Blog Post Title One
It all begins with an idea.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Blog Post Title Two
It all begins with an idea.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Blog Post Title Three
It all begins with an idea.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Blog Post Title Four
It all begins with an idea.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Beatitudes 2014 - Reflections
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy - Tuned to the Source are those who shine from the deepest place in their bodies. Upon them shall be the rays of universal love.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy - Tuned to the Source are those who shine from the deepest place in their bodies. Upon them shall be the rays of universal love.
Take some time to say the following prayer, over and over slowly, in time with your breathing:
‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.’
As you pray, call to mind any situation where you are withholding mercy from someone else by:
bearing a grudge, or withholding forgiveness
being aware of their need but doing nothing to relieve it
mentally dwelling on their negative qualities
nurturing a desire to see someone be punished, or experience misfortune.
Receive: God’s forgiveness.
Reflect: In what ways might you be withholding mercy from yourself?
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. - Aligned with the One are those who wait up at night, weakened and dried out inside by the unnatural state of the world; they shall receive satisfaction
What do you hunger and thirst for? How hungry are you? How do you distract yourself from your hunger?
Interact with Julianne's art by placing your hand on the plasma ball and looking in the mirror.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. - Ripe are those who soften what is rigid inside and out; they shall be open to receive strength and power— their natural inheritance from God.
How does it help you to understand 'meekness' to consider it in terms of softness vs rigidity, rather than weakness vs strength?
Meditate on a recent situation where you acted in a way that was not meek. Replay that situation in your mind, making a different choice of word or action.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God - Healthy are those who strike the note that unites; they shall be remembered as rays of the One Unity.
Reflect on a situation of conflict known to you. Ask God for one way you could promote peace in that situation.
Light a candle and pray for the situation and your choice of action.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven - Blessings to those who are dislocated for the cause of justice; they realize their part in the vision that rules all creation.
When was the last time you felt a conflict between what you felt to be right or just, and what felt comfortable, safe, or advantageous?
What strengthens your own convictions and practice toward the 'cause of justice'?
What would your faith mean to you if faced with a choice of conversion, flight, or death?
Hold in your heartthe conflicts unfolding in the Middle East, and in particular the persecution of Christians in northern Iraq under ISIS rule. Pray for those faced with intolerable choices. Pray for those politicians, oppressors, soldiers, and journalists, that some may choose justice and compassion, even at cost to themselves.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God - Aligned with the One are those whose lives radiate from a core of love; they shall see God everywhere.
Matthew 6:21-23 ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.'
A ‘pure heart’ has to do with a single, or undivided ‘vision’, a commitment that is not easily fragmented because it is sourced in a constant love.
How much of your focus is turned towards your 'ultimate concern' – to the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price, which is the loving realm of God?
What other things fill the eyes of your heart and distract you from your primary identity and joy?
Light a candle and take it back to your seat. Look into the flame. Still your mind and body. Let the light fill you. Taste for a moment, an undivided self. Let God become visible to your heart.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted - Ripe are those who feel at loose ends, coming apart at the seams; they shall be knit back together within.
Read Psalm 126
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
Discover one word or phrase that resonates for you from the psalm, and meditate on it – repeat it in your mind, and let it open up associations for you. Listen for anything that sounds like God's word to you this morning.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven - Blessed are those who realize that breath is their first and last possession— theirs is the “I can” of the cosmos.
Read Virgin Birth by Joy Cowley
(not reproduced here to avoid copyright issues, sorry)
James K Baxter describes those who are poor in spirit as “nga raukore” – trees stripped bare of leaves and branches.
Meditate on either of the images above: the ‘virgin place’ or the bare tree, or images Andrew shared.
Create your own image or symbol that represents your experience or idea of spiritual poverty.
Write or draw it on the paper provided.
Advent in Art 13: Michelle Parkinson
At advent we remember how Jesus came to change the world, and we celebrate that, and we welcome the Messiah again into our hearts. For me Jesus is the person who stands for social justice, love, generosity, not just following religious traditions, but loving people and living out of that place of love with all of your being.
My name is Michelle and I have done this painting on the advent theme of Welcoming.
I used to love painting. I painted all the way through school and then in my early twenties. However having kids put a stop to that. For the last few years I have felt a niggling desire to start painting again, and an equal reluctance to risk oil paints in my house and on my kids. I always loved using oil paints. I really enjoy the vibrant colours and the slick, oily finish. I like layering them up, pushing the paint around on the canvas and seeing what surprising tones and textures emerge. Brenda asking me to do an advent in art piece was just the motivation I needed to get me back into it. So it was with nervous excitement that I went to buy a canvas and began to prepare my art. When I started painting again in early November it felt really good and exciting- it was like stuffing my face with a chocolate mousse cake after being on a diet. It was therapeutic and relaxing, I was just laying colours down on top of each other with soothing horizontal strokes. It connected me with my pre-mum self, and reminded me of my youth.
The advent theme for this last week of advent is WELCOMING, but I would say that my art encompasses the theme of WAITING and EXPECTING as well. Advent is a time of the year that I love. Having been brought up in NZ I have a strong association between advent and the start of summer, family, holidays, fun and relaxation. For us in the South Christmas means long warm evenings, BBQs and plenty of socialising. I was raised in a Christian household and remember being told the story of Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus throughout my childhood. We never really did Santa Claus- for me Christmas has always been about waiting for the baby Jesus to be born so he could bring redemption and hope to the world. Because of the Christian focus in my family, the carol singing, the ukulele playing and the gathering together to give and receive gifts and share food was often a time of happiness and unity. This is a time of the year when I feel an undercurrent of strong connection with my family and with my church. My TALK now is partly about my faith journey, partly about my art work, and partly what the bible says about Jesus’s birth.
I have been thinking a lot of Mary in the last days of her pregnancy, and remembering what that was like for me. Being uncomfortable, heavy, and impatient to meet the child growing inside me. What would Mary have been thinking, about to have her first baby, having to travel to Bethlehem for the census, wondering what this God child would be like. It must have been a scary time for her. I imagine I would have been really put out by it all if I had been in her shoes. I know she was honoured and chosen by God to carry God’s son, but what a huge challenge. People would have thought she was deranged – impregnated by the Holy Spirit. The bible tells us she accepted her task graciously, and I am in awe of her for that. What a rocky start to Mary and Joseph’s marriage! And here they were waiting for the Christ child to arrive who would be called Immanuel ‘God with Us’.
And Jesus, the newborn baby born in such an understated way would turn out to be a Man who changed the world and turned everything upside down. I’m not going to pretend I haven’t had my questions or doubts about the Virgin Birth, or Jesus as the son of God, but these things are still central to me, and I choose to continue to believe these fundamentals that I grew up believing. I loved what Brenda said a few weeks ago, it was something like that God provided through Jesus a path to transformation and enlightenment. At advent we remember how Jesus came to change the world, and we celebrate that, and we welcome the Messiah again into our hearts. For me Jesus is the person who stands for social justice, love, generosity, not just following religious traditions, but loving people and living out of that place of love with all of your being. I love this passage in The Message where Jesus says in Luke 6 27-30 “To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.
31-34 “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.
35-36 “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
For me Jesus is the central part of my faith and the Christian story. He is the Hero- he goes against the arrogant, rich, bigoted big wigs and challenges them. And this part of advent is about welcoming him, and preparing to celebrate his arrival.
My painting is based on the concept of the time just before the dawn. Just as day is about to break. It is based on the symbolism of waiting for the sun. The sun as the life giving energy that sustains us, and the source of light for our world. At this time in advent we are waiting for the birth of our messiah, and the light he will shed on the world and in our hearts. I tried to capture the depth of the sky blue and majestic, with the hint of sunshine coming up from the horizon.
I have this notion, that somehow the whole of creation was waiting in these last moments, holding their breath, looking to the heavens, yearning for the appearance of the saviour who had been promised. And Jesus, being the son of God, was there at the beginning of the world when the spirit of God hovered over the waters and here is about to appear in the form of an infant. I like it that the blue sky, the Koru, and even the ‘land’ in my painting could also be water/waves and ocean. It reminds me that Jesus the man is also one with God the creator and designer.
The old testament world was flawed, dark, selfish and sinful, and that Jesus was coming to make a new start- to offer a new start. A redemption. A saviour to save us from ourselves. Isaiah 60:2,3 In Handel’s Messiah the lines go..
2. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. 3. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
There are hints in the painting of the light overcoming the darkness. The sun is on its way. It is supposed to look hopeful, even though the land is still dark and sombre.
Then the sky is of course Blue, which is often used in association with the Virgin Mary.
The land and the whole painting for me has a very New Zealand flavour. I had hoped the land would look vaguely mountainous like McCahon’s famous paintings - but I didn’t quite achieve that. I also wanted the curve of the hill to be reminiscent of a pregnant women’s belly.
You may have guessed that Gordon Walters was the inspiration for my prominent symbolic Koru. I decided to use this symbol to represent the new birth and new growth that the baby Jesus offers the world. The Koru, according to Wikipedia, is (Māori for "loop"[1]) is a spiral shape based on a new unfurling silver fern frond and symbolizing new life, growth, strength and peace.[2] It is an integral symbol in Māori art, carving and tattoos. The circular shape of the koru helps to convey the idea of perpetual movement while the inner coil suggests a return to the point of origin.
I really like these words and ideas in relation to the coming of the messiah.
The Koru in my painting also refers to the prophecy in Isaiah 11
1-5 A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump,
from his roots a budding Branch.
The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
will be all his joy and delight.
He won’t judge by appearances,
won’t decide on the basis of hearsay.
He’ll judge the needy by what is right,
render decisions on earth’s poor with justice.
His words will bring everyone to awed attention.
A mere breath from his lips will topple the wicked.
Each morning he’ll pull on sturdy work clothes and boots,
and build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.
I notice that Nigel’s advent in art also focused on the idea of Jesus being a fresh and true root. When I started looking at the scriptures about Jesus I was pleased to see that many of them referred to Jesus as a light which was a key element in my painting. Here are some of the words of Zachariah in Luke, after his tongue was loosened at the birth of John and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied
“Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God’s sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
Those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
Down the path of peace.”
You might need to use your imagination a little but if you can look at my painting and try to get a sense of the coming dawn, the hope of all creation about to arrive in the flesh, the stillness, the chill in the air, a shiver down your spine. Waiting expectantly.
I was pondering on the idea of Welcoming, and linking it to the maori concept of Manaakitanga which is about respect, esteem, welcoming and caring for a guest. Ensuring a guest is treated with consideration- that they are comfortable physically and emotionally. The oxford dictionary says that welcome means “a word of kindly greeting, as to one whose arrival gives pleasure”. This made me think of when I am preparing for a party and rushing around tidying the house before visitors arrive. I wondered what I could do this Christmas to prepare for Jesus, and to welcome him into my life and heart. What could I do to make Jesus feel comfortable at my place? I think for me this year I want to focus on holding a generous attitude in my heart- I think Jesus would feel welcome in my life if I was to hold onto material things lightly, and be generous with myself – listening and being present to others over Christmas.
I was quite nervous about doing this advent in art piece, and I was talking to Jeanie about that. She recommended that I read Brene Brown’s ‘Daring Greatly’. Luckily I happened to have this in my present box in the cupboard as I had bought it for my sister to give to her for her birthday so I was able to get it down from the cupboard and have little read. I was struggling with the idea of putting my art and my thoughts out there in the church arena, wondering whether I was good enough, smart enough, motivated enough to do it. I was concerned that people would be critical, or that I might offend someone somehow. I expressed my nerves to Brenda who challenged me by saying “ I hope that at Cityside you might find more opportunities to flex your strengths and discover them warmly welcomed.” And then as I began to read ‘Daring Greatly’ the following statement jumped out at me - “When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our back on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make… We must dare to show up and let ourselves be seen.” So here I am letting myself be seen, offering my unique contribution.
So that’s pretty much everything about my painting, although I’m open to hear what other people see in it. For me producing the painting was a lovely journey back into painting and also a time for re-affirming within myself what meaning advent held for me. So I’m grateful for the chance to have done an advent in art work.
REFLECTIVE SPACE
I want to do something meditative in response to the theme of welcoming today. I am a counsellor by profession and I was reading a lovely little picture book on mindfulness that gave me the idea of doing a mindfulness type exercise with you all. Of course this is an optional activity, and you are welcome to sit back and relax if you don’t want to participate. I want us to create a welcoming space in our minds at this time of advent. To prepare ourselves to welcome God. Our minds that are probably full of all the things to be done before Christmas and the other thought traffic that constantly travels through our consciousness. Here is a brainstorm I did on some of the things that Jesus means to me. There are probably other things that Jesus means to you, but these are some of my ideas. You might like to pick one of the ideas to dwell on or choose one of your own.
I invite you to close your eyes/ or not, as you feel comfortable. I imagine my mind with all the metaphorical cobwebs hanging in that space. Your cobwebs may be; your doubts, struggles and stresses with family, church, colleageus…negative feelings and memories about Christmases gone before. Imagine a fan in front of your face gently blowing the cobwebs from your mind.
Sit with that word for a moment- just breath in and out and sit with your word or concept. What does that word mean for you right now? What might God be wanting you to know about that? How can you embody that word this Chirstmas?
Advent in Art 13: Living Arrows by Lauren Kumerich
What a horrifying and awesome adventure Mary must have had. Let us think on how Mary may have felt while she waited for her adventure to begin…
The Message
Luke 1:
26-28 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.
29-33 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.
He will be great,
be called ‘Son of the Highest.’
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob’s house forever—
no end, ever, to his kingdom.”
John 1:
1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5 Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
14 The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighbourhood.
Many mothers waiting, during the 9 long months of pregnancy, have plenty of opportunity to romantically imagine a wonderful future for their children.
I wonder if Mary had the same anxieties and insecurities as me? Or worse?
“Behold, small child. Your baby is a history maker. No pressure though. God thinks you are all good. Just wait on that for the next 9 months. And beyond.”
I was a relatively young mother at the age of 25. Not as young as Mary though, who is popularly believed to have been around 15 years when she had Jesus. Imagine that.
The video I am about to play is one that I had to make for a media studies University project. Basically I just needed to show that I knew how to use the editing software Final Cut Pro. I had never used the software before so had to teach myself through many, many YouTube tutorials. This information about the video is important because at the time of its creation (well over a year ago) my main focus was meeting the assignment’s criteria of showcasing the editing process and was not really about the story or content. In fact, I spent so much time editing this assignment that once it was completed and my marks returned to me I threw the DVD into the drawer and completely forgot about it until only very recently.
After months of putting it out of my mind, I returned to it with a friend and I watched it again with fresh eyes.
It is a montage of family videos that involve my sons and their very active lives. It includes a lot of my sons’ point of view angles as we own a GoPro camera that can be attached to just about anything (like kids’ heads) and can go underwater and be thrown into the air and basically thrashed.
The choice of my editing cuts, angles and the soundtrack however, reflect my point of view. And that is one of a general sense of unease and insecurity but also paradoxically excitement and anticipation.
There is a theme of nature and of water, of both the ocean and of fresh rivers. Water is a symbol of a positive life-giving force but is also a symbol of insecurity as it is difficult to contain and can overwhelm you to the point of drowning.
Overall, I think this video depicts an active form of waiting and anticipation.
Motherhood is like a river of endless events that you ride at times and let wash over you at others.
What a horrifying and awesome adventure Mary must have had. Let us think on how Mary may have felt while she waited for her adventure to begin…
Advent in Art 13: Nigel Smith
this is a bit of background on why this attempt to portray our perspective of the origins of our particular branch of faith resulted in the shots where the only thing we see clearly is the tip of the closest leaf
Jeremiah 33:15 provides the overall metaphor for the piece. That a fresh and true shoot is imagined and hoped for. - Tsemach Tzedekah is the Hebrew for righteous branch / fresh and true shoot
So almost all the photos are of plants – often branches coming out of an existing tree.
This metaphor has some implications for how we view our faith, founded as it is on the fresh and true shoot, rather than the David-Tree itself.
I have tried to give the whole piece a dream-like quality – so the images flow and are periodically interrupted by unfocusedness and a question that then prompts the next sequence of images. The music is part of trying to create this dream-like imaginal atmosphere.
A series of shots – all taken in the last month showcasing the variety of what a fresh shoot / tree branch could be like. I had the good fortune to visit Los Angeles and Canada a couple of weeks ago, so some of the shots are from that trip.
Would the messiah be prickly and provocative?, colourful or staid?, elegant or hilariously awkward? Strong and straight, or fragile and precious? What role amongst other ‘trees’, might the messiah play
Also in the verse from Jeremiah is the idea of sprouting forth. – so the next segment is an attempt at exploring what it is to sprout. And I just wanted to do a time lapse series….
Sprouts start out small and weak.
They can become strong.
They can have an ending.
I began thinking about the branch as it developed – Christianity. When you look at the fruit of this fresh and true shoot from the perspective of now, is it still growing?
Then there are a series of shots that play with focus as a way of engaging with the questions of how clearly could the messiah be recognised, firstly from the perspective of the OT – from the time of Jeremiah – would the messiah be identifiable amongst other potential leaders/saviours/reformers…
Clearly not all Jewish people agreed with the identification of Jesus of Nazareth as this righteous branch, this messiah. Judaism carried on.
These first two images explore that – firstly in relation to other very similar potential branches (bamboo), then in relation to all the other types of reformers or branches that might have happened upon the historical stage.
Then from another perspective – that of our own, 2500 yrs after the time of Jeremiah – do we recognise the root of our faith, or is it lost in time? Can we see clearly what, who the fresh shoot was that started our faith 2000 yrs ago. We are but the tip of a leaf in relation to the tree of christianity that has gone before us.
Walk through the three ‘trees’
From the Protestant focused one, through to the ‘Abrahamic one’ – but note the construction showing Christianity as the trunk. Both historically and in terms of how the people of the day must have seen the new faith, Christianity was a new branch, not the trunk.
Anyway – this is a bit of background on why this attempt to portray our perspective of the origins of our particular branch of faith resulted in the shots where the only thing we see clearly is the tip of the closest leaf
While taking the shot I had just liked the reflections and the shape aesthetically.
But it struck me while working on the editing that this pattern of branches bore a striking resemblance to imagery I had seen in cathedrals and other works of Christian art.
This imagery is the christogram, often represented as HIS, or in medieval times, as IHC – both are romanisations of the first three letters of Jesus name in Greek – iota, eta, sigma.
It seemed to me a beautiful artistic experience to discover this image late in the editing process, in the midst of articulating questions of trying to imagine the fresh and true shoot, the messiah, starting from the verse in Jeremiah and thinking about how we can see this messiah clearly from our modern perspective.
So this is where the piece ends – with a very cultural symbol found in shapes from the natural world – pointing directly to the historical identity of the righteous branch the piece began searching for.
Advent in Art 12: Lisa and Marlowe Baudry
Little children are curious and very open to learning but they don’t accept everything blindly. They question things. They see the world as full of wonder, as a place to be discovered. They hold few prejudices. They are not preoccupied with work or pleasing others. They take risks because they have not yet learnt to fear or doubt their own ability. They are uninhibited; often loving extravagantly and forgiving quickly. It seems that there is much to be learned from children.
Lisa's work was a collaboration with her daughter Marlowe.
Esther Graham interviewed Lisa about the concept for her work, and also gave the following presentation:
Reading:
The Hundred Languages of Childhood
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
A hundred languages
A hundred hands
A hundred thoughts
A hundred ways of thinking
Of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
Ways of listening of marveling of loving
A hundred joys
For singing and understanding
A hundred worlds
To discover
A hundred worlds
To invent
A hundred worlds
To dream
The child has
A hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
But they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
Separate the head from the body.
They tell the child;
To think without hands
To do without head
To listen and not to speak
To understand without joy
To love and to marvel
Only at Easter and Christmas
They tell the child:
To discover the world already there
And of the hundred
They steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
That work and play
Reality and fantasy
Science and imagination
Sky and earth
Reason and dream
Are things
That do not belong together
And thus they tell the child
That the hundred is not there
The child says: NO WAY the hundred is there--
Loris Malaguzzi
Founder of the Reggio Approach
This poem was part of Lisa’s inspiration for her art work, where she created a handmade book called a ‘field journal’ which contains the photos you can see on the screen. The photos that you can see were not made by Lisa, they were made by her collaborator, Marlowe, her 2 year old daughter.
We are going to begin this presentation by viewing the art work, then I’ll interview Lisa and offer some of my thoughts.
REFLECTION ON NATIVITY STORY
As Lisa has alluded to, the emphasis in the Bible on the birth and infancy of Christ is interesting . After all, only Matthew and Luke begin their story with Christ’s birth. Mark’ gospels begins with Christ’s adult life and John’s with the mystical “Word”. In both Matthew and Luke’s gospel, we hear a lot of detail - about the birth and first events in Jesus’s childhood, such as Herod’s massacre of the innocents that leads Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt. However, apart from a brief mention of the 12-year-old Jesus’s Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem, there is nothing said about the three decades between Christ as baby to Christ as adult.
So why the focus on events surrounding Christ’s birth and infancy?
In part, scholar Geza Vermes in this book, ‘The Nativity,’ suggests that the reason for certain events being mentioned in the infancy gospels is so that Christ’s birth is seen to fulfil Old Testament prophecy. One example is the prophecy in Isaiah: “Behold a Virgin will conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel.” The gospel writers wanted their readers to associate Jesus with this saviour, so a virgin birth was a crucial ingredient in the story.
Miraculous births were a common feature of literature in the ancient world. The Old Testament is full of them: Sarah (Abraham’s wife), Rebekah (Isaac’s wife) and Leah (Jacob’s wife) were all either post-menopausal or barren, but God opened their wombs and great sons were born. John, who would later be the Baptist also had a miraculous birth, he was born to the aged and sterile Elizabeth and her 90 year old husband Zechariah.
However, while similarly miraculous, the description of Christ’s birth to an earthly mother and a heavenly father is unique in the Bible. But Vermes argues that we must take account two things:
Firstly: that in Jesus’s time, the understanding of how babies were made was pretty basic. As he says, the “mystery of fertility was steeped in religious awe. In pagan times, fruitfulness was thought to depend on special gods of goddesses, and in biblical Judaism on the one God of Israel. This God had the power to close the womb or open it. …In some senses, every pregnancy was seen as mediated by God, as a divine gift, but some more so than others.” (Vermes: 40)
Secondly, when considering elements in the nativity story, Vermes explains that in the context of early Christianity, heroes or saviours were expected to have divine origins. It was a trope also used by Classical writers. The philosopher Plato was said to have been conceived when a “visionary figure who came to [his mother] in the form of Apollo”. The Emperor Augustus, who ruled the world at the time of the birth of Jesus was also said to have a divine father. A contemporary writer, Asclepiades of Mendes, recounted the remarkable story of Atia, Augustus’ mother who attended a midnight service at the Temple of Apollo, where she fell asleep. Suddenly a serpent glided up, entered her and then glided away again. Then…nine months later… Bingo! Augustus was born.
The miraculous beginning of Christ’s life – signalled by the annunciation, the Virgin birth, the mysterious star that the Magi followed were all crucial elements of the nativity story as they suggest Christ was not only a metaphorical son of God but literally a divine person. In summary then, Vermes suggests that rather than historical facts, Luke and Matthew integrate literary conventions of the day to convey their message of Jesus as the messiah-redeemer, the son of God, the Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Apart from the Christ child the other child-figure in the nativity story is Mary. It is not stated how old she was at the time of Jesus’s birth, but we know that she was betrothed to be married. Girls were betrothed to much older men often when they were still children. One of her most prominent characteristics is her virginity. At the time, the Hebrew word for ‘virgin’ did not just have its modern meaning of a person who has not experienced sex, it also could mean a girl of 11 or 12 who had not started menstruating. Either way, Christ’s birth was miraculous.
Upon hearing the angel Gabriel’s announcement, Mary’s decision to say YES, to collaborate with God in bearing the Christ child shows a remarkable willingness to do God’s will, as Brenda has already explored in one of her sermons. It is interesting to contrast the young Mary’s faith with the doubt shown by much older Biblical figure who had an angelic visitation, Zechariah, husband of Elizabeth, future father of John the Baptist. When Gabriel says to him, God will give you a son, he says “How can this be? I am old and so is my wife”. For his doubt, he was struck dumb. Later, when he accepts God’s will and names his son John, his tongue is loosened.
There’s a well-known verse in the Bible that says, ‘Suffer the little children come unto me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’ Jesus goes onto say, “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
For many years I thought this was an exhortation to be as simple in faith as a child. We associate vulnerability and simplicity with children. The verse implied to me a kind of unquestioning obedience – let’s face it, a kind of gullibility. However I think that its worth thinking about the other qualities children have that could also serve as our inspiration as followers of Christ. I remember someone pointing out once that children ask a lot of questions: the eternal “why”? … Why can’t I go if she can? Why do I have to go to bed now?
Little children are curious and very open to learning but they don’t accept everything blindly. They question things. They see the world as full of wonder, as a place to be discovered. They hold few prejudices. They are not preoccupied with work or pleasing others. They take risks because they have not yet learnt to fear or doubt their own ability. They are uninhibited; often loving extravagantly and forgiving quickly. It seems that there is much to be learned from children.
What is remarkable about Lisa’s collaboration with Marlowe for this art work is that implicit in the process is a person showing that she genuinely values and respects the perspective and creativity of a child. And if there is one simple message of the Nativity story it is that we should never underestimate the impact of a child on the world. (Herod certainly didn’t!)
To come back to the poem Lisa read at the beginning”
The child has
A hundred languages
A hundred hands
A hundred thoughts
A hundred ways of thinking
Of playing, of speaking.
A hundred worlds
To discover
A hundred worlds
To invent
A hundred worlds
To dream
The poem ends with a comment on the way our culture diminishes the worldview of children by telling them
That work and play
Reality and fantasy
Science and imagination
Sky and earth
Reason and dream
Are things
That do not belong together
And thus they tell the child
That the hundred is not there
And ends on the line:
The child says: NO WAY the hundred is there--
Advent in Art 12: Jo Nonweiler
Hi I’m Helen, and I’ll be presenting the Advent art piece done for us by Jo Nonweiler. Unfortunately, she’s in Switzerland so can’t be here. And doubly unfortunately, the art piece itself got lost in the mail so we can only see a photograph of it.
Jo’s art is based on a section in Isaiah chapter 9 and 10 which predicts the dramatic fall of Israel and the coming of a future King or messiah from the line of David:
See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
will lop off the boughs with great power.
The lofty trees will be felled,
the tall ones will be brought low.
34 He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;
Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
We are going to approach this piece in several ways. First, we will spend a couple of minutes just being present with it and getting in touch with our personal responses. Next, I will present Jo’s thinking around her piece, because much thought and reflection has gone into each element of the work.
Also, as we consider each element, I have some questions which have come out of my response to Jo’s creation and her comments. The point of these questions is not to come up with complete answers, but to begin a process of ongoing reflection.
Okay so here it is! Take some time now to be, before it.
The work is iconic in style. Therefore we will now unpack it piece by piece, considering the significance of each symbol represented.
Feature: The black background represents the context of where the stump exists
Jo’s thinking behind her work:
The blackness, dark, bland nothingness, represents isolation.
At the time of Christ’s birth, Israel had lost its way. The people were living in darkness. Israel living separately, alone, lost, oppressed, in fear.
Jo comments “When I read the OT some of it is pretty horrible (like the ‘holy’ wars which, fact, seem to be just land grabbing), but to some of it, I think ‘Yes - that’s the same God I know.’
In the Gospels there are many stories where Jesus is in conversation with the Jewish leaders. They hung out together quite often it seems. Jesus though regularly points out that these Jewish leaders have lost their way. For example, the Pharisees have a problem with healing on the sabbath because you should only rest then according to their laws. They have completely missed the point that healing is of God.
Jesus speaks to this lost nation. He speaks to those who find themselves in darkness, lost and isolated.
My questions for us:
Looking back over the past year, where have the black places been for me? Where have I felt lost? (in the area of relationships? in the area of health? work? in concerns relating to politics? justice issues? )
If I had to choose a colour to describe my present ‘context’, what would it be?
“The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost." Luke 19:10
Feature: The stump is Israel exposed, so that its history is in evidence.
Jo's thinking behind her work:
Jesus the shoot, springs from the tribe of Israel. The rings on the tree represent the different generations of Jesus’ family.
It’s interesting to note that both Luke and Matthew include the genealogy of Jesus, but the family trees are different. Some people think that one is Mary’s and other is Joseph’s. And neither genealogy is consistent with lists elsewhere in the Bible e.g. in the book of Kings. In the gospel records, women have been inserted and whole generations skipped. Clearly, the writers of these gospels were being deliberately selective.
Jo comments, ”I‘m interested in the particular women listed in the genealogies. I have represented them in the four red lines on the growth rings. I choose red because of the red thread Rahab used as referred to in Joshua chapter 2. The red thread was part of a plan whereby local prostitute Rahab worked with the invading spies of Israel, ultimately leading to Israel successfully defeating the King of Jericho.
The women listed as part of Jesus’ family tree were not Jews, in a culture where the Levitical Laws banned intermarriage with women outside the tribe of Israel. (In the book of Ezra, for example, these OT laws were enforced and all foreign wives were banished from Israel .)
Yet in these gospel genealogies, foreign women are given pride of place in the history of Israel. This is especially significant given that these genealogies are theological constructs.
The women listed are Tamar and Rahab (Canaanites), Ruth who was a Moabite (perhaps a NZ link there?) and Bathsheba, a Hittite.
And three out of these 4 women are not just foreigners. They also prostituted themselves.
Judah wouldn't take care of Tamar, his son’s widow, so Tamar pretended to be a prostitute. And as she hoped, she got pregnant by him , so Judah was eventually forced to take her as his wife. (You can read all about this in the raunchy 38th chapter of Genesis.)
Ruth lay at Boaz' feet i.e. had sex with him as a means of getting accepted into the Tribe of Israel, and Rahab we have already mentioned.
For each of these women, sex was their only means of gaining some power. It wasn’t about pleasure. Through their illicit sexual relations, Ruth saved her family from poverty, Rahab saved her family from death and Tamar also got a means of support i.e. a husband.
So these powerful Gentile women are listed proudly in Jesus’ genealogical records. It’s interesting to note that the better known women of Israel (Leah, Sarah, Rebekah) are all missing.
For me, says Jo, the inclusion of the women is a valuing of the strength of women in general. It also points to an acceptance of Gentiles, even in the OT.
And what of the men listed in the genealogies given in Matthew and Luke?
The men mentioned all have great stories. Jo says that some of their stories as recorded Kings and Chronicles, are worse than a soap opera – so much deceit, arrogance, lies. “Wild Ones” is the name of a book Mick Duncan wrote about some of these characters, his point being that ‘niceness’ and ‘respectability’ are not prerequisites for being a man or woman of God.
Jo concludes, “ If Jesus can claim these rat bags as his family, then he can claim me. ”
My questions for us:
What ‘tribes’ or communities are part of my history?
What do I contribute to each?
How would I like to be remembered by these communities?
Rahab, Tamar and Ruth used sex as a means of effecting change for the greater good, sex being the only option available to them.
How can I best effect change in my communities? (Just to be clear, this isn’t a push for prostitution.)
The Israelites of the OT assumed that they were especially favoured - God’s chosen people. Does the coming of Christ signal the end of such ‘tribal thinking’? (eg. To what extent is it valid to see ourselves as part of the ‘Christian tribe’? )
“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?... Anyone who does the will of my Father is my brother, my sister, my mother” says Jesus. (Matthew 12: 49)
Feature: This tree, once great, has been cut down to the stump.
Jo's thinking behind her work:
Not ‘pruned’ or neatly trimmed back but virtually annihilated. Damaged, plundered. Israel is no longer in glory at the time of Jesus’ birth.
There is quite a gap in time between the OT and the NT. Jo says, I wonder if God was silent during this time. I wonder if the Jews felt alone, forgotten about.
My questions for us:
What is my theology around brokenness? What does my faith mean when I’m confronted with inescapable suffering and tragedy? What about my failures? (Also: teenagers genuinely trying but still failing at school, failed marriage, failure to find a job, etc)
What would a ‘Job experience’ mean for my faith? What is my message to those in a ‘Job’ place?
“A thing despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering, a man to make people screen their faces. He was despised and we took no account of him” (Isaiah 53: 3)
Feature: The frame finishes a picture. This frame is made from MDF.
Jo's thinking behind her work:
Jo comments, Although the OT has references to a messiah, I wonder how many Jews really believed a messiah was going to come to rescue them. Was their story finished?
She originally planned a wooden frame to match the wood from the tree. However, she couldn’t find the right stuff so used MDF, which then became significant in itself. Israel cut down to nothing - plundered by Babylonians, Persians, and Romans who have taken the best bits so that all that’s left is saw-dust. A people without hope…
My questions for us:
Are there any areas of life where I feel I’m rubbish or perhaps stuck with no hope of a rescue? What do I do with this?
How comfortable am I with my own foibles?
Jesus turned water into wine. Do I believe he could also turn my MDF into something more durable and beautiful?
Feature: A new shoot has grown out from the old stump.
Jo's thinking behind her work:
The shoot represents hope, the Christ coming from the stump of Jesse. It is unexpected growth though, and not just because the stump looked dead. In Jo’s creation, the new growth is 3D, while the trunk is a 2D representation. Notice how it’s already escaping to grow beyond the old, rubbishy frame. This new growth is breaking free, bringing new life even in its early stages of growth.
Jo says, “I have been thinking about hope a lot recently. I have been in a very difficult place. It occurred to me that you can’t have hope unless you are lacking something. (If you have everything you want, then you celebrate, Hope isn’t necessary.) So hope is experienced when in the dark.
Hope she says, can be small but still very significant.
Poem by Emily Dickinson -
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
My questions for us:
Thinking of a place where things are difficult, what might ‘hope’ look like? (Use that gift called imagination.)
Have we any influence over how hope-filled’ we feel? How can I ‘nurture’ the growth of hope in myself?
Do I know of someone or a group of people in need of some hope in their life? What specific action could I take to ‘become hope’ for that person over the next few weeks? What about over the next year? (an individual? a family? a group of people?)
Feature: The shoot is a vine
Jo's thinking behind her work:
Jo says, I chose a vine because I like the image of a vine representing a community. This new shoot is really about group life, not about me doing my thing as an individual. When I’m part of a community, I need to care for others, to include them, to let them know they are a valued part of the whole. When we all make an effort in this direction, growth and new life abound.
She goes on to say, “At times I have felt a bit overwhelmed by all the talented, clever people at Cityside. However, over the years I have decided that there is no ‘in group’ or just one correct way to think. Part of belonging is deciding you belong, then simply acting like you belong. For example, rather than waiting for someone to invite you to lunch, because you are the new person and they are the old Citysider, you invite them. Or taking the risk, and speaking up and contributing to the service. I have decided that even if I am not as clever as some, that’s okay, I can still express my simple views… It’s still difficult though. I am a ‘one’ on the enneagram so not being perfect is difficult.”
My questions for us:
Do I feel part of Cityside?
What needs to change for Cityside to better represent new life, new growth, new beginnings?
What role could I play in this?
Summary:
(From Jo): So when I read the genealogical record of Christ, I am reminded that I belong in the rag-tag bunch of people who tried and failed to know God, of people who didn’t try, and of people who tried and succeeded in knowing God.
I hear Jesus saying, ‘Yep, you belong, you are part of the vine, this new life.’...now start behaving like it!
My questions for us:
What are the ‘big questions’ for me this Advent?
How are we going to nuture this sacred gift of New Life as we move into 2013?
Advent in Art 12: Derek McCormack
Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you!
From the Gospel of Luke, we read:
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
Advent, Christmas, the whole season, it’s a paste-up. Layer upon layer of announcements posted, pasted on the walls of our years, year after year. Christmas is layers of legends, of meanings and memories, of emotions and errors, of history and hope, of lost things and longings. What’s the real story? Much of what we know or think comes from carols and cards – not the Bible.
The “ox and ass before him bow,” three wise men, trees, turkey, Santa Claus, candles, the holly and the ivy, sleigh-bells ringing, reindeer, they’re not in the Bible. Even the position in the calendar of Christmas day, the date, is a fake
But in spite of all that – maybe even because of all that - the essence still comes through clearly, strongly. The paste-up on the walls of our ordinary lives still announces that a great thing has come to pass --‐ the thing longed for in history, and longed for in every life, longed for in so many different ways.
And this great thing is first announced to a virgin, and the announcement is that the virgin will give birth to a son. It is the opposite of the creation of humanity in the biblical Eden story. In the Eden story, in a one‐off one-of-a‐kind event, a woman is brought out of a man ‐ oppositely to all subsequent human experience ‐ with no part played by a woman. Instead, it is by the work of God. God puts Adam to sleep and takes from his side part of him from which he makes Woman.
And then in the Christmas event, there is a great reversal of Eden, and a man‐child who some call the second Adam, comes out of a woman in the normal way for humans, but in this one‐off one‐of‐a‐kind event there is no part played by a man. Instead, it is accomplished by the work of God.
The culmination of one event brings death – the other life. It is a marvelous parallel, or circle, or spiral upward. Both bring forth children of God because God instead of a human parent is one of the necessary actors.
But even this wonderful part of the great Christmas story is torn and ripped and pasted up. There are aspects of the angel’s message to Mary, and its subsequent birth, that have been hotly disputed over the centuries ever since.
Of course nowadays we hear people say, “well we know about DNA now so we know that can’t be true. We can’t possibly believe it in a Scientific Age. They only believed it back then because they were ignorant but we know it’s impossible”. But that sort of talk is just the arrogance of modernism. A virgin birth was just as unbelievable back then. The biblical folk and everyone since knew it was impossible. That’s why it was a big deal, and why, even then, controversial.
The "virgin birth" is not found in all the gospels. It ‘s not mentioned in Mark's gospel, nor by John, who refers to Joseph as Jesus’ father. Paul, says that Jesus was "born of a woman" without mentioning that the woman was a virgin.
But Matthew in the opening passages to his gospel refers to a biblical prophecy of a virgin birth and sees the fulfillment of the prophecy in the birth of Jesus.
Luke gives a direct account of the events. It is possible – so the tradition goes – that Luke actually interviewed Mary for his account. There are biblical hints that he travelled with Paul, and if he went to Judea he could have had the opportunity at the very least to interview someone who knew Mary well. This would explain his focus with considerable detail on Mary’s experience. However, even with firsthand testimony to work with, one can sense that Luke – who is described as a doctor – perhaps struggled to believe what he had heard, just as we might, and so he added the angel’s conclusion, “for nothing is impossible with God”, as a solution for those like him who found it absolutely unlikely.
Matthew also gives a possible hint of doubt. Unusually for the time, he lists four women along with Mary, amongst the forty men in the genealogy that he sets out for Jesus. All four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and “the wife of Uriah” or Bathsheba as she is better known, are of questionable sexual propriety but nevertheless something good comes of them in each case, and it comes specifically from (perhaps because of as much as in spite of) their questionable sexual behaviour. Mary is placed alongside these women of Jewish history rather than more seemly matriarchs like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel or Leah.
As for the prophecy quoted by Matthew, it foretells a virgin birth only by virtue of a peculiar translation. The prophecy he takes from Isaiah, that a virgin will give birth, isn’t exactly in the Hebrew version of Isaiah. It first appears in a Greek translation called the Septuagint, which was the Greek bible of Jesus’ day, used widely by Jews who lived in the many lands of the Hellenistic world.
Isaiah 7:14 is the verse in question. It is found in a passage where Isaiah is prophesying to King Ahaz of Judah that God will destroy his enemies. As a sign that the prophecy is true, Isaiah predicts that a young woman will soon give birth to a child whose name will be Immanuel, and that the threat from enemy kings will be ended before the child grows up. The child’s name, Immanuel, means God with us.
But the Hebrew of the original uses a word almah, meaning a young woman of childbearing age who has not yet had a child; it might include a virgin but doesn’t necessarily mean a virgin. The Hebrew word bethulah means virgin and it appears in Isaiah four times but not in Isaiah 7:14. Even so, almah was translated in the Septuagint into the Greek word parthenos, unequivocally a virgin. And going with the Septuagint (and other later translations of the Jewish testaments) the English King James Bible translated Isaiah’s almah as “virgin”.
In 1952, the English Revised Standard Version of the Bible was completed in modern English and in it the translators altered the King James Version’s Isaiah 7:14 to read "young woman’ to match the original Hebrew. This alteration set off a storm of controversy. Fundamentalist Christians were outraged. One pastor of a Southern Baptist church in the United States burned a copy of the Revised Standard Version in his pulpit, proclaiming that like the devil this demonic translation had to burn. Many conservative Christians still judge Bible translations by the Isaiah 7:14 test – if it has ‘virgin’ it is good, but if not it is untrustworthy.
The advocates for the virgin translation have some fair arguments. First, the seventy Jewish scholars, who were the translators for the Greek Septuagint (Septuagint means the seventy) and who were no doubt expert in both Hebrew and Greek had chosen to use the word parthenos – virgin. They must have known something. Second, the writer of the Gospel of Matthew endorsed that choice by quoting the Greek with ‘virgin’ in it when he referred to the prophecy.
Of course, many Jewish scholars and skeptics question Matthew’s use of this verse, accusing him of making up a prophecy to boost Jesus credentials. They say that the message of Isaiah to Ahaz had already been fulfilled back in those days and hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. But, if Matthew is guilty on that score, then it might strengthen the case for the virgin birth of Jesus. The fact that Matthew chose a prophecy that he thought referred to a virgin birth that was yet to come makes more likely his real belief in the virgin birth of Jesus. If he didn’t believe it why chose a prophecy that he could twist to foretell it? It wouldn’t have been a story made up to fit a prophecy. It would have been the other way around, a prophecy made up to support a story already circulating and accepted by early Christians.
Another dispute concerning the annunciation as recorded in the Bible concerns how the angel greets Mary. “Greetings, favoured one”, as it was in the version that we read earlier is given in bibles of the Catholic tradition as “Hail full of grace.” The Catholic rendering is derived from the Latin Vulgate Bible, first translated by Saint Jerome in the fourth century. It became the Bible for the Roman Latin‐speaking world and the Roman Catholic Church.
The New Testament was written originally in Greek, and Jerome translated its angel’s greeting to Mary as “Ave plena gratias” – Latin for Hail full of grace. But the Greek words for “full of grace” are only used twice in the New Testament, neither referring to Mary. Most protestant translations avoid Jerome’s “full of grace” preferring, as we read, “favoured one” or something like it, which is closer to what it says in the original Greek. But you might well ask, why it matters at all which one is used?
The Angel’s “hail, full of grace” seems to emphasize that Mary has her own grace, which, so one argument goes, is combined with God’s grace in the becoming of Jesus. This interpretation is consistent with Catholic doctrines about Mary that come from traditions not otherwise grounded in the Bible, such as:
The immaculate conception – that is, that Mary was not born into sin as the rest of the human race is, because to be the vessel of the Son of God she must be sinless herself;
The doctrine that Mary was sinless and therefore virginal all her life, because sex was the mode of transmission of original sin according to that doctrine; and,
That Mary was assumed into heaven where she is mother to us all, our intercessor with God --‐ thus the Catholic prayer beginning “Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with you” which goes on to say “pray for us now and at the hour of our death”.
Protestants from their earliest days have generally been against extra‐biblical doctrines and so have been against the veneration of saints, and the icons, the relics, and the prayers to the saints that have gone with them. The traditions about Mary have been regarded with the same dim view. So, favored one rather than full of grace, while almost meaning the same thing, might seem safer theologically to the protestant mind as well as truer to the original Greek of the Gospel of Luke.
But many claim that Jerome knew what he was doing and that “Hail full of grace” is good for the Greek when taken in the context and within the structure of what is written. Even Martin Luther, the first official protestant, was happy with the German version for it in his translation.
Of course, full of grace doesn’t have to refer exclusively to someone who has unique grace of her own – it might just as well describe someone who is full of the gift of God’s unwarranted blessing, that is God’s grace, and we all might answer to that description.
And I like it, so that’s what we’ve got here on the image I have prepared.
In the image [referring to the artwork] we see the words “hail, full of grace!” “the Lord is with you” repeated and overlaid along with, though less often, “His name shall be called Immanuel” and words from the Magnificat (Mary’s song found later in the advent record of Luke) “His love will last for ever” “He has lifted up the Lowly” and words from Isaiah, “the bruised reed He will not break, the smoldering wick he will not snuff out”. These words stream across and through the image repetitively from edge to edge, filling the boundaries, hinting that they possibly come from and go beyond the frame.
The faces of the image reference both the real and the mythological. One is a rendering of a photograph of an actor playing Mary, Olivia Hussey (not a particularly appropriate name for a virgin). The moment that we see her is from the film Jesus of Nazareth by Franco Zeffirelli in the scene when she has just heard the voice of the Angel – she looks surprised, perhaps afraid.
The other face is the goddess Venus taken from the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Here she represents goddess, the mythological, the old world religions, soon to be replaced by Mary, and together the two females draw opposites --‐ the goddess of love and passion versus the symbol of chaste virginity, the goddess of otherworldliness versus a real girl in a real time in our real world.
The Venus image also stands for the angel speaking into Mary’s ear. She is there but not there, translucent, transparent, in a form of reality that is shown mostly in the sharpening and highlighting of the ever‐present words. With the Venus image I have chosen a female as an angel. I was reading something by a contemporary artist who had painted an annunciation with the angel as a muscular outline of a man filled in with flowers. He had commented that he wanted to go against the tradition of effeminate angel images most commonly used. But I say, let’s keep that annunciation angel effeminate. The angel’s message is about womanly matters why wouldn’t the angel have taken on its most female cast for this conversation?
The angel begins the announcement with a greeting: Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you!
What strikes me about the angel’s greeting, according to the gospel account and unlike the rosary prayer, is that the “Mary” isn’t in it. The angel doesn’t say Hail Mary. You’d think he/she would address her by name – but instead s/he uses a description, not a name --‐ “full of grace!”
And having noticed that, what sticks in my mind is that this angel’s hail could be a general address, a great call streaming throughout the Cosmos – “hail full of grace ” – repeatedly, yearningly, insistently, eternally – words woven into the fabric of Creation.
“Hail full of grace,” perhaps meaning: Hail all of you who have found unwarranted great favour. Hail all of you who hear this message, who have listened, who have chosen to hear. Hail to you, the Lord is with you!”
And Mary heard! She heard and something amazing happened. The Lord came to be with us.
But if this greeting that Mary heard might be a greeting to all, then perhaps we don’t need to think of Christmas only in terms of way back then and way over there. Perhaps Mary, with all her specialness, is a symbol, an exemplar, standing for us all wherever, whenever.
And we might wonder if this great Hail is still there for us to hear? And if so, are we all able, wherever we are, whoever we are, to give birth, like Mary, to the second Adam into our world, to the God with us, to the Immanuel, to the object of the human dream that love comes down among us? The dream that we remember most at Christmas--‐time with the signs and symbols of abundance and goodwill and gifts and charity and childlike wonder and comfort and joy and families united and welcoming to strangers and laughter and life – at least that’s the dream of it – that’s the longing of it --‐ that’s the call of it.
Now the word of this great Hail, might not be more than an inkling to us, a notion, an awareness, leading to a conviction, an assurance, a confidence, like a light shining in the darkness. As is written at the beginning of the Gospel of John – in place of a Christmas birth story – the word of the Creation, the Word that was there at the beginning of everything, that cosmic word, became flesh and dwelt among us as a “light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it”.
And through this extension of the advent into each one of our lives, perhaps we might see that this light, the Light that one of the Christmas carol prays, might ‘be born in us today’, might not only be born in us, but born through us into the places, the situations, the families, the communities, the very worlds, that we inhabit every day?
So may we all hear the angel call, ‘Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you’. Hail, full of grace, all of you, whoever you are, wherever you are. Because we are all, full of the grace of God!
Advent in Art 12 : Mark Prins
The art on which this presentation is based is a large hand made clock. The above is a video loop of the working clock that played as background to the presentation.
Well, here we are. This project has been a long road for me, and part of me at least will be glad when this is done and I can get a bit of my life back. All the same it's been a valuable process, and enjoyable at times and, I want to thank you, Brenda for inviting me to take part, and to present today. And a big thank you to Kirsten, for creating spaces of time over the past two months and for all your support.
I must admit I was apprehensive when considering whether to do this; for a couple of reasons. One of which was that I didn't think that I had artistic ability enough to create anything worth presenting. To mitigate that lack of artistic talent, I thought to subvert the original brief and not present an art piece at all, but rather, to give you a work of 'craft'. It seemed a safer option and I also liked the thought of exploring beauty in the functional. What was needed is something that could be a point of reflection and a tool to explore an aspect of the nativity story and I think I've achieved that.
With this piece, I'm considering aspects of waiting and gestation within the Christmas story. In terms of the advent presentations, I'm a little out of sequence, but perhaps appropriate that you've had to wait for this talk. I have built a clock out of wood. It's based, I'm told, on a 17th century design and is driven solely by the force of the drive weight.
Why a clock? Well, there's some underlying themes relating to time which I had in mind - mainly however, because I've wanted to for years now and this seemed like a great excuse to do it.
I first saw a clock like this, with exposed gears made out of wood, in Taupo about twelve years ago. It was beautiful - crafted from native wood, and for some reason I found it entrancing. I thought then that I'd like to make one. I then saw another similar clock not long after that Taupo trip, in the Skyliner tearooms, atop the Brynderwyns. That was the seed of the idea, can't say that I've seen any like them since, so it's been a long gestation.
When I was thinking about the idea of waiting, I liked the idea of creating a clock like this, which in itself, embodied time. It's something which marks and symbolises time and the passing of time. But also, I liked the idea that time is instilled, seeped and steeped in the piece, because it takes so long to make when doing so by hand. Time is intrinsic to the creation and yet not necessarily evident, and I liked that subtlety.
Patience is central to waiting and central too to the creation of a clock like this. Gears need to be carefully cut and smoothed and balanced and tested. Parts need to be checked, tuned and sometimes remade.
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At this point I'm not too sure which thought came first; whether to look at aspects of waiting or wanting to build a clock. I suspect the latter, but either way the two ideas were fairly closely linked.
I was interested that there's several parts to the nativity story which have waiting as an integral aspect. The wise men journeying, waiting for the star to lead them to their destination; Herod's waiting for their return; Mary's pregnancy and that waiting of gestation. Mary's story I think is interesting – in the nativity we have, be it mythologised or no, has the conception as immaculate, supernatural, and yet a normal gestation and pregnancy. It makes me think that the waiting, the slow growth, the gentle maturation, is too crucial for it to be left out.
One of the features of a clock like this, is that many of the parts must be made of hardwood – wood that has taken years to mature - and as a result has the strength, the solidity needed.
For me personally, I struggle with waiting – this advent season has been especially hectic for me too and I've found myself many times in impatience and haste. I've wanted, but sure struggled to accept each moment with grace. As well, some of my earlier experiences of waiting have been at the extremes of emotion. So it's an idea that I wanted to explore and spend some time thinking through.
From the age of about thirteen, my mother presented with a condition called lymphedema. It was uncomfortable, painful at times, but not overly debilitating and since she'd had it all of my life, it was just one of those things.
At around age 45, when I was 19, her health deteriorated to the point that she was heading in to hospital several times a week to have lungs drained of fluid. We as a family, waited for, and expected, healing. There was strong belief within that side of the family in the expectant miracle.
At about the same time my beloved great-grandmother suffered from a stroke which paralysed her almost entirely and left her bedridden in a rest home. We waited for relief, for her, and for the end which felt inevitable and yet took almost two years of patience.
We as a family waited in that period, holding expectations; holding both hope and sadness. With mum, after nearly two years, there came a shift, we reached that point of acceptance, of awareness, of resignation, after which we waited for death.
I'm only now beginning to see the part that acceptance and grace has to play in the task or trial of waiting. I can see the waiting as a partial version of la noche oscura, the dark night of the soul – a loss of control, a small unseating of the ego and a chance for growth.
More recently there have been years dwelling in the waiting of pregnancy, from which has come for us that duality of joy and heartbreak. It makes this story of Mary much more earthy to me, it's a gritty realism which I feel that I can relate to on some level – even though in many regards as a bystander.
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That then is the backdrop with which I headed into creating this piece.
The creation of it I found very interesting, so as a pause for thought, a chance for reflection and a break from my voice – I'd like to show a short video of the 'making of'. [This video will be uploaded for viewing soon]
The music track with it is from an album I've been listening to a lot while working in my shed and it's one that has really resonated with me. I think I've projected my own thinking on the interpretation even more that usual, so a brief note is required.
The song talks of finding peace in the darkness
Darkness be my blanket,
Cover me with the endless night,
Take away this pain of knowing,
Fill this emptiness with light now.
And to me that sounds like the process of meditations & centering prayer; clearing my head of thoughts, letting the ego rest and opening my heart to the vastness and expanse of God. I see an acceptance in this which reminds me somewhat of Mary, often seen as the archetype of receptivity due to the acceptance of God and acceptance of her situation, coupled with pregnancy, nurturing and growth.
As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said 'prayer begins at the edge of emptiness'
The 'making of' video
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I thought my interest in the process was a nice metaphor of the whole thing. It reiterated the idea that there is value in the journey and that every moment matters. As Eckhart Tolle has it, the power of now.
I didn't entirely follow the plans when making the clock. I had trouble sourcing materials listed, made trouble by using found materials and added a number of time consuming complications in the name artistic license.
For the pendulum bob, I used a star, as a symbol of hope and an aspect of waiting in the Christmas story. One which has the theme of seeking, an active waiting; for the wise men there's still that vague sense of something being outside of their direct control, and being unsure when the journey will end, but with a requirement of an action on their part to press onward, to continue.
Rather than a regulation five-pointed Christmas star, I've used a star of David. For aesthetic reasons though, I've turned it on it's side, so technically it's not a star of David at all and instead now looks more like a medieval weapon of some kind. It is supposed to be a star of David though, and is there to symbolise active waiting, hope and to give a geographical context.
The numbers are in Roman numerals, as a presage to later aspects of Jesus' life and also to tie in the historical context.
The weights are representative of Mary and Joseph. In my mind the weight, the driving force, and if you want to be blunt about it, the heavier of the pair, is Mary. The figures are fairly androgynous though and I leave interpretation up to you.
One of my errors was to misread the plans and instead of converting 7 pounds of lead to grams, I converted 7 oz. So my original design had only two modest wooden weights, one of which (the driving weight) was carefully hollowed out and filled with lead, with the counterweight as solid wood.
Once assembled, and testing, I realised that the weight I had wasn't quite heavy enough, and after much puzzling, trial and error, I finally reread the plans more carefully and found that I was short by about 3kg of lead. I wondered who could possibly have a spare 3kg of lead lying around their shed.. and it turns out that I do.. Long before the internet my great grandfather used to communicate internationally - using morse code over shortwave, and he'd build his own morse key.. backed by a big slab of lead which he'd melted himself. So that's the somewhat inelegant arrangement you see here.
Mary and Joseph were turned on my lathe, which was given to me recently by my grandfather when forced into a 'home'. I don't really have space for it, and until this project it's lain disassembled with the bulk of it in the garden shed. Really, it's been waiting to be used; and I felt it was important to use it in the creation of the clock, so spent a fair bit of time setting it up and learning how to use it.
The three lines at the base of the weights are representative of the Triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost who are each encircling and by virtue of being at the base, supporting Mary and Joseph. They are central to the story, yet subtle in their manifestation.
After doing the lines I also thought they could represent the cosmic processes of creation, maintenance and destruction – the cycle of life in the Hindu Trimurti. This cycle of rebirth and renewal also came through in the concept of the clock, as on each wheel time is reborn through each cycle – there is a wait, but there is also renewal.
The hands are my golden tears, my lagrimas de oro. The intention with the hands was that they contained the shape of tears but subtly, and in a warm colour. These could be tears of joy, tears of sorrow. I've raised the hands heavenward to again reflect that duality of purpose, they can be hands raised in supplication or raised in joy.
A feature of this design of clock is that the hands are static and time moves around them. This to me is another reflection on acceptance of what is and on working with an inner observer rather than being carried away in the emotion of the moment.
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Those are some of the extrinsic symbols in the work; but there's also some intrinsic symbolism.
The materials used, as much as possible, have been rescued, recycled and generally scrounged. The plywood used is partly leftovers from some stairs I put in under our deck; partly scrap from my grandfather and partly a discarded picture frame backing from my dad. The weights were turned from wood destined as firewood.
The lead in the weight and pendulum is rescued wheel balancing weights which I've been picking up on my commute to and from work; I run and cycle to work, so have plenty of time to scan the roadside.
I mounted the clock on the driftwood as a symbol of this intrinsic waiting; the idea that the wood was washed up ashore after drifting and left waiting on the shoreline. It's a piece imbued with time and is the more poignant for me, because I picked it up from Marine Parade in Napier this October last, while on holiday to celebrate my birthday. I grew up in the bay and have many happy memories of that particular beach, so it means a lot to me that this forms the base of the clock.
If you look closely, you'll see that there are also a couple of stones embedded in the wood, where the tree had grown around the stones. It reminds me of that beach, which is all stones, and again of acceptance – it's an embodiment of the Taoist principle of wu wei - “effortless action” or “non-doing”; this image of the tree accepting the stone's placement and growing around it, letting it be.
So, some final reflections:
Each gear, despite my best intentions, is unique and individual. While each might look similar they are all different and each is valuable. All play a part.
The symbolism of the star ties in with the underlying thought of darkness. Jo Woodward referred to that idea in her piece: that that there must be darkness to see the star. We require depths to appreciate hope. This for me is Richard Rohr's, 'path of descent'.
I found that for some tasks in particular, intense focus was required and this tied back to the idea that each moment is precious. A piece like this can't be rushed - when working on a gear for example, each tooth is crucial. To hurry, and make a mistake, is to throw away the entire job. In the phrase used on some of the woodworking sites, all you make is expensive sawdust.
Time, even waiting, is not for the wasting. Each moment we have is precious.