Responsibilities and resources, challenge and means

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford tonight in our Ascension Day Eucharist:

The expression “step up to the plate” refers to “voluntarily assuming responsibility for something.” However, when someone seems to have a particular role or responsibility covered, it is then difficult for others to see the part that they could play or to think there is a need to play their part. That is, in part, what Jesus is addressing with his disciples when he speaks to them in his farewell discourse before he goes to the cross.

In that farewell discourse and also in many of his parables, Jesus was preparing his disciples for the point when he would leave them. That point was reached with his Ascension. Among the parables Jesus told to prepare his disciples was the Parable of the Talents, where the Master in the story is absent for much of the time. By telling stories where the central character was absent or had left the action, Jesus was saying that he would be leaving and that, when he did so, he was going to entrust his disciples with the responsibility of continuing his mission and ministry.

That was, and is, an awesome responsibility and we can readily understand why, for example, the third worker in the Parable of the Talents was depicted as being paralysed by fear at the prospect of the Master’s absence. However, it also shows the value that Jesus saw in his disciples and sees in us. It is amazing, but true, that God believes in us enough to entrust us with working towards the coming of his kingdom, on earth as in heaven.

The question, then, was whether Jesus’ first disciples (and by implication, all who follow, including ourselves) will step up to the plate and assume responsibility. When the one that was thought of as being in charge and responsible was no longer with the disciples physically, they were made aware of their own responsibilities. Jesus is recorded in our Gospel reading as saying that there were things he did not say to his disciples at the beginning because he was with them at that stage. It was only at the point that Jesus was to leave that it became essential that they heard those things. It was only at that point that they could hear those things.

What Jesus was saying was a version of the popular statement that no one is indispensable, even him. “The graveyards are full of indispensable men,” is another similar saying, popularly attributed to Charles de Gaulle. The reality for Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, was that he could not personally share his message and love across the known world or throughout history without disciples committed to following him and sharing him with others.

Therefore, at the Ascension, Jesus was like an Olympic torchbearer passing his light on to his disciples and calling them to bear his light. This could only happen when those following him acted as his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever they were. That is essentially the challenge of the Ascension for us, but this challenge is combined with the promise that Jesus will send his Spirit to us to empower and equip us to be his people.

For this reason, the Ascension and Pentecost are intimately linked. The Ascension provides the challenge – “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matthew 28. 19) – and Pentecost provides the means - “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In this way we have been given the resources needed to fulfil our responsibility. Similarly, in the Parable of the Talents, the Master gave out resources (the ‘talents’) alongside responsibilities. In the same way, after the Ascension, the Holy Spirit came to empower Jesus’ disciples.

Do we recognise that each of us has much that we can give; that we are all people with talents and possessions however lacking in confidence and means we may sometimes be? We all have something we can offer, so how can we, through our lives and work, benefit and develop the world for which God has given humanity responsibility? What resources - in terms of abilities, job, income and possessions - has God given to us in order to fulfil our responsibility to bear his light in this dark world? Through his Ascension, Jesus challenges us as to whether we will be faithful or unfaithful servants? How will we respond?

If we accept the responsibility we have been given, we can then pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but we can ask that its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us and its vigour renew us for the sake of Christ’s kingdom come, on earth as in his heaven.

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All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name.

Resources for Advent

'Come, Lord Jesus, Come' is an Advent devotional (booklet & slideshow) by Victoria Emily Jones based on an Advent meditation written by myself. Each line of the meditation focuses on one aspect of Christ’s coming. To promote deeper reflection on all these aspects, Victoria has selected twenty-four art images to lead the way in stoking our imaginations and to provide entry points into prayer. She has taken special care to present art from around the world and, where possible, by modern or contemporary artists so that we will be stretched beyond the familiar imagery of the season.

Victoria writes: 'Art is a great way to open yourself up to the mysteries of God, to sit in the pocket of them as you gaze and ponder. “Blessed are your eyes because they see,” Jesus said. Theologians in their own right, artists are committed to helping us see what was and what is and what could be. Here I’ve taken special care to select images by artists from around the world, not just the West, and ones that go beyond the familiar fare. You’ll see, for example, the Holy Spirit depositing the divine seed into Mary’s womb; Mary with a baby bump, and then with midwives; an outback birth with kangaroos, emus, and lizards in attendance; Jesus as a Filipino slum dweller; and Quaker history married to Isaiah’s vision of the Peaceable Kingdom.'

Through 'Come, Lord Jesus, Come' you are invited to consider what it meant for Jesus to be born of woman—coming as seed and fetus and birthed son; the poverty Jesus shared with children around the world; culturally specific bodies of Christ, like a dancing body and a yogic body; how we are called to bear God into the world today; and more.

Victoria writes: 'Advent takes us back and brings us forward. In preparing us to celebrate Christ’s first coming, it places us alongside the ancient prophets, who awaited with aching intensity the fulfilled promise of a messiah, and Joseph and Mary, whose pregnancy made the expectation all the more palpable; it also strengthens our longing for Christ’s second coming, when he will return to fully and finally establish his kingdom on earth ... May God bless you this Advent season as you ponder the amazing truth of the Incarnation.'

My 'Love is ...' meditation for Advent can be found by clicking here.

Additionally, I have a series of poetic meditations which draw on the thinking of René Girard in interpreting the Bible readings traditionally used in services of Nine Lessons and Carols. This set of Alternative Nine Lessons and Carols meditations can be found by clicking here.

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J. Lind - Generous.

Resources and responsibilities

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Nicholas Laindon this morning: 

How do we respond when the boss is away? That was the scenario for several of the parables that Jesus told, including one of the best known; the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25. 14 - 30). In this story responsibilities are delegated to three workers, two of whom shoulder their responsibilities and develop the business so that it grows. The third, however, is so paralysed by the responsibility and the possibility of failure that he does nothing with the responsibilities that have been entrusted to him and consequently there is no development and no growth. When the boss returns the first two are rewarded and the third is sacked.

Jesus told this and other parables where the boss is absent, in order to prepare his disciples for his death, resurrection and ascension. He was the one who was going to leave and when he left them, at the point of his Ascension, he was entrusting them with the responsibility of continuing his mission and ministry in his physical absence. It has to be said that this was and is an awesome responsibility and we can readily understand why the third worker was paralysed by fear at the prospect. However, it also shows the value that Jesus saw in his disciples and sees in us. It is amazing but true that God believes in us enough to entrust us with working towards the coming of his kingdom, on earth as in heaven.

Like the third worker in the Parable of the Talents we often shy away from responsibility, although we don’t actually have that choice. Peter Rollins reminds us that ‘the famous philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote that we are “condemned to freedom”.’ For Sartre, he says, ‘this meant that we are responsible beings. However we are not merely responsible for the decisions we make ... we are also responsible for the decisions we postpone or fail to act on.’

‘This means that we are not only responsible for what we do, but also for what we don’t do. Like a poker player in the middle of a tournament, even doing nothing is an act that will help decide the direction of the game. In this way we are constantly wagering on our existence. Every move, and every failure to move, closes down an infinite range of possible worlds while opening up an entirely new range.’

The choice for Sartre ‘was not between taking responsibility or not, but rather between acknowledging our inherent responsibility or attempting to deny it.’ ‘Instead of the impotent and impossible attempt to flee our freedom Sartre encouraged us to face it, embrace it and make resolute decisions in light of it.’

Jesus’ parables make clear to us the reality of responsibility. The one that we think is in charge and responsible is no longer there which makes us aware of our own responsibility. As Rollins and Sartre suggest we always had that responsibility but our tendency is to avoid or deny it. Our responsibility is huge as the parable suggests that we are responsible for using all that we have for the benefit of the world. If the Boss represents God then his property is the world and we, his workers, are placed in charge of his world and given responsibility for its change and development.

How will we respond to the challenge of Jesus’ parables? In the story, the faithful workers are those that accept this responsibility and act on it. The unfaithful worker is the one who does nothing, who does not act. Are we faithful or unfaithful workers? Are our lives dedicated to working for the benefit of others and our world?

It is important to also note that in the parable we have been given the resources needed for this responsibility. In the parable the Boss gave out resources (the ‘talents’) alongside responsibilities. We have the Holy Spirit which came at Pentecost to empower Jesus’ disciples.

Do we recognise that each of us has much that we can give; that we are all people with talents and possessions however lacking in confidence and means we may sometimes be? We all have something we can offer, so how can we, through our lives and work, benefit and develop the world for which God has given humanity responsibility? What resources - in terms of abilities, job, income and possessions - has God given to us in order to fulfil our responsibility to benefit and develop the world?

Through his Parables, Jesus challenges us as to whether we will be faithful or unfaithful servants? How will we respond? If we accept the responsibility we have been given, we should then pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but we ask that its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us and its vigour renew us for the sake of Christ’s kingdom come, on earth as in his heaven. Amen.

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The Alpha Band - Spark In the Dark (On the Moody Existentialist).

Advent and Christmas resources

'Come, Lord Jesus, Come' is an Advent devotional (booklet & slideshow) by Victoria Emily Jones based on an Advent meditation written by myself. Each line of the meditation focuses on one aspect of Christ’s coming. To promote deeper reflection on all these aspects, Victoria has selected twenty-four art images to lead the way in stoking our imaginations and to provide entry points into prayer. She has taken special care to present art from around the world and, where possible, by modern or contemporary artists so that we will be stretched beyond the familiar imagery of the season.

Victoria writes: 'Art is a great way to open yourself up to the mysteries of God, to sit in the pocket of them as you gaze and ponder. “Blessed are your eyes because they see,” Jesus said. Theologians in their own right, artists are committed to helping us see what was and what is and what could be. Here I’ve taken special care to select images by artists from around the world, not just the West, and ones that go beyond the familiar fare. You’ll see, for example, the Holy Spirit depositing the divine seed into Mary’s womb; Mary with a baby bump, and then with midwives; an outback birth with kangaroos, emus, and lizards in attendance; Jesus as a Filipino slum dweller; and Quaker history married to Isaiah’s vision of the Peaceable Kingdom.'

Through 'Come, Lord Jesus, Come' you are invited to consider what it meant for Jesus to be born of woman—coming as seed and fetus and birthed son; the poverty Jesus shared with children around the world; culturally specific bodies of Christ, like a dancing body and a yogic body; how we are called to bear God into the world today; and more.

Victoria writes: 'Advent takes us back and brings us forward. In preparing us to celebrate Christ’s first coming, it places us alongside the ancient prophets, who awaited with aching intensity the fulfilled promise of a messiah, and Joseph and Mary, whose pregnancy made the expectation all the more palpable; it also strengthens our longing for Christ’s second coming, when he will return to fully and finally establish his kingdom on earth ... May God bless you this Advent season as you ponder the amazing truth of the Incarnation.' 

The alternative Nine Lessons (see below) is a poetic meditation drawing on the thinking of René Girard in interpreting the Bible readings traditionally used in services of Nine Lessons and Carols:

Nine Lessons

Genesis 3: 8–19

Hard labour in birth and work, sweat on our brow,
dirt on our hands. Thorns and thistles to prick and sting,
like death from a serpent's tongue,
till we return to the ground,
ashes to dust and dust to ashes.

Genesis 22: 15–18

A sense of sacrifice required;
the death of children appeasing the divine.
An alternative is found - ram caught in thicket,
wool held by thorns. Animals become
the scapegoats for our sins.

Isaiah 9: 2; 6–7

Light in darkness promised
through the hard labour of the birth of a child.
A child bearing peace and goodwill,
bringing justice and righteousness
without end and without measure.

Isaiah 11: 1–3a; 4a; 6–9

A little child leading us to reconciliation.
From nature red in tooth and claw -
survival of the fittest - to peaceful co-existence.
Carnivores to herbivores, the drawing of the sting
from the serpent's tongue.

Luke 1: 26–35; 38

Highly favoured as the Spirit overshadows.
A virgin birth - subverting patriarchy -
of a son who will not marry or have blood offspring.
The saying of 'yes' to God opening
the way of the family of God to one and all.

Luke 2: 1; 3–7

No room for the Lord of life, Prince of peace.
Space shared with animals kept for sustenance;
the sacrifices of existence and forgiveness.
Born into poverty; the struggle for survival
that this child will one day redeem.

Luke 2: 8–16

Angelic announcement of peace and goodwill
come in the form of the child found
by night workers, swaddled and lying in a manger.
His mother ponders these things -
annunciation, nativity, incarnation - in her heart.

Matthew 2: 1–12

Star following Magi look for the Prince of Peace
in the heart of power and opulence
only to find him in obscurity and humility.
Gifts given prefigure his divinity and sacrifice, the servant King
who, in birth and death, gives his life for others.

John 1: 1–14

Creative word now created, enfleshed, incarnated.
Divine life flowing in and through this child.
Light in darkness, revealing our passion
for power, position and personal gain.
In poverty, a counterpoint is born - compassion.

Giles Fraser, in the wake of the death of Girard and the Paris attacks, recently summarised Girard's thinking:

'The anthropologist René Girard died earlier this month, at home in California. A Frenchman, he did not live to see the latest violence in his home country. But, in a sense, he had been working on it his entire professional life. For no modern thinker has done more to understand the self-repeating patterns through which violence flows. And there can be no more disturbing conclusion than his, especially now: that violence is a form of copying, that violence is contagious, and that, as he put it: “Violence is like a raging fire that feeds on the very objects intended to smother its flames.”'

'Girard’s answer to mimetic violence is that we must break the cycle by refusing to mirror our enemies. Indeed, his rejection of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is not hand-wringing pacifism – it is bloody-minded, hard-nosed defiance; a refusal to be defined by the violent other, a refusal to answer back in kind.'

'Girard goes on to argue that the most vociferous critic of religion turns out to be a Jewish prophet called Jesus of Nazareth. Girard understands the ministry of Jesus to be that of deliberately standing in the place of the innocent victim thus to reveal the profound wickedness of the whole scapegoat mechanism. And as he is strung up to die, the violence of religion is exposed in all its gruesome destructiveness. Forget Dawkins or Harris – according to Girard the greatest critic of religion was Jesus himself.'

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Low - If You Were Born Today.

HeartEdge Mailer - July/August 2021

The new HeartEdge mailer is out, with new book extracts galore (including Jarel Robinson-Brown and Sam Wells), plus the usual links to unexpected ideas, news and resources. Plus dates for August and September... 

Have a look ...
https://mailchi.mp/48720f51ba1f/heartedge-july-august-update

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King's X - Over My Head.

CTiW Solidarity Resources booklet

Churches Together in Westminster has prepared a Solidarity Resources booklet for churches. Here is my letter introducing the booklet to our members:

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of all people across the globe. We, in the wealthy countries of the G20, need to recognise and take responsibility for the fact that our progress, quality and way of life is at the expense of the people of the least developed countries.

The coronavirus pandemic is not a great equaliser as some have claimed. This pandemic has reminded us that we are all connected, and that to be well and healthy we depend on others, and on our communities. In fact, unequal systems of power double down in a crisis.

The danger is that, even with a vaccine, for some time to come our focus in the UK will shift almost entirely to domestic issues and to our own recovery. This will not be a quick process but has already led to claims that we cannot afford to support the most vulnerable countries at the level we did before, thus casting them adrift.

Pope Francis has said, ‘We exist only in relationships: with God the Creator, with our brothers and sisters as members of a common family, and with all of God’s creatures within our common home.’ As a global Christian family we need to embody Pope Francis’ prophetic words as we unite to
pray and take action for our common home during this season of global pandemic.

Lucy Olofinjana writes for Churches Together in England & Wales that we need to:

‘Unite with Christians from all continents to ask for a coronavirus response that embraces sharing, not plundering. Learn the importance of living out Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 12, ‘If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it; if one part is praised, all the other parts share its happiness.’ Let’s seek to make this a reality as we go about life as part of God’s family. Let’s ‘rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn’ (Romans 12:15) – being real and honest with one another, and truly being there for each other, in the good times and the bad. Because, after all, we are family.’

This resource booklet has been prepared by Churches Together in Westminster to help our members focus on those in developing countries who are suffering from the COVID-19 Pandemic. We hope we will all encourage our congregations to engage actively with Christian organisations worldwide in their work with vulnerable communities. This should surely be a part of our response to the universal gift of God that we remember and celebrate in Christmastide.

This booklet has been arranged as a series of daily readings around key themes:

• Day One Impact of coronavirus on people in fragile countries
• Day Two Health, shelter and survival
• Day Three Poverty and livelihoods
• Day Four Education and children
• Day Five Violence against women and girls, and gender inequality
• Day Six Impact on those with disabilities
• Day Seven Loss of rights and freedoms
• Day Eight Impact on peace processes and conflict

We encourage you to make the booklet available to your congregations and consider holding a Solidarity Sunday service to introduce the booklet and encourage support for the organisations listed in the booklet’s appendix. Solidarity Sunday is about reminding ourselves and each other that there is so much good we can do - through giving, through prayer and through powerful demonstrations of unity.

A celebration of solidarity organised by Farm Street Church with CTiW can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=XvJ4mE5C3AY. The service includes a sermon preached by Revd Tricia Hillas, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, testimony and readings from homeless guests of the Central London Catholic Churches service at Farm Street, and prayers from Churches Together in Westminster.

We hope you will organise your own Solidarity Sunday service and will be happy to provide any support, ideas or advice that would assist.

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World Day of the Poor 2020 - Churches Together in Westminster.

HeartEdge Mailer - September

HeartEdge monthly mailer KLAXON! Includes pigeon murals, usual smorgasbord of stories and resources, PLUS an extract from and 10% off discount for the new book by Barbara Brown-Taylor.

Read it here.

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The Neal Morse Band - The Great Adventure.

HeartEdge and the visual arts

Lots of art-related resources have been added to the HeartEdge video resource over the past two weeks.

I have interviewed the artists Sophie Hacker and Matthew Askey on the theme of 'Imaging the Invisible'. View these interviews here and here.

Additionally I have begun a new ongoing series entitled 'Seeing Salvation - Art in churches' shares practical approaches to using art in church settings.

Initial sessions are:

• 5 June - Session 1: Art Trails.
• 12 June - Session 2: Art and contemplation.
• 19 June - Session 3: Art workshops.
• 26 June - Session 4: Art meditations.
• 3 July - Session 5: Arts Festivals.
• 10 July - Session 6: Art exhibitions.
• 17 July - Session 7: Art projects.

The first two sessions in the series can be viewed here and here. Register for a zoom invitation for the remainder of the series at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seeing-salvation-art-in-churches-tickets-108959314242?fbclid=IwAR38qSNIiWLSwIL1rCp5YX6zOOqIVZsMBUHlJo2YPHMU-UfoK1BB9yDY9Mc.

Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story uses fine art paintings that can be found in the collection of the National Gallery as a spring board for exploring these two questions. The course provides a way of deepening one’s Christian faith and exploring what it means to follow Jesus today.

What’s the programme?

• 7 June: Luke 1:26-38 / ‘The Annunciation’ Fra Filippo Lippi, about 1450-3, NG666
• 14 June: Luke 1:26-38 / ‘Mystic Nativity’, Sandro Botticelli, 1500, NG1034
• 21 June: Mark 1: 1-12 / ‘The Baptism of Christ’; predella panel, Giovanni di Paolo, 1454, NG5451
• 28 June: Luke 10:25-42 / ‘Christ in the House of Martha and Mary’, Diego Velásquez, probably 1618, NG1375
• 5 July: Mark 11: 4-12 & 15-19 / ‘Christ driving the Traders from the Temple’, El Greco, about.1600, NG1457
• 12 July: Mark 11: 4-12 & 15-19 / Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples, Jacopo Tintoretto, about.1575-80, NG1130
• 19 July: Matthew 26: 36-54 / ‘The Agony in the Garden’ by Giovanni Bellini, about.1465, NG726
• 26 July: Matthew 26:57-68 / ‘Christ before the High Priest’, Gerrit van Honthorst, about.1617, NG3679
• 2 August: Luke 23:26-38 / ‘Christ carrying the Cross’, Italian, Venetian, about. 1500, NG6655

Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org for a zoom invite.

Additionally I was interviewed on art and HeartEdge today for 1.17 at All We Can. Every day at 1.17pm, All We Can is sharing positive and uplifting content on the theme of ‘Colossians 1:17 – All Things Hold Together’ – a series of encouraging broadcasts that you can watch and join in with from the comfort of your home. You can catch them every day on their Facebook page. View the interview that I gave here.

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Ola Gjeilo - Sanctus.

Stepping up to the plate

Here's my reflection from today's lunchtime Eucharist for St Martin-in-the-Fields:

The expression “step up to the plate” refers to “voluntarily assuming responsibility for something.” However, when someone seems to have a particular role or responsibility covered, it is then difficult for others to see the part that they could play or to think there is a need to play their part. That is, in part, what Jesus is addressing with his disciples in his farewell discourse, a part of which forms our Gospel reading (John 15. 26 – 16. 4).

In the farewell discourse and also in many of his parables, Jesus was preparing his disciples for the point when he would leave them. That point was reached with his Ascension. Among the parables Jesus told to prepare his disciples was the Parable of the Talents, where the Master in the story is absent for much of the time. By telling stories where the central character was absent or had left the action, Jesus was saying that he would be leaving and that, when he did so, he was going to entrust his disciples with the responsibility of continuing his mission and ministry.

That was, and is, an awesome responsibility and we can readily understand why, for example, the third worker in the Parable of the Talents was depicted as being paralysed by fear at the prospect of the Master’s absence. However, it also shows the value that Jesus saw in his disciples and sees in us. It is amazing, but true, that God believes in us enough to entrust us with working towards the coming of his kingdom, on earth as in heaven.

The question, then, was whether Jesus’ first disciples (and by implication, all who follow, including ourselves) will step up to the plate and assume responsibility. When the one that was thought of as being in charge and responsible was no longer with the disciples physically, they were made aware of their own responsibilities. Jesus is recorded in our Gospel reading as saying that there were things he did not say to his disciples at the beginning because he was with them at that stage. It was only at the point that Jesus was to leave that it became essential that they heard those things. It was only at that point that they could hear those things.

What Jesus was saying was a version of the popular statement that no one is indispensable, even him. “The graveyards are full of indispensable men,” is another similar saying, popularly attributed to Charles de Gaulle. The reality for Jesus, as the incarnate Son of God, was that he could not personally share his message and love across the known world or throughout history without disciples committed to following him and sharing him with others.

Therefore, at the Ascension, Jesus was like an Olympic torchbearer passing his light on to his disciples and calling them to bear his light. This could only happen when those following him acted as his hands and feet, his eyes, ears and mouth, his body wherever they were. That is essentially the challenge of the Ascension for us, but this challenge is combined with the promise that Jesus will send his Spirit to us to empower and equip us to be his people.

For this reason, the Ascension and Pentecost are intimately linked. The Ascension provides the challenge – “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples” (Matthew 28. 19) – and Pentecost provides the means - “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In this way we have been given the resources needed to fulfil our responsibility. Similarly, in the Parable of the Talents, the Master gave out resources (the ‘talents’) alongside responsibilities. In the same way, after the Ascension, the Holy Spirit came to empower Jesus’ disciples.

Do we recognise that each of us has much that we can give; that we are all people with talents and possessions however lacking in confidence and means we may sometimes be? We all have something we can offer, so how can we, through our lives and work, benefit and develop the world for which God has given humanity responsibility? What resources - in terms of abilities, job, income and possessions - has God given to us in order to fulfil our responsibility to bear his light in this dark world? Through his Ascension, Jesus challenges us as to whether we will be faithful or unfaithful servants? How will we respond?

If we accept the responsibility we have been given, we can then pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age; but we can ask that its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, its possibilities inspire us and its vigour renew us for the sake of Christ’s kingdom come, on earth as in his heaven.

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Holy Cross Choir - uJesu Wami.

Exhibitions, resources and artists update

News first of two artists with which I worked while at St Stephen Walbrook:

Stations of the Cross 2020 is a development of Stations 2017, updated for such a time as this, with video works by Mark Dean, and new readings via Zoom (the social distancing medium of the moment) by friends of Arts Chaplaincy Projects, including NHS & Royal Mail workers from the front line, and those working from home, including artists, educators, therapists and priests, remotely recorded on Maundy Thursday. A new video for the 15th Station, made in collaboration with Lizzi Kew Ross & Co, will be posted below on Easter Day. Updated commentaries on the video works written by curator Lucy Newman Cleeve are available here. 

Hannah Rose Thomas has been interviewed for Impossible Beauty. Hannah has completed her MA at the Prince’s School of Traditional Art in London and has also studied at the Florence Academy of Art and the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Hannah has found a way to integrate her art and humanitarian work, largely painting portraits of those whom have been persecuted. She desires to use art as a tool for advocacy, bringing a voice to the voiceless into places of influence in the West. She has organized art projects in Jordan with Syrian refuges, with Yezidi women in Northern Iraq who had escaped ISIS captivity, with Rohingya children in refugee camps on the Myanmar border, and with survivors of Boko Haram and Fulani violence in Northern Nigeria.

The Visual Commentary on Scripture (VCS) is a freely accessible online publication that provides theological commentary on the Bible in dialogue with works of art. For Holy Week 2020, VCS has been sharing an exhibition a day every day from Palm Sunday to Easter, exploring Bible passages relevant to that day. Each has been accompanied by a short introductory reflection by VCS Director, Professor Ben Quash. My VCS exhibition entitled 'Back from the Brink' can also be viewed by clicking here.

The National Gallery has an online exploration of the story of Christ's Passion. Click here to discover the story of the Passion, as told through paintings in the National Gallery Collection. Continue to reflect with ‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’, a free resource to help people explore the Christian faith, using paintings and Biblical story as the starting points. It’s been created by St Martin-in-the-Fields in partnership with the National Gallery.

Logos was an exhibition of abstract paintings by David Wojkowicz in galerieCM at the First Republic Central Church of the Evangelical Methodist Church in the heart of Prague. The church opens its spaces to artists whose work is the spark of the Holy Spirit, who will revive their spaces and inspire those who come. Wojkowicz's paintings are inspired by the Bible and biblical theology. His goal is to illustrate both well-known and lesser-known verses and entire stories from all of the Scriptures. The paintings are created on a computer using graphic vector software. The paintings are made using a method that he invented and are the result of the blending of at least seven similar (or dissimilar) images.

Roman Barabakh’s The Origins at IconArt in Prague was an attempt by the artist to record his own experiences around the theme of creation. Taking the image of an Old Testament passage about the Creation of the World, Barabakh built his own seven-day photo story. Through his use of metaphorical depictions, Barabakh tries to reimagine familiar ideas and concepts from scripture. Here, these concepts are visualised through the medium of photography.

The mission of Iconart contemporary sacred art gallery is to exhibit, collect and make available for sale sacred icon art of contemporary artists from different regions of Ukraine. Iconart opened in Lviv, Ukraine on February 14, 2010 with an icon exhibition of the work of Ivanka Krypyakevych-Dymyd called “Between the Nativity and the Resurrection. The Icon and Around It”. Since its inception, the gallery has introduced visitors to the best examples of current religious Icon paintings of artists from the Lviv region, including the work of Petro Gumenyuk, Ivanka Krypyakevych-Dymyd, Oksana Romaniv-Triska, Lyuba Yatskiv, young creators Danylo Movchan, Natalya Rusetska, Ostap Lozynsky, along with representatives of other Ukrainian schools of sacred art, such as Oleksandr Antonyuk, Andriy Kovalenko, and Olga Kovtun.

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Michael McDermott - Carry Your Cross.

HeartEdge in Amsterdam, Bradford & Kendal

This is a busy week for HeartEdge. Most of the team have been in Amsterdam where an excellent HeartEdge Introductory Day with the Protestant Church of the Netherlands was preceded by an evening event at which Sam Wells spoke on 'Improvisation'. I have been at the Greater Churches Network conference at which I spoke in Kendal Parish Church on 'Resourcing Innovative Mission', giving examples drawn from HeartEdge churches and speaking of the way missional networks provide resource while highlighting the extent to the HeartEdge model of mission comes with resourcing inbuilt. Today we are involved with and looking forward to a Bishop's Study Day in Bradford.

Future HeartEdge events include:

• 11 June 'Newcastle HeartEdge Day' with Sam Wells and guests. A unique programme of theological reflection and local contributors. HeartEdge days focus around our HeartEdge 4 Cs with an emphasis on practical insight and ideas to take away. Book in here.
• 27 June 'Derby HeartEdge Day' with Sam Wells and guests - working across Derby and the surrounding area? Urban, suburban or rural? We would love you to join this practical one-day intensive introduction to HeartEdge with Sam Wells and guests. We're ecumenical and open to all. The day will explore approaches to mission, do theology, develop ideas and help build on the community of practice in Derby. Book in here.
• 2 - 3 October, Edinburgh. The HeartEdge annual conference: 'On Earth as it is in Heaven' - a practical, two-day intensive of ideas, theology and connecting. Includes workshops on enterprise and commerce, launching cultural projects, developing congregations and sustaining community response. This year contributors include Sam Wells, Cormac Russell and Winnie Varghese. To book in early-bird visit here.

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Sofia Gubaidulina - Repentance.

HeartEdge: December Mailer

HeartEdge is an international ecumenical movement of churches and other organisations developing mission focused on commercial activity, congregations, cultural engagement and compassion.

Our monthly Mailer is a "smorgasbord of ideas, inspiration and resource focused around HeartEdge 4 C's."

This month:

• "If the cafés are open on Christmas Day, then the churches should surely be. And we should not be celebrating a sort of 'Narnia' Christmas, fantasizing about the good old days, whenever they were. We are celebrating Christmas this year in a world at war, full of uncertainty, inequality and injustice." Lucy Winkett on being open for Christmas.
• Plus - a Christmas group work resource, a look at community meals, and the Library of Things
• Also - Henri Nouwen, 'Spirit Level' authors Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett on social status, Simon Sinek on power dynamics, 2019 trends and Chine McDonald on identity politics.

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Gungor feat. All Sons & Daughters - Oh Light.

Liturgy on the Edge: Pastoral and attractional worship

There are a growing number of HeartEdge-themed resources now available, including a selection of HeartEdge branded books.

These resources include ‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’, the online discipleship course which St Martin-in-the-Fields launched at Greenbelt 2017 and which has now been downloaded more than 400 times. HeartEdge-branded books include: ‘For Good: The Church and the Future of Welfare’, ‘Who Is My Neighbour? The Global and Personal Challenge’ and ‘Liturgy on the Edge: Pastoral and Attractional Worship’. These are books which speak into key issues and situations of our time in ways that have been described as timely, valuable and courageous. They are commended as richly challenging, deeply engaging and as being outstanding guides.

The most recent is Liturgy on the Edge: Pastoral and attractional worship; a practical companion to creating pastoral liturgies arises from the vibrant ministry of St Martin-in-the-Fields which is designed to aid local ministry teams in devising forms of worship outside and beyond the scope of authorised church liturgy, yet in sympathy with its purposes and structures.

It includes outline liturgies for:

• regular pastoral services, such as an informal Eucharist, worship for small groups or for a church away-day, a dementia-friendly service, a healing service, interfaith ceremonies.
• acute pastoral needs, such as services for communities affected by local tragedy, those experiencing loss through violence.
• outreach services in the open air or welcoming people into sacred space.
• special services though the year for Homelessness Sunday, Prisoners Week, Holy Week, Harvest, Remembrance, a community carol service and more.

Each section is introduced with a reflection on theory and practice, and each item has a commentary on theological, liturgical and pastoral choices made with the aim of enabling practitioners to adapt and create liturgies for their own contexts.

Liturgy on the Edge: Pastoral and attractional worship is edited by Sam Wells with contributions from Richard Carter, Andrew Earis, Caroline Essex, Jonathan Evens, Katherine Hedderly, Alison Lyon, Alastair McKay, Fiona MacMillan and Will Morris.

My contribution to the book concerns Start:Stop and I will be leading a HeartEdge workshop about Start:Stop at St Martin's on Thursday 24 May from 2.00 - 4.00pm. This is an opportunity to learn about this popular 10-minute work-based reflection for people on their way to work. The session includes: growing a new congregation; engaging with working people; ministering in the workplace and communicating with busy people. Book by emailing me at jonathan.evens@smitf.org or by calling on 020 7766 1127. HeartEdge members - free. Non-members - £10.

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Will Todd - Call Of Wisdom.

HeartEdge: West Midlands event & October Mailer

At HeartEdge our passion is growing Kingdom communities - via four C’s - congregations, culture, commercial activity and acts of compassion. This month resources, ideas and theology featured in our Mailer include:

• Partnerships, community meals, Housing Sunday, hospitality and everything 'volunteers'.
• Plus #whoismycleaner campaign and social enterprise
• And Lucy Winkett on the 'need for speed' and living by the hour-hand.

Since February we've been visiting churches to find out about their work and share information, ideas and contacts. Everything from whole-site re-development, to church websites, inclusive liturgy and work with vulnerable people. We've also hosted visits to St Martin in the Fields to explore new ways of working. Contact HeartEdge to host a workshop, sharing session or consultancy day. Call me on 020 7766 1127 or email HeartEdge here.

'With Vulnerable People' (HeartEdge Resource - Ideas and Experience 1) is a new resource full of stories and ideas for churches and projects working with vulnerable people produced by practitioners - including workers with an evening centre for homeless people, an International Group and Soup Kitchen. If you're a HeartEdge member you can receive this by emailing me here.

Our next HeartEdge events are:

• 8 November Bristol St Michaels Centre: HeartEdge Day Gathering - 10am - 3pm - with Sam Wells and guests - click here to book in. 
• 21 November Edinburgh - Greyfriars Kirk: HeartEdge Day Gathering - 10am - 3pm - with Sam Wells and guests - click here to book in.
• 5 February 2018, St Martin-in-the-Fields: Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story, 2.30pm - 4.30pm. How to explore the Christian faith using a a more open-ended approach? How to engage a more visually-focused culture? ‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’ is one resource developed by St Martin-in-the-Fields. The discipleship course uses fine art paintings from the National Gallery, a Biblical story and a short theological reflection to help people explore the Christian faith today. Workshop and input from myself and course designer, Alastair McKay to register for the ‘Inspired to Follow’ session contact me on 020 7766 1127 or email HeartEdge here. 

Our West Midlands HeartEdge day happened earlier in October at St Martin in the Bullring: 

• “Each element gave me food for thought and made me reflect and inspired.” 
• “A thought provoking, inspiring day.” 
• “Very well paced, well structured.”

Here is some of the twitter comment on the day to give a flavour of the event and those aspects to which people immediately responded:

• Sam Wells on Stewardship model of Church - “the mission of the #church shrinks to the imagination of a few.” Time for a change? #HeartEdge
• Sam Wells on the Benefactor model of Church... “Funded by a handful of powerful people... in the grip of a limited imagination.” #HeartEdge
• Sam Wells on the Enterprise model - “The Church is the Jewish Head Chef and the Muslim Head of Finance... Being the Church.”
• Asset approach “We combine & organise our assets. Approach the world not with need but green shoots of what we have. Our assets.” #HeartEdge
• #HeartEdge. What to do when the congregation is on its knees? Go where the energy is. Find where it’s released - in quite humble things.
• “Are you winning awards and succeeding in a cause that will finally fail? Or failing in a cause that will finally succeed?” #HeartEdge
• What was it like for Jesus taking on a congregation that no one else applied for?” Occupation, cuts, betrayal... #HeartEdge
• We must remember “we are the early church.” We reinvent church, as have every generation before. Reimagine, reinvent not decline.#HeartEdge
• David Alcock of @ACSLLP introducing the panel session of @HeartEdge_ W. Mids event hearing stories of what works
• More Enterprise Initiatives projects people? “Most important thing is finding your call. What God wants you to be doing.” @lloyd_cooke #HeartEdge
• I’m inspired by #HeartEdge - but my congregation are on their knees... what do I do? Where do I start?”
• Yvonne Gordon @springfield_p on adversity. “Keep your eye on God who is working at every step.” Encouragement #solidarity support #HeartEdge
• “We saw an opportunity...” Bryan Scott on acquiring a building from the council. @springfield_p “The Council always come to us..” #HeartEdge
• “In the church we have isolated ourselves.. Who wouldn’t we partner with? Gently & wisely exploring opportunities..” #Partnership #HeartEdge
• @heartedge_ version of speed dating in W. Mids event @inthebullring - building relationship + sharing experience

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The Innocence Mission - Glow.

First HeartEdge Mailer

The first HeartEdge Mailer was sent today. We plan to hand deliver one of these into email inboxes of those on our mailing list, about this time, each month. Each mailer includes:

• HeartEdge update – useful news from HeartEdge members, dates etc
• Links to a useful article or two – and helpful stories and resources
• A note from Revd Dr Sam Wells, and occasional guests

We’re all busy. So, we want to make this useful and inspiring. Hope you enjoy!

Keynote: “At that point we realise what we’re really about…”

At St Martin-in-the-Fields we have a limited company, and once a year we have a board awayday. We really need to raise income, not least because making a commitment to pay the London Living Wage has put quite a hole in our balance sheet.
Because the costs of doing anything in central London are so high, there comes a moment in any discussion about a new income source when someone says, ‘Wouldn’t in just be cheaper to rent out the room?’ And at that point we realise what we’re really about here. We employ all our own staff – we only outsource the cleaning, IT and security. We don’t just do whatever makes the most money. We’re trying to become an exemplary organisation – paying people properly, listening to their needs and concerns – but also developing a house style of how we do and think and talk about church and mission and business and music and everything else.

What we’re trying to do is to foster a conversation about precisely these kinds of challenges. How to keep our focus on the kingdom when there are so many ways to get distracted. How to keep our team broad and diverse, amid all the pressure to work only with people who think the way we do. How to keep going when the last five ideas got nowhere. Who to look up to and imitate when it feels you’re ploughing a lone furrow.

We want you to be part of that conversation of humility and wisdom, or energy and experience, of vision and practicalities. As we walk together, we believe we shall feel our hearts on fire just as did the disciples on the evening of the resurrection that inspires all our attempts at resurrection.

Revd Dr Sam Wells

Launch event findings

During the afternoon of our launch in February we invited you talk about assets in your church to support mission, then repeat and locate the obstacles. We’ve written up the findings from a fascinating 45 minutes discussion – you can find them here… Lots to help us steer by.

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Switchfoot - When We Come Alive.

Tools for transformation: empowering women and men to live in just relationship

The Start:Stop meditation that I prepared based on Luke 10. 38 - 42 has been included on the page within the Anglican Communion website which is gathering a variety of ‘tools for transformation’ to help Anglicans around the Communion to join in the work needed to empower women and men to live in just relationship. Click here to read the meditation.

The page begins with the following quote from Susan Durber: “To reflect before God on gender ... is to think about what it means that we are male and female. It is to ask what it would mean to experience our being gendered as gift rather than danger, a source of life and hope rather than oppression or fear, as something to be received gratefully from God, rather than experienced as a source of strife.”

Other resources on this website page include: toolkits; bible studies; manuals; videos; and theological reflections.

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Ēriks Ešenvalds - Stars.

Living on the Edge materials & videos

The impact of the Living on the Edge conference that took place at St Martin in the Fields in October 2015 is still being felt.

Some of the material from the conference is now on the Inclusive Church site. If you go to this page: http://www.inclusive-church.org/social-issues/disability (scroll about half way down) you will find some of the material from contributors.

Videos from the event are also on the Inclusive Church YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/inclusivechurch.

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Living on the Edge. 2015 Disability Conference - Sam Wells.

How do we react when the boss is away?

When the boss is away how do we react? That's the scenario on which this parable (Matthew 25. 14 - 30) is based.

Responsibilities are delegated to three workers, two of whom shoulder their responsibilities and develop the business so that it grows. The third, however, is so paralysed by the responsibility and the possibility of failure that he does nothing with the responsibilities that have been entrusted to him and consequently there is no development and no growth. When the boss returns the first two are rewarded and the third is sacked.

Jesus told this parable 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. It has to be said that this was and is an awesome responsibility and we can understand why the third worker was paralysed by fear at the prospect. However, it also shows the value that Jesus saw in his disciples and sees in us. It is amazing but true that God believes in us enough to entrust us with working towards the coming of his kingdom, on earth as in heaven.

So the story suggests that we have a responsibility to use all that we have for the benefit of the world. If the Boss represents God then his property is the world and we, his workers, are placed in charge of his world and given responsibility for its change and development. It is also worth noting that in the story we have the resources needed for this responsibility. The Boss gives out resources alongside responsibilities.

How we respond to this situation is what is at the heart of the Jesus’ story. The faithful workers are those that accept this responsibility and act on it. The unfaithful worker is the one who does nothing, who does not act.

Can we say something similar? Are we faithful or unfaithful workers? Are our lives dedicated to using the gifts which God has given to us for the benefit of others and our world? Do we recognise that each of us has much that we can give; that we are all people with talents and possessions however lacking in confidence and means we may sometimes be?

We all have something we can offer, so how will we respond? How can we, through our lives and work, benefit and develop the world for which God has given humanity responsibility? What resources - in terms of abilities, job, income and possessions - has God given to us in order to fulfil our responsibility to benefit and develop the world?

Will we be faithful or unfaithful servants? How will we respond?

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Larry Norman - I Am A Servant.

Karamsar Gurdwara visit

Yesterday I took a group of ordinands from the North Thames Ministerial Training Course at St Mellitus College on a visit to the Karamsar Gurdwara in Ilford.

The Gurdwara building was originally a Labour Hall which, in the early 1990’s, was acquired and converted into a Gurdwara by the local Sikh community under the guidance of Sant Partap Singh. Initially a single storey building with a prayer hall (Darbar) in the front and the community kitchen (Langar) towards the rear, the Gurdwara enjoyed tremendous success by catering to the spiritual and emotional needs of the community and soon outgrew the existing facilities. 

In 1998 a project was started to build a newly designed Gurdwara. The culmination of this effort is the magnificent Gurdwara now standing in place of the old Labour Hall. It was officially opened in April 2005 to coincide with Vaisakhi celebrations – commemorating the birth of the Khalsa Panth.

The building gracefully combines traditional sikh and mughlai designs with modern western architecture. Its façade and distinctive domes are perhaps its most striking features. Carved entirely from pink sandstone in Rajasthan-India, it was shipped to the UK and reassembled in-situ. The foyer is a grand and simple space with a skylight bringing in natural light all the way from the third floor. It has prayer halls on the first and second floors with the Langar hall on the ground floor. The interior is all white and uncomplicated.  

Our guide to the Gurdwara was Lakhvir Singh Bhui, who shared stories about the Gurus with us as well as information about Sikh beliefs and practices. It was a very interesting visit for us all and everyone was impressed with the hospitality and welcome. 

For anyone wanting to find out more about interfaith engagement the national and Greater London Presence & Engagement sites are the best first ports of call - http://www.londonpen.org/ and http://www.presenceandengagement.org.uk/.

The training materials I have prepared for parishes on Living with other faiths can be downloaded from the Greater London PEN site - http://www.londonpen.org/?page_id=702.

Information about interfaith initiatives in our parish can be found at: Sophia Hub (multi-faith social enterprise project) - http://stjohns7kings.org.uk/sophia-hub; and Scriptural Reasoning Group - http://joninbetween.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/scriptural%20reasoning.

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Noel Paul Stookey - One And Many.

New Contextual Theology Centre website

The Contextual Theology Centre (CTC) equips churches to engage with their communities: to understand and enter more deeply into the communities where God has placed them; to discern and respond to his presence and action, and so to engage in faithful and effective witness.

CTC have recently launched a new website. As well as containing courses and resources for use by local congregations and small groups, the website also has details of events to which you are warmly invited, such as our bi-monthly community Bible study. Visit the website by clicking here. 

A monthly emailed update is also available to inform you about their work, tell you about their events, resources and projects and highlight some of their partner congregations and organisations.

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Alice Cooper - I Am Made Of You.