Windows on the world (127)

London, 2010

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She and Him - Change is Hard.

TASK Newsletter (22)

It's time for our regular round-up of what's happening where we are over the next couple of weeks, so here goes.

Keep music live: Friday November 12 at Ilford Sports Club

Over the last year, a new local live music scene has been emerging courtesy of the Green Fair Music Club, which hosts a monthly set at the Ilford Sports Club, 486 High Road, Ilford, IG1 1UE from 8-1130pm . This allows for the showcasing of new talent and this month sees an eclectic set including two very accomplished local bands.

The New Giants have developed their own brand of rock, drawing together influences such as Neil Young, REM, Crazy Horse, Teenage Fanclub, The Who and Tom Petty. They proved a highly popular act at the Wanstead Festival in September this year and now make their debut appearance at the Green Fair Music Club. Band members include Nigel Mear (Guitars, vocals), John Bennett (Lead guitar, vocals), Les Mear (Bass guitar, vocals), Gary Powell (Drums, percussion). Have a taste of their delicious guitar-based rock on
www.myspace.com/thenewgiants.

Dead Flowers are a 7 piece country rock band featuring guitar, keyboards, violin and mandolin who offer classic covers featuring a huge pinch of Rolling Stones flavoured with blues, soul and Americana, with diverse
material stretching from Eric Clapton and Elvis Costello through Bob Dylan and the Temptations to Chuck Berry and the Doors. www.myspace.com/deadflowerscountry.

All in all, it promises a great night of affordable live music with admission for just £4. Call Steve Collins for more information, or to pre-book for a discounted £3.50. His number is 07917 050490.

There will be light: Seven Kings festive lights and Christmas tree unveiling scheduled for Tuesday November 16 at 5pm

There can be no doubting this has been a tough year for many businesses, which is why we are delighted that the Seven Kings Business Partnership and the Council's Area 5 Committee have invested some money in seasonal celebrations in the all important trading run up to Christmas.

Last year, our big tree on the island outside the railway station and its associated lighting lifted the spirits of locals during the bleak winter, and the good news is that despite the cuts, we will have it all again.

The turning on itself is scheduled for 5pm on Tuesday November 16, with free live entertainment in the run up from 4.30pm courtesy of the Kenneth More Theatre, in Ilford, who will be promoting their 2010 pantomime, Sleeping Beauty.

Come along and join in the fun as we all countdown to Christmas.

Seven Kings Library review meeting

The new library on the High road has now been open for over three months, during which time it has attracted quite phenomenal interest from local people, as we always predicted. We will be taking part in a review session on its workings on Tuesday November 9 from 7.30-8.30pm at the library. Any thoughts or feedback on opening hours and services offered are welcome.

For this reason, there will be no open TASK supporters meeting this month. Our last session of the year in December will be on Monday December 13.

Seven Kings police panel: new set up now up and running

Last time we advertised the first ever AGM of the Seven Kings police panel, and are pleased to advise that the meeting took place and that an enhanced new panel is about to start business. It includes local residents,
neighbourhood watch co-ordinators, traders and representatives from faith and community groups, including TASK, whose nominee Tony Wright was accepted on to the panel. There are still a few unfilled places and if you are interested in getting involved, it is not too late to signal an interest.

The panel is important because it sets our local policing priorities, and monitors police progress in terms of these. At the meeting, we made the case that public drinking around the no drinking zone continues to cause concern and should remain on the priority listing; and also asked for more detail on the worrying spate of more violent crimes happening recently on our streets.

TASK will continue to press for vigilance and for maximum police visibility on our streets over the dark winter months.

High Road Lorry Park: what's happening?

Supporters have been asking about current clean-up and gating works on the old lorry park, which signal the arrival on site of the borough's PRU- Pupil Referral Unit. This provides a range of educational services for those students operating outside of mainstream schools, and, we are told, will be based here, in portkabins, for around two years, having been displaced from the rear of the closed down High Road Pool.

In the longer term, there is talk from the Town Hall of relocating college services on the site, maybe as part of a broader education/ leisure complex possibly even including a new swimming pool.

TASK have always maintained the need for the site to offer community services and will be subjecting all plans to forensic scrutiny, having opposed earlier high density housing proposals which were approved but
abandoned due to the recession.

As we hear more, we will share all ideas with you; and will seek your views on best uses of this last major Seven Kings development site.

Area 5 Committee

The final area 5 meeting of 2010 happens on Monday November 22, at Mayfield School in Goodmayes, starting at 7.15pm.

East London Citizens Annual Assembly: November 16

TASK are proud to have been invited by The East London Citizens Organisation to observe events at their annual assembly, a major gathering of 150 plus faith and community organisations working across east London, which will be reviewing the year and considering its campaign agenda for 2011. TELCO have a proud record of successful campaigning, which includes headline work around implementing the living wage for lower paid workers, and promoting local work for local people at the 2012 Olympics. We have two tickets for any supporters interested in coming along to the live event, at Walthamstow Town Hall, starting at 6.45m. To obtain one, just respond to this mail. We will also offer a full report on the meeting next time.

That's all for now. See you in a fortnight.

Chris Connelly, TASK

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Good Charlotte - We Believe.

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

At our recent Celebration of Christian Poetry event held at St John's Seven Kings, Revd. Bridget de Mello, curate at St Luke’s Great Ilford, reminded those present of the sense of outrage that all should feel at the loss of life which occurs as a result of war.

Bridget did so by speaking about and reading a poem by the First World War poet, Wilfred Owen, called ‘The Parable of the Old Man and the Young.’ This poem is a parody of the Old Testament story of Abraham’s preparedness to sacrifice his son Isaac before God provides a ram as an alternative sacrifice. Owen’s poem is written as a parable in which Abram represents the European nations prepared to sacrifice their young men in the First World War. Owen condemns those in power who took their countries to war believing that sacrificing their nations' pride was too high a price for their nations to pay.

The cruel irony which Owen highlights through the poem is that the real cost of this pride was millions of dead - the seed of Europe. The dead included Owen himself who was killed in action at the Battle of the Sambre a week before the war ended. In a moment of ghastly irony, the telegram from the War Office announcing his death was delivered to his mother's home as her town's church bells were ringing in celebration of the Armistice.

Owen had seen first hand the wave of patriotism at the beginning of the First World War which glorified England and the idea of dying for England. This had been captured in the poetry of Rupert Brooke whose sonnet sequence ‘1914’ began with the line, “Now, God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour.”

The horror of the trenches compared with the wave of patriotism which had joyfully sent young men to those same trenches led to the writing of Owen’s poem and the realization that war should never be treated lightly or simply glorified. The enlisting of God as being on our side by the established Church also meant that Christians at that time colluded in this glorification of war enabling poets like Owen to use bible stories and imagery in ways that were deliberately intended to shock a complacent public at home.

As a result, while on Remembrance Sunday it is absolutely right to remember and honour all who have made the ultimate sacrifice, this should never be done in a way that simply condones the act of war itself. The prayers that we use on Remembrance Sunday are carefully prepared to ensure that this balance is kept, as in this prayer from the Civic Service of Remembrance:

O God of truth and justice, we hold before you those whose memory we cherish and those whose names we will never know. Help us to lift our eyes above the torment of this broken world and grant us the grace to pray for those who wish us harm. As we honour the past may we put our faith in your future, for you are the source of life and hope, now and forever. Amen.

On Remembrance Sunday we will remember those who gave their today for our tomorrow but we remember, at least in part, to try to ensure that young people are never again sent to war on the back of the glorification of war which Brooke celebrated and Owen condemned.

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Bill Mason Band - Lost Years.

The miracle of prayer

There are times in ministry when you are taken aback by things that you didn’t expect to hear. Last Saturday at the end of our conversation to plan a funeral was one of those times, as the lady I was speaking to told me about her experience of prayer. She said that prayer is simply having a conversation with God and that God is always there for us to talk to. Having that conversation, talking with God, she said, brings comfort.

I’ve spent quite a bit of my ordained ministry talking to people in churches about prayer as an ongoing conversation with God and they don’t always get it, perhaps because they are more used to the set prayers that you find in many services. So, to talk to this lady and find that she already understood was hugely encouraging.

The Bible is actually full to overflowing with stories of people who talk to God. Abraham and Moses have arguments with God. Job complains about the unfair things that happen to him in his life. Jesus questions whether going to the cross is the only way to achieve salvation. The Psalmist yells out to God, yells with all his might, yells at the top of his lungs, and then finds that God listens.

That is part of what St Paul was writing about in verses from his letter to the Church at Philippi:


"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life." (Philippians 4. 6 and 7)

He says that instead of letting worry eat us up we can do something positive with our worries by turning them into prayers; by simply starting to talk to God about whatever is going on for us. Whatever is affecting us, bugging us, or getting us down.

When we do that, it doesn’t magically change the situation. It does suddenly make everything right. But what does changes is us and our attitude towards whatever is going on. St Paul says that a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle us down. That, instead of our worries being at the centre of our lives, Christ will displace the worry enabling us to cope and get through. It's wonderful when that happens. It is the miracle of prayer.

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Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer.

Airbrushed from Art History (19)

Divisionism, the application of pure colours to canvas in dots, lines or threads, was an expression of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century search for a scientifically based understanding of colour and form. The most well known instance of this search was the Pointillism or Neo-Impressionism of Georges Seurat which initially influenced the Italian Divisionists.

However, the wider search had a strongly spiritual underpinning; one that is revealed in the interest that Paul Sérusier and Gino Severini showed in the writings of the Benedictine painter, Desiderius Lenz, with his insistence on the use of elementary geometric forms in the construction of paintings and also in the cubism of Albert Gleizes who located his scientific formulations for art in the Romanesque Art of the early Middle Ages.

Italian Divisionism also had a strongly spiritual element expressed primarily in symbolist images drawn from Christian iconography but also in the still luminosity of landscapes and the expressive movement of the social realist works. This in turn found its way into the Futurist Art movement which was built on the achievements of the Italian Divisionists and which, through the work of Gerardo Dottori and Fillia, developed a strong strand of Futurist sacred art.

Gaetano Previati, "the most traditionally religious of the Divisionists," sought to develop a contemporary Christian Art which used the Divisionist technique of evoking the luminosity of light through the application of repeated lines of pure colour to suggest the spirituality of his subjects. His first major work using these motifs is entitled Motherhood and depicts a Madonna and child surrounded by angels. "Previati sought to suggest the religious mysticism of his subject through the evocation of light, which radiates non-naturalistically from the figure of the Madonna in a diffused aureole" (Lara Pucci in Radical Light).

This image stirred up considerable controversy when first exhibited at the 1891 Brera Triennale, an exhibition which marked the public debut of Divisionism and Modern Art itself in Italy. Contemporary critics expressed bafflement at the combination of contemporary techniques with a traditional religious image and failed to see the way in which Previati’s evocation of light spiritualised his image of maternal love. "Previati's reinterpretation of Christian iconography and his efforts to reassign a spiritual meaning to art had a significant influence on the next generation [the Futurists]."

Other Divisionists, such as Giovanni Segantini, also worked with symbolism which was mainly Christian in origin while Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo created realist works which often depicted aspects of Christian ritual and ceremony. Segantini's transcendent mountain scenes were often imbued with religious references while his "typically Symbolist dialectic of holy mother and fallen women" used "female characters who often represented the binary opposition of Mary and Eve" (Vivien Greene in Radical Light).

"Guiseppe Pellizza da Volpeda was able to sustain his passion for socially conscious subjects while also using Symbolist imagery that was imbued with Christian motifs and was based on Italiam medieval and Renaissance prototypes." The Procession "re-enacts the powerful rituals of Catholicism" while The Mirror of Life "suggests biblical passages in which sheep symbolise the followers of Christ" in order to conceive the sheep of the scene as a metaphor for humanity. The Procession depicts a Catholic procession in his hometown of Volpedo where the bright radiance of the sun envelopes the participants and, as with Previati’s work, creates a spiritual luminescence. The curve which defines the upper part of the painting and the gold border of the canvas recall the format of Quattrocento religious painting and are typical of another means by which the Italian Divisionists commonly create links to the great religious works of Italian art, even when the subject of their work appears entirely secular.

Most of the Italian Divisionists displayed an interest in the great social movements of their day as the unification of Italy resulted in turbulent social and political conditions. Some of the most forceful and vibrant Divisionist paintings are those which depict aspects of the political and social struggles of their day, such as Emilio Longoni’s immense figure of The Orator of the Strike or his poignant Social Contrasts depicting a homeless man observing an affluent couple in a restaurant. In works such as these, divisionist technique is used to created a sense of movement and it is this that is developed by the later Futurists in works such as Carlo Carra’s The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli and Umberto Boccioni’s The City Rises where the intensity of the layered lines of colour suggests the agitation and pace of urban life and social change.

Gino Severini in The Life of a Painter tells the story of his development as a futurist and cubist artist. Severini reconverted to Catholicism in the 1920s. He claimed that his thinking on this decision began prior to the conversions of the poets Jean Cocteau and Pierre Reverdy and before meetings with Maurice Denis and Jacques Maritain. He highlighted the writings of the Benedictine Desideratus Lenz as an influence of the direction of his work but not his conversion. The most significant influence on his decision seems to have been the Abbé Sarraute who Severini met at Denis' home and who conducted the Severini's marriage ceremony.

Severini was, therefore, a part of the French Catholic Renaissance, in which Denis and Maritain played major roles. Severini says of Maritain that he "effected the transformation of a number of somewhat atheist poets into Christian artists, chief among them Jean Cocteau, who was baptised in Maritain's private chapel in Meudon." Maritain played a part in the next stage of Severini's career by suggesting that the Swiss painter Alexandre Cingria visit Severini and encourage him to enter a competition for the decoration of a Church in the Fribourg Canton of Switzerland. Severini did so, won the competition and went on to work on several Swiss churches over the latter period of his career. So much so, that Denis spoke of him as "the most famous decorator of Swiss churches." Cingria who, together with Denis dreamed of "creating a movement of rebirth of religious art in France and in all Catholic countries", could also lay claim to that status, as the Groupe de Saint-Luc et Saint-Maurice which he founded, built, restored and decorated more than 70 churches in Switzerland during the interwar years.

Severini also played a part in the development of a Futurist sacred art. Between 1928 and 1930 the futurist artist Fillia spent time in Paris with Severini. During this time he also saw Severini's work in the Swiss churches of Semsales and La Roche. The end of 1930 then saw a decisive reorientation of Fillia's work towards sacred art which culminated in 1931 with the publication of the 'Manifesto of Futurist Sacred Art' on the occasion of the International Exhibition of Modern Christian Sacred Art in Padua, which had a Futurist section of twenty two works by thirteen artists.
 
By these means the anti-clerical art of the Futurists inspired a flowering of religious painting that constitutes one of the most unexpected episodes in the history of that movement. Futurism eulogised the beauty of speed and the energies and machines that produced it. Futurists saw themselves as “immersed in the chaos of an old, crumbling era” but “partaking of the vibrations of a new epoch in the process of formation.” They embraced continual progress and viewed Catholic priests as fatally associated with old order hating “the fleeting, the momentary, speed, energy and passion.” Not fertile ground for a flowering of religious art, one would have thought.

Yet Marinetti, the great theorist of Futurism, maintained a significant distinction between Christ and the Catholic Church that led to the explosion of Futurist religious art which appeared in the 1930s. The “precious essence of Christ’s morals,” he argued, “accorded every right, every pardon and every sympathy to the impassioned fervour, to the fickle flame of the heart.”

Marinetti’s ‘Manifesto of Futurist Sacred Art’ appeared in 1931 and further exacerbated the movement’s conflict with the Catholic Church by stating that “only Futurist artists … are able to express clearly … the simultaneous dogmas of the Catholic faith, such as the Holy Trinity, the Immaculate Conception and Christ’s Calvary.” Pope Pius XI responded in a speech of 1932 by saying that ”Our hope, Our ardent wish, Our will can only be … that such art will never be admitted into our churches …”

Marinetti had argued that only Futurists could express the simultaneous dogmas of the Catholic faith because only they had “addressed the complex matter of simultaneity” in their art. Accordingly, a key feature of Futurist sacred art is the bringing together within the same picture frame of key events from the life of Christ. The convoluted titles of many of these works, such as Fillia’s Madonna and Child / Nativity / Nativity-Death-Eternity, indicate clearly the telescoping of events that can be found in these works. This work sets an semi-abstract/cubist Madonna and Child in front of a sky-filled cross in front of a mountain in front of a rock in front of a globe ringed by the outlines of churches as seen through the ages. Marinetti described this work as “an impressive amalgamation of the concrete and the abstract; a synthesis of the long development of Catholicism through the centuries.”

It is, when set alongside other works by Fillia, an example of a set of identikit symbols – saint, cross, globe, mountain, churches – that several Futurists juggle in works that sit uncomfortably between the later cubism of Gleizes and the surrealism of Giorgio de Chirico. Not all Futurist sacred art is of the poster book style and imagery of Fillia however. Giuseppe Preziosi, for example, also used simultaneity in his Annunciation-Nativity-Death but here the subtler harmonies of his colours combine with the interpenetrating planes of his subjects to integrate Christ’s birth and death within the work.

Gerardo Dottori, known as the ‘mystic’ Futurist, made use of similar techniques to create in his Crucifixion of 1928 one of the genuine masterpieces of Futurist sacred art. His crucified Christ is picked out in a heavenly spotlight which also surrounds the two Mary’s grieving at his feet. Light also emanates from the upper half of Christ’s body and outstretched arms illuminating the darkened sky that has thrown the landscape of Calvary into turmoil. Dottori’s stylistic use of light symbolises both Christ’s obedience to God’s will and the light of salvation that his death brings into a world darkened by sin.

Dottori also makes use of a second key theme in Futurist sacred art; that of flight as a symbol of transcendence. His Annunciation in an Aerial Temple sees Mary literally caught up in her spirit by the news that Gabriel brings (an anticipation of her own Assumption, perhaps) and gives us an angelic perspective on the event. Aeropainting was a major strand of Futurist art and this interest in flight became a symbol firstly of physical liberation from the earth and then of spiritual ascent. The Trinity, the Madonna, as well as the expected Angels, all appear winged and in flight within the works collected here.

One of the most striking of all the flight images is Nino Vatali’s Ascension where Christ ascends on the cross in stop-frame images that build a Jacob’s ladder ascending to the heavens. Whether the imagery of the cross as a ladder from earth to heaven was consciously in Vitali’s mind as he painted or whether he was simply transposing a Futurist technique with a sacred theme, the image and imagery remain powerful.

Only Futurist aeropainters, Marinetti argued, “are able to express in plastic terms the abyssal charm and heavenly transparencies of infinity.” Again, his rhetoric tends to exceed the resulting works but, for all that, their art forms a fascinating subject that extends our understanding of the influence of sacred themes and imagery in early twentieth century European art even where artists and the Church were conflicted.

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Siobhan Maher Kennedy - When You Go Away.

Renegotiating 'value': Bonus vs Pro Bono

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be at 'Bonus vs Pro Bono', the second in a series of Renegotiating 'value' seminars organised through Faiths in London's Economy. This seminar seeks to explore the value of inspirational leadership in business and will be held in the St Martin's Hall at St Martin-in-the-Fields (Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ) between 4.00 and 6.30pm.

The Renegotiating 'value': what faiths offer 21st century business leadership seminar series aims to explore the benefit and challenge of faith traditions in leading sustainable businesses. A blog for the series containing information, presentations and discussion can be found at http://renegotiatingvalue.blogspot.com/.

Here are brief biographies of the speakers at tomorrow's seminar, Peter Hyson (Change Perspectives Ltd) and Baroness Uddin:

In the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a confused Alice seeks directions from the Cheshire Cat. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," says the Cat. "I don't much care where - " Alice replies. "Then it doesn't much matter which way you go," retorts the Cat. "-- so long as I get somewhere," Alice adds as an explanation. "Oh, you're sure to do that," says the Cat, "if only you walk long enough." In one sense, that might summarise Peter Hyson's life and career to date! For much of it, he’s not necessarily been totally clear where he’s been heading. He’s not one of those people who while they were still in short trousers fixed on a goal in life and single-mindedly pursued it until it was grasped and held aloft in a triumphant fist! The middle distance has often only emerged slowly out of the very definite mists of time. More specifically, that’s manifested itself in his work as a professional swimming coach, a senior teacher, a Church of England vicar, in working with the most senior leaders in leadership development and managing change and, more recently in writing novels and scripts and in TV production. A Handbook for Coaching with Meaning and Spirituality is currently with Routledge. And throughout all those areas, people have been grappling with the question that so perplexed Alice: the area of spirituality, quest for meaning and the drawing to something or someone outside of and greater than ourselves.

Baroness Uddin was the first Muslim woman in the House of Lords. Born in Bangladesh and brought up in England, she is an advociate of social reforms and equal rights. A formidable champion for women, Lady Uddin was invited to the House of Lords in 1998 for her contribution to the advancement of women's and disability rights. She began her professional and political career in the 1970's, in the East End of London, developing a number of leading edge and well-regarded services and organisations. Many of these have since come to be accepted as benchmarks for sustainable development and community engagement. Baroness Uddin has served on the Government's Select Committee on European Affairs and has chaired several Government task forces, under the auspices of the Prime Minister's office, the Home Office and the FCO. She also chaired the Government's Taskforce on Ethnic Minority Women Councillors.

The seminar costs £5.00 (pay on the door) and you would be very welcome if you are able to come. Renegotiating ‘value’ is a seminar series organised by Faiths in London’s Economy (FiLE) in association with: Ethos HumanCapital; Faith Regen Foundation; The Grubb Institute; Mission in London’s Economy; the SmithMartin Partnership; St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace.
 
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Jakob Dylan - Holy Rollers for Love.

Windows on the world (126)

London, 2010

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Robert Plant and Band of Joy - Houses of The Holy.