Rouault-Fujimura: Soliloquies

The latest Image Update includes a review of Rouault-Fujimura: Soliloquies by Thomas S. Hibbs:

"At first glance, it would be hard to imagine two artists with more divergent backgrounds: on the one hand, the twentieth-century French painter, Georges Rouault (1871-1958) and on the other, the Japanese-American painter, Makoto Fujimura (1960-).

Rouault was a devout Catholic deeply rooted in European history; Fujimura is an evangelical who has grown up a global citizen of two cultures. Rouault used oil paints to depict the life of Christ—especially the suffering Christ—and Fujimura uses semi-precious minerals in the Nihonga style to create semi-abstractions that tend to only hint at recognizable subjects. And yet there is something fascinating and absolutely correct in the pairing of Rouault and Fujimura, as happened recently with an exhibition at the Dillon Gallery in New York City and a companion volume (published by Square Halo Press), written by Thomas S. Hibbs, both with the title of Rouault-Fujimura: Soliloquies.

Seen together, it suddenly becomes clear that both artists love color and particularly the kind of haunting blues, golds, and reds that suggest the interpenetration of matter and transcendence. Both artists see the world through the Christian vision but find ways to make their works enact that vision rather than simply preach or explain it. Both artists are contemporary and edgy while at the same time drawing deeply on medieval techniques and ideas (Rouault to medieval stained glass and Fujimura to the classic Nihonga masters)."

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a-ha - Foot Of The Mountain.

Family Health event

FaithAction, a strategic partner of the Department of Health, is hosting an event around Family Health on 9th February 2010. This event will showcase a number of members and their work in communities on the ground, as well as show their ability to work with those termed ‘Hard to reach’ and change the health of families in their communities.

Health and wellbeing affects every aspect of our lives and therefore faith based organisations have a key role in tackling such issues in their work in the community.

This event is for any organisation working with families in the community.

Guest speakers include: Philippa Stroud from the Centre for Social Justice; Avril McIntyre from LifeLine Community Projects; and representatives from the Department of Health Strategic Partners. Date: 9th February 2010. Time: 9:30am till 3pm. Lunch included. Free places are limited, so book asap. Venue: Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place , London , W1B 1AD

The day will cover:

• Essential information on potential future government strategy for the Third Sector;
• The Role and growing important of the third sector in a recession;
• Briefing from Philippa Stroud, the Director of the Centre for Social Justice and a leading light on Conservative thinking; and
• Key insights from Department of Health and Strategic Partners.

This event will be interactive and will be an opportunity to both access information and also contribute to central policy agenda. This event is aimed at Chief Executives, Trustees, Senior Fundraisers and Third Sector Managers. To book your place or for further information, contact Felicity Holland on 0845 094 6350 or events@faithaction.net.

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Ian Dury - Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3.

Ordinary transformations

John 2. 1-11 is a highly symbolic story of transformation. It is a story that happens on the third day; the day which will become the day of resurrection. The third day is the day when what was dead comes back to life and here we have a story of a wedding feast which is about to descend into disaster as the wine fails but which is then saved when water is turned into wine.

The water which becomes wine is that which was used for ritual washing. There were many reasons in Jewish law why cleansing from ritual impurities was required, so this was water which was in regular use. Jesus turns this water into wine which, at the Last Supper, was to become the symbol of his death. This wine of his death, unlike the water, is a once-for-all sacrifice for sin, just as the miraculous wine created at this wedding was a never-to-be repeated wine.

The wine saves the wedding feast and reminds us of the wedding which is still come between the bridegroom Jesus and his bride, the Church. That marriage is a symbol of God’s coming kingdom in which the governing principle is, “love one another.” Through this symbolic action Jesus is also seen to have moved from being the carpenter’s son to being God’s Son, the messiah.

So, we have a story which is rich in symbolism and one where the symbolism speaks of sacrifice and transformation. Each transformation involves something ordinary – water, a wedding, and a carpenter’s son. Throughout his ministry Jesus is constantly taking ordinary, everyday things and transforming them so that they express something of God and his kingdom:

Jesus takes water and transforms it into the very best wine.
Jesus takes a child’s lunch and feeds 5,000, with 12 baskets left over.
Jesus takes bread and wine saying this is my body and my blood.
Jesus takes human life and makes it reveal God.
Jesus takes the ordinary and transforms it.

Jesus tells stories of lost coins, lost sheep, lost people, of seeds and weeds, of yeast and mustard and figs, of shepherds and farmers, workers and tenants, masters and servants, widows and judges, the proud and the penitent, the beaten up and the foreigner, the wealthy and the starving.

Jesus says,
He is the bread of life, we will not hunger.
He is the water of life, we will not thirst.
He is the light of the world, we will see.
Jesus takes the ordinary and draws out revelation.

Jesus says,
We are the salt of the world, the taste bringers.
We are the light of the world, the clear sight bringers.
Jesus takes the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,
the weak things of the world to shame the strong,
the lowly things, despised things and the things that are not
to nullify the things that are.
Jesus called the 12 and the 72,
Those who were not wise, not influential, not of noble birth
to change the world.
Jesus calls you.

Jesus calls us to transformation. A transformation that is, as in the symbolism of this story, from constant impurity to purity through Jesus’ actions. This transformation occurs as we take into ourselves Christ’s sacrifice – as we drink the wine that represents his blood shed for us – and, when we do so, we become part of the best wedding feast possible – the wedding of Jesus and his bride the Church – which is the Kingdom of God, where the governing principle is, “love one another.”

Christianity is a religion of transformation and change because we are to grow into the likeness of Christ by being conformed to the pattern of his death and resurrection. We act out this story of transformation leading to celebration each time we celebrate communion. The bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ for us and we receive Christ into our lives being changed into his likeness in the process. We may arrive at communion as ordinary human beings but we leave as those who are being transformed into the very image and body of Christ himself.

Are we receiving Christ’s body and blood in order that we become like him? Is that why we come? Is that our prayer? Is that the one thing that we desire above all else?

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Pierce Pettis - That Kind Of Love.

Inspired for service

Last Friday, while on a pastoral visit, I was asked where God is in the tragedy of the Haiti earthquake. Now there are no pat answers to a question like that, particularly for those caught up in the disaster itself, but in responding I talked about God becoming a victim of violence and death in order to show his love to us which suggests that he is alongside all who are victims themselves and about the inspiration that Christ's sacrifice has been for others to go and do likewise which suggests that he is inspires many of those bringing aid and relief.

That same evening I was at Solid:Remix, a youth event in Chelmsford Cathedral with the youth group from St John's Seven Kings. It featured giant Inflatables, big screen console games, music, graffiti art and much more. You might have thought it was just about young people having a good time and forgetting about the troubles of the world but, as part of the worship that followed the games, these young people were challenged to become people who use their God-given talents and abilities for the benefit of others. The situation in Haiti was highlighted for prayer and people gave towards the relief fund.

The desperate needs of people in Haiti were not met by what happened at Solid:Remix but for young people to be challenged and inspired to use their lives and talents for the benefit of others is a sign of hope in a troubled world. This is something that the Church has done throughout its history with charitable foundations, education, healthcare and relief work all, in part, coming into being within our society as a result of those whom God inspired, through the example and love of Jesus, to serve others.

I don't pretend that what I've written about here is an answer to the question I was asked on Friday morning but I know that the world is a better place for what I saw happening on Friday evening. So, my prayer is that more of us will be inspired to give our lives, not just our money, in the service of those in need.

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Bruce Cockburn - Put It In Your Heart.

Faith-based models of leadership (6)

‘Whole’ work

Christian Schumacher argues in his book God in Work that all work processes involve cycles of ‘death and rebirth’. He calls these basic transformations which “occur in all authentic work processes whether in manufacturing, health, education or any other sector of society.”

Basic transformations in a work environment are easy to recognize because they:

• are the activities involving step-function or quantum-jump changes to the state of the product;
• are often irreversible; what is done cannot easily be undone;
• can be the most complex and difficult stages to control in a work process; and
• involve major physical, chemical, electrical, informational or other changes to the internal constitution or function of the product.

They represent the reason why other activities take place, embodying the purpose of all work processes.

Drawing on his Christian understandings of God as Trinity and of the Church as the body of Christ, Schumacher has identified seven principles for the structuring of work which are based around basic transformations and which lead to the creation of ‘whole’ work:

1. Teams and their leaders must be able to plan and organise as much of their own work as possible. This reflects the work of God the Father in originating human work.
2. Work must be organised around basic transformations to form ‘whole’ tasks. This reflects the work of God the Son in death and rebirth;
3. Teams should be able evaluate their own performance against agreed performance measures. This reflects the work of God the Spirit in bringing work to its fitting end.
4. Team working should be encouraged in order to reflect the nature of the Church.
5. Each team member should be able to plan, do and evaluate at least one transformation in their team’s processes. This reflects the nature of the Church as a body.
6. Each team should have a designated leader in order to reflect Christ’s leadership of the Church.
7. Each team should contain between four and twenty people in order that everyone can communicate fully with each other.

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Charlie Peacock - In the Light.

c4m webpage update (31)

The latest posts on the commission4mission webpage concern our most recent commission and the latest Faith & Image meeting and visit. Caroline Richardson is working on window designs for St Peter's Harold Wood while tomorrow's Faith & Image meeting on Hindu Worship and Philosophy will be followed by a visit to the Neasden Temple.

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Scott Stapp - The Great Divide.

Working with other faiths

The Diocese of Chelmsford has recently updated its webpage on working with other faiths and the page now includes links to two documents that I have written:

• Increasing participation in Faith Forums suggests answers to the question, 'how to be engaged in regeneration and faith forums in a way that is distinctively Christian?'
• Living with other faiths: A Presence & Engagement Resource is a resource pack to help congregations explore why we should engage with other faith communities and how we can go about doing so.

The Greater London Presence & Engagement Network are shortly to send a CD-Rom containing the Living with other faiths resource pack and other related materials to all parishes in Chelmsford, London and Southwark Dioceses. I will be running a half-day session on making use of the resource pack on Thursday 11th February.

I will also be running a Living with other faiths course in Chelmsford as part of the Diocese's Lent Course programme from Friday 26th February. Details can be found by clicking here.

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Jimmy Cliff & Sounds Of Blackness - Many Rivers To Cross.