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Saturday, 30 November 2019

HeartEdge Mailer | November 2019

HeartEdge Mailer | November 2019

Initiated by St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, HeartEdge is an international ecumenical movement.

We are churches and other organisations developing mission.
Our practice is focused on 4 areas - commercial activity, congregational development, cultural engagement and compassion.

Each month we email stories and web links related to developing commercial activity, congregations, cultural engagement and compassion.

This month:

Hannah Malcolm on hope, Liz Delafield on good society and Val Barren on enterprise - and young and olds sing a new song via Mesadorm.
Setting up a community shop in church, plus living with a church building, how church can become a community hub plus - activism and Franciscan spirituality.
Loads of Christmas ideas for congregations, plus community chaplaincy.
An extract from 'The City is my Monastery: A Contemporary Rule of Life' by Richard Carter.

Read the Mailer here.

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Gungor - Brother Moon.

Windows on the world (254)

London, 2019

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Brittany Howard - 13th Century Metal.

Advent - St Martin-in-the-Fields & Churches Together in Westminster

I will be preaching on Advent in the 10.00am Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields tomorrow. Then I'll be leading the second in our Inspired to Follow Advent Course.

As part of our Advent preparations, we are running a new Inspired to Follow course exploring Advent Characters:

24 November - Elizabeth & Mary, Luke 1:35-49 / ‘The Visitation of the Virgin to Saint Elizabeth,’ Workshop of Goossen van der Weyden, about 1516.
1 December - Joseph, Matthew 1:18-25 & 2:13-15 / ‘‘The Dream of Saint Joseph,’ Philippe de Champaigne, 1642-3.
15 December - Zechariah & Elizabeth, Luke 1:57-71 / ‘The Naming of Saint John the Baptist,’ Barent Fabritius, probably 1650-5.
22 December – Herod, Matthew 2:1-12 & 16-17 / ‘The Massacre of the Innocents with Herod,’ Gerolamo Mocetto, about 1500-25

Like earlier Inspired to Follow sessions, these use fine art paintings from the National Gallery, along with Biblical story, theological reflection and conversation with others, as a way to explore big questions that we all wrestle with. ‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’ is a free resource produced by St Martin-in-the-Fields in partnership with the National Gallery. The course uses fine art paintings in the National Gallery’s collection, along with a Biblical text and a short theological reflection. To access this free resource register your details here

Following the viewing of art in Inspired to Follow, we will be making art in an Advent Oasis (Sunday 1 December, 1.30-4.00pm, George Richards & Austen Williams Rooms).

This ‘Oasis’ time will include quiet scripture reflection, prayer and practical art. Art materials will be available for you to explore, play with colour and be creative through collage, painting, drawing or writing. All are very welcome.

The artists and craftspeople's group who are organising the Advent Oasis have also contributed images to the Advent Meditations booklet for St Martin's entitled Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord. This is a booklet to guide our meditations through the Advent season and is available from the Stewards on Sundays or from the Vergers during the week for a suggested donation of £3.00.

Our Advent Carol Service begins at 5.00pm when, in words and music we explore our Advent theme with the Choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The preacher is Revd Sally Hitchiner.

Churches Together in Westminster hold their Advent Service at 6.00pm at St James Piccadilly. The Light Shines in the Darkness has readings and music for Advent with Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir providing uplifting and inspirational songs. All followed by wine and refreshments.

Then we have Sacred Space for Advent at 7:00 pm at St Martin's. This is a reflective service using chants from the Taizé community focusing on the themes for Advent.

See Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir again at St Martin's on Sunday, 8 December at 6:30pm for
THE NIGHT WATCHMEN'S NATIVITY: HOW THE OUTSIDERS WERE WELCOMED IN. It's the Nativity story with a difference! And it's not just the catchy uplifting songs by Stevie Wonder and Jackie Wilson. It's the untold story of the outsiders at the heart of the Nativity: the low wage workers and rough sleepers watching the sheep, the Bethlehem night watchmen, the people God chose to reveal Jesus’s birth. The kind of people God finds it easier to talk with! The Night Watchmen's Nativity sees the birth of Christ through the eyes of the marginalised, using a mix of known and original contemporary gospel songs, secular as well as sacred, interspersed with spoken word and “sung scripture”.

Join Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir at St Martin-in-the-Fields on Sunday 8th December 2019 at 6.30 pm for the premiere of The Night Watchmen’s Nativity. The event is free and everyone is welcome to attend!

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Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir - Oh Come Emmanuel.

Friday, 29 November 2019

Artlyst - Kiki Smith: Embodied Art

My latest piece for Artlyst is a review of 'I am a Wanderer' by Kiki Smith at Modern Art Oxford:

'Looking in retrospect, she says she sees a path of subject matter in her work moving from microscopic organs to systems to bodies to the religious body to cosmologies. There is now a real breadth to her frames of reference, which encompass fantasy, realism, history, legends, magic, myth and religion. These moves in terms of content were also accompanied by changes in media, as the first works based on the facets of the body were sculptural and conceptual before she then became more overt about languages of craft and decorative arts.'

My other Artlyst pieces are:

Interviews:

Articles:

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Leonard Cohen - Thanks for the Dance.

Saturday, 23 November 2019

Windows on the world (523)

London, 2019

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The Call - It Could've Been Me.

Thought for the Week: The Servant King

Here's my Thought for the Week at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

The Servant King

The Jewish leaders jeered at Jesus: ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah [or King] whom God has chosen.’ The Roman soldiers mocked him: ‘Save yourself if you are the King of the Jews.’ One of the criminals hanging there alongside him hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Messiah [or King]? Save yourself and us!’ All of them were asking ‘What kind of King are you then? If you are a King then behave as we expect a King to behave.’ Their mockery came because Jesus did not look or behave as they expected a King to do.

This Sunday is the Feast of Christ the King when we celebrate Christ as a King who turns the notion of Kingship on its head; who is seen as King at the point when he is least powerful and most vulnerable – at his own death. In Philippians 2 we read of Jesus letting go – stripping himself – of everything which made him equal with God in order to become a human being like us in order to serve us and die for us. On Maundy Thursday we celebrate Jesus’ decision to become a servant to those he had created when we re-enact his washing of the disciples feet and his words that ‘You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am. I, your Lord and Teacher have just washed your feet.’ Jesus makes service of others the true vocation and measure of Kingship.

Jesus turns the meaning of Kingside upside down. No longer is Kingship to be understood in terms of garnering wealth and power for oneself in other to defend others. Now it is understood to be about service; giving your life that others might live. Jesus, as the servant King, says to us, ‘I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another’s feet. I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you.’

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King's X - King.

Thursday, 21 November 2019

Artlyst: Art and Christianity Awards A Positive New Millennium Legacy

My latest piece for Artlyst is a report on the 2019 Art + Christianity Awards:

'The Art and Christianity Awards are one of the more positive legacies of the new millennium, being set up in 2003 to draw attention to the abundance of creative responses to the Year 2000. Although the first round of awards only invited entries from churches and cathedrals, now they celebrate the successes and diversity of artistic projects in religious buildings of all faith traditions throughout Britain. The Awards continue to demonstrate that commissioning new art and architecture is an emphatically positive and outward-looking step to take.'

My other Artlyst pieces are:

Interviews:

Articles:

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Leonard Cohen - What Happens To The Heart.