This evening marks the beginning of the Jewish festival of Hanukka – the eight day festival of lights. The celebration traces its origins back over 2,000 years to when the Seleucid leader, Antiochus IV, invaded Israel and attempted to force the Jews to assimilate into his empire and to renounce their religion and culture. Under the leadership of Judah Maccabee the Jews revolted and eventually drove out the Seleucid armies.
The Hanukkah celebration of lighting the menorah traces its origin to a miracle that occurred after the victory of the Maccabees. The Temple in Jerusalem had been defiled by the invading Seleucid army. It was traditional to light a special lamp in the Temple, called a menorah, with olive oil, but all of the vials of oil were made impure, with the exception of one. According to Hanukkah history, the one vial of oil burned for eight days until pure oil could be obtained for the Temple. In gratitude, the Jews began lighting small menorahs in their homes to commemorate this miracle and the victory.
This morning on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks spoke about Hanukka and went on to say this:
But there's a beautiful law in Judaism, and it applies to a day like today, Friday. On the Friday of Hanukkah we light two kinds of lights, for the festival and for the Sabbath, both of which begin at nightfall. What if we only have one candle? What do we light it as: a Hanukkah light or a Sabbath light? It can't be both.
The answer is: we light it as a Sabbath light, because the Sabbath light symbolizes peace in the home. And in Judaism, even the smallest fragment of peace takes precedence over even the greatest victory in war.
The first picture above is of a replica of the 7 branch Menorah from the second Temple which stands in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. The second Menorah is the traditional 9 branch Menorah used to celebrate Hanukkah.
Excellent poetic telling of the nativity story with the unpleasant bits left in. The video is produced by UCCF who suggest: Play this video as a spicy little extra at Christmas events to get people thinking about the Christmas story.
There are some great resources around for Christmas this year and this is another one which picks up on some of the themes explored in Nick Baines’s book Why wish you a Merry Christmas?
Yesterday the latest ecclesiastical Twitter project went live with the launch of the Twurch of England website. The site gives a live feed of tweets from clergy in the Church of England and is the brainchild of the Church Mouse and cyber wizard Revd Peter Ould. For those of you who still question the value of Twitter then check out Bishop Alan Wilson’s inaugural guest blog on Why I Tweet.
The Twurch of England is supported by the Church of England with the message: "The Church of England is happy that this site is available as a hub for people seeking to engage with the church and its various tweeters." I gave my own explanation for using twitter here and look forward to seeing how the Twurch of England develops. The site also offers a widget for adding a live feed on other blogs and a list of known clergy members of the Twurch.
I’ve been tagged by Jonathan and Paul with the following meme:
To list an artwork, drama, piece of music, novel, and poem that you think each express something of the essence of Christianity and for each one explain why. Then tag five other people.
1. Artwork: Christ carrying the Cross – Stanley Spencer.
I’m fascinated by what Spencer was trying to do in his paintings. In this work a diminutive Christ is shown carrying his cross through Cookham High Street and for me it suggests Jesus going about his work, fulfilling his vocation, surrounded by others going about their work. Some of Spencer’s work is seen as controversial because of the way he portrays Christ, but I think he is identifying something of the essence of the incarnation.
2. Drama: Babette’s Feast – Gabriel Axel
A wonderful film exploring both the dangers and the glory of the Christian faith. The film portrays the impact of grace on individuals and community with a beauty and richness I haven’t seen equalled in any other drama. A remote community has become desiccated by its commitment to a faith which is austere, ritualistic, legalistic and devoid of the love that should be at its heart. Into their midst comes a refugee who through an act of amazing generosity brings them back to the joy and wonder which should be the essence of the gospel. (Best watched in the original language with subtitles).
3. Music: Grace – U2
Some of U2’s best work has an edginess and ambiguity that forces one to reflect on the tensions and struggles of life and faith. At other times Bono’s lyrics play it straight as he sings in an open confessional style that some find embarrassing, perhaps because people are uncomfortable with the challenge. A recurring theme for Bono is the contrast between Karma and Grace and this song moves towards the essence of grace in a style reminiscent of Old Testament Wisdom literature.
4. Novel: Quarantine – Jim Crace
This was the most difficult part of the meme and in the end I went for a book that I found disturbing, challenging and yet with the possibility of hope and redemption. The story is about a small group of people living two thousand years ago who for various reasons enter the Judean desert to fast and pray. In the desert they meet a Satan character and the range of human depravation is exposed in the searing heat of the wilderness. However, in the distance is another character, a Galilean healer fasting for forty days. Crace is an atheist who wrote this for Amazon.com to introduce his book to an American audience:
It would be a simple matter. Take a venerated Bible story (Christ’s Judean fast), add a pinch of hard-nosed fact (nobody going without food and drink could survive for anything like forty days) and watch the scripture take a beating. Quarantine with Science as its sword would kill Christ after only thirty days in the wilderness. There’d be no Ministry or Crucifixion. The novel would erase two thousand years of Christianity. This would be my party-pooper for the Millennium.
Indeed, Quarantine did slay Christ. But novels have a way of breaking loose from their creators. That’s why they’re fun to write. Science does not triumph unambiguously in the book. Faith is not destroyed by Doubt. Jesus does not let me kill him off entirely. Rather than having to endure the wrath of Christians, as I expected, I found that Quarantine had been received by many British readers as a spiritual and scriptural text, an enrichment rather than a challenge to their faith. What’s going on?
Crace remains an atheist, yet he hits on something important. Like much of the best Christian art, Christ is not presented as central but on the periphery and his significance is explored through the impact of his presence on others. Writing this meme reminds me that I need to go back and read Quarantine again.
5. Poem: Love (III) – George Herbert
I came across this poem in the middle of my finals paper on Theology and Literature. I’d never read it before and I had to contrast it with a poem on love by W. H. Auden. I kept reading Love through and then suddenly remembered that I had to get something down on paper. The poem is another example of art suffused with the theme of grace and like Babette’s Feast the image of a meal is central.
Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.
'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:'
Love said, 'You shall be he.'
'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.'
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
'Who made the eyes but I?'
'Truth, Lord; but I have marr'd them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.'
'And know you not,' says Love, 'Who bore the blame?'
'My dear, then I will serve.'
'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat.'
So I did sit and eat.
Well this meme was a real challenge and I’m sure that if I did it again in a year’s time it would come out quite differently.
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.
Something about this sign wound me up when I saw it in Chelmsford yesterday. Just another advert for one of the many coffee shops in the high street, yet what stood out were the words at the bottom: ‘Fill yourself with joy’. Perhaps it is the appeal to self indulgence, not giving joy to someone else but giving yourself joy that seems to me to be the negation of the Christmas message. It’s part of a particular trend in advertising, what I call the ‘because you're worth it’ approach.
Christmas is an invitation to be filled with joy; joy at receiving the gift of God freely given in his son Jesus Christ.
He will come like last leaf's fall. One night when the November wind has flayed the trees to bone, and earth wakes choking on the mould, the soft shroud's folding.
He will come like frost. One morning when the shrinking earth opens on mist, to find itself arrested in the net of alien, sword-set beauty.
He will come like dark. One evening when the bursting red December sun draws up the sheet and penny-masks its eye to yield the star-snowed fields of sky.
He will come, will come, will come like crying in the night, like blood, like breaking, as the earth writhes to toss him free. He will come like child.
Living in Essex with a very understanding family (understanding of my mood swings relative to Man Utd's fortunes), a dog named Branoc, rabbits and chickens (when the fox doesn't eat them). Mission and Ministry Adviser for the Colchester Episcopal Area in the Diocese of Chelmsford. I'm also a non-residentiary Canon of Chelmsford Cathedral and I enjoy hitting and kicking things, which I call drumming.
The Hanukkah celebration of lighting the menorah traces its origin to a miracle that occurred after the victory of the Maccabees. The Temple in Jerusalem had been defiled by the invading Seleucid army. It was traditional to light a special lamp in the Temple, called a menorah, with olive oil, but all of the vials of oil were made impure, with the exception of one. According to Hanukkah history, the one vial of oil burned for eight days until pure oil could be obtained for the Temple. In gratitude, the Jews began lighting small menorahs in their homes to commemorate this miracle and the victory.
