Banksy is an anonymous English based graffiti artist based in Bristol. His work consists mostly of a distinctive stencil based technique, and can be found on streets, bridges and walls of cities round the world. Many of his painted pieces are of a ‘social commentary’ nature, although in 2015 he organised a temporary art project in Weston-super-Mare at a disused Lido. Titled ‘Dismaland’, it was an ironic twist on Disneyland.   

Art is one of those things that can be incredibly subjective. One man’s graffiti art and installation is another man’s vandalism and waste of space.

Artists find their ideas from all sort of sources. Banksy from the state of society, sculptor and photographer Andy Goldsworthy from the natural world, surrealist Salvador Dali from the depths of his imagination.

Many artists have found their inspiration in the pages of the bible. Visiting the great art galleries of the world, the sheer number of painters who put brush to canvas to give image to words from scripture is striking. Michelangelo’s work on the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper at the convent of Santa Maria in Milan are works that have been reproduced countless times. They speak across the generations, in very much the same way that the bible that give brith to them did in the first place.

Art in our places of worship didn’t cease to be produced hundreds of years ago.

In the crypt at Winchester Cathedral stands a sculpture by British artist Anthony Gormley. ‘Sound II’ is described a a ‘mysterious’ life-size state of a man, contemplating the water held in his cupped hands. It is striking, especially when it stands in the foot or so of water that has filled the crypt which is regularly flooded during rainy months.

Art in our church buildings shouldn’t detract from the main purpose of these buildings – as places that we gather to worship God. Instead, like the songs we sing, the words we speak, and the scripture we read, it should focus us back on the creator God who has given us that creative urge himself.

(October 2016)

I wonder what wakes you up in the morning?

It might be the rising sun leaking round the edge of your curtains. It could be the bird song outside the windows. If you’re fortunate perhaps it’s someone bringing you a cup of coffee. Or maybe it’s the sound of some relentlessly joyful DJ extolling the virtues of the latest single from a band you’ve never heard of when your clock radio reaches the appointed time.

Time can seem to be the thing that rules our lives.

I read recently how the rail companies in the UK were instrumental in introducing nationwide standardised time. As you move from East to West the sun sets later. If your clock is a sundial, you would have the middle of the day before someone living in a town further west from you. This wan’t much good for running trains. So in 1840, the Great Western Railway Company synchronised local times and applied a single standard.

Although they might well have been unwittingly responsible for encouraging a greater awareness of punctuality in the general public, the railway companies didn’t invent time.

Time is God’s invention. Open up a bible at page one, and read how God makes light to separate the day from the night, and time begins. The whole of creation marks the passage of time as the weather goes from cold to warm and then gets colder again. Crops are planted, grow and are harvested.

Read further on in the bible, and we find how one writer records that ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens’, and a little bit later ‘God has set eternity in the human heart.’

Not only are we aware of the passing of time, we mark it with annual events, birthdays, anniversaries, Easter and Christmas, we are also aware that we are only play a short part in a much greater story.

As a Christian, that story is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We should always have an eye on eternity, because God’s promise for all those that love and follow him is that they can be there to share it with him. If you’ve never thought about it before, now is as good a time as any!

(September 2016)

I wonder if you’ve ever heard the phrase ‘it takes a whole village to raise a child’?

This proverb has it’s origin in the Igbo and Yoruba peoples in Nigeria, although it exists in different forms in many African languages. The basic meaning is that the upbringing of children is a communal effort, where the extended family, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even other non-relatives – neighbours and friends, participate.

The saying also sums up the African worldview that underlines the value of family. In these cultures, children are seen as a blessing from God to the whole community.

The dis-connectedness of twenty first century living in the western world seems at times to be the polar opposite. Even in the smallest village there are people we know well, some we can nod at as we pass in the street, but others who are strangers. Not only does the whole village not raise a child, because offers of help can be seen as unwelcome interference, but we often just comment at a distance.

There is a wonderful polish proverb that encapsulates this. ‘Not my circus, not my monkey’s’. ‘Not my problem’ would be another way of putting it, but the Poles express it better. It’s not confined to the area of childcare, but also famine in Africa, Brazilian deforestation, or gun violence in America . Unless we ourselves are directly affected, we can be left unmoved and unstirred.

This is not God’s way. HIs way is best summed up some words of Jesus, which while not strictly speaking a proverb, for the purposes of this piece are worth treating as one.

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself’.

The bible tells us how this vexed an expert in religious law who wanted to know from Jesus who his neighbour was, and in this post Brexit world it’s vital we remember this.  The answer for him is the answer for us. The people of this world are our neighbour, whatever colour or creed, religion or class. We are called to care for them as we would wish to be cared for ourselves. 

(August 2016)

If you ever have a chance to inspect a map of the USA, especially New England, you’ll quickly notice how familiar some of the place names are. Cambridge, Portsmouth, Manchester, York – I’m sure we could quite easily point these places out on a map of the U.K. A little bit more difficult when they’re in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine.

Why did the early settlers in America name their towns after places in England? After all, wasn’t England the place where they were fleeing from? Wouldn’t it make more sense to name these places something entirely different? A new home with a new name.

Perhaps having some kind of familiarity, even if it was memories of a place that you were glad to have left, was really quite important. In a situation where changing your mind and returning to where you came from would involve a sea voyage of weeks or months, your options were limited.

It is human nature to go back to what you know. From ordering the same meal in a restaurant, to rewatching a much loved film, to sitting every week in the same pew in church. We are not just creatures of habit, we feel a sense of safety with the familiar.

I wonder though if we see God as being safe? And if we do, is this a fair understanding?

In ‘The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe’, CS Lewis writes of a meeting between the four children, who are the heroes of the book, and a Mr & Mrs Beaver who describe what the titular Lion is like.

‘Is he safe’? Asks one of the four children.

‘Safe?’ Comes the reply, ‘..Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’

For Lewis, the Lion represents Jesus, and this line could just as easily be written about him, because although there is absolutely safety in the arms of God, that doesn’t make God ‘safe’.

But following him is the most rewarding, life affirming, life fulfilling choice we can make.

(July 2016)

Of all the rather odd celebrations that take place around the globe, the month of June has several that ought to rank quite highly. The ever popular Canadian Rivers Day is on the second Sunday of June, and Singapore International Water Week starts this year on the 16th. If you’re looking for something that lasts for the full thirty days, there’s nothing more appealing than the Great Outdoors Month in America. Or if you don’t fancy the travel then stay closer to home. Dentists of the UK will be overjoyed if you send them a card, because June is National Smile Month.

Why mark the glory of a smile with an entire month’s worth of commemoration? Or for that matter the Great Outdoors, Canadian Rivers or Singapore International Water? It seems to be about giving value and worth to something by making space for it. And then by assigning it a name it’s somehow made even more special.

There are of course more obvious occasions; Mothering Sunday, Remembrance Day, perhaps even our birthday’s! Each of these has greater claim to deserving our time and attention.

Unless the twenty-second of June is your birthday, it’s likely that it will pass unnoticed as the calendar moves relentlessly towards July. In the Church though, it’s the day that we remember and give thanks to God for St Alban.

Although comparatively little is known of the life of St Alban, what is certain is that for at least 1500 years the story of the death of this man for his refusal to renounce his Christian faith has been recalled, retold, and remembered. His actions had such an impact in his home town of Verulamium that it was his name that was attached to the city that was later built on and near the ruins of the older town.

In a day and age when much that is fleeting and disparate fights for our attention, the timeless truth of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is one that needs no special day. As the writer of the Psalms puts it, ‘this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad’.

(June 2016)

At more than 2300 episodes that have aired over the last 55 years, the BBCs Songs of Praise is one of the most recognisable shows broadcast in the UK. Originally location specific, with hymns from a single church, the style of the programme has changed to being more of a magazine format. This reflects the wider Christian audience across the country. Now it would now not be unusual to hear a classic John Wesley hymn from a church in Wales, and then later in the same show a modern worship song from a central London setting.

A favourite for those who are unable to get to a church, Songs of Praise is religious broadcasting with a light touch. But as far as Christian TV goes, it’s not at the missional edge.

Christian satellite television broadcasting network Sat-7 is different. It’s still Christian content, but the remit for the not-for-profit organisation is to see a growing Church in the Middle East and North Africa. From their headquarters in Nicosia, Cyprus, the programme diet of dramas, music videos, films, cartoons games shows and more live out the station’s slogan “Making God’s Love Visible”. The programmes are broadcast into more than 70 countries in different languages, and while Songs of Praise mainly serves those who already have some kind of Christian background, Sat-7 reaches out not just to local Christians, but also to people whose only knowledge of Jesus Christ comes from their shows.

As Christians we are called to speak about our faith. That doesn’t have to mean bible thumping fire and brimstone shouting on street corners. It does mean using the skills and talents that we have available to us to make Christ known.

The Bishop of Chelmsford remarked recently how having been out to dinner at a particularly excellent restaurant, he spent the next couple of weeks enthusing about it to everyone he met. He went on to wonder what is so different about sharing our faith? The answer should be nothing!

In whatever way we do it, on the screen of the TV, or in conversation over a pizza, let’s make the Sat-7 slogan one we can own ourselves, and Make God’s Love Visible.

(May 2016)

There is no shortage of places that songwriters can go to when they are looking for a subject to write about.  Falling in love, being in love and falling back out of love again seem to be the main themes for a good number of lyricists. But nothing is off limits.

The Beatles successfully sang about life under the sea in Yellow Submarine, the garden of a Salvation Army children’s home in Strawberry Fields and loneliness & separation in Eleanor Rigby. Mind you, they also sang a great deal about love as well.

The bible has provided inspiration for a surprising number of well known artists over the years. Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy scored a number 5 hit in 1985 with the song ‘Kiss Me’, which in part took its lyrics from the Song of Solomon. Seventies favourites Boney M quoted extensively from Psalm 137 for their multi platinum number one smash ‘Rivers of Babylon. And on their album War, long lasting rockers U2 titled the final track ’40’, after Psalm 40.

What is it about the bible that makes it a book that people turn to time and time again to get those creative juices flowing?

The answer is most clear in the book of Psalms, the collection of 150 works of praise, thanksgiving, wisdom and lament, that sits right in the middle of the bible. Although now more often viewed as a collection of poetry, these were the hit songs of their day, many of them thought to be authored by King David.

Not just a musician. Not just a poet. This man was chosen by God to be King. But he was in no way perfect. He listened to God, he obeyed God, he rebelled against God, and he reaped the consequences. The Psalms record his response to his situation – good or bad.

They describe very real human reactions. It’s not just about an awesome God who sits on a far off throne, although sometimes the writer of the Psalms sees it like this. They also deal with pain and suffering and loss.

And that’s why contemporary musicians, and in turn us too, can turn to the bible when we look to understand the human condition and God’s relationship with us.

Let’s leave the last word to the writer of Psalm 40

“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”

(April 2016)

On the walls of St Paul’s Cathedral there hang two large white crosses that, viewed from a distance, seem somewhat uneven. Up close though the reason for their irregular nature becomes clear. There are intricate models of contemporary and historical settlements, that have been decimated by conflict, woven in to the arms of the crosses. These twin sculptures by London artist Gerry Judah sit at the very head of the nave, and at more than six foot high, they are strikingly imposing. The reality of the consequences of war, fixed to an instrument of death – which in itself is a symbol of life eternal, in a place that glorifies the God of peace. It’s a powerful image.

Lent, the six weeks or so leading up to Easter, are an important time in the Christian church. Its purpose is as a time of preparation for followers of Christ through prayer, penance, repentance, giving, and self-denial. For many people, the self-denial takes the form of fasting, most often by missing out a luxury from their regular diet. Coffee, chocolate or some other luxury.

Fasting and prayer have been a part of Christian life from the earliest of times. The Bible records how two of the earliest Christians, Paul and Barnabas, spent time praying and fasting as they sought to seek God’s mind and grow his church. As the focus on God takes over from a focus on the world, Christians can gain a new frame of reference and a fresh dependence on him.

And then as Lent ends, on Easter Day itself, it is to the cross that we come.

So often the cross we might find in a church is smooth, plain, unmarked. Sanitised even. But the reality was that the empty cross of Christ would bear the puncture marks of the nails that were driven through hands and feet. It would be stained by the blood and sweat of its victim. It would be crudely and roughly made.

The sculptures in St Paul’s Cathedral remind us that even though the world still hurts, the answer to that pain lies in the cross – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(March 2016)

“In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish’d dove;
In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”

Often named among the nation’s favourite poets, Alfred Tennyson was appointed as Poet Laureate of Great Britain & Ireland in 1850, following on from William Wordsworth. The lines above are from his masterwork ‘Locksley Hall’. The poem is about an unnamed soldier travelling with a small military unit who lets his company travel on ahead while he remains at a place which turns out to be the Locksley Hall of the poem’s title. This was where the soldier spent his childhood, and the poem has the soldier struggling to deal with feelings from his childhood, especially in the light of the frustration of his current occupation.

The second of the two lines is the one most often quoted from the poem, but it is nearly always mentioned out of context. The poem is not a love poem – but this one line could well give the impression that it is.

As we move from winter to spring, our thoughts might well turn to new beginnings as nature brings forth new life. They might also turn to love. But just as love in Tennyson’s poem is but one part, so is love just one part of all of our lives.

With the memory of the violent deaths both in Paris and in Nigeria last year still fresh in our minds, love might well be something that is difficult to see in our world. But near the beginning of February we begin the season of Lent, and start to prepare ourselves for Easter. Easter is a story about Jesus death and resurrection, and it’s a story that we go on telling despite, or maybe because, of all that goes on in our world. Because the story of Jesus is a story of God’s great love.

In the face of suffering, it still has relevance, because the love of God is the only way we can make sense of what goes on in our world.

(February 2016)