The Provocative 'Art of life'?

In Simon Schama's wonderful book 'The Power of Art' the abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko is quoted, critiquing the developing art world of his day and the lot of artists within it...

'When I was a younger man, art was a lonely thing. No galleries, no collectors... no critics. No money.

Yet it was a golden age. For we all had nothing to lose - and a vision to gain.

Today it is not quite the same. It is a time of verbage. Activity, and consumption.

Which condition is better for the world at large? I will not venture to discuss. But I do know that many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow.

We must all hope we find them.'

Not everyone connects with his art but his critique of the artistic millieu of his day would surely extend to society at large, including our own.

Like Rothko I reckon there are many people in our community yearning for opportunities, space to 'root and grow'.
As Rothko does, I can't help doubting that incessant activity and noise do not readily encourage 'pockets of silence'.
Yet I share Rothko's hope that we will encounter moments where we can 'be still and know'.

The challenge remains for us all individually and corporately for those who gather as church.

The challenge, as it was for the artistically provocative Rothko before us, is to discover how, amongst the hustle and bustle of 21st century living, to express distinct, yet viable alternative ways of living.

Love it or hate Rothko's work always produced a reaction, a response. Surely our lives must do likewise. After all, 'unless there is something about church, or Christians, or Christian faith that intrigues, provokes or entices, then all the evangelism in the world will fall on deaf ears. If churches cannot conyey a sense of ‘reality’ then all our ‘truth’ will count for nothing. Unless someone wants to hear, there’s no point in shouting louder. Churches need to become provocative, arresting places which make the searcher, the casual visitor, want to come back for more.' [Graham Tomlin, The Provocative Church]

The unlikely hope of an 'impossible' peace?

A couple of things I've read today seem to be suggesting the same thing.

According to Charles Ringma:

'Hope can be born in the seemingly most impossible of situations. Hope does not need hopeful circumstances to raise a vision for a better future. Hope can be born in the most humble circumstances. It can spring up in the most unlikely places. And frequently, it is possessed by the most unlikely people. Hope frequently eludes the rich and powerful. It often makes it's home with the poor and needy'

While in Robert Guest's 'The Shackled Continent' I came across a story that adds surprising weight to Ringma's thoughts.

'In the early 1990s, two religious terrorists in Nigeria, Muhammad Ashafa and James Wuye, tried to have each other killed. It was during a burst of religious rioting for which Mr Ashafa blamed the Christian parliamentary group led by Mr Wuye, and Mr Wuye blamed Mr Ashafa' Muslim youth organisation. Christian assassins knocked on Mr Ashafa's door and killed the man who answered it. Their victim, as it happened, was Mr Ashafa's uncle. But they did not realize this. Meanwhile, Muslim assassins attacked Mr Wuye, hacked his arm off, and left him for dead.

Both men believed they had killed the other. When they later discovered that they had not, they took it as a sign from God that they should make peace. So they set up a joint charity to promote dialogue between Muslism and Christians. Now passionately committed to encouraging people of faith to live in harmony, Mr Wuye and Mr Ashafa are now the best of friends'(!).

An unlikely hope? Well, as likely as 'Christian assassins'!

Legacy?

Will it be the conflict in Iraq or peace in Northern Ireland? How will Tony Blair be remembered? What will his 'legacy' be? It would seem that for some this question is becoming all-consuming - it's all about legacy!

Which I guess is a human enough concern - how will any of us be 'remembered'? What will we 'leave behind'? I would certainly admit to wondering from time to time what my 'legacy' might be as a parent, a husband, a friend or even as an Officer?

Which is why I was encouraged when I came across Oscar Romero's poem 'Prophets Of A Future Not Our Own' (after all Archbishop Romero's legacy was fairly weighty!)...


This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

I wonder if Tony has ever come across Mr Romero?

A thing of beauty?

We haven’t had house group tonight – which generally means that I won’t have to record The Apprentice, Desperate Housewives or Grand Designs (The only 3 programs in a week that I follow in any real sense and there’ll all on the same night. And that night happens to be house group! How’s your luck!). Anyway one way or another Wednesdays are always good nights, particularly when we do get together, share some cake and talk about life and the Creator whose idea it was in the first place.

A couple of weeks ago we each shared and spoke about a song/piece of music that had impacted us as we thought about the various ways we have experienced God through music.

From Rufus Wainwright to The Divine Comedy, from Johnny Cash to Nine Inch Nails, there was even room for the Staff Songsters! (I'm not saying who brought the 'Staff' into it, but it wasn't me!!) As eclectic as the group itself, there was little doubt that we each experienced God through music in very different, yet no less powerful, ways. But for lots of reasons I was really taken by the following track…

For those like me who are new to the song, it’s ‘Hurt’ - written by Nine Inch Nails (a new one to me?!) but performed here by Johnny Cash.

I was immediately struck by how powerfully the song (and video) communicated even before we learnt that the song was written by a guy named Trent Reznor (from this Nine Inch lot!) who struggled with depression fuelled by drug and alcohol addiction. Yet this undeniably self-destructive and dark testimony seemed to be redeemed and transformed as Country-legend and committed Christian Johnny Cash covered the track.

Indeed Trent Reznor, who had initially opposed Cash’s keeness to cover the song, on watching the video commented ‘the video he made of that song was overwhelming. When I saw it the power and the beauty of music struck me in a really profound way. I was at a point in my life when I was really unsure if I was any good or if I had anything to say. The song came out of a really ugly corner of my mind and turned into something with a frail beauty. And then several years later an icon from a completely differenr world takes the song and juxtaposes himself into it in a way that seems more powerful to me than my own version. I was flattered as an artist and as a human being they could do that with my song. And it came at a very insecure time in my life and it felt like a nudge and boost and a hug from God. It said ‘everything’s OK and the world is bigger than what’s just in my head.’

A powerful, powerful reminder that beauty can emerge from even the darkest of places. Like I said, Wednesdays are always good.

How very dare we!

It would seem we owe the people of Startford and in particular the churches of Stratford, an apology! Quite unknowingly we are guilty of ‘rude planting’! For which we say ‘sorry’.

At the recent Crucible weekend Stuart Murray explained that wherever possible ‘rude church planting’ should be avoided. How or what is rude church planting? Simply put, it is planting that takes place without properly consulting the churches and other agencies that already exist and work in a given community. It’s planting that in effect barges in and plonks itself down. It’s planting that inadvertently fails to respect the work of those who are already investing locally. It’s planting that at best is a little naive and at worst smacks of arrogance – and it’s downright rude!!

So while we would be reluctant to shoulder the full responsibility for the rudeness of our inherited planting ‘strategy’ we apologise nonetheless!

It’s church Jim, but not as we know it?!

Sunday saw the beginning of an experiment, a journey into the unknown.

Since arriving in Stratford we’ve been very aware that in many ways the last thing the borough needs is another church(!). Actually that’s not quite true. The last thing the borough needs is another congregational, building-based, programme-driven church! You only have to walk 200 yards to pass the ‘Redeemed Calvary Congregation’ the ‘Very Redeemed Calvary Temple for the Nations’ or the ‘Truly Redeemed Calvary Tabernacle to Infinite and Beyond’! You get the point, there’s no shortage of ‘churches’.

But we’re convinced that there’s plenty of room for different types, different expressions of church, of Christian community. Since we’ve always felt that we have been sent to Stratford to meet and engage with those who haven’t already connected with church it would seem rather foolish to come in and just ‘do’ what everyone else is already doing! Foolish, but not unheard of!

Thankfully, in a confirming kind of way, we’ve met one or two new friends locally with similar convictions and so together we’re beginning an experiment to discover what church, Christian community, family might look like within the hectic and messy reality of modern urban life.

We don’t know what will happen, or where it will all end up, but we recognise that for many, particularly those with young children (word of testimony here!), the orthodox way of doing (or being?) church is not always helpful and so we’re looking to use gathered family meals as a base for sharing – sharing that’s meaningful and engaging however young or old we are. As we meet, eat and share we hope that Jesus-talk will permeate our time together be that for Sunday lunch, Saturday breakfast or a picnic in the park.

Having had plenty of experience of Sundays being the most stressful day of the week(?!) I guess we’re looking to see how ‘life-shaped’ our ‘church’ can be. And so our ‘search’ has begun, we’ve embarked on our journey and Sunday was great! Really good. I mean I’ve not met many people who come out of a five hour service saying they loved every minute!

some encouragement for fellow questioners

A friend recently shared that he was often perceived as a negative person with a 'downer on the Army'. And the reason for this perception? The fact that he deigns to question! He has the audacity to wonder whether or not our current reality is all that it should be, could be? Or whether God may have more in store. And so this 'dangerous daydreamer' is cast a pessimist with a chip on his shoulder.

Yet I'm increasingly convinced that dissatisfaction arises from an unrealised sense of hope, from a passionate belief that things don't have to remain the same and that an alternative, more glorious reality is possible. So while many may feel uncomfortable and perceive those who question as overly negative I'm excited by those who are dairing enough to question and brave enough to share their thoughts - I want more of it, I'd go as far as to suggest we need it. We may not find the answers we're looking for, but the least we can do is to ask the right questions.

To paraphrase the 'depressed-yet-hopeful' Brian McLaren in his depiction of 'A Generous Orthodoxy' 'if enough of us can bear the truth of our failures as Salvationists, if we can let that truth humble us and bring us from denial to sincere and profound repentance, if our hearts are made soft and responsive to the Holy Spirit through this painful but needed process, then there truly is hope in the midst of depression.'

Thought food

I recently came across a quote I'd scribbled down when reading up on Liberation Theology - it comes from the pen of Gustavo Gutierrez...

'...our quest (as followers of Jesus) should be driven by the human being who is not considered human by the present social order - the exploited classes, marginalized ethnic groups and despised cultures. The challenge is how to tell the the non-person that God is love'.

Characteristically challenging, Gutierrez rightly highlights the need for Christians and the alternative communities that we form to model the spiritually and socially inclusive message of Jesus. The question we surely have to ask ourselves is whether or not we are liberators of excluded people or simply another dimension of their oppression? We may not exclude tax-collectors or haemorrhaging women, but what about schizophrenics, divorcees, homosexuals, single people, one-parent families, drug users, transsexuals, or those struggling with their faith?'

We often make claims about possessing the 'truth' while ignoring Jesus' own words that the 'truth will set you free' (John 8:32).

Food for thought?