Living God's Future Now - w/c 4 July 2021

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

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

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

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

The online programme includes:

Regular weekly workshops: Biblical Studies (Mondays fortnightly), Sermon Preparation (Tuesdays) and Community of Practitioners (Wednesdays)
One-off workshops on topics relevant to lockdown such as ‘Growing online communities’ and ‘Grief, Loss & Remembering’
Monthly HeartEdge dialogue featuring Sam Wells in conversation with a noted theologian or practitionerFind earlier Living God’s Future Now sessions at https://www.facebook.com/pg/theHeartEdge/videos/?ref=page_internal.

Regular – Weekly or Fortnightly

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

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

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

12 Jul: Lecture 13 Parables and The Kingdom of God
26 Jul: Lecture 14 Parables and The Kingdom of God

W/c 4 July 2021

Sunday

God’s Unfailing Word
Zoom
Sunday 04 July, 19:00 (GMT)
Register here.
The final conversation in a three-part series of conversations on the nature of Christian-Jewish relations in the 21st century. With Rabbi Daniel Epstein (Western Marble Arch Synagogue) and Revd Dr Sam Wells (St Martin-in-the-Fields). Based on the recently (2019) published God’s Unfailing Word (https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/godsunfailingwordweb.pdf).

Tuesday

Sermon Prep Sally Hitchiner and Sam Wells
Livestream
Tuesday 06 July, 16:30 (GMT)
Live streamed on the HeartEdge Facebook page here.
Discussion of preaching and the lectionary readings for the coming Sunday with Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner.

Art in Worship
Facebook premiere
Tuesday 06 July, 19:00 (GMT)
On the HeartEdge Facebook page here.
A lecture by Jonathan Evens exploring approaches to and understanding of the relationship between art and faith. This lecture highlights different facets to this relationship from the fourth century to the present demonstrating ways in which the intimate linkage which exists between the visual arts and Christianity was forged and sustained. Within this story, he explores the sacramental nature of art in worship over the years.

Wednesday

Community of Practitioners
Zoom
Wednesday 07 July, 16:00 (GMT)
Email Jonathan Evens here to take part.
This is open to all, including ordinands and lay leaders. Church leaders join in community, share and reflect together on their recent experiences in the form of wonderings with one of the HeartEdge team and book discussions.

Thursday

Creation Care Course
Zoom
Thursday 08 July, 4.00-5.30 pm (GMT)
Register here.
The environment is God’s gift to everyone. In this 4-week Creation Care Course, we will provide you with vital information about climate change, its impacts on people, and reflect on our role as Christians in taking practical climate action. Week 4: Caring for the Environment, Caring for People (8th July 2021, 16:00-17:30), we will hear about various options for climate change mitigation and adaptation that we can take as individuals, as parishes and as a Christian community.

Living God’s Future Now conversation – Anthony Reddie
Zoom
Thursday 08 July, 6.00pm (GMT)
Register here.
The focal event in 'Living God's future now' is a monthly conversation in which Sam Wells explores what it means to improvise on God’s kingdom with a leading theologian or practitioner.Sam Wells and Anthony Reddie will be in conversation to discuss how to improvise on the kingdom. Dr Anthony Reddie is Director of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture. His main research interests lie at the intersection of Black liberation theology and Practical theology. His more recent books Include Theologising Brexit: A Liberationist and Postcolonial Critique (Routledge, 2010), and the republished 'Is God Colour Blind?' Insights from Black Theology for Christian faith and Ministry (SPCK, 2020) and Intercultural Preaching [co-edited with Seidel Abel Boargenes and Pamela Searle], (Regent’s Park College, 2021).

Miranda Threlfall-Holmes and Sam Wells | How to Eat Bread
Zoom
Thursday 08 July, 8-9.00pm (GMT)
Register here.
Launching her new book ''How to Eat Bread - 21 Nourishing Ways to Read the Bible', Miranda Threlfall Holmes joins Sam Wells for some lively conversation on 21 nourishing ways to read the bible.

Last Chance

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

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

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Low - Knockin' On Heaven's Door.

Commerce, Compassion, Culture, Congregation … It’s All Church!

 

 

Commerce, Compassion, Culture, Congregation … It’s All Church! was the first HeartEdge national conference held over two days at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Lambeth Palace.

In our view commerce, compassion, culture and congregation are essential and are all church! +Paul Bayes, David Ellis, Paul Goodliff, Rosemarie Mallett, Ann Morisy, Ben Quash, Anthony Reddie, Miranda Thelfall-Holmes, Maeve Sherlock, ++Justin Welby, Sam Wells and Lucy Winkett were just some of those who helped us explore these themes.

The HeartEdge two day intensive provided theology, ideas, resources, plus time to make connections, find encouragements and enjoy jazz.

Contributions to the programme from St Martin’s included a Great Sacred Music with St Martin’s Voices featuring the hymns and poetry of Robert Bridges, a wonderfully reflective Bread for the World Eucharist led by the Nazareth Community, and Jazz in the Café with The Fabulations.

There was lots of comment on social media about the conference which gives a flavour of the content and people’s reactions. This included:

• The first HeartEdge Conference coming to an end at Lambeth Palace - a fantastic two days. Thank you to the St Martin’s team for organising it! It has been energising!
• What an absolutely jam-packed, inspiring, wonderful couple of days at the HeartEdge conference!
• Day 2 of the HeartEdge conference was fantastic. Thank you to Lambeth Palace for your hospitality. Great to hear from, among others, Lucy Winkett, Sam Wells, Rosemarie Mallet, Anthony Reddie, Paul Bayes, Miranda Threllfall-Holmes. Oh, and Justin Welby!
• Spent two good days at the HeartEdge conference - came away thinking about sacred music, Jesus’ body parts and this Table, and what it might mean to see the church as guest not host.
• Hospitality; host vs guest; margins vs centre; engaging with communities.
• Great to be at the HeartEdge annual conference today at Lambeth Palace. Inspiring mix of denominations coming together, with wise words on celebrating success from Justin Welby.
• This afternoon Paul Bayes & co are talking real life for many, not just in North West.
• Really amazing speech and presentation by Paul Bayes and the Liverpool team at the HeartEdge conference! Really challenging and engaging stuff.
• The Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes (a Bradford lad) gave a brilliant talk this afternoon at the HeartEdge conference. He may have single-handedly persuaded me to the merits of Episcopacy lol. Ok, not quite, but he was brilliant.
• It's going to take a few days to process all the information! Then there's the small task of sharing all we experienced with our church! Thanks to St Martin’s and Lambeth Palace for the amazing welcome!

Our thanks to everyone at St Martin’s, in HeartEdge and among our contributors who made the conference such a special experience with great organisation, wonderful content, many new connections made and a significant development in our aim to create a new movement for renewal in the broad church.

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All My Hope On God Is Founded.

Greenbelt: Acts of the Imagination

Much of my time at this year's Greenbelt was enjoyably spent at the various contributions from St Martin-in-the-Fields and HeartEdge. Read a report on our involvement here and listen to the Radio 4 Daily Service from Greenbelt produced by Andrew Earis here.

Outside of those sessions I also saw something of the following, with standouts being the Celestial Sound Cloud, Communion Service, Anthony Reddie, and The Welcome Wagon:

• Alessi’s Ark - Her voice is delicate and her arrangements are lush and soaring (Mojo praises her "impeccable taste"), with an indie sensibility that recalls vintage-era Cardigans with a pinch of the Breeders. 
• Celestial Sound Cloud presented by Pif-Paf - The Celestial Sound Cloud is an interactive digital sound and light sculpture inspired by cosmic clouds and nebulas – the clouds of dust and gases in which stars are formed. Its beautiful swooping mirror layered material sits elusively and tantalisingly in its environment – stunning by day or night.
• Duke Special - Ever-curious about theatre, poetry, love, life, redemption, death, and gramophone records, Duke consistently finds new seams of inspiration to mine, always trying to get to the bottom of what it means to be human.
• Grace Petrie - Grace’s self-released album Heart First Aid Kit made it into Mojo’s 2017 top ten. Her unique takes on life, love and politics, and the warmth and wit with which they are delivered, have won over an army of loyal fans across the alternative, folk, political and comedy scenes.
• Kate Raworth - Kate is a renegade economist committed to the rewriting of economics so it is fit for 21st century challenges. 
• Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires - The Glory Fires draw deeply from punk, soul, power pop, country, and gospel, with a strong socio-political message - systems of privilege and oppression are dragged into the light. 
• Matthew David Morris is an artist, a cultivator of good questions, a trainee priest and lover of the human heart.
• Song of the Trees by Meg Wroe - Song of the Trees is a series of paintings on wooden panels. Images of trees are carved into plywood, giving texture as well as form. In her current work Meg is interested in the hidden, overlooked aspect of her urban landscape. “I notice moments of wonder in the ordinary – the way transformation happens through acts of the imagination.
• Professor Anthony G Reddie is one of the foremost black theologians in the UK today. As an Extraordinary Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of South Africa and a Fellow of Wesley House in Cambridge, he has written over 70 essays and articles on Christian Education and Black Theology.
• Radical, activist, spiritual, feminist, challenging state and church, standing up to the powers that be, railing against the patriarchal status quo, a beacon of inspiration and sign of bravery for those all over the world who want change but perhaps feel too timid to try to make it – that’s Pussy Riot. Their iconoclastic show about Maria Alyokhina's Riot Days book is pacey, poetic, prophetic, but above all it is punk. This is art. This is protest. 
• Communion: Windrush and Carnival - The service was led by sisters and brothers of faith and colour. Like the first disciples of Jesus, huddled in an upper room, looking out at a hostile and hardening culture, we felt the Wind-rush of God’s multi-coloured Spirit as we imagined and enacted another world. We celebrated carnival with music from Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir and contributions and leading from Rev Winnie Varghese, Chine McDonald, Evie Vernon and George Luke.
• The Welcome Wagon - Partners in music and life, Monique and Thomas describe themselves as uncool, which probably means they’re very cool. Either way they serve up a refreshingly uncomplicated brew of gospel music which nonetheless draws on a deep history of sacred song traditions. No feigned emotions, no stylistic pretensions; quite literally awesome.
• We Are Scientists - "In the past," opines bassist Chris Cain of US powerpoppers We Are Scientists, "we’ve used our music to awaken people to the depth and complexity of moral concerns." As for their latest work, "We really wanted to drop a fun-bomb." Welcome to Greenbelt, where enlightenment and f-bombs happily co-exist.

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The Welcome Wagon - He Never Said A Mumbling Word.