sign of the times (5) - art in shops

One of the most depressing features of the present economic climate is the number of town centre shops that are left vacant. So it is great to see some shops in Chelmsford town centre are being used for a creative venture organised by the council. Called Art in Shops, the initiative provides the opportunity for artists to display their work in shop windows and inside empty premises. Chelmsford Borough Council has a good track record of displaying art in public places and this is one more example of that commitment. Art in Shops is part of the council's Arts Development programme.

Other examples of public art in Chelmsford include the commissioning of an art installation each year for the 80ft high atrium at County Hall; exhibition spaces in the libraries, civic centre, theatres and hospitals and a virtual online gallery.

Initiatives like Art in Shops are signs of hope amongst the more negative signs of the times in our town centres.



Reminded me of that saying of Jesus (OK I know its dodgy hermeneutics):
Let your light so shine before before others that they may see your good works and and give glory to your Father in heaven.

I'm mad as hell......

In the film Network T.V. presenter Howard Beale (Peter Finch) breaks down live on air. He rails against all the problems of society and finishes with the cry ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore’. Beale then invites his viewers to go to their windows and shout the same response and many do. The UBS T.V. network give Beale his own show which becomes a ratings winner as he pours out his invective and the ‘mad as hell’ line becomes his catchphrase.

Network is an excoriating satire on the ills of the broadcasting media. The T.V. network isn’t interested in the message or the effect it has on viewers and on society, they are only interested in ratings. Eventually Beale begins to lose viewers as his message becomes more depressing and he calls for the public to oppose a UBS merger. In the search for even higher ratings producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) arranges with a terrorist group to have Beale assassinated. The film ends with Beale being shot to death live on air and as the narrator states that Beale was the first man ever murdered because of bad ratings, an array of televisions play newscasts reporting the incident matter-of-factly, intermixed with the noise of commercials.

Network won four Oscars including a posthumous award for Peter Finch and its message seems as relevant today as it did back in 1976. I couldn't help thinking about the film as I reflected on the frustrations many people are feeling and expressing over the issues facing our society. The film also seems relevant with the questions it raises about the way the media handle coverage of those issues. Anyway, check out Finch's brilliant performance.

hit the ground kneeling (5)

I spent a very enjoyable time a couple of Saturday mornings ago with some other twits on Twitter. We ended up in a conversation comprised of quotes from The Italian Job. There was one particular quote which stuck in my mind:
Charlie Croker (Michael Caine): It's a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team. And that means you do everything I say.

The quote seems to sum up many people's approach to leadership and team working, not least in the church. The ideal leader is often presented as a charismatic, dynamic person who others are willing to follow or at least expected to follow. For a long time ordination training bought in to this understanding of leadership; the clergy person as the omnicompetent leader doing everything. Team working and collaboration were given lip service but often meant little more than the vicar having a few helpers who did what s/he said. My heart sinks every time I hear someone exploring a vocation to ministry utter the words ‘well the vicar needs a bit of help’. I hear it far too often and it is sadly sometimes perpetuated by clergy.

This style of leadership reflects an unhealthy symbiotic relationship between clergy and congregations. The vicar is affirmed in their sense of worth, purpose and need to be in charge and the congregation can sit back and let him or her get on with it and if it all goes wrong they have someone to blame. For those interested W. R. Bion has some very interesting inights into this type of behaviour in his work on Experiences in Groups.

Stephen Cottrell calls for a different approach to leadership. In Spoiling The Broth the fifth chapter in his book Hit The Ground Kneeling, +Stephen’s vision of Christian leadership ‘is one that is always drawing more people in, helping them discover their gifts, and constantly expanding and sharing leadership.’

However, this approach to leadership is not an easy option. It involves being prepared to take risks:
‘If we have decided that the only worthwhile goal of our enterprise is success, then it follows that the biggest enemy is failure. But if our goal is to enable each member of the organisation or community to discover their part within the whole – that is, if we hope to be successful and fruitful, but don’t turn it into an idol to which everything else must submit – then it is OK to fail; it is OK to make mistakes; it is OK to take risks.’

Leadership committed to working with others also recognises that everyone has gifts and a part to play. It celebrates the contribution that others make to the whole instead of seeing them as a threat. ‘The cherishing of the gifts of others – even if they outshine us in their own areas – is a vital gift of leadership.’

To return to the film with which I began this post; The Italian Job ends (spoiler alert) with Charlie and his gang in a coach balanced precariously over the edge of a cliff. The gold bullion they have stolen is at one end of the coach and they are all at the other end. No one can move because it will disturb the balance of the coach. How are they going to get out of this dilemma without loosing the gold or their lives? Well it might be that one of the gang has a brilliant idea but the question is this: will s/he have the confidence to share their idea and even if they did would Charlie listen or is he the only one allowed to say ‘Hang on lads; I’ve got a great idea’.

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.

commission4mission

I am delighted that Revd Jonathan Evens has written a guest post on an exciting initiative in mission and art.

Rosalind Hore

Local churches contemplating the possibility of commissioning contemporary art are often put off by what they think will be prohibitive costs, disputes in the congregation about appropriate styles, and arguments that there are more important priorities for the available money.

Since the mid point of the twentieth century, cathedrals in the UK began once again to regularly commission contemporary art but, for the reasons listed above, local churches have rarely followed their lead. commission4mission is a new arts organisation which is seeking to change that picture and to do so by making the commissioning of contemporary art an opportunity for mission and a means of fundraising for charities.

The visual arts can contribute to mission by: speaking eloquently of the Christian faith; providing a reason for people to visit a church; providing a link between churches and local arts organisations/initiatives; and providing a focus around which local people can come together for a shared activity. A good example of this occurring is St Albans Romford , where commission4mission was launched in March 2009 and where, as a direct result of its many commissions, the church is regularly visited by those from the local community and further afield who come to see Christianity differently through their visit.

Harvey Bradley

When the visual arts are seen as integral to mission then the interest of congregations in commissioning is likely to grow but the issues of cost and other priorities still remain. As a result, commission4mission is building up a pool of artists (painters, sculptors, silversmiths, potters, jewellery makers etc.) able to work flexibly to available budgets and willing to allow a proportion of the cost of each commission to go to charity and is recommending that commissioned artworks are donated to churches by interested parties as memorials to loved ones. Our experience suggests that this combination of charitable fundraising and memorial donations overcomes many of the issues usually faced when considering the commissioning of contemporary art for local churches.

None of this means that quality is being compromised either. In the words of Henry Shelton , the founding artist member of commission4mission, what we offer is "quality work and craftsmanship, rather than mass-produced work, to continue the legacy of the Church as a great commissioner of art."

Henry Shelton

We are providing many opportunities to see the quality and originality of work available from commission4mission and its artists over the coming months. We will be exhibiting at the:

* Pentecost Festival - Saturday 30th May, 12 noon - 6.00pm, Methodist Central Hall, Storey's Gate, Westminster SW1 9NH;
* West Ham Festival - Saturday 20th - Sunday 28th June, 11.00am - 4.00pm, All Saints West Ham , Church Street, London E15 3HU;
* Leytonstone Festival and Arts Trail - Tuesday 7th – Thursday 16th July (Tuesday-Friday: 12-4 pm. Saturday: 10-4pm), St Andrews Leytonstone , Colworth Road, London E11 1JD; and
* Showcase exhibition - Monday 2nd - Saturday 7th November, Chelmsford Cathedral , New Street, Chelmsford CM1 1TY, Cathedral opening times.

We are also aiming to provide information, ideas and examples of contemporary Christian art and its use or display within church settings. To that end, we are organising a networking event at St Andrews Leytonstone on Thursday 9th July from 7.00pm. Three commission4mission artists will give brief presentations on 'Art & Spirituality' leading into space for open discussion and debate. A Study Day entitled 'Perspectives on commissioning Christian Art' has also been organised for Saturday 7th November at Chelmsford Cathedral (10.00am - 2.30pm) with contributions from the Bishop of Barking, the Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral, the Chair of Chelmsford DAC and commission4mission artists.

Colin Burns

Membership of commission4mission is open to any Christian artist (of any discipline) or those who are supporters of Christian Art. For more information about commission4mission, our activities and our artists, please see: commission4mission or email Jonathan Evens at jonathan.evens@btinternet.com.

Our Patron, David Hawkins , the Bishop of Barking, says:
"There is a big need to re-engage with the Arts. The church has had a lengthy and happy marriage with the Arts in the past but this has eroded in recent times. I agree with Rowan Williams that the Church needs more artists and 'that artists are special people but every person is a special kind of artist.' I think that there is great scope in the Church encouraging creative expression in everyone as this is a way of helping us to be fully human."

Peter Webb

psalm sung blue

A fascinating discussion about singing in church has been developing on +Nick Baines blog on Girly music. One of the points that he makes and is picked up in the comments is that we no longer make use of the Psalms in worship. I have to confess that I was almost put off the Psalms for life after my experience as a choir boy having to chant my way through the Psalter at Evensong. I do try and read the Psalms regularly as part of my devotions and this morning it was Psalm 21. Because the discussion about psalms was in the back of my mind I paid particular attention to the words, rather than simply rattling them off which is often the danger. I found myself feeling very uncomfortable saying:

Your hand will find out all your enemies; Your right hand will find out those you hate.

You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear.

The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath; And fire will consume them.

You will destroy their offspring from the earth, And their children from among the sons of men. Psalm 21:8-10

Do I really want to use such words in worship of God? Do I want my children expressing such sentiments let alone using them to praise God? This does raise for me the important point that if we are going to recover our use of the Psalms in worship then we had better make sure we have some good teaching to accompany their use. It is simply no good suddenly getting the psalms out one day in church and chuntering our way through them. We need to explain and explore why these ancient songs can resource our worship today.

A few days ago I flicked through a booklet entitled Discovering The Lord’s Song by Anne Harrison. Her argument is ‘that congregational song in particular and Christian worship more broadly are impoverished without the singing of Scripture (and especially psalms) in some form on a fairly regular basis’. I found this a helpful little book exploring why it matters and why we should make the effort, though I felt these sections could have been longer. However, its real worth is in the practicalities of using the songs of Scripture in worship; the when and how questions. The booklet is also punctuated by very useful lists of resources from Taize through to selected choral resources. It’s well worth the £3.50, provides a good introduction to the subject and is a helpful reminder to those of us who have come to take the Psalms for granted.

A couple of quotes cited by Anne provide some food for thought:

The psalms ‘are inexhaustible, and deserve to be read, said, sung, chanted, whispered, learned by heart, and even shouted from rooftops. They express all the emotions we are ever likely to feel, including some we hope we may not, and they lay them, raw and open, in the presence of God.’ Tom Wright Simply Christian.

‘Words and music did for me what solid, even rigorous, religious argument could never do, they introduced me to God, not belief in God, more an experiential sense of God. Over art, literature, reason, the way in to my spirit was a combination of words and music. As a result, the book of Psalms always felt open to me…’ Bono Canongate’s Book of Psalms.

By the way, did you know that Graham Kendrick is listed by grumpy not so old man Quentin Letts in his book 50 People Who B******d Up Britian? Mind you, he also lists Sir Alex Ferguson so he clearly doesn’t know what he is talking about.

bad for the soul

Giles Fraser has used his column in The Church Times to criticise blogging in a piece entitled ‘Why blogs can be bad for the soul’. He does acknowledge that there are some good blogs and threads but most of the article is negative and his criticisms include:

‘too many contributors do not recognise that they are being unpleasant because they believe themselves to be justified by some higher cause’.

‘The other problem is that, on the internet, the other does not come with a face.’

Now Giles does have a point and there are plenty of blogs that I stay well clear of for the sake of my blood pressure. There are those who think they can pontificate and libel with impunity, often under the blanket of anonymity. However, this article annoyed me for several reasons and at the risk of confirming Giles’ opinions about blogs and bloggers here they are.

1. It’s a bit rich for someone who is regularly given a platform in the national press, church press and on Radio 4 to complain about others sharing their views, usually with a much smaller audience or readership than him.
2. The media through which Giles’ shares his opinions can also be used to be unpleasant in the belief that the comments are justified by a higher cause.
3. Writers in print and broadcasters on the radio are also engaging with others who do not come with a face; they are broadcasting opinions not engaging in personal conversation and often without much accountability.

Over Easter Giles took the opportunity to share his views about the doctrine of atonement. He was given three major platforms for this: The Merciful Crucifixion in The Guardian, his Radio 4 Thought for the Day on Monday 13th April and in No Task Left for the Risen Jesus his Church Times column of 24th April. He took the opportunity to attack substitutionary atonement in general and penal substitution in particular. This is becoming almost an annual event for the media; wait until Easter comes around and find a prominent cleric to attack a central aspect of Christian doctrine. During Easter 2007 it was the Dean of St Alban’s Jeffrey John saying almost exactly the same things as Giles Fraser. Unfortunately, the full transcript of Dr John’s Radio 4 Lent talk is proving very hard to track down but I did listen to it at the time.

What I found unpleasant, manipulative and depressing about both Jeffrey John’s and Giles Fraser’s comments on the cross is that they didn’t use the occasions to proclaim good news but rather presented a caricature of atonement theology which they went on to attack. They didn’t seem too concerned about using a public platform to distort and undermine the beliefs of brothers and sisters in Christ during the most important period of the Christian calendar. Tom Wright responded to Jeffrey John in an excellent article entitled The Cross and The Caricatures and I think his critique holds for Giles’ comments about the cross.

So, yes Giles those of us who blog need to consider and reflect on what we post, but so do those who are given the privilege of writing and broadcasting in the mainstream national media. All these formats have the potential to be either good or bad for the soul.