Living God's Future Now w/c 26 July 2020

HeartEdge Living God's Future Now events this week - Church Leaders, Laypeople & Enquirers Welcome

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

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

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

Sunday 26 July

• ‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’: Sunday 26 July, 2.00 pm (BST), Zoom meeting - Topic: Matthew 26:57-68 / ‘Christ before the High Priest’, Gerrit van Honthorst, about.1617, NG3679. Email Jonathan for an invitation.

Monday 27 July

• PassionArt: The Art of Belonging: Monday, 27 July, 14:00 – 15:30 BST. Register for a zoom invite here. PassionArt aims to recover beauty at the heart of our communities through collective acts of creativity. In this workshop artists, curators and hosts from PassionArt projects will be in conversation with Azariah France-Williams.
• Biblical Studies class: Monday 27 July, 7.30-9.00 pm (BST), Zoom meeting. Register in advance here. 

Tuesday 28 July

• Sermon Preparation Workshop: Tuesday 28 July, 4.30pm (BST), livestreamed on the HeartEdge Facebook page.

Wednesday 29 July

• Community of Practitioners workshop: Wednesday 29 July, 4.30pm (BST), Zoom meeting. Email Jonathan for a zoom invitation.

Friday 31 July

• In the shadow of your wings: Friday 31 July, 4.30 pm (BST), Zoom meeting. An Interactive Online Event Presented by Deus Ex Musica which is a musical bible study on the Psalms. A unique ecumenical event that combines new musical interpretations of psalms with small-group discussion. Register for a zoom invitation here.

Special Mentions 

• Book Launch – Ghost Ship by Azariah France-William: Sat 01 August, 4pm (BST), on Zoom. Join Azariah and guests for readings, music, discussion and debate - and the launch of 'Ghost Ship - Institutional Racism and the Church of England'. Guests include Guli Francis-Dehquani, Samantha Lindo, Randolph Matthews, David Neita, Sharon & Calvert Prentis & Winnie Varghese. Register here.
• Living God’s Future Now Conversation: Thursday August 13, 6pm (BST), Zoom – Bishop Rachel Treweek and Sam Wells explore what it means to improvise on God’s Kingdom. Register here.

See www.heartedge.org to join HeartEdge and for more information.

Over the next few months we are looking at everything from growing online congregations, rethinking enterprise and community action to doing diversity, deepening spirituality and responding to social need.

Are we missing something? Be in touch about your ideas for development and change.

Please note that invitations will be sent 24hrs, 12hrs and 10 mins before an event, mostly to minimise the chance of misuse. Thank you.

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Bob Dylan and the Band - I Shall Be Released.

Living God's Future Now: Week commencing 7 June 2020

Living God’s Future Now is a series of online seminars, discussions and presentations hosted by HeartEdge. They are designed to equip, encourage and energise church leaders, laypeople and enquirers alike.

'Thank you for all you are supporting and enabling - I absolutely love everything that comes out of HeartEdge.' The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester

Sunday 7 June

• 2.00 pm (BST), Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story, zoom meeting - Course using fine art paintings as a spring board for deepening one’s Christian faith. Topic: Luke 1:26-38 / ‘The Annunciation’ Fra Filippo Lippi. To receive a zoom invite email Jonathan Evens at jonathan.evens@smitf.org.

Monday 8 June

• 7.30-9.00 pm (BST), Biblical Studies class, zoom meeting. Lecture looking at the New Testament Epistles followed by discussion. Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0rc-msqD8sEtE7n_X9u17Jl6R5CvzjjI5e?fbclid=IwAR2_ls4p5ou_7PBBg0Xz31fcSVVYx9JvoQ93hvWbuTjbYVIa9FpfIPChmg8.

Tuesday 9 June

• 4.30 pm (BST), Sermon Preparation Workshop, livestream. Sam Wells and Sally Hitchiner discuss the forthcoming Sunday's lectionary readings in the light of current events. Livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/theHeartEdge/.

Wednesday 10 June

• 4.30 pm (BST), Community of Practitioners workshop, zoom meeting - Opportunity for ministers and other leaders to reflect on issues relating to congregational renewal through commerce, culture and compassion. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org for an invitation.

Thursday 11 June

• 2.00 – 3.00 pm (BST), Wellbeing Group, zoom meeting. A reflective group providing opportunities to share thoughts and feelings as ongoing support in these unusual times. The group facilitator will be Kate Woodhouse. Join the group at https://bit.ly/2XyhFTe.
• 6.00pm (BST), Living God’s Future Now - HeartEdge monthly dialogue, zoom meeting. Sam Wells in dialogue with John McKnight. To receive a zoom invite email Ben Sheridan at ben.sheridan@smitf.org.

Friday 12 June

• 10.00am (BST), Renewal from the edge, zoom meeting. Azariah France-Williams, Helen Jacobi and Fiona MacMillan explore how lived experience of marginalisation can shape our prophetic and political thinking, enabling us to be most truly who we might be. To receive a zoom invite register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/renewal-from-the-edge-tickets-108142868230.
• 2.30 pm (BST), Seeing Salvation, zoom meeting. Jonathan Evens shares practical approaches to using art in church settings. Session 2: Art and contemplation. Email jonathan.evens@smitf.org for an invitation.

See www.heartedge.org to join HeartEdge and for more information.

Click here to view past Living God's Future Now sessions including the recent Imaging the Invisible interviews with the artists Sophie Hacker and Matthew Askey.

Azariah France-Williams, who will contribute to 'Renewal from the edge', was the preacher at St Martin-in-the-Fields this morning. His sermon can be heard here. The poem that begins his sermon can be found here. His blogpost "The death of George Floyd is the death of every black human" has been posted by SCM Press, the publisher of his forthcoming book Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism and the Church of England.

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Aretha Franklin - A Change Is Gonna Come.

'Faith: An Exhibition' by Russell Haines

 

Photographs by Philip Dawson & myself

Faith is an exhibition which explores different faiths, religions and belief systems, promoting tolerance and understanding in this unstable world. Huge, expressive portraits show the diverse nature of belief, and allow the subjects to explain their story in their own words. It features people of faith - and no faith … Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, pagans, Rastafarians, atheists and a Zoroastrian. The artist, Russell Haines, notes that, in painting the series, he came to know his subjects “as people first and foremost.”

First shown at Gloucester Cathedral, this show is currently at All Hallows by the Tower in the City of London before moving on to various venues in Cambridge during July. Wherever shown, this is an exhibition that seeks to begin a conversation among people of faith and none by exploring both the diversity of faith, and the commonalities we all possess.

Haines, who originally only took up painting six years ago for medical reasons following a stroke, wants his art to help communities and deliver social impact: “I hope in a small way my art can help the viewer to see past the label and see instead the person contained within the portrait. Each of them is unique and yet also very alike, trying to live their lives in the best way they can. The only difference is how each of them expresses their view of the world. Is that such a big difference?” Russell Haines January 2017

To create this show, Haines painted portraits of over thirty people in Gloucester, where he lives, who represent the diverse faith communities in that city. Personal statements of what faith means to the individual depicted were recorded in the paintings, in writing and on film. Four documentaries made in collaboration with the University of Gloucestershire’s film school complement the portraits, along with other multi-media installations. In addition, a book has been published with the written statements alongside each portrait.

The paintings - like the subject they set out to address – are huge. Philip Dawson has suggested that “even the impressive scale of these canvasses can’t contain the portraits,” as these “images fizz with high-voltage energy.” Dawson writes that they utilise a “graffiti-style collage of controlled chaos over-painted with multi-coloured, multi-layered strokes” which create “a halo around most of the portraits; incorporating just-visible family photographs, religious symbols, newspaper cuttings, facts and figures and verses from scripture as well as secular texts.”

In this way, the lives of the faithful are exhibited on these canvases, “with all their doubts, contradictions and complexities exposed.” “The style and technique provide a glimpse of what’s going on ‘inside’ the heads of these people, as well as what’s on the surface.” Haines has said that: “Painting each of the participants has meant being in serious conversation with them about their lives and their personal beliefs, how they came to believe and why they believe. Hearing their stories and immersing themselves in their lives, as I painted them, means I have come to know them as people first and foremost.” One of the subjects, Zerbanoo Gifford, a Zoroastrian, explains in the exhibition guide, “I believe that my whole DNA is imbued with my heritage.” This exhibition invites us “to paddle in that stream of consciousness; to share in and continue the conversation in our own imaginations.”

The exhibition includes the first portrait of the Bishop of Gloucester, The Right Reverend Rachel Treweek, the first female Bishop to sit in the House of Lords. The Bishop, the artist, and Reverend Mark Paulson, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Interfaith Advisor, all contributed to the exhibition’s Private View. In her speech, Bishop Rachel explained that we can’t re-write previous chapters of the story of humanity - but we can all help to write a new one.

She said that she knows she is a ‘broken’ person and so does not seek to judge others if she doesn’t agree with them – and is therefore not offended by those who hold views that are different to her own. In concluding her remarks, she said: “God has called me by name - my prayer is that you will all become the person god has created you to be.”

‘Faith – An Exhibition’ by Russell Haines is at All Hallows by the Tower until 15 June. Monday – Saturday 10.00am – 4.00pm, Sundays 1.00 – 4.00pm.

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Violent Femmes - Faith.