bottling it

I wish I’d heard about this before recycling the bottles from my wife’s birthday party at the weekend. Revd Jairo Lopez is a catholic priest serving in Texas, but he is also a mosaic artist who creates stunning pieces out of used beer bottles as well as other materials. Based in Marble Falls where he works from a garage studio in his free time, many but not all of Lopez’s creations have a religious theme and his work is becoming much sought after.

López, who attended seminary in Colombia, completed his master's degree in theology at the St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Florida. He was ordained in 1994, and his first assignment was San Jose Catholic Church in Austin. He also worked in Killeen, Round Rock and Mexia before he landed in Marble Falls in 2000. In 1999 he began his mosaic art, he studied for a time at the Mosaic Art School in Ravenna, Italy and gradually his work as a priest and his art came together. Lopez says:

‘It's become part of my prayer life, my spirituality.’ ‘When you meditate, you see the beauty of God in the materials, the colors and textures.’ ‘The colors, textures and materials of a mosaic, that's my parishioners. They are all of different styles, sizes and cultures. The community is one big mosaic. Without one piece, the image isn't finished.’

The mosaic work is now something of a family business as Lopez has been joined by his family from Colombia and the art has helped them to settle in unfamiliar surroundings:

‘The art is good therapy for everyone’ says Jairo López. ‘It keeps everyone busy. I know that when my father and I deliver a piece to someone, he gets great joy of seeing a finished piece. He's very proud.’

Surprisingly, Lopez is colourblind, particularly to green and red, yet he is able to produce the most vivid images with the help of his family who pick out the appropriate colours for him.

I love the idea of someone taking discarded rubbish and turning it into something beautiful in praise of God.

H/T Luke Coppen

blog action day ‘09 – climate change

Wanted to put something up for Blog Action Day ‘09 which this year focuses on Climate Change. The song that keeps coming to mind is Satchmo’s What A Wonderful World. There are loads of homemade Youtube videos of this song and most of the ones I’ve viewed are full of beautiful pictures of the world; stunning landscapes, cute and cuddly animals and happy smiley faces. Well if you want that video go to Youtube because when I think of Armstrong’s song the images that come to mind are far from beautiful; they are images of the mess we are making of the world that God entrusted us to steward. So here’s the version from Good Morning Vietnam.

sign of the times (6) - st francis

This lovely bird bath sculpture of St. Francis resides in the Diocesan Office garden. I walk past it nearly every day and occasionally stop for a moment to contemplate. One thing struck me recently; I can't remember the last time I saw any water in the bowl or any birds bathing or drinking from it. Although the weather wasn't great this summer, the autumn has been warm and sunny and there has been hardly any rain for ages. On the up side it means I haven't had to worry about cutting the grass and on the down side, well that's obvious. So St Francis stands as another Sign of the Times.

The sculpture is by Catharni Stern and was originally displayed as part of a Cathedral Festival.

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26

chelmsford cathedral - eco congregation status

One of the joys of working at Chelmsford Diocesan Office is the view from my desk; I look out on Chelmsford Cathedral.

It is great news to hear that the cathedral has just been awarded eco congregation status by the Groundwork Trust. It is the first cathedral in England and Wales to be granted this status. Not bad for one of the smallest cathedrals in one of the largest diocese.

David Hughes from the Groundwork Trust said he had been impressed by the amount of work which had been done to make “the entire estate of buildings so much greener”. He said: “This is often a very valuable witness to the community that the church takes seriously our call to be stewards of God's creation.”

Tony Allen, publicity officer for the cathedral, said it was hoped the 1,500 congregation would be inspired to make their own homes greener. He said: “What I think is encouraging is that it will help individuals in their own homes and own communities to give some priority to it as well. We are trying to do this so that those who worship with us look at their own homes and situation and we are trying to take the lead."

In the Chelmsford Diocese we are committed to the five marks of mission including:
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.