With the power-tools, of the Spirit

It would come as no great surprise to most people if, being a priest in the Church of England, I said that I was very busy in the weeks leading up to Easter. Except that, as you are beginning to realise, there is nothing very conventional about the particular shape that my priestly ministry is taking! My busy-ness, which actually began way back in October last year, is of an entirely unexpected kind.

My current kind of busy-ness

As part of my Masters-level studies in contemporary fine art, I came up with an idea of putting Christ into the marketplace. That would be Christ, in the form of the name of Christ as six large sculpture pieces, and Cirencester Market Place, immediately outside the porch of the parish church of St John the Baptist, where I am part of the clergy team.

The concept came to me in a general sense a couple of years ago as part of my calligraphy practice. I was attending a workshop being given by the wonderful Peter Lloyd of the Pigsty Studio, as he taught us about Saxon runes. I was drawn by their column-like shapes and immediately imagined them being writ large, as sculptural forms. Alongside this, my mind was drawn to Acts 17 and the account of Paul preaching in the Areopagus, which was in many respects the market place of his day. As he tried to help the Athenians recognise Christ as the unknown God whom they already worshipped, Paul puts it succinctly:

“In [Christ] we live and move and have our being”

Acts, chapter 17, verse 28

So I had this idea of writing the name of Christ in runes of such size as to become like figures, amongst whom we too could move and have our being. Indeed, I have three of them in my home studio at present, and my husband and I have frequently walked past the studio doorway with a slight start, as we sense there is a person standing there! As the idea developed, the opportunity came to think of the project not just as a piece of art that one might visit within an interior space, but rather, to take it out into a literal market place. The vertical forms of the runes called to mind the standing stones of our ancestors, places of public gathering and worship and spiritual encounter. Moreover, the necessary timings for the work that were prescribed for my MFA module directed my attention to Easter Day.

C is for Christ

In my art practice generally, I am interested in disrupting the way in which we read text. It is too easy to glance at a bunch of letters, read the word(s) and assume that we have understood their meaning. However, this way of navigating the world in an instant is, I believe, lacking the depth that only time and a deeper level of engagement can offer. By experimenting with different ways to create text that is harder to read, and which, therefore, we have to take time to ponder and consider different layers of meaning, I attempt to invite us into a place of unknowing, recognising that we cannot know everything of the Universe, and that the ways of the Divine remain a mystery. Using runes to represent Christ's name offers this kind of disruption. Some of the letters are similar enough to be recognisable; others less so. Consequently, the effect is to create a slight hesitation, a self-doubt in knowing how to read them. This becomes significant when we place the sculpture into our Easter narratives.

When we read about the various occasions on which the risen Christ appeared to his followers, there is one feature of these encounters that recurs. In many cases, Christ was not immediately recognised. Mary Magdalene thought him the gardener, the two on the road to Emmaus didn't recognise him throughout their extended discussion but only when he broke bread with them. The use of runes to write the name of Christ thus says something about how we too might encounter the risen Christ - familiar enough to reveal his identity and presence yet somehow changed. This gave the work its name, 'a p p e a r a n c e', after the so-called resurrection appearances in the Gospels.

Placing 'CHRIST' into the Market Place also offered an opportunity to make this a genuine Easter event involving the wider community. The final stages to complete the scultpure pieces are now underway, as I fill, sand and paint them. They will be left white with the invitation to all ages to write or draw onto the pieces their hopes, dreams, fears, or concerns on this particular Easter Day. The Church has invited people to offer their prayers to Christ within our church buildings in a myriad ways over the centuries. Now the invitation is to bring the concerns of our hearts directly to Christ at the very centre of this local community. I am genuinely excited to see what emerges.

Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect Plea A great high priest whose name is Love Who ever lives and pleads for me My name is graven on His hands My name is written on His heart I know that while in Heaven He stands No tongue can bid me thence depart

Hymn words written by Charitie Lees Smith (b.1841)

The sculpture will be transferred into the church building at the end of the day, as all that has been written or drawn is then offered to God more formally at a 4pm service of Solemn Evensong, during which I shall be offering a short address. It is my hope that there will be opportunities for Christ to make an 'a p p e a r a n c e' in other locations around the diocese during Eastertide and beyond. I am grateful to the Diocese of Gloucester for mission grant funding that is enabling this project to happen.

Of course, before we get to that, there is much still to be done. I have one final letter yet to build, as well as the finishing stages of all six letters. Add to that the necessary publicity, planning for the event, and gathering volunteers, the next month will be busy indeed. If you are anywhere near Cirencester on Easter Day, please do stop by and say hello and add your own thoughts to the sculpture. And as you continue your own Lenten journey, perhaps you could find time to reflect on how you recognise Christ's presence in your daily life, and beyond that, how Christ might appear in your midst in an unexpected or unfamililar guise.

I shall be sure to share my reflections on how it all goes with you next month; the first Friday of April is Good Friday, so I shall delay the blog post to the following week, the Friday in Easter Week.

News

This past week has also seen my preparing for Easter in a more traditional, Lenten mode. On Thursday evening, I joined with folk from the benefice of St Peter's, Leckhampton, and then a quiet day at the House of Prayer in East Molesey on Saturday 28 February.

I was also reminded this week that I have not yet shared with you the new children's icon that was commissioned for Tewkesbury Abbey. While I completed it in autumn 2025 and presented it to Vicar, the Revd Canon Nick Davis, at a small gathering for Advent, it wasn't until mid-January that the icon was formally blessed during worship at the Abbey and thus revealed to the wider congregation. This coincided with me giving a talk on themes of icons and Beauty to the Tewkesbury Theological Forum, as well as leading a conversation with the Abbey's children at their Junior Church to introduce them to their new icon. It was a real joy to create this icon for the youngest members of the Abbey community and my prayer is that it blesses many generations to come.

{Photo credit - Revd Gary Grady)

Looking ahead to later in the year, early bird booking has already opened for my next Praying with Icons retreat at the beautiful Launde Abbey, 7-9 September 2026. More details here

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