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Moseley Chimes
February 2008
One of the joys of St Mary’s and St Anne’s is that they are relatively simple and plain buildings; therefore, they provide a great setting to use art to express the spirituality and character of the different seasons which the Church celebrates.
In Advent the big prayer candles up on the pillars went up to tell us of the coming of the light and at the recent PCC, many of you have commented positively about the impact of this. Through the Christmas and Epiphany seasons, our trees and pillar candles have continued to reflect the glory of God displayed on earth through Christ’s transforming power in the world. However in the great light of Candlemas, we hear of change — Simeon’s dark message foretells the death of the Christ child, the time when the Glory of God’s love will truly be revealed at Calvary. As Easter is at the earliest point that it can be (determined according to the phase of the Moon over Israel), this year we immediately enter the Season of Lent, suddenly moving from light to the darkness of the wilderness. It is a time of contrast and when you come into both Churches on Ash Wednesday you may feel the visual and hopefully spiritual impact in the gloom and bleakness — the presence of art and colour can make a great difference in our own homes and in Church we also take this.
Our trees will continue to remain! The trees of joy at Christmas which have symbolised the light, life and peace of Christ will naturally die and be transformed to become trees of death. As we begin the process of stripping ourselves spiritually in Lent in removing the dead wood of our lives — in Church we will physically do this week by week by cutting off the branches of the trees. By Passion Sunday you will look at the new shameful shape that we will have formed them into; this will recall what the world did to our Lord himself as he was stripped of all human dignity and helps us to remember what we do to others in Christ today. In the bleakness of our Church and lives, this act may be a moving and deep symbol, which some will be touched by and others not!
What we need to remember is that Christianity is a disturbing faith that involves instability, pain and suffering in order to discover the meaning of God’s sacrificial love present in our world today; if we are to fully engage in what it means then we have to risk moving out of our comfort zone and risk walking with Christ on the Calvary and Emmaus roads to encounter him in our lives. In “From the Ministry Team” in this issue of Moseley Chimes, Cathie Carey has written more deeply about Lent — it is important to explain what is happening so that those who may perhaps find it difficult to understand, appreciate or accept some of the Church’s symbolism and ritualism may at least be able to learn the gifts and treasures of art which has always been at the heart of what it is to worship in the catholic church (catholic as in ‘I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church’ which means ‘whole and universal’ and not High Church or Roman Catholic!). Art is also being used in Lent in Stations of the Cross through the work of local artists (See “Stations of the Cross” in this edition). Please read about what is happening in Lent across the Benefice and take part in Christ’s journey which he calls us to join in the 40 days which lie ahead.