Viewing all items in Resource Category: God in the Arts

The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square in London houses one of the finest collections of European paintings in the world. Built in the style of an ancient Greek temple, it is home to 2,300 works spanning the centuries of artistic creation. During this year we shall be journeying through the gallery to explore one of...

In January we began this course exploring signs and symbols with the Cross: a sign of death, but also a sign of victory. We end the year with a sign that proclaims birth and new life: the crib of Christmas. In December cribs will be set up in churches, homes, villages and town centres. It...

When we were at Sunday School, we probably learnt the hymn: ‘Jesus bids us shine with a pure, clear light, Like a little candle burning in the night. In this world of darkness, we must shine, You in your small corner and I in mine.’ As we grew up, we learnt that Jesus calls us...

‘The conscious water saw its God and blushed’ – in those words, the poet Richard Crashaw describes the first miracle of Jesus at the wedding feast in Cana. This sign at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry points ahead to that other meal when a cup of wine will be poured out for many. The...

All the saints have their special symbols. When we see a saint in a window or painting carrying loaves of bread, we know it is St Philip. It was Philip who wondered how the multitude gathered around Jesus could be fed in John 6. Our Lord met their hunger with just five loaves and two...

‘You need hands to hold someone you care for’ – that song of 1958 reminds us how hands can convey a wide range of gestures and meanings. Hands to embrace, hands to signal ‘Stop,’ hands to sound out applause, and hands to show welcome. In the life of the church, we can thinkof sacraments that...

‘He gave us eyes to see them’:  Ludolph Bakhuizen’s ‘Christ in the storm on the sea of Galilee’ When we enter a church and sit in a pew, we can look up and see the roof of the nave: a reminder that the church is a ship sailing through the ocean of life. Boats and...

‘He gave us eyes to see them’:  St Erasmus’ mitre 2nd June is the feast day of St Erasmus or Elmo – not a well-known saint, but a bishop who suffered terribly under Diocletian’s persecution and died in 303. His symbol is a windlass, used to wind up a ship’s anchor, and his name lives...

On Sunday 27th May we shall be praising God as the Holy Trinity: three in one and one in three. Preachers will be pointing perhaps to the tree with its root, trunk and branches or to a human being with will, heart and mind. Or to symbols of the Trinity with the triangle or three...

The art we see in churches on banners, carvings and windows is often full of monograms. It may be IHS: the Latin words for Jesus, Saviour of Mankind; or INRI: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews above the figure of our Lord on the cross.  And this month, the Chi-Rho: the first two letters...

GOD AND THE ARTS Editor:  For 2018, the Rev Michael Burgess is exploring symbols of the Christian faith as found in works of art. ‘He gave us eyes to see them’ –  Pietro Lorenzetti’s palms The people of the Hebrews With palms before thee went: Our prayer and praise and anthems Before thee we present....

God in the Arts     Editor:  For 2018, the Rev Michael Burgess is exploring symbols of the Christian faith as found in works of art. ‘He gave us eyes to see them’ – Andrea Pisano & Water Open the door of any church and the first thing to greet you is the font. As you...