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Monday, 8 July 2024

Interviews update

My latest interview for ArtWay with with Hannah Rose Thomas following her latest 'Tears of Gold' exhibition and my latest interview for Artlyst is with Michael Petry regarding his upcoming exhibition 'In League with Devils' As a result, I am updating this index of interviews. I have carried out a large number of other interviews for Artlyst, ArtWay, Church Times, International Times, and Seen and Unseen. They provide a wide range of fascinating insights into the approaches and practices of artists, arts professionals, clerics, curators, performers, poets and writers.

They can be found at:

Artlyst

ArtWay

Church Times

International Times

Seen and Unseen

Also see my interviews with artist Henry Shelton here and here and David Hawkins, former Bishop of Barking, here, here and here.

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Aretha Franklin - Wholy Holy.

Artlyst - Michael Petry Discusses 'In League With Devils' with Revd Jonathan Evens

My latest interview for Artlyst is with Michael Petry regarding his upcoming exhibition 'In League with Devils':

'I’m interested in how belief systems interact with each other, and the secular world, because they’re very much at odds, particularly when parts of those beliefs call for actions that would be illegal or immoral or unethical. Those are the things I try to eke out in these projects.

I’m saying, how can we look at this without fighting, without violence, can we actually have a dialogue? That dialogue engages the secular world, because the basis is within the secular world. I think when you live in a world where religion is so contested, it is important that people have these dialogues.'

Find out more about this exhibition in my July Art Diary for Artlyst - click here.

Interviews -

Monthly diary articles -

Articles/Reviews -

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Black Sabbath - After Forever.

Sunday, 7 July 2024

Windows on the world (473)

Arranmore, 2024

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Supertramp - Lord, Is It Mine.

Being a disciple - learning styles and lifelong learning

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

I wonder whether you have ever identified the learning style that suits you best. If not, today’s an opportunity to think that through. Which of these learning styles fits you best?

o Activist – You like the opportunity to generate a lot of ideas and to think on your feet. You like to start things off, have a go and try things out. You're open minded and enthusiastic about new ideas but tend to get bored with the details of implementation. You tend to act first and consider the implications afterwards. You love bouncing ideas off other people and solving problems as part of a team but you also enjoy the limelight! You learn best when you're involved in new experiences, problems and opportunities; when you're working with others and by being thrown in the deep end.

o Reflector – You like to think about details carefully before taking action and you take a thoughtful approach. You enjoy being prepared and the chance to research and evaluate something. You welcome opportunities to rethink and reflect on what you've learned and to consider a situation from different perspectives. You like to make decisions in your own time, you keep a low profile and enjoy observing others and hearing their opinions before offering your own. You learn best by reviewing what's happened and mulling over what you've learned and when you have time to complete tasks without tight deadlines.

o Theorist – You are logical and objective and take a step by step approach to problem solving. You pay attention to the details and can be a perfectionist. You are good at translating what you see around you into theories and you're good at fitting things into an overall understanding. You're detached and analytical, rather than subjective or emotional in your thinking and you like to feel intellectually stretched. You learn best in complex situations where you have to rely on skills and knowledge and when you can question and probe the ideas behind things.

o Pragmatist – You like to see how things work out in practice and you enjoy experimenting. You're a down-to-earth problem solver and you like concepts that can be readily applied to your everyday life. You can get impatient with lengthy conceptual discussions which you regard as impractical because you like to see the relevance of your work and to see a practical advantage from using what you've learned. You learn best when there is an obvious link between the topic and job and when you have the chance to feedback on ideas. You love being shown techniques with obvious advantages (e.g. saving time or money) or when you are shown something you can copy (like a proven technique).

We all have a preference for one or the other of these and learn most easily when learning experiences fit with our preferred style but, in order, to become more rounded people its also good to step out of our comfort zones and stretch ourselves by using the other learning styles as well.

You’ve thought briefly about those different styles in relation to yourself and probably other people too, so now let’s think about them in relation to Jesus and the disciples. When Jesus called his first disciples and they dropped their nets to follow him, the disciples were in Activist mode: acting first and considering the implications afterwards; being thrown in the deep end and trying things out.

But then they spent most of their time doing what disciples of rabbi’s always did, sitting at the rabbi’s feet and listening to the rabbi’s teaching. Then they were in Theorist mode: paying attention; fitting things into an overall understanding; intellectually stretched; questioning and probing the ideas behind things.

Now, in today’s Gospel reading (Mark 6. 1-13), we see them going into Pragmatist mode by being asked to copy what they have been shown. Jesus sends them out two by two to have a go at doing what he has been doing: teaching and healing. Now they have to see how things work out in practice, apply the techniques that Jesus has taught them and solve problems in practice; like the problem of how to respond when they are rejected.

Later, when they return (and we read about this in Luke rather than Mark) they go into Reflector mode by reviewing with Jesus what happened while they were travelling preachers and healers and mulling over what they had learnt. They come back in great joy having had some great experiences and Jesus then puts what they have seen and done into the context of God’s plan for the world.

So, we can see the way in which the disciples benefited from different learning experiences and different learning styles at different times in their development.

When he gave his disciples the Great Commission just before his Ascension, Jesus said that they were to go and make disciples. What he was saying then is that all of us who follow Jesus are to be disciples and disciples are those who sit at the feet of the rabbi (in our case, Jesus) and learn from him. Just as Jesus took his disciples through a cycle of learning, so he wants to do the same with us. As part of that learning, the disciples were given roles and responsibilities and became leaders in the church but they never ceased to be disciples and always had more to learn.

It is the same for us. It is a little like the process of being ordained first as a deacon and then as a priest. Simply put, a deacon is a servant. Clergy are ordained first as a deacon to remind us that we are servants of Christ and his church first and foremost. When we are ordained as priest, we don’t then stop being a deacon and it doesn’t matter whether we then go on to further ordinations, for example as a bishop, we remain a deacon, a servant, throughout.

It is the same for us, whether we are a Licenced Lay Minister or Church Warden or Homegroup leader or Hall Bookings Manager or Choir Director or whatever role we might play in our church or our workplaces, as Manager or Secretary or Director or some other role. Whatever role or responsibility we have we are first and foremost a disciple, a learner, and, as a result, our learning should be lifelong and not only during particular periods of education.

We need to be reminded of that regularly because we all face the temptation to think that we have arrived – maybe as Christians, maybe in the role we carry out – when in fact we all have more to learn all the time. Not least, because we are learning from the perfection of Jesus himself and we always fall short of that perfection and therefore always have more to learn.

When we understand ourselves to be disciples, learners, first and foremost then it changes our attitude towards the roles we play. If we know that there is always something more we can learn then we pay attention to others and what they are doing rather than focusing on ourselves, we have a basic curiosity that makes us ask why are you doing that that way, instead of saying “it’s my way or the highway,” we have an underlying humility that recognises that I may have much to learn from your way.

Where are we in relation to these kinds of attitudes? Where are we in our learning cycle with Jesus? Where do we need to be stretched and challenged in our lives and learning styles? Are we inspired by the experience of having someone who is actively learning among us to be active learners ourselves?

What are you learning from Jesus at the moment? How is your faith changing and developing your life at the moment? How is your ministry growing in your home, in this church, in our community and in your workplace? These are the questions we need to ask if we are to be those who sit at the feet of Jesus in order to learn from his teaching and practice. These are the questions we need to ask and to answer if we are to be disciples. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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U2 - Atomin City.

Fulfilling the Law

Here's the sermon I shared this morning at St Mary Magdalene Great Burstead:

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the Deep Magic “was a set of laws placed into Narnia by the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea at the time of its creation. It was written on the Stone Table, the firestones on the Secret Hill, and the sceptre of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea.

This law stated that the White Witch, Jadis, was entitled to kill every traitor, and if someone denied her this right then all of Narnia would be overturned and perish in fire and water. However, unknown to Jadis, a deeper magic from before the dawn of Time existed, which said that if a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Stone Table would crack, and Death would start working backwards.”

So in this story, there is a Law which is about actions and consequences and there is a deeper Law which is about love. C. S. Lewis, who wrote the Narnia stories, was a Christian who drew on his understanding of Christian faith in writing his stories. It may be that he had passages like today's Gospel reading (Matthew 5. 20 – 26) in mind when he wrote about the deeper magic from before the dawn of Time.

Jesus is saying in his teaching from Matthew 5 about the Law that it is not enough simply to keep the Law. He wants us to go deeper than simple obedience of the Law and the deeper place into which he wants us to go is Love.

Most of us actually keep the laws of this land most of the time. On the whole, because the laws are prohibitions – do not’s, like do not murder or do not steal – and because we live in a time of relative wealth, our laws are not that difficult to keep.

But prohibitions simply keep us from doing harm to others. They don’t enable us to love others. Simply refraining from murdering others or stealing from others is enough to keep the Law (we call it keeping the peace) but doing these things doesn’t mean that I am actively loving anyone at all.

To love means that I have to do something more that simply keep the Law. That is what Jesus is teaching and illustrating here and it is what C. S. Lewis shows us in Narnia through his imaginative story.

Let’s think briefly about the way laws and love work together. Parents teach their children the rules of the road. To begin with, when children are very young, the rules of the road are very restrictive i.e. the child must never cross a road without a parent and must always cross at a crossing with the parent and while holding the parents hand. As the child grows, they are taught new rules for crossing the road; for me, that was the Green Cross Code - stop, look and listen. Now, the aim is that the child learns to judge for him or herself when it is safe to cross the road.

Eventually, the rules with which we began – don’t cross on your own, don’t cross unless you are at a crossing – are left behind because the child has learnt how to cross the road safely using their own initiative. Elbert Hubbard has said, “Initiative is doing the right things without being told.” We are able to use initiative because we have not only learnt the rules but have learnt to apply in our lives and situations. At this point, we are no longer restricted just to crossing the road at specific crossing places but can cross wherever we judge it to be safe to do so.

So, we have gone beyond the rules by learning and applying the rules. In other words, we have found the true purpose of those rules which our parents enforced when we were young; which is that we learn to cross the road safely by ourselves wherever we are.

Jesus is saying the same thing. The Law starts by keeping us safe – do not murder, do not steal. If we all abide by the Law then we do not harm each other. That is good, but it is not enough. We also need to learn to love one another. That means doing more than the Law requires but to do that is also the fulfilling of the Law. If the Law is about maintaining good relations between us, then love is the fulfilment of the Law’s intent.

Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Matthew 5. 17) and he commended, as being the heart or summary of the Law, these words: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” As Paul writes, “Love is the fulfilment of the law.” (Romans 13. 10)

So, in order to fulfil the Law and these teachings we are to love as Jesus loved: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13. 4 – 7).

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Queen - Jesus.

Wednesday, 3 July 2024

From "I will not believe" to "My Lord and my God"

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

Thomas’ statement to the other disciples that, “Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my fingers on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe” is essentially one which is repeated regularly by atheists around the world. Here is a typical comment made in the discussion section of Richard Dawkins’ website, “I have never witnessed a scrap of evidence pointing to god's existence, which leads me to a total lack of belief in it.” Dawkins himself has said, "Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is the belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence."

How can we, as Christians, answer such assertions; because it is not enough simply to say that we believe and leave it at that?

First, we need to be clear that those who say there is no evidence for the existence of God seek to disallow the very evidence which has helped convince us otherwise by saying that the only acceptable evidence is scientifically measurable evidence. This is the argument that science and its methods provide the only way of knowing that gives us true knowledge of the world around us.

Yet, if that were to be the case then, for example, weddings would make no real sense. Instead of being about the mutual celebration of love and affection which we see between the couple themselves and also between them, their families and friends, on the basis of measurable scientific knowledge what occurs at a wedding simply becomes about the survival of the fittest through the passing on of selfish genes in procreation. Our experiences of love and faith cannot be adequately captured through the language of scientific measurement. Instead, we need the languages of belief and imagination to give voice to what we truly experience of love and faith. As Richard Chartres once noted in a wedding sermon, "Faith and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life.”

Second, we need to understand that faith is fundamental to all true knowledge and that applies to scientific knowing as much as to any other form of knowing. Philip Sherrard has given forceful expression to this view:

“Every thought, every observation, every judgement, every description whether of the modern scientist or of anyone else is soaked in a priori preconceived built-in value-judgements, assumptions and dogmas at least as rigid, if not more rigid (because they are so often unconsciously embraced) than those of any explicitly religious system. The very nature of human thought is such that it cannot operate independently of value-judgements, assumptions and dogmas. Even the assertion that it can constitutes a value-judgement and implies a whole philosophy, whether we are aware of it or not.”

Scientists like Michael Polanyi have come to understand that faith is fundamental in the whole enterprise of understanding because all knowledge of reality rests upon faith commitments which cannot be demonstrated. As a result, scientists and philosophers of science are now rediscovering the vital role that the imagination has to play in their endeavours.

When there is an acceptance that other forms of knowing and other forms of evidence have validity, then two further arguments can be made. The first of these is that belief in God makes sense of our experiences of life and love in ways that give full weight to our experience of these things without contradicting the findings of science. On this basis, Christianity offers, as Lesslie Newbigin has argued, “the widest rationality, the greatest capacity to give meaning to the whole of experience.”

Second, the arguments for the resurrection made in the New Testament and also subsequently come into play. Many historians, lawyers and sceptics have testified to the convincing nature of this evidence when objectively considered. Many would, for example, agree with E. M. Blaiklock, Professor of Classics at Auckland University, who said, “the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history . . .”

One of the earliest records of Christ's appearing after the resurrection is by Paul. The apostle appealed to his audience's knowledge of the fact that Christ had been seen by more than 500 people at one time. Paul reminded them that the majority of those people were still alive and could be questioned. Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, emphasizes: "What gives a special authority to the list (of witnesses) as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St. Paul says in effect, 'If you do not believe me, you can ask them.' Such a statement in an admittedly genuine letter written within thirty years of the event is almost as strong evidence as one could hope to get for something that happened nearly two thousand years ago." These New Testament accounts of the resurrection were being circulated within the lifetimes of men and women alive at the time of the resurrection; people who could certainly have confirmed or denied the accuracy of such accounts.

Another interesting example of evidence for the truth of Christianity and, in particular, the resurrection of Jesus, is the testimony of former skeptics, many of whom attempted to disprove Christian faith. Thomas is merely the first in a long line of such people which in more recent years have included Frank Morison, C. S. Lewis, Dr Gary Habermas, Alister McGrath, and Lee Strobel.

So, there is evidence for the existence of God and evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Such evidence helps us in holding our faith and may, as was the case for those I have just listed, be helpful in bringing people to faith. However, we should never think that such evidences prove either the existence of God or the resurrection of Jesus. Ultimately, if we believe in both it is because of faith, not proof; just as atheists cannot disprove the existence of God and, therefore, also hold their beliefs on the basis of faith. Neither positions can be proved conclusively, so can only be held by faith.

That is what Jesus emphasizes to Thomas after confronting him with the physical and tangible evidence of the resurrection that he demanded. Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”:

Unless I see
the scars
of the nails
in his hands
and put my finger
on those scars
and my hand
in his side,
unless I can touch,
unless he is tangible,
unless I have proof,
I will not believe.

If you see
the scars
of the nails
in my hands
and put your finger
on those scars
and your hand
in my side,
if you can touch,
if I am tangible,
if you have proof,
you will not have belief.

Blessed are those
who cannot see
the scars
of the nails
in my hands
and put their fingers
on those scars
and their hands
in my side,
blessed are those who
cannot touch,
who are without
tangible proof,
for they truly believe.

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Good Charlotte - We Believe.

Tuesday, 2 July 2024

Artlyst: The Art Diary July 2024

My July Art Diary for Artlyst includes exhibitions at Fitzrovia Chapel, Ingleby, The Gallery of Everything, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Cristea Roberts Gallery, The Parsonage Gallery, Wellhouse Gallery, The Fry Art Gallery, Focal Point Gallery, Newlands House Gallery and the Holt Festival which include work by Hayley Barker, Anna Zemánková, Bharti Kher, Miriam de Búrca, Leonora Carrington and Michael Petry, among others. These exhibitions engage with an extensive range of spiritualities, some seeking to reverse long-held perceptions:

'The forgotten gods, which have been left for dead in the dust heap of history, are the ones that interest Michael Petry. He says, “I feel like an archaeologist sifting through the sands of time to uncover the old stories, the old myths, the old beliefs on which modern believers act”:

“I have bathed in the spirit of the ancients. Marduk and Thor, Brigit and Ra, and Janus and Seth are only a few of the now-mythologised gods of old. They are no longer held in the respect they were, but does that stop them from being gods? Is it simply time that morphs a god into a myth, and if so, what of the current gods and devils? Will they, too, just become stories told around a campfire?”'

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Mumford & Sons, Baaba Maal - There Will Be Time.