Bishop David gave the keynote address of the Study Day at St Paul's Harlow on the value of public art.

Bishop David gave the keynote address of the Study Day at St Paul's Harlow on the value of public art.
The first example of Public Art in the Bible is the bronze snake of the book of Numbers. Moses said, Look at it and live. A good inspiration for any public artist.
The bronze snake prefigured the death of Christ on the Cross.
The symbol of the Cross is probably the most used symbol around the world.
Why Public Art? Some opening suggestions as to why it is really important for all.
1 it helps provide an identity, a rallying point.
2 It raises aspiration.
3 It lifts our eyes beyond the humdrum of daily life.
In our own time there is no better example than the Angel of the North, which has raised the aspiration of the north-east.
Andrew Motion's poem 'What if?' at Sheffield station reproduced in huge writing is another example. And Banksy teaches us that there is no distinction between high and low art - just good and bad art.
Public art is especially important now. So many of our communities are dominated by multi-national global images e.g. KFC, Costas etc. Theses are overtaking our communities so that the individual identities of our communities are being crowded out.
What makes human beings distinct?
1 Hunan beings need to be inspired, a vision beyond little old me
2 The need to belong to and aspire to something different.
3 There is that in is that nerds beauty
4 We need contemplation.
The arts point to God, the essence of beauty.

Together We Stand on Commn Ground

A very interesting evening yesterday thinking about the cultural context for mission. What thing are fundamental to the Christian gospel and should not be changed, and what should be adapted as part of mission? Hudson Taylor adopted Chinese dress, and there was great controversy. How do we reach across the cultural barriers in England today?

Pastor Wiseborn of the Church of Pentecost shared Revelation 7:9ff. Wiseborn shared his vision that a day is coming when we shall be a multitude of people from different nations, tongues etc, worshipping God together.

He then spoke of the Ghanaian church where his own church was authentically Ghanaian as against an imported (my word) style e.g. Anglicanism. The Church of Pentecost was founded by someone from Northern Ireland. He contextualised the gospel, as Jesus did in becoming a man. There had been great growth as a result. As major denominations had gone down a similar course more recently they too have known growth.
Hence for example we need to sing songs that have a contemporary ring. Otherwise, people will say that church is boring.

This means we all need to make sacrifices, all give up things we value. We will do this better as the black and white churches learn from one another The white church is good at bringing care, the black at speaking to the spirit. We need to have both together. We should seek to bring our strengths together, which will help us understand our cultures and reaching out.

Thus an African is from a status-related culture. Hence we need to value them by quickly giving them a role in the life of the local church.

Revd Philip Jenson (from Ridley hall Theological College, Cambridge) spoke about what he has learned through the Old Testament, his specialist field.

1. Corporate v Individual. We are a very individualistic culture. The African culture is much more corporate, as is the Old Testament.

2. Suspicion v Trust. Westerners are very suspicious of everyone and everything, because there are so many things around. Thus the English come across as cold. But any strength also has it's dangers. We need to learn that God made the world good.

3 The Psalms - these include laments and praises. We perhaps need to recover the laments since so many lives are full of hurts and guilt etc. Need both cross and Resurrection - Praise and Lament.

I then concluded by thinking about how we deicide what is essential and those things in which flexibility is needed. The Book of Acts gives us good examples. The Christians, in struggling with these things, valued:

a. The Scriptures, inspired by God. In being obedient to the scriptures we are part of the Community of Faith over time
b. The Works of God. In Acts these included e.g. the gift of the Holy Spirit to Gentiles. The work of Christ is obviously central, something which they would have taken as read
c. The Present Community of Faith, as we take counsel together, seeking prayerfully to rely upon and listen to the Holy Spirit at work in our midst.

Uncomfortable

This week's lectionary readings from Micah have got me thinking about the fact that Gospel can be (nay, always is) uncomfortable. The message of judgment for Jerusalem was not welcomed. Nevertheless, the Old Testament always (I think) mingles grace with its judgment. The tree is cut down but there will be new growth from the stump (Isaiah)


This strikes me as apt for our society at the moment. And I look forward to reading David Bentley Hart’s The Atheist Delusions (see also Nick Baines' blog) as to what that might mean if his thesis is anywhere near correct.


The today I come across the words of David Bosch in the magnificent Transforming Mission, quoted in Alan Hirsch's The Forgotten Ways:


"Strictly speaking one ought to say that the Church is always in a state of crisis and that its greatest shortcoming is that it is only occasionally aware of it... Let us know that to encounter crisis is to encounter the possibility of truly being the church." This makes me look upon the idea of the Reformation Church as continually being reformed in a new, much more dynamic light.


I realised some time ago that I have lived much of my life seeking stability. If only I can understand this or that, or achieve the other, then all will be well and there shall be peace in my soul.


How tempting it is to want to preach the same message to the world, in these days of crisis.


But Micah and Bosch will not let us do either, either to the wider world or to the church - and indeed in myself. The continuing crises and struggles are part of our Cruciformity (to quote the title of an as-yet unread book.) Gospel means embracing these, wherever they may lead. Be it in church life, or personal struggles, or the way that I find myself more and more challenged to really 'see' the huge struggles of those I meet every day (echoed in newspaper headlines).


I must not flee these challenges but meet them head on. This is the calling of Christ.