The Kingdom of God has come near you

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Mary's Runwell and St Catherine's Wickford this morning:

In the National Gallery in 2013 you could find a St. Francis without a head and with a candy-grabber crane that went inside his body and which, if you were lucky, pulled out a T-shirt saying chastity, obedience and poverty; another St. Francis was mounted on a donation box and, when you put money in, he hit himself over the head with a crucifix. Michael Landy’s large-scale sculptures consisted of fragments of National Gallery paintings cast in three dimensions and assembled with old machinery, cogs and wheels, meaning that visitors could crank the works into life with a foot pedal mechanism.

They sound like pieces designed to mock St. Francis and other Saints represented and yet Landy is an artist who is fascinated by the renunciation and kindness that Saints like Francis have shown through their lives. Landy is best known for two works. The first being an installation in a former C&A store on Oxford Street, where over a two week period, he destroyed all his possessions except for the clothes in which he stood. The second being ‘Acts of Kindness’ where Landy asked members of the public who had witnessed or taken part in acts of kindness while travelling on the tube, to write about them. So, as at least one of the art critics reviewing the show at the National Gallery, has noted while enjoying the jokiness of the lucky dip St. Francis, “you also sense that Landy thinks Britain could do with a little of St Francis’s spirit.”

St. Francis lived out his faith and that is what today’s Gospel reading (Luke 10. 1 – 11, 16 – 20) is all about. This passage from Luke’s Gospel gives us Jesus’ inspirational team talk just before sending his disciples out to be his advance guard preparing those in the towns and other places to be visited by Jesus shortly after. He gives his disciples a message to share – “The Kingdom of God has come near you” – but his main focus is on the behaviour and attitude of his disciples; the way in which they live and act.

He instructs them to live simply (“don't take a purse or a beggar's bag or shoes”); to be focused (“don't stop to greet anyone on the road”); to be peace givers (“whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’”); accept hospitality (“stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you”); bring healing (“heal the sick in that town”); share your message (“say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near you.’”); and move on when not accepted (“the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you”).

These instructions of Jesus became a model for itinerant preachers throughout Church history including St. Francis and his followers. The words “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words” are often attributed to St. Francis but, while certainly reflecting something of what he said and did, that is not a phrase he actually used. ‘Francis did focus on proclaiming the word in deeds – as well as in words. And if you have ever read any of Francis’ own writings it is easy to see that Scripture is infused everywhere in his words, his life and his being – and his actions. It is easy to see where the oft-quoted phrase came from; for example, the Legend of the Three Companions’ includes this inspirational team talk from St. Francis:

“Calling together the six brothers, Saint Francis, since he was full of the grace of the Holy Spirit, predicted to them what was about to happen. “Dearest brothers,” he said, “let us consider our vocation, to which God has mercifully called us, not only for our own good, but for the salvation of many. We are to go throughout the world, encouraging everyone, more by deed than by word, to do penance for their sins and to recall the commandments of God. Do not be afraid that you seem few and uneducated. With confidence, simply proclaim penance, trusting in the Lord, who conquered the world. Because by his Spirit, He is speaking through and in you, encouraging everyone to be converted to him and to observe his commandments”’ (http://friarmusings.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/preach-the-gospel-at-all-times-if-necessary-use-words/)

But what has all this to do with us, as we are generally not being called by God to become itinerant preachers? The answer is very simple, that our actions, as well as our words, speak powerfully about our faith. Negatively, this is the reason why Christians are often criticised as being hypocrites; others look at what we do and complain that we aren’t practising what we preach. When our actions and our words come together, however, then our witness is powerful; to see that we only have to think of examples provided by Saints like Francis or more recent followers of Christ like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero, Desmond Tutu, among others.

This is also one reading of the message which Jesus gave his disciples to proclaim. Do you remember what it was? It was not quite the message that we might have expected or anticipated. The disciples weren’t given the message that ‘God is love’ or to ‘repent and believe’; instead they were told to say that “The Kingdom of God has come near you.”

What did that mean? The disciples were the heralds for Jesus’ imminent arrival in that place, so it would certainly have meant Jesus is coming and the Kingdom of God arrives where he arrives. But, because the disciples were also living out their faith in practice, as those bringing peace and healing into the communities they visited, it also meant that the Kingdom of God could be seen in their lives and examples too. This can still be true for us today. Doing good, for Christians, is not about our salvation – it’s not about earning God’s love – instead it is a consequence of our salvation; because God has loved us so much, we then want to love others and, as we do, the Kingdom of God comes close to those we love, help and heal.

That is the challenge of this passage for us today and so, in the words of St. Francis:

Dearest brothers and sisters let us consider our vocation, to which God has mercifully called us, not only for our own good, but for the salvation of many. We are to go throughout the world, encouraging everyone, more by deed than by word, to do penance for their sins and to recall the commandments of God. Do not be afraid that you seem few and uneducated. With confidence, simply proclaim penance, trusting in the Lord, who conquered the world. Because by his Spirit, He is speaking through and in you, encouraging everyone to be converted to him and to observe his commandments.

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Big Star - The Ballad Of El Goodo.

Turning our understanding of life upside down

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

At my first training weekend as a curate the then Bishop of Barking, David Hawkins, performed a handstand to demonstrate the way in which Jesus, through his teaching in the beatitudes (Luke 6: 20-26), turns our understanding of life upside down. His action turned our expectations of Bishops and their behaviour upside-down at the same time as it perfectly illustrated his point.

G. K. Chesterton used a similar image in writing about St Francis of Assisi: “[Saint] Francis, at the time … when he disappeared into the prison or the dark cavern, underwent a reversal of a certain psychological kind … The man who went into the cave was not the man who came out again … He looked at the world as differently from other men as if he had come out of that dark hole walking on his hands … If a man saw the world hanging upside down, with all the trees and towers hanging head downwards as in a pool, one effect would be to emphasise the idea of dependence … It would make vivid the Scriptural text which says that God has hanged the world upon nothing.”

In what ways do these images and Jesus’ teaching in the beatitudes turn our understanding of life upside down? Jesus’ radical heartbeat can be sensed in every word of the Sermon on the Mount. The core of the sermon is a call for God’s people to be entirely different. Some of the greatest examples of the call to be different are found in the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes give us a sense of the radical kingdom lifestyle that Jesus calls us to. It is as if Jesus has crept into the window display of life and changed the price tags. It is all upside down. In a world where ‘success’ and ‘self-sufficiency’ are applauded, and ‘the beautiful people’ are ambitious, accomplished and wealthy, Jesus teaches: “Blessed are you who are poor.” Our culture encourages us to discard guilt and the sorrow that accompanies pangs of conscience. Happiness is everything, entertainment is king but Jesus teaches: “Blessed are you who weep now.”

Donald Kraybill writing about this upside down kingdom says: “Jesus startles us … good guys turn out to be bad guys. Those we expect to receive the reward get a spanking instead. Those who think they are headed for heaven land in hell. Paradox, irony and surprise permeate the teachings of Jesus. They flip our expectations upside down. The least are the greatest. The immoral receive forgiveness and blessing. Adults become like children. The religious miss the heavenly banquet. The pious receive curses. Things aren’t like we think they should be. We’re baffled and perplexed. Amazed we step back. Should we laugh or should we cry? Again and again, turning our world upside down, the kingdom surprises us.”

It is the humble poor who know their need of God and those who have nothing who know they need everything. So, we should pray for those moments when we and others experience poverty, hunger and sadness, as they are moments when we are more likely to turn our faces to God looking for salvation. We need to pray for the opening of doors in us and others that gain and comfort have locked tight.

The Gospel announcement, our salvation, is truly comprehensive, is truly for all, because it is offered to losers, by circumstance or choice. The poor have no means of becoming rich but the rich have within themselves the possibility of becoming poor. There is nothing that we don’t have that will bar our entry to this upside-down kingdom and so we can pray to be rid of what we do have that God’s kingdom may truly come to all. In this way, as the Beatitudes state, our lives are turned upside down and we are blessed with poverty, with grief, with meekness, with hunger, with mercy, with purity, with peacemaking, and with persecution (Gerard Kelly, Humanifesto).

As opposed to the survival of the fittest or looking after No. 1, the kingdom of God, as it is described in the Beatitudes, is a place of happiness for those who know they are spiritually poor, a place of comfort for those who mourn, a place of receptivity for those who are humble, a place of satisfaction for those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires, a place of mercy for those who are merciful, a place in which God is seen by the pure in heart, a place in which those who work for peace are called God’s children, and a place which belongs to those who are persecuted because they do what God requires. That is what those, like St Francis, that we call saints came to realise. It is what we must seek through prayer as we too respond to our calling to be saints.

May God forgive our attempts to be loved, our pride, our pleasure-seeking and our leisure-seeking and instead turn our lives upside down and bless us with poverty, with grief, with meekness, with hunger, with mercy, with purity, with peacemaking, with persecution and with his upside down kingdom. Amen.

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Victoria Williams - Love.

God's upside-down kingdom

Here's my sermon as shared at this morning's Eucharist in St Catherine's Wickford: 

At my first training weekend as a curate the then Bishop of Barking, David Hawkins, performed a handstand to demonstrate the way in which Jesus, through his teaching in the beatitudes, turns our understanding of life upside down. His action turned our expectations of Bishops and their behaviour upside-down at the same time as it perfectly illustrated his point.

Jesus is depicted upside-down in the painting Jesus Striped and Stripped created by Cedric Baxter for a set of Australian Stations of the Cross. Victoria Emily Jones has written that “Baxter's tenth station captures Jesus mid-tumble, naked and abused and down on his way to death, but what Christians know and glory in, especially during the Easter season, is that he's circling back. He's turning a cartwheel! The upside downness of Jesus in this image challenges us to look at Passion Week with the right perspective: as a journey that brings Christ low only to raise him up.”

G. K. Chesterton used a similar image in writing about St Francis of Assisi: “[Saint] Francis, at the time … when he disappeared into the prison or the dark cavern, underwent a reversal of a certain psychological kind … The man who went into the cave was not the man who came out again … He looked at the world as differently from other men as if he had come out of that dark hole walking on his hands … If a man saw the world hanging upside down, with all the trees and towers hanging head downwards as in a pool, one effect would be to emphasise the idea of dependence … It would make vivid the Scriptural text which says that God has hanged the world upon nothing.”

In what ways do these images and Jesus’ teaching in the beatitudes turn our understanding of life upside down? Jesus’ radical heartbeat can be sensed in every word of the Sermon on the Mount. The core of the sermon is a call for God’s people to be entirely different. One writer identifies the key text of the sermon to be Matthew 6: 8, “Do not be like them.” Like lights set on stands (Matthew 5:14), like flavourful salt (Matthew 5:13) or like saints, the children of God are not to take their cue from the people around them but from God, and to be known by their radical lifestyle.

Some of the greatest examples of the call to be different are found in the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes give us a sense of the radical kingdom lifestyle that Jesus calls us to. It is as if Jesus has crept into the window display of life and changed the price tags. It is all upside down. In a world where ‘success’ and ‘self-sufficiency’ are applauded, and ‘the beautiful people’ are ambitious, accomplished and wealthy, Jesus teaches: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Our culture encourages us to discard guilt and the sorrow that accompanies pangs of conscience. Happiness is everything, entertainment is king but Jesus teaches: “Blessed are those who mourn.” In our competitive world, self-help seminars teach assertiveness and power is to be sought and used but Jesus teaches “Blessed are the meek.”

Donald Kraybill writing in The Upside-Down Kingdom about this upside down kingdom says: “Jesus startles us … good guys turn out to be bad guys. Those we expect to receive the reward get a spanking instead. Those who think they are headed for heaven land in hell. Paradox, irony and surprise permeate the teachings of Jesus. They flip our expectations upside down. The least are the greatest. The immoral receive forgiveness and blessing. Adults become like children. The religious miss the heavenly banquet. The pious receive curses. Things aren’t like we think they should be. We’re baffled and perplexed. Amazed we step back. Should we laugh or should we cry? Again and again, turning our world upside down, the kingdom surprises us.” 

It is the humble poor who know their need of God and those who have nothing who know they need everything. So we should pray for those moments when we and others become poor in spirit, bereaved, meek, hungry, thirsty, as they are moments when we are more likely to turn our faces to God looking for salvation. We need to pray for the opening of doors in us and others that gain and comfort have locked tight.

The Gospel announcement, our salvation, is truly comprehensive, is truly for all, because it is offered to losers, by circumstance or choice. The poor have no means of becoming rich but the rich have within themselves the possibility of becoming poor. There is nothing that we don’t have that will bar our entry to this upside-down kingdom and so we can pray to be rid of what we do have that God’s kingdom may truly come to all.

In this way, as the Beatitudes state, our lives are turned upside down and we are blessed with poverty, with grief, with meekness, with hunger, with mercy, with purity, with peacemaking, and with persecution (Gerard Kelly, Humanifesto).

As opposed to the survival of the fittest or looking after No. 1, the kingdom of God, as it is described in the Beatitudes, is a place of happiness for those who know they are spiritually poor, a place of comfort for those who mourn, a place of receptivity for those who are humble, a place of satisfaction for those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires, a place of mercy for those who are merciful, a place in which God is seen by the pure in heart, a place in which those who work for peace are called God’s children, and a place which belongs to those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.

This is what those, like St Francis, that we call saints came to realise. It is what we must seek through prayer as we too respond to our calling to be saints.

May God forgive our attempts to be loved, our pride, our pleasure-seeking and our leisure-seeking and instead turn our lives upside down and bless us with poverty, with grief, with meekness, with hunger, with mercy, with purity, with peacemaking, with persecution and with his upside down kingdom. Amen.

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Delirious? - King of Fools.

Putting God first

Here's the reflection I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

In this passage (Luke 9. 57 – end) Jesus challenges his actual disciples and his would-be disciples about what it means to follow him and be a disciple.

In speaking to would-be disciples Jesus is emphatic that God comes first. Before commitments to home and to family, God comes first. This is the practical implication and application of Jesus’ summary of the Law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul; and with all your mind.” That is the greatest and most important commandment. Love for others follows on from it, as we are then told to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.

Jesus is talking here to people who were wanting to be part of his itinerant ministry but, as we also know, he did have followers who stayed in their homes and workplaces and who provided support for the team of disciples who were on the road. So, these words of Jesus don’t mean that every Christian should leave home and family in order to follow him but they do mean that wherever we are, we must put God first in our lives.

As one example, “The obligation to bury one’s father was regarded by many Jews of Jesus’ time as the most holy and binding duty of a son; but Jesus says that that is secondary to the call to follow him and announce God’s kingdom.” Jesus’ call cuts across family life and our traditional understandings of family. Here, even saying goodbye to your family before you leave seems to be criticised by Jesus!

There is no point pretending that any of this is easy. What Jesus says to his would-be disciples still strikes us today as extreme but he is doing is making clear the real choice for us; between putting God first or putting ourselves, our needs and commitments first. That is the choice and dilemma that faces us each day. If we are to be followers of Jesus, then we need to continually say to ourselves WWJD; What would Jesus do.

That’s what Francis of Assisi did and today is the day when the Church remembers him particularly. Francis was born in Assisi in central Italy either in 1181 or the following year. He was baptised Giovanni but given the name Francesco by his father, a cloth merchant who traded in France and had married a French wife. There was an expectation that he would eventually take over his father's business but Francis had a rebellious youth and a difficult relationship with his father. After suffering the ignominy of imprisonment following capture whilst at war with the local city of Perugia, he returned a changed man. He took to caring for disused churches and for the poor, particularly those suffering from leprosy. Whilst praying in the semi-derelict church of St Damian, he distinctly heard the words: "Go and repair my church, which you see is falling down." Others joined him and he prepared a simple, gospel-based Rule for them all to live by. As the Order grew, it witnessed to Christ through preaching the gospel of repentance, emphasising the poverty of Christ as an example for his followers. Two years before his death, his life being so closely linked with that of his crucified Saviour, he received the Stigmata, the marks of the wounds of Christ, on his body.

At his death, on the evening of 3 October 1226, his Order had spread throughout western Christendom. It did so, in part, because of inspirational team talks from St. Francis, such as this one recorded in the Legend of the Three Companions:

'Calling together the six brothers, Saint Francis, since he was full of the grace of the Holy Spirit, predicted to them what was about to happen. “Dearest brothers,” he said, “let us consider our vocation, to which God has mercifully called us, not only for our own good, but for the salvation of many. We are to go throughout the world, encouraging everyone, more by deed than by word, to do penance for their sins and to recall the commandments of God. Do not be afraid that you seem few and uneducated. With confidence, simply proclaim penance, trusting in the Lord, who conquered the world. Because by his Spirit, He is speaking through and in you, encouraging everyone to be converted to him and to observe his commandments”.’

Like Francis and his followers, wherever we are and whatever we are doing, Jesus calls us to proclaim the kingdom of God by deeds and words. 

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Donovan - The Lovely Day / Brother Sun, Sister Moon.

National Gallery: The Art of Creation conference

This one-day conference brings together speakers from a wide range of disciplines - scholars, artists, theologians, faith leaders and practitioners from different fields - to explore the intersection of art, theology, and ecology. 

The event, taking place at King's College London, aims to foster dialogue and collaboration between these fields and encourage innovative approaches.

The programme includes short papers that explore the relationship between art, theology, and ecology in relation to three works of art from the National Gallery’s collection: Monet’s 'Flood Waters', Van Gogh’s 'Long Grass with Butterflies', and Ruysch’s 'Flowers in a Vase'. It will also feature a reflection on the National Gallery's summer exhibition, 'Saint Francis of Assisi', from co-curator Joost Joustra.

I will be giving a paper on Job 38:1-33 and the Art of Creation.

Download the conference programme [PDF].

• Tuesday, 5 September 2023
• 10.30 am - 4 pm, doors open at 10 am
• Great Hall, King's College London - Strand Campus

Tickets

• Standard: £10
• Concessions: £5

Please book a ticket to attend this conference, which is taking place at King's College London - Strand Campus.

If you would prefer to watch the livestream of the conference, please book tickets here.

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Pissabed Prophet - Waspdrunk.

Artlyst: Saint Francis Of Assisi - A Timely Exhibition

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on Saint Francis of Assisi at the National Gallery:

'The National Gallery’s Saint Francis of Assisi exhibition explores how Saint Francis captured the imagination of artists, how his image has evolved over centuries, and how his universal appeal has transcended time, continents, and differing religious traditions. Through more than 40 works of art which span more than seven centuries and range from medieval painted panels and relic-like objects to manuscripts and a Marvel comic, the exhibition illustrates the claim that, apart from the saints of the New Testament, Francis is probably the most represented saint in the history of art. That reality came about because the growth of the Franciscan movement went hand in hand with the rapid spread of imagery by some of the greatest artists. Art historians have estimated that as many as 20,000 images of Francis might have been made just in the century after his death.

Francis embraced Christ, his message, and way of life – as is literally depicted for us in Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s ‘Saint Francis embracing the Crucified Christ’ – with a depth of insight and commitment that was unsurpassed in his own time and has remained so ever since. That is part of his continuing inspiration and attraction to so many, alongside the breadth of his radicalism, which embraces environmental concerns, gender equality, issues of poverty and wealth, and interfaith engagement.'

In the review I also mention Arthur Boyd: The Life of Saint Francis at the David Roche Foundation in Adelaide and Sacred Meetings - paintings by Greg Tricker at the Marylebone Theatre. For more on Arthur Boyd see here and for my Visual Commentary of Scripture exhibition that includes a piece from Boyd's Nebuchadnezzar series click here. My review of Greg Tricker's The Christ Journey for Art + Christianity can be found here. 

My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -

• Sean Scully A Humility Towards Nature
• Winslow Homer: American Passage An Interview With Biographer Bill Cross
• Grayson Perry Tapestries On Show At Salisbury Cathedral
• 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 InterviewedGenesis 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

Monthly diary articles -

• The Art Diary May 2023
• The Art Diary April 2023
• The Art Diary March 2023
• The Art Diary February 2023
• Surveying New Exhibitions With A Spiritual Twist January 2023 Art Diary
• Christmas: The Art Of Faith December 2022 Diary
• Soulages And Strange Clay November 2022 Art Diary
• Alexander de Cadenet And Michael Forbes October 2022 Diary
• Spiritual Joseph Beuys Plus More: September Diary
• Holiday Snaps – End Of Summer Art Diary
• Art Search: August 2022 Diary
• Re-imagining Essex July 2022 Diary
• Art Illuminating spirituality June 2022 Diary
• Venice To London May 2022 Diary
• Jacob Epstein, Louis Carreon, Titus Kaphar, Betty Spackman – April 2022 Diary
• Audrey Flack Carlo Crivelli And Robert Indiana – March Diary
• My Art Diary And Other Thoughts February 2022
• And On An Art Note: End Of Year Diary 2021
• International Autumn Art Exhibition Reviews
• And On An Art Note: End Of Year Diary 2021

Articles/Reviews -

• Why Critics Have A Problem With The Pre-Raphaelites?
• Religion and Spirituality in Post Impressionism National Gallery
• Black Artists From The American South Royal Academy
• Donatello: The Divine Fused With The Human V&A
• Lucian Freud And His Circle Surveyed In Two London Exhibitions
• A Question Of Clay: Strange Clay – Hayward Gallery
• William Kentridge: Merging Politics With Aesthetics – RA
• Winslow Homer: Beyond The Sea – National Gallery
• Hidden Depths: The Woman in the Window – Dulwich Picture Gallery
• Heavenly Visions: Churches As Spaces For Contemporary Art
• In The Black Fantastic London’s Best Summer Exhibition
• Hew Locke And The Christian Roots Of Carnival – Tate BritainLes Lalanne, Schütte And Gursky London Spring Exhibition Highlights
• Sensuous Sickert and Philpot Two Major UK Solo Exhibitions
• Raphael The Human And Divine – National Gallery
• Damien Hirst The Visceral Reality Of Death
• Ali Cherri: Artist in Residence National Gallery
• Surrealism Outside The Usual Story – Tate Modern
• Marcus Lyon Creates Fields of Vision At St Martin-in-the-Fields London
• Van Gogh Self Portraits The Infinite And The Ordinary
• Marvellous Icons: The London Jesuit Centre
• Albrecht Dürer Travels Of A Renaissance Artist – National Gallery London
• Diasporan Identities: Life Between Islands Caribbean British Art – Tate Britain
• Isamu Noguchi: Socially Engaged Art – Barbican Centre
• Pablo Bronstein: A This-World Vision Of Hell
• Bosco Sodi: In The Beginning Of Wisdom
• George Condo Lockdown Works Hauser & Wirth
• Theaster Gates Clay As A Profound Metaphor
• Mark Rothko: Mesmerising And Intimate Works On Paper
• 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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Mumford and Sons - The Cave.

ArtWay Visual Meditation: In Him All Things Hold Together

My latest Visual Meditation for ArtWay is on Canticle for Assisi by Andrew Vessey:

'This painting was the fruit of a visit to Assisi by the artist Andrew Vessey (b. 1945) and his wife. They were hosted by an artist who was then working on a ‘tavola’ of St Francis, to hang in the Franciscan Church in Assisi and match one made earlier on the life of St Clare, one of St Francis’ first followers and founder of a Franciscan order for women, The Poor Clares. Through excursions and little pilgrimages made during the stay Francis was brought to life for Vessey and his wife, enabling a vision of Christ to emerge – as had inspired St Francis at nearby San Damiano – when he began a painting intended to gather up his impressions of Assisi.

Vessey has described what happened as he painted: ‘As the painting developed something wonderful began to happen. Having painted the city steps and turrets, combining elements from above, below and around the city, its olive groves and poplar trees out on the plain, it was as if the arms and body of the crucified Christ became the perfect cohesion needed to hold everything together. The stretched out body of the crucified Christ … started to emerge through the countryside, wrapping even the hills in its embrace.’'

My review for Church Times of Andrew's recent exhibition at St Edmundsbury Cathedral can be found here.

My visual meditations include work by María Inés Aguirre, Giampaolo Babetto, Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Alexander de Cadenet, Christopher Clack, Marlene Dumas, Terry Ffyffe, Jake Flood, Antoni Gaudi, Nicola Green, Maciej Hoffman, Lakwena Maciver, S. Billie Mandle, Giacomo Manzù, Sidney Nolan, Michael Pendry, Maurice Novarina, Regan O'Callaghan, Ana Maria Pacheco, John Piper, Nicola Ravenscroft, Albert Servaes, Henry Shelton, Anna Sikorska, Alan Stewart, Jan Toorop, Edmund de Waal and Sane Wadu.

My Church of the Month reports include: All Saints Parish Church, Tudeley, Aylesford Priory, Canterbury Cathedral, Chapel of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, Hem, Chelmsford Cathedral, Churches in Little Walsingham, Coventry Cathedral, Église de Saint-Paul à Grange-Canal, Eton College Chapel, Lumen, Metz Cathedral, Notre Dame du Léman, Notre-Dame de Toute Grâce, Plateau d’Assy,Romont, Sint Martinuskerk Latem, St Aidan of Lindisfarne, St Alban Romford, St. Andrew Bobola Polish RC Church, St. Margaret’s Church, Ditchling, and Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, St Mary the Virgin, Downe, St Michael and All Angels Berwick and St Paul Goodmayes, as well as earlier reports of visits to sites associated with Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, Antoni Gaudi and Henri Matisse.

Blogs for ArtWay include: Congruity and controversy: exploring issues for contemporary commissions;
Photographing Religious Practice; Spirituality and/in Modern Art; and The Spirituality of the Artist-Clown.

Interviews for ArtWay include: Sophie Hacker, Peter Koenig and Belinda Scarlett. I also interviewed ArtWay founder Marleen Hengelaar Rookmaaker for Artlyst.

I have reviewed: Art and the Church: A Fractious Embrace, Kempe: The Life, Art and Legacy of Charles Eamer Kempe and Jazz, Blues, and Spirituals.

Other of my writings for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Church Times can be found here. Those for Artlyst are here and those for Art+Christianity are here. See also Modern religious art: airbrushed from art history?

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Sinead O'Connor - Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace.

The Kingdom of God has come near

Here's the sermon I preached for Holy Communion at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

In the National Gallery in 2013 you could find a St. Francis without a head and with a candy-grabber crane that went inside his body and which, if you were lucky, pulled out a T-shirt saying chastity, obedience and poverty; another St. Francis was mounted on a donation box and, when you put money in, he hit himself over the head with a crucifix. Michael Landy’s large-scale sculptures consisted of fragments of National Gallery paintings cast in three dimensions and assembled with old machinery, cogs and wheels, meaning that visitors could crank the works into life with a foot pedal mechanism.

They sound like pieces designed to mock St. Francis and other Saints represented and yet Landy is an artist who is fascinated by the renunciation and kindness that Saints like Francis have shown through their lives. Landy was raised in Essex and he’s currently mining his roots at the Firstsite Gallery in Colchester where he recently had his first major exhibition in a public gallery for almost a decade called ‘Welcome to Essex’ and where his largescale collage on ‘The Essex Way’ can still be seen.

Landy is best known for two works. The first being an installation in a former C&A store on Oxford Street, where over a two week period, he destroyed all his possessions except for the clothes in which he stood. The second being ‘Acts of Kindness’ where Landy asked members of the public who had witnessed or taken part in acts of kindness while travelling on the tube, to write about them. So, as at least one of the art critics reviewing the show at the National Gallery, has noted while enjoying the jokiness of the lucky dip St. Francis, “you also sense that Landy thinks Britain could do with a little of St Francis’s spirit.”

St. Francis lived out his faith and that is what today’s Gospel reading (Luke 10. 1 – 11, 16 – 20) is all about. This passage from Luke’s Gospel gives us Jesus’ inspirational team talk just before sending his disciples out to be his advance guard preparing those in the towns and other places to be visited by Jesus shortly after. He gives his disciples a message to share – “The Kingdom of God has come near you” – but his main focus is on the behaviour and attitude of his disciples; the way in which they live and act.

He instructs them to live simply (“don't take a purse or a beggar's bag or shoes”); to be focused (“don't stop to greet anyone on the road”); to be peace givers (“whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’”); accept hospitality (“stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you”); bring healing (“heal the sick in that town”); share your message (“say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near you.’”); and move on when not accepted (“the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you”).

These instructions of Jesus became a model for itinerant preachers throughout Church history including St. Francis and his followers. The words “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words” are often attributed to St. Francis but, while certainly reflecting something of what he said and did, that is not a phrase he actually used. ‘Francis did focus on proclaiming the word in deeds – as well as in words. And if you have ever read any of Francis’ own writings it is easy to see that Scripture is infused everywhere in his words, his life and his being – and his actions. It is easy to see where the oft-quoted phrase came from; for example, the Legend of the Three Companions’ includes this inspirational team talk from St. Francis:

“Calling together the six brothers, Saint Francis, since he was full of the grace of the Holy Spirit, predicted to them what was about to happen. “Dearest brothers,” he said, “let us consider our vocation, to which God has mercifully called us, not only for our own good, but for the salvation of many. We are to go throughout the world, encouraging everyone, more by deed than by word, to do penance for their sins and to recall the commandments of God. Do not be afraid that you seem few and uneducated. With confidence, simply proclaim penance, trusting in the Lord, who conquered the world. Because by his Spirit, He is speaking through and in you, encouraging everyone to be converted to him and to observe his commandments”’ (http://friarmusings.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/preach-the-gospel-at-all-times-if-necessary-use-words/)

But what has all this to do with us, as we are generally not being called by God to become itinerant preachers? The answer is very simple, that our actions, as well as our words, speak powerfully about our faith. Negatively, this is the reason why Christians are often criticised as being hypocrites; others look at what we do and complain that we aren’t practising what we preach. When our actions and our words come together, however, then our witness is powerful; to see that we only have to think of examples provided by Saints like Francis or more recent followers of Christ like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero, Desmond Tutu, among others.

This is also one reading of the message which Jesus gave his disciples to proclaim. Do you remember what it was? It was not quite the message that we might have expected or anticipated. The disciples weren’t given the message that ‘God is love’ or to ‘repent and believe’; instead they were told to say that “The Kingdom of God has come near you.”

What did that mean? The disciples were the heralds for Jesus’ imminent arrival in that place, so it would certainly have meant Jesus is coming and the Kingdom of God arrives where he arrives. But, because the disciples were also living out their faith in practice, as those bringing peace and healing into the communities they visited, it also meant that the Kingdom of God could be seen in their lives and examples too. This can still be true for us today. Doing good, for Christians, is not about our salvation – it’s not about earning God’s love – instead it is a consequence of our salvation; because God has loved us so much, we then want to love others and, as we do, the Kingdom of God comes close to those we love, help and heal.

That is the challenge of this passage for us today and so, in the words of St. Francis:

Dearest brothers and sisters let us consider our vocation, to which God has mercifully called us, not only for our own good, but for the salvation of many. We are to go throughout the world, encouraging everyone, more by deed than by word, to do penance for their sins and to recall the commandments of God. Do not be afraid that you seem few and uneducated. With confidence, simply proclaim penance, trusting in the Lord, who conquered the world. Because by his Spirit, He is speaking through and in you, encouraging everyone to be converted to him and to observe his commandments.

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Malcolm Guite - Songs and Sonnets.

The Canticle of the Creatures

Here is the reflection that I shared in the Choral Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields today:

I recently visited the Friary at Hilfield which is part of the Society of St Francis, an Anglican Franciscan Religious Order. They are followers of Jesus Christ after the manner of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology. Established in 1921 on the edge of the Dorset Downs and overlooking the Blackmore Vale, Hilfield has regularly provided refuge and rehabilitation for homeless men. Today, six Franciscan brothers form the core of a larger community who work on the Friary land - 19 acres of wildflower meadows and woodlands which have been designated as Special Nature Conservation Interest - and who offer hospitality to people of diverse backgrounds and needs. Each day is shaped by a pattern of prayer, meals together, work, reflection and recreation.

One of the many aspects of Hilfield that attracted my attention is their meditative Canticle Garden based on the Canticle of the Creatures which he composed towards the end of his life, a song which gives voice to all creation in praise and honour of God: Most High, all powerful, good Lord, To you be praise, glory, honour and blessing. Only to you, Most High, do they belong And no one is worthy to call upon your name. May you be praised, my Lord, with all your creatures…… and he goes on to include the sun, moon, stars, earth, water, fire, plants, fruits and flowers.

Brother Samuel from Hilfield has explained what Francis is doing in this Canticle as follows: ‘Everything gives praise, finds its true purpose, by being what it truly is and by doing what it does – the sun in shining, the moon in gleaming, the stars in glistening, the earth in producing fruit, fire in warming etc – and we, the human brothers and sisters of Francis, joining the song. Most people seem to think that worship is something done exclusively in and by churches – with organs and choirs and the like – and, certainly, the task of the Church is to offer praise and worship back to God, but Francis reminds us that when we worship in church we are joining in with something that has been going on since the beginning of time, since the ‘morning stars sang together’. Perhaps we should spend more effort and energy in trying to sing in harmony with them rather than just working our way through Hymns Ancient & Modern or Mission Praise! Having lived at Hilfield Friary now for a good number of years, I have seen from the experience of some of those who have come to us quite broken and lost and who have worked the land with us (and I know this from my own experience too) how engaging closely with creation can heal, restore and re-direct our lives; it can become an act of praise and worship. Singing from the same song-sheet with the whole created order brings us back into right relationship with ourselves, with each other and with the Source and Giver of all.’

It was for this reason that 'the Feast Day of Saint Francis was also designated World Animal Day in 1931 by ecologists in Florence Italy in order to bring focus to endangered species and celebrate animals everywhere. Numerous churches throughout the world observe the Sunday closest to October the 4th with a Blessing of the Animals, and animals are celebrated all over the world with celebrations in synagogues, parks and fields. The mission of World Animal Day is to: celebrate animal life in all its forms; celebrate humankind’s relationship with the animal kingdom; acknowledge the diverse roles that animals play in our lives – from being our companions, supporting and helping us, to bringing a sense of wonder into our lives; and acknowledge and be thankful for the way in which animals enrich our lives.'

'Today about 40% of all species on Earth are threatened with extinction due to habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, invasive species and illegal hunting, poaching and wildlife trade. There are about 3,100 animals classified worldwide as endangered and that number is growing larger every day. It is now more important than ever for people everywhere to take action to protect animals. Some simple steps you can take to protect animals are: protect wildlife habitats, pick up litter and participate in beach cleanups, recycle and reduce energy use and minimize the use of herbicides and pesticides.'

To take such simple steps is to begin to do what the Hilfield Community do, as they seek to put Jesus Christ at the heart of their community life and, following the example of St Francis, seek to: live in simplicity, humility and peace with each other; welcome others who come to visit us, especially the marginal and the stranger; have care for and delight in our environment; work for justice and peace in our world; witness to the abundant generosity of God in our life together; share the vision of living peacefully and sustainably in our world; and, as the Canticle of the Creatures enables us to do, join in the song of all creation in praise and thanksgiving.

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Sofia Gubaidulina - The Canticle of the Sun of St Francis of Assisi Part I.

Actions speak louder than words

Here is my sermon from yesterday's Choral Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

How do we react when the most significant person in our life isn’t around? Teenagers sometimes throw a party and trash the house when their parents are away. Workers might put their feet up and relax when their boss has gone away to a conference or training course. In the parables of Jesus that precede the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25. 31 - 46) we hear of a servant who got drunk and beat his fellow servants when his master was away while another buried the money he’d been given in the ground and did nothing with it for fear of what the master would do to him if he lost it.

Jesus told this parable and those that precede it, to prepare his disciples for his death, resurrection and ascension. He was going to leave them but he was entrusting them with the responsibility of continuing his mission and ministry in his physical absence.

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

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

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

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

Actions speak louder than words, they say. In this Parable, Jesus emphasises that it is actions, not words, that will count in the final judgement, when he says: ‘‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

Jesus said, in this Parable, that God’s judgement on us will be based on our actions; giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and visiting those in prison. These actions are to be the end result of our faith. St Francis of Assisi summed up this aspect of Jesus’ teaching well, when he said: ‘Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.’

Vincent de Paul was influenced by the Franciscans through his education. He was born in 1581 at Ranquine in Gascony and was ordained at the age of nineteen. He was something of a token priest until his conversion in 1609, when he resolved to devote himself and all he owned to works of charity. He founded communities for men and, with Louise de Marillac, helped to begin the Sisters of Charity, the first community of women not to be enclosed and which was devoted to caring for the poor and sick. Vincent worked for the relief of galley slaves, victims of war, convicts and many other groups of needy people. He became a legend in his own lifetime and died on this day in the year 1660.

If we need a role model in order to give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcome to the stranger, clothes to the naked and visits for those in prison, then Vincent provides an excellent of devotion to those who are in need. We would do well to follow in his footsteps.

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M Ward - Epistemology.

Carols for the Animals

Last night we hosted International Animal Rescue at St Stephen Walbrook in a celebration for all the animals this Christmas. The service featured traditional carols, the Choir of St Stephen Walbrook, mulled wine and minced pies plus readings by special guest Peter Egan (Downton Abbey). All of which made for a wonderful Christmas evening.

All the proceeds went to support the animal rescue projects of International Animal Rescue and the evening included a special presentation from Alan Knight OBE, Chief Executive of International Animal Rescue, on the orangutans in Borneo and the current forest fires emergency.

Here is the introduction, reflection and prayer that I shared as part of the service:

Welcome to St Stephen Walbrook for this special service of Carols for the Animals. I’ve been asked to begin by telling you a little about this wonderful building in which we meet and then to reflect briefly on our theme of carolling for the animals.

For over a thousand years a place of worship has stood on this site. Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, the present church, is the fourth to have stood here. At the time of its building the great dome was unique in England and it was from this church that Wren developed his plans for St Paul’s Cathedral. Many distinguished men of letters and of the arts have graced the life of this place and been buried here. They include John Dunstable the composer, Sir John Vanburgh dramatist and architect and Rev’d Robert Stuart de Courcey Laffan, who with Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games in 1890. Dr Chad Varah was for over 50 years the rector of St Stephen Walbrook and, among his many legacies, was the founding of Samaritans, the charity which exists that fewer people die by suicide.

Following on from the major social outreach programme involved in founding Samaritans, Chad Varah and the congregation wanted this iconic Wren building to express a theology of how they saw the gospel in relation to the world around them. That meant that the 17th century placing of the altar away from the people with the priest standing with his back to the congregation no longer expressed what they felt to be the immanent nature of the God they worshipped and served. Thus Henry Moore conceived this centrally placed altar made of travertine marble cut from the very quarry which provided the marble for Michelangelo’s work. In this way St Stephen’s was designed for people to gather as a community around the altar where God could be found at the centre. As you can see, Moore’s altar is surrounded with dazzling kneelers by the artist Patrick Heron. The opportunity for twentieth century artists and craftsmen to adorn the interior of St Stephen Walbrook came initially as a result of bomb damage in the Second World War, with that reordering being completed in the early 1980s.

All this is relevant to tonight’s Carol Service because what Christians celebrate at Christmas is God come to be with us in the person of Jesus, the babe born at Bethlehem. In Jesus, God moved into our neighbourhood, entered our world, and came to be with us by becoming one of us. That is what is symbolised by our central altar and is the reason why Jesus was called Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

The gospel according to Luke tells us that Jesus came to be with animals as well as humans. The new born Jesus was laid in a manger, which is a feeding trough for animals. So, we must imagine that there were certainly animals nearby! Jesus' first bed was an indicator of His nature and purpose. Rather than coming to earth amidst fanfare and in plush surroundings, the King of Creation and God's own Son was born among animals, with his very first visitors being lowly shepherds (caretakers of animals) from the fields.

That Jesus was born among animals is both a sign of his humility and also of his connectedness with God’s creation. Christians believe that the birth of Jesus begins a new world, a world of peace and love, a world which unites heaven and earth, a world which reflects the kind of world God originally intended; that is a world in which humans and animals live together harmoniously. So, in Isaiah we read words which it would be worth contemplating throughout this service: "The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain." (Isaiah 11:6-9)

A short poem by Ralph Hodgson says that:

'Twould ring the bells of Heaven
The wildest peal for years,
If Parson lost his senses
And people came to theirs,
And he and they together
Knelt down with angry prayers
For tamed and shabby tigers
And dancing dogs and bears,
And wretched, blind pit ponies,
And little hunted hares. 

Following the injunction we are given in that poem, let us pray …

God our Heavenly Father, maker of all living creatures,

You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land.

You inspired St. Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters.

Give us the grace to see all animals as gifts from You

and to treat them with respect for they are Your creation.

We pray for all animals who are suffering as a result of our neglect.

May all be happy. May all be without disease.

May all creatures have well-being and none be in misery of any sort.

Take our heartfelt prayers and fill Your ill or suffering animals

with healing light and strength to overcome whatever weakness of body they have.

And at this special time of year, make us glad with the yearly remembrance

of the birth of your Son Jesus Christ; who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

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Steve Scott - This Sad Music.