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, and all their priests. He had called down fire from God on the altar he had erected on Mount Carmel. The priests of Baal had been unable to do the same, but by undermining them, he had incurred the wrath of Queen Jezebel, in particular, who had put a price on his head and sent death squads to seek him out and kill him. He had fled, taking nothing with him and needing God to provide for his basic needs.

In today's reading, he reaches Mount Horeb expecting God to reveal himself in fire and thunder and lightning, as had been the case when God gave Moses the 10 commandments. Elijah knew the story of the 10 Commandments and had experienced fire from heaven on Mount Carmel. That was the way God acts. When God wasn’t visible through fire and brimstone, he wasn’t there. That, in essence, was the problem Elijah had been experiencing, God had not smitten his pursuers, therefore God must have abandoned him.

But God was about to open up a new paradigm for Elijah and reveal a new dimension to relationship with him, as well as a new way of revealing himself within Israel. The question was not, where was God, but was Elijah up for receiving from God in new ways that were outside his current frame of reference.

To help Elijah, God took him through a process of new understanding. First, he experiences all the old phenomena – wind, earthquake, fire – that he associates with God’s presence or revelation. Yet God’s voice is not heard in any of these ways. Once again, as Elijah experienced these phenomena without hearing from God, he must have been thinking that he had been abandoned and was on his own. Then, the dramatic signs stop, there is quiet, sheer silence, complete absence of speech or gesture, and yet this becomes the moment of revelation, the moment in which Elijah hears God speak in a new way; in a whisper, in gentleness, in presence, within and with Elijah; not through external phenomena but instead an internal conversation – Spirit speaking to spirit.

Not only is the means of transmission new but what God says is new, too. Elijah had come to believe that it was all about him; that he could stand in the breach between God and a world gone wrong and by calling down fire from heaven reveal God in his actions. His sense was that he, and no one else, could do this and that, anyway, he was on his own in standing up for God.

Not so, says God, in reality there are thousands of others quietly making their own stand for God where they are and there is Elisha, ready and waiting to take on Elijah’s mantle and lead the ongoing resistance, which ultimately does not depend on Elijah, or any other human being, because it is all about God and God’s purposes being fulfilled in God’s ways. Elijah has to learn that it is not all about him but instead about God, that God’s purposes are fulfilled in God’s ways, that God always has new ways of acting in human history and speaking into human lives, and that God’s people are more diverse than he, or we, are usually prepared to acknowledge or recognise.

God wants to speak into our worries and fears at this time in similar ways. Just as Elijah needed to realise that God’s purposes in his day and time were not solely reliant on him, it is also fatal for us to think God’s purposes for Wickford and Runwell rely solely on us. Equally, it is fatal to think that God’s purposes for Wickford and Runwell rely on the existing churches in the Town, or even the Church of England churches. Were they no longer to be there, God’s purposes for this place would still be able to be fulfilled.

The most fundamental element to relationship with God and to God’s mission is God. It is God who first reached out to us, it is God who equips and leads, it is God who will bring the kingdom of heaven. Each of us has a part to play, a contribution to make, is loved individually and absolutely, while being equipped for the roles we are called to play. But does it all depend on us? Well, the answer to that question is, ‘No’. This understanding is vitally important because it means we can relax – not in the sense of doing nothing, but in the sense of acting from a place of confidence rather than anxiety. It better to fail in an enterprise that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in an enterprise that will ultimately fail. That is our situation and when we understand it and take it to heart, we will act with confidence in God, rather than from our own anxiety.

Just as Elijah needed to hear God speak in a new way, so we need to realise that God is always doing a new thing because the Gospel always needs to be presented afresh in a new generation. Our job is to look for and discern the new thing that God is doing in our time and our community. That means asking who are the people of peace where we are? Where are those who are creatively reaching out across divides and dismantling barriers in order to bring divided people together? Who are they that stand with those on the margins, who are they that are with the dispossessed, who is it that hears the voice of the voiceless?

It is as we ask ourselves these questions and look for such people, that we will see the new thing God is doing in our area and can get involved. Now is always the right time to look for the new thing that God is doing because God is always doing a new thing.

Asking those questions and looking for those people will also lead us to new partnerships because God’s people are always more varied and diverse that we tend to perceive. Just as Elijah needed to understand that the deaths of the other prophets did not mean that God had no followers left, so we need to look outside our congregations and those of other churches to find those in the wider community who are God’s people, just not aligned with a particular church.

The pandemic has changed us and the Church. The changes that have occurred are not all negative and not all reversible. Change is inevitable – despite the Church sometimes appearing to be the one place where change does not occur – because God is always doing a new thing. The pandemic necessitated changes that we are only just understanding and to which we are only just getting used. As just one example, livestreaming services has meant that people who are housebound have been able to join churches again in ways that they couldn’t previously. It has also meant that people who are not used to church and are reluctant to cross the physical threshold of a building because they don’t know what they will encounter can now check out church from the comfort of their homes before deciding whether to come in person. These are good reasons for continuing to livestream services, even when those who can come to the building no longer need that themselves.

Just as our experience and understanding of God can never define God because God is always deeper and fuller, broader and wider, than we can ever experience or understand, so it is also true that our experience of church can never define God for exactly the same reasons. We constrain God and bring God down to our size when, like Elijah, we come to view our understandings, practices, approaches as definitive. Not only so, but, like Elijah, we become anxious, depressed and defensive, so we think we have to defend what we believe has always been.

Instead, there is freedom and release in coming to the place that Elijah eventually reaches of understanding that God is sovereign, is endlessly creative, is entirely trustworthy, indeed, knows exactly what he or she is doing, and will, in his or her time, bring the kingdom in full on earth as in heaven when all will be well and all manner of thing be well.

So, like Elijah, let us let go of our tendencies to seek to control, and instead let go and let God. It is from just such a change of heart and mind that our revival and renewal will come. Amen.

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Gungor - Dry Bones.

humbler church Bigger God w/c Sunday 20th March 2022

 

Welcome to our exciting HeartEdge programme for 2022. We hope you will be able to join us, whether at online events or at our in-person events around the world. You can find all our events on our website — and if you're a HeartEdge partner, you can upload your own events through the members' area.

Last year, we launched Living God's Future Now, an online festival of theology and practice. We hosted workshops, webinars, spaces to gather and share ideas, lecture series, and more. This year, we're continuing our programming with a new theme — humbler church, Bigger God.

HeartEdge is fundamentally about a recognition of the activity of the Holy Spirit beyond and outside the church, and about a church that flourishes when it seeks to catch up with what the Spirit is already doing in the world. There was a time when church meant a group that believed it could control access to God – access that only happened in its language on its terms. But God is bigger than that, and the church needs to be humbler than that. Kingdom churches anticipate the way things are with God forever – a culture of creativity, mercy, discovery and grace – and are grateful for the ways God renews the church through those it has despised, rejected, or ignored.

We hope this reflects the lessons we've learnt from the past year: still trying to live God's future now, re-imagining our faith and our calling as a Church in a changing world. Thank you for joining us for the journey — we can't wait to see what this year brings.

Music and Liturgy for Easter: Sat, 19 March, 11:00 – 12:00 GMT. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/music-and-liturgy-for-easter-tickets-275772501977. Andy Salmon (North West Co-ordinator of HeartEdge and Rector of Sacred Trinity Church) will give tips about creative liturgical resources for Easter whilst Andrew Earis (Director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields) and the Manchester HeartEdge Choral Scholars will share musical resources to help freshen up your Easter experience. We will be broadcasting on St Martin's digital platform but people are also welcome to come in person.

Theology Group - Sunday, 20 March, 19:00 – 20:00 BST, zoom - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/theology-group-tickets-248745844517. The St Martin-in-the-Fields and HeartEdge Theology Group provides a monthly opportunity to reflect theologically on issues of today and questions of forever with Sam Wells. Each month Sam responds to questions from a member of the congregation of St Martin-in-the-Fields who also chairs the session and encourages your comments and questions. In March the chair will be Jonathan Evens, who will be exploring with Sam the extent to which we can be co-creators with God.

Sermon Preparation with Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells - 16:30 (GMT) Tuesday 22nd March, livestreamed here. Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner discuss Sunday's readings and offer practical tips on preaching.

Community of Practitioners workshop - 16:00 (GMT) Wednesday 23rd March, Zoom meeting. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org to register. 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. Book to be read is ‘Improvisation’ by Sam Wells. 'Wonderings' help us to reflect and pray on what has stood out for each of us in the last week. Newcomers are very welcome. This week we reflect on recent experiences using ‘Wonderings'.

How to Thrive Post-Covid: New Frameworks of Discovery - Thursday 24 March, 19:00 – 20:00, Zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-thrive-post-covid-new-frameworks-of-discovery-tickets-260228770257. The three steps of design thinking are discovery, ideas, and trying. The process can also be used on existing ideas to see if they’re still working. This workshop will focus on several frameworks that can be useful in discerning what to keep and what to let go of post-Covid. Rather than simply relying on a “gut feeling,” we can use clear frameworks to penetrate the surface of an issue to identify what really matters at its core. This course is taught by the Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, the founding director of the TryTank Experimental Lab, a joint venture for innovation in the church from Virginia Theological Seminary and General Theological Seminary. He is also the author of the “How to Try” book which came out July 20, 2021 from Church Publishing.

TryTank meet and greet - Thursday 24 March, 20:00 – 21:00, Zoom. Register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trytank-meet-and-greet-tickets-262572029007. TryTank is the experimental lab for church innovation. Our work is to look ahead 10 years to where the church might be headed and use that foresight to inform our actions today. If you want to learn more about our work and perhaps partner on an experiment, join a conversation with the Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija, the director of TryTank.

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Curtis Mayfield - We Gotta Have Peace.

Verses versus Viruses

VERSES VERSUS VIRUSES is a collection of 28 ‘crafted prophetic’ poems written by Timothy Harrold during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

They chart a personal voyage through that spring and a response to the shifting spiritual atmosphere over that period. As an itinerant preacher with a semiotic eye, Tim had already anticipated the sense of what was about to happen and, as the pandemic took hold, how what was meant for evil, God was using for good.

What emerged are images of profound challenge and change, of pause and process, of chrysalis and catalyst. Tim interprets the signs of the times through pictures and portraits of a world being shaken and shifted, and the church being reimagined and realigned, recalibrated and reset, revived and refreshed.

VERSES VERSUS VIRUSES can be used as a four-week series for daily meditation. Each poem is accompanied by a pen and ink illustration by Tim.

LOOK INSIDE BEFORE YOU BUY

Read my Church Times review of Tim Harrold's 2016 exhibition at the Wellhouse Gallery here.

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The Grays Lives Project: Tim Harrold.

Artlyst: George Condo Lockdown Works Hauser & Wirth

My latest review for Artlyst is of 'George Condo: Ideals of the Unfound Truth' at Hauser & Wirth:

'There is an explosion of paint at Hauser & Wirth in the latest exhibition by George Condo. The energies of emergence and encounter surge within his paintings, creating events overflowing in chaotic emotional turmoil.

Condo’s mid-career retrospective was titled ‘Mental States’ as his drawings and paintings depict states of mind reflecting the range of emotions that simultaneously occur within us, often buried deep within our collective subconscious, revealing themselves through fragmented figurative forms.

In this endeavour, each brushstroke is an event, invented characters recur, blur and blend, art historical references abound, layered paint is built up and blocked out, and Condo’s line swirls and twirls across the depths of his surfaces, bringing both clarity and confusion.'

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

• Sidney Nolan’s Africa: Interview With Andrew Turley
• Ilona Bossanyi: Tate’s Ervin Bossanyi Stained Glass Window Mothballed After 2011 Redevelopment
• Louis Carreon: Sampling Art History
• Modus Operandi - What Makes Successful Public Art: Vivien Lovell Interviewed
• Genesis Tramaine: A Queer Devotional Painter
• Lakwena Maciver: Review-Interview Hastings Contemporary
• Nicola Ravenscroft - Sculpture With A Peaceful Stillness
• Artist Hannah Rose Thomas – Tears of Gold – Interview
• Marcus Lyon: Human Atlas Explorations
• Elizabeth Kwant Interview
• Helaine Blumenfeld: Undulating Structures
• National Gallery Explores ‘Sin’ In New Exhibition – Interview Dr Joost Joustra Curator
• Betty Spackman: Posthumanism Debates
• Christopher Clack: Connecting The Material And Immaterial
• Peter Howson Artlyst Interview
• Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker On The Legacy Of ArtWay
• Alastair Gordon A Testament To His Faith
• Katrina Moss Chaiya Art Awards Interview: Where is God in our 21st century world?
• Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder Interviewed
• Jonathan Anderson: Religious Inspirations Behind Modernism
• Caravan – An Interview With Rev Paul Gordon Chandler On Arts Peacebuilding
• Art Awakening Humanity Alexander de Cadenet Interviewed
• Michael Pendry New Installation Lights Up St Martin In The Fields
• Mark Dean Projects Stations of the Cross Videos On Henry Moore Altar

Articles -

• Theaster Gates Clay As A Profound Metaphor
• Mark Rothko: Mesmerising And Intimate Works On Paper
• International Autumn Art Exhibition Reviews
• Roger Cecil: A Once In A Generation Welsh Painter
• Tino Sehgal: Location, Nature And Pandemic – Blenheim Palace
• Michael Armitage And The Power Of Art – Royal Academy
• Marie Raymond And Post-War Avant Garde Painting In Paris
• Rachel Kneebone: A Complex Tableau Of Organic And Geometric Forms
• Rodin: Suffering And Conflict – Tate Modern
• Barbara Hepworth: Symbols Of Art & Life – Hepworth Wakefield
• 20th Century Women Artists Challenging Conventions In Britain
• Chaiya Art Awards 2021 Gallery OXO
• Marc Chagall’s Exquisite Stained Glass Window Commissions
• George Gittoes Equal parts artist and warrior
• Keith Haring: Personal Spiritual Imagery
• Sean Scully: Philosophical Poetic Pastoral The 12 / Dark Windows
• Arthur Jafa: The Art Of Cutting And Pasting
• Blackpentecostal Breath: Spirit-Led Movement Jumps From Music To Visual Art
• Made in USA Ed Ruscha An American Perspective
• Robert Smithson: The Archetypal Nature Of Things
• If Jesus Is A Man Of Colour Why Did We Make Him Aryan?
• Cosmic Patches And Quilts Five Exhibitions
• Everyday Heroes: Southbank Exhibition Celebrates Low-paid Key Workers
• Entwining Spiritualism And Art – Three Shows
• Of Church And The Visual Arts
• Has The Word Master Reached Its Sell-By Date?
• The People Behind Community Is Kindness Billboard Campaign
• André Daughtry: Art, Rebellion And Racial Justice
• Salisbury Cathedral 800 Years Of Art And Spirit
• Home Alone Together Twenty Five Artists
• Botanical Mind Online: Art, Mysticism and the Cosmic Tree
• Salvador Dalí The Enigma of Faith
• Art And Faith A Time For Seeing
• Andy Warhol: Catholicism His Work, Faith And Legacy
• Kiki Smith: Embodied Art
• Art and Christianity Awards A Positive New Millennium Legacy
• Arnulf Rainer: 90th Birthday Exhibition Celebrated At Albertina Museum
• A Belonging Project And Exiles Loss and Displacement
• Robert Polidori: Fra Angelico Opus Operantis
• Art, Faith, Church Patronage and Modernity
• Contemplating the Spiritual in Contemporary Art
• Mat Collishaw Challenges Faith Perspectives With Ushaw Installation
• Waterloo Festival Launches At St. John’s Waterloo
• John Bellany Alan Davie Spiritual Joy and Magic
• RIFT Unites 17 Art and Science MA Graduates At Central St Martins
• Visionary Cities: Michael Takeo Magruder – British Library
• Van Gogh’s Religious Journey Around London
• William Congdon Holy Sites And The Kettle’s Yard Connection
• Mark Dean Premieres Pastiche Mass At Banqueting Hall Chelsea College of Arts
• John Kirby: The Torment
• Underlying The Civilised Facade
• Curating Spiritual Sensibilities In Changing Times
• Homeless Highlighted: New Beau Exhibition At St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Ken Currie: Protest Defeat And Victory
• Bosco Sodi: A Moment Of Genesis
• Bill Viola And The Art Of Contemplation
• Art In Churches 2018: Spiritual Combinations Explored
• Sister Wendy Beckett – A Reminiscence
• Guido Guidi: Per Strada Flowers Gallery London
• Peter Howson: The play is over – Flowers Gallery
• Camille Henrot: Scientific History And Creation Story Mash Up
• Nicola Green Explores Recent And Contemporary Religious Leaders – St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Art And The Consequences Of War Explored In Two Exhibitions
• Helaine Blumenfeld Translating Her Vision
• Sam Ivin: Physically Scratched Portraits Of Asylum Seekers Exhibited
• Sacred Noise: Explores Religion, Faith And Divinity
• Bill Viola: Quiet Contemplative Video Installation St Cuthbert’s Church Edinburgh
• The ground-breaking work of Sister Corita Kent
• Picasso To Souza: The Crucifixion Imagery Rarely Exhibited
• Michael Takeo Magruder: De / coding the Apocalypse – Panacea Museum
• Giorgio Griffa: The Golden Ratio And Inexplicable Knowledge
• Arabella Dorman Unveils New Installation At St James Church Piccadilly
• Can Art Transform Society?
• Art Awakening Humanity Conference Report
• Central St Martins in the Fields Design Then And Now
• The Sacramental And Liturgical Nature Of Conceptual Art
• Polish Art In Britain: Centenary Marked At London’s Ben Uri Gallery
• Refugee Artists: Learning from The Lives Of Others
• The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg
• The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement
• Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition
• Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation
• The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?

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Albert Ayler - Music is the Healing Force of the Universe.

Living God's Future Now - w/c 10 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: 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

• 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.

Sunday

HeartEdge Youth Conversation: Vaccination
Sunday 10 October, 2pm BST / 3pm ZT.
Livestreamed on the Facebook page of the Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin, Johannesburg - https://www.facebook.com/cathedralofstmarythevirgin.
This Vaccine webinar will focus on various topics related to the COVID-19 vaccine, such as the importance of getting vaccinated, myths around the vaccine and access to the vaccine.

Monday

Biblical Studies class
Zoom
Monday 11 October, 19:30-20:30 (GMT)
Register here - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrcOmgrTgsHt2ceY7LepLhQYqQxS1G1ix9.
This will be the final lecture in our series on the Gospel of John with Revd Dr Simon Woodman. Catch up on earlier lectures here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlvcWu7Opl4xmi7jwN51DGv5BKuzBhvKW.

Tuesday

Healing the Earth: Reconciling Mission
Zoom
Tuesday 12 October, 14.00-15.00 (GMT)
Register here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/healing-the-earth-reconciling-mission-tickets-139537379057.
In the run-up to COP26, this discussion between Ali Angus, Alistair McKay, Alex Hilton and Rachel Mash will explore the role of Christians in addressing the climate crisis and healing the Earth.

Sam and Sally's Sermon Preparation Workshop
Livestream
Tuesday 12 October, 16:30-17:30 (GMT)
Livestreamed on HeartEdge Facebook Page here- https://www.facebook.com/theHeartEdge/.
Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner discuss preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary in the light of current events and general good practice.

Wednesday

Community of Practitioners
Zoom
Wednesday 13 October, 16:00-17:00 (GMT)
Email Jonathan Evens at jonathan.evens@smitf.org 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.

HeartEdge Commerce Day in Southend-on-Sea
In-person at Belle Vue Baptist Church, Southend-on-Sea SS1 2QZ.
Wednesday 13 October, 10:00-15:30 (GMT)
Email Nicky Snoad at nicky.snoad@stbbc.org.uk to book a place.
A day exploring creatively extending mission and generating finance through commerce, enterprise and hospitality. Open to all, lunch included.

Thursday

Living God's Future Now: Brian McLaren in Conversation with Sam Wells
Zoom
Thursday 14 October, 18:00-19:00 (GMT)
Register here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/living-gods-future-now-brian-mclaren-tickets-184208872697.
Brian McLaren is a theologian and pastor who has written widely on ministry in a postmodern context and is a leading figure in the emerging church movement in the USA. This is the final event in a series of conversations between Sam Wells and leading theologians, exploring how we might build God's kingdom in the present.

Understanding Climate Change (Creation Care Week 2)
Zoom
Thursday 14 October, 19:30-21:00 (GMT)
Register here - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkcu6opz4rEtFamJIs6M2cAlvzTQmJT0a_.
In collaboration with The Diocese of Chester, HeartEdge, Melanesian Mission UK and Southampton University, this event will look at climate change, its drivers and impacts from a scientific perspective.

Saturday

(Still) Calling from the Edge: Disability & Church Conference
Zoom
Saturday 16 October, 10.00-16.30 (GMT)
Register here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/still-calling-from-the-edge-tickets-164001249151.
Join us for our 10th annual Disability & Church conference, hosted in partnership with Inclusive Church, exploring issues relating to disability and justice through workshops, liturgy, storytelling and conversation. Our aim is to make this space as accessible as possible — the day will be fully captioned and there will be BSL interpreters present; there will be plenty of breaks and you're free to drop in and out. Please let us know if you have any accessibility needs when registering.

Coming up soon

Autumn Lecture Series – We Have a Dream | Online and at St Martin-in-the-Fields
27 September - 15 November
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.
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.
The lecture series continues on Monday 18 October with a discussion between Chine McDonald, Robert Beckford and David Lammy MP on The Dream and Racialised Justice. Book a place in-person at St Martin-in-the-Fields or online here - https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whatson-event/the-dream-and-racialised-justice/.
Tickets are free so that all may attend regardless of circumstances; if you would like to support the cost of our lecture series, you are welcome to give a donation.

Catch up with missed sessions...

Why not catch up with the lectures, workshops and conversation you've missed in the last 14 months or so? If you head over to one of the following platforms you will find a wealth of resources that will inspire and equip for your work, whether you are ordained, lay, or simply enquiring.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/theHeartEdge

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWUH-ngsbTAKMxCJmoIc7mQ

St Martin's Digital - https://stmartins.digital/heartedge/

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Telling Encounters: Path Through the Woods.

Church Times: 'After the Storm?' at St Stephen’s, Norwich

My latest review for Church Times is of After the Storm? an exhibition exploring responses to the pandemic at St Stephen's Norwich:

'“AFTER the Storm?” results from conversations between St Stephen’s, Norwich, and seven artists from the Norwich 20 Group, which enable reflection on our own experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The project is an excellent example of collaboration with local artists in ways that benefit both while maintaining the integrity of all. Canon Madeline Light began the conversation with a verse from Ezekiel 34: “As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered, I’m going after my sheep. I’ll rescue them from all the places they’ve been scattered to in the storms.” Frances Martin, who organised the exhibition, says these words were “the genesis of the exhibition”. Martin has contributed a strong and yet tender female Farmer Gathering Sheep which, in Canon Light’s phrase, “links our present phase of the pandemic with the idea of being collected up after being scattered”.'

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here.

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Wovenhand - Good Shepherd.

Nicola Ravenscroft: Daily Express article

The sculptor Nicola Ravenscroft, who currently has an exhibition at St Martin-in-the-Fields of her ‘With the Heart of a Child’ sculptures, has been commissioned to create a sculpture as a Memorial to NHS and Care workers who have died during the pandemic. The project is featured today on the front page and in a double-page spread in the Daily Express - https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1477390/memorial-for-NHS-Heroes-bronze-sculpture-honour-donate.

Read my interview with Nicola for Artlyst here.

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Raphael Ravenscroft - And A Little Child Shall Lead Them.

Artlyst - Tino Sehgal: Location, Nature And Pandemic – Blenheim Palace

My latest review for Artlyst is of Tino Sehgal at Blenheim Park and Gardens:

'There are three strands to Sehgal’s work here: responses to location, nature, and the pandemic. These can be witty juxtapositions, as with the location of ‘Kiss’ in front of Massimiliano Soldani Benzi’s ‘The Medici Venus’ and ‘The Clapping Faun’. The contrast bringing to the fore the joy and challenge of sensual expression in the live encounter as opposed to its taming in the aristocratic acceptance of classical form. Then, in the first scene I encountered involving the swarm – a chanted work in the East Courtyard – came the most explicit reference to Sehgal’s wish to address the global sustainability challenge of the coming decades.

However, the strongest strand to emerge is a celebration, after a long year distanced one from another, of the fleeting, immaterial magic of human connection through bodies together in spaces and the everyday poetics of people’s lives and stories. After our experience of pandemic, that felt more than enough.’

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

• Louis Carreon: Sampling Art History
• Modus Operandi - What Makes Successful Public Art: Vivien Lovell Interviewed
• Genesis Tramaine: A Queer Devotional Painter
• Lakwena Maciver: Review-Interview Hastings Contemporary
• Nicola Ravenscroft - Sculpture With A Peaceful Stillness
• Artist Hannah Rose Thomas – Tears of Gold – Interview
• Marcus Lyon: Human Atlas Explorations
• Elizabeth Kwant Interview
• Helaine Blumenfeld: Undulating Structures
• National Gallery Explores ‘Sin’ In New Exhibition – Interview Dr Joost Joustra Curator
• Betty Spackman: Posthumanism Debates
• Christopher Clack: Connecting The Material And Immaterial
• Peter Howson Artlyst Interview
• Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker On The Legacy Of ArtWay
• Alastair Gordon A Testament To His Faith
• Katrina Moss Chaiya Art Awards Interview: Where is God in our 21st century world?
• Apocalypse Now: Michael Takeo Magruder Interviewed
• Jonathan Anderson: Religious Inspirations Behind Modernism
• Caravan – An Interview With Rev Paul Gordon Chandler On Arts Peacebuilding
• Art Awakening Humanity Alexander de Cadenet Interviewed
• Michael Pendry New Installation Lights Up St Martin In The Fields
• Mark Dean Projects Stations of the Cross Videos On Henry Moore Altar

Articles -

• Michael Armitage And The Power Of Art – Royal Academy
• Marie Raymond And Post-War Avant Garde Painting In Paris
• Rachel Kneebone: A Complex Tableau Of Organic And Geometric Forms
• Rodin: Suffering And Conflict – Tate Modern
• Barbara Hepworth: Symbols Of Art & Life – Hepworth Wakefield
• 20th Century Women Artists Challenging Conventions In Britain
• Chaiya Art Awards 2021 Gallery OXO
• Marc Chagall’s Exquisite Stained Glass Window Commissions
• George Gittoes Equal parts artist and warrior
• Keith Haring: Personal Spiritual Imagery
• Sean Scully: Philosophical Poetic Pastoral The 12 / Dark Windows
• Arthur Jafa: The Art Of Cutting And Pasting
• Blackpentecostal Breath: Spirit-Led Movement Jumps From Music To Visual Art
• Made in USA Ed Ruscha An American Perspective
• Robert Smithson: The Archetypal Nature Of Things
• If Jesus Is A Man Of Colour Why Did We Make Him Aryan?
• Cosmic Patches And Quilts Five Exhibitions
• Everyday Heroes: Southbank Exhibition Celebrates Low-paid Key Workers
• Entwining Spiritualism And Art – Three Shows
• Of Church And The Visual Arts
• Has The Word Master Reached Its Sell-By Date?
• The People Behind Community Is Kindness Billboard Campaign
• André Daughtry: Art, Rebellion And Racial Justice
• Salisbury Cathedral 800 Years Of Art And Spirit
• Home Alone Together Twenty Five Artists
• Botanical Mind Online: Art, Mysticism and the Cosmic Tree
• Salvador Dalí The Enigma of Faith
• Art And Faith A Time For Seeing
• Andy Warhol: Catholicism His Work, Faith And Legacy
• Kiki Smith: Embodied Art
• Art and Christianity Awards A Positive New Millennium Legacy
• Arnulf Rainer: 90th Birthday Exhibition Celebrated At Albertina Museum
• A Belonging Project And Exiles Loss and Displacement
• Robert Polidori: Fra Angelico Opus Operantis
• Art, Faith, Church Patronage and Modernity
• Contemplating the Spiritual in Contemporary Art
• Mat Collishaw Challenges Faith Perspectives With Ushaw Installation
• Waterloo Festival Launches At St. John’s Waterloo
• John Bellany Alan Davie Spiritual Joy and Magic
• RIFT Unites 17 Art and Science MA Graduates At Central St Martins
• Visionary Cities: Michael Takeo Magruder – British Library
• Van Gogh’s Religious Journey Around London
• William Congdon Holy Sites And The Kettle’s Yard Connection
• Mark Dean Premieres Pastiche Mass At Banqueting Hall Chelsea College of Arts
• John Kirby: The Torment
• Underlying The Civilised Facade
• Curating Spiritual Sensibilities In Changing Times
• Homeless Highlighted: New Beau Exhibition At St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Ken Currie: Protest Defeat And Victory
• Bosco Sodi: A Moment Of Genesis
• Bill Viola And The Art Of Contemplation
• Art In Churches 2018: Spiritual Combinations Explored
• Sister Wendy Beckett – A Reminiscence
• Guido Guidi: Per Strada Flowers Gallery London
• Peter Howson: The play is over – Flowers Gallery
• Camille Henrot: Scientific History And Creation Story Mash Up
• Nicola Green Explores Recent And Contemporary Religious Leaders – St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Art And The Consequences Of War Explored In Two Exhibitions
• Helaine Blumenfeld Translating Her Vision
• Sam Ivin: Physically Scratched Portraits Of Asylum Seekers Exhibited
• Sacred Noise: Explores Religion, Faith And Divinity
• Bill Viola: Quiet Contemplative Video Installation St Cuthbert’s Church Edinburgh
• The ground-breaking work of Sister Corita Kent
• Picasso To Souza: The Crucifixion Imagery Rarely Exhibited
• Michael Takeo Magruder: De / coding the Apocalypse – Panacea Museum
• Giorgio Griffa: The Golden Ratio And Inexplicable Knowledge
• Arabella Dorman Unveils New Installation At St James Church Piccadilly
• Can Art Transform Society?
• Art Awakening Humanity Conference Report
• Central St Martins in the Fields Design Then And Now
• The Sacramental And Liturgical Nature Of Conceptual Art
• Polish Art In Britain Centenary Marked At London’s Ben Uri Gallery
• Refugee Artists Learning from The Lives Of Others
• The Religious Impulses Of Robert Rauschenberg
• The Christian Science Connection Within The British Modern Art Movement
• Artists Rebranding The Christmas Tree Tradition
• Art Impacted - A Radical Response To Radicalisation
• The Art of St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Was Caravaggio A Good Christian?

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Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People.