EASTER IN LONDON, 2009

Good Friday: Jocelyn and I attended a three hour service of Readings, Meditations, Music and Reflection at Holy Trinity Brompton. This is a church associated with the Alpha programme. Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia gave the meditations. We stayed for the three hours. His meditations were worth a second and third listen. The music was superb - a note on this later. Following the reading from John 19: 25 - 30 the meditation was "The Victory of Love" - It is finished. Then the organist played "Darkness" from Messiaen's Le Livre du Saint Sacrament. Confronting, disturbing Word and Music together in a way that we combine Word and Sacrament. The time for reflection was real time and appreciated.

On Sunday - James and Katrina joined us at St Paul's Onslow Square. Again, a special time.

Bishop Tom Wright's sermon on Easter Sunday at Durham Cathedral is excellent and worth your attention. He entitles the sermon - Let Beauty Awake. In his book "Surprised By Hope" Bishop Wright spells out three themes that should shape the mission of the Church : Justice - Beauty - Proclamation of the Gospel to ignore one is to mis-shape its mission. The Gospel is : Christ is Lord, Caesar is not, therefore you can come home. This echoes the Gospel which Isaiah proclaimed to the Jews in captivity in Babylon. God has won the victory; God is King therefore you can go home. The invitation to come home is a most wonderful way to describe Salvation. Read his Easter sermon here: www.ntwrightpage.com/sermons/Easter09.htm

Tree of Life

This sculpture was made by Kester, Hilario Nhatugueja, Fiel dos Santos and Adelino Serafim Mate Maputo, Mozambique 2004. It is a product of the Transforming Arms into Tools TAE project and is made from decommissioned weapons.

TAE was set up by Bishop Dom Dinis Sengulane in 1995 and is supported by Christian Aid. During Mazambique's civil war which lasted from 1976 to 1992, millions of guns and other weapons poured into the country and most of them remain hidden or buried in the bush. The project is an attempt to eliminate the threat presented by the hidden weapons. Mozambicans are encouraged to hand them over in exchange for items like ploughs, bicycles and sewing machines. In one case a village gave up its weapons in exchange for a tractor.

Once the weapons are decommissioned, they are cut up and turned into sculptures by the artists in Maputo. This process has produced the Tree of Life and the Throne of Weapons also created by Kester.

Now located in the British Museum. Well worth a visit and should you do, STOP and spend some time in reflection. Those weapons caused untold damage and the deaths of thousands of people. Isaiah spoke of a time when weapons would be turned into plough-shares. While that time is yet to be all of us must give ourselves to doing what we can in the situations where we find ourselves to demonstrate what this means and can mean for others.