Faith and Arts @ FPC

I know I haven’t been very regular lately, but I wanted to post a quick notice that we are having a Faith & Film movie this Sunday, January 27, at 2:00 p.m. in the Youth Center at First Presbyterian Church in St. Pete. We will be showing “Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story.”

From the liner notes…
“Dorothy Day is no saint. She lives hard, makes mistakes, endures the consequences. But the unquenchable fire burning within her cannot be contained. Dorothy wants to make a difference. During the Depression, she vows to house the homeless, feed the hungry, tend the sick. Easily said. Not easily done when her total finances amount to 97 cents in a battered canister. Yet Dorothy persists, walking on frequently stormy waters of faith.

Popular stars and important themes combine in this compelling true story of the “American Mother Teresa,” filmed by Paulist Pictures from a script by ER writer and executive producer John Wells. Moira Kelly plays Day, the impassioned New York journalist who launched the activist newspaper Catholic Worker and put the words she wrote into controversial action. Martin Sheen, Melinda Dillon and Brian Keith join Kelly in this moving saga of a faith not just believed, but lived.”

The movie and the popcorn are free. I hope to see you there.

Peace,
Tom

Yes, I know…it’s been a while. I confess that the Advent/Christmas season was more overwhelming than usual, and I have been recovering. The good news is that it was a wonderful time of good worship, good music, and spiritual growth for both me and our entire congregation. Even though tired, I was so very pleased with everything; and I’m thankful for the opportunity to work here at First Presbyterian Church.

This Sunday we are having another Contemplative Worship experience…6:00 p.m. in the Chapel (the building immediately north of the sanctuary). Since this Sunday on the liturgical calendar is the celebration of the Baptism of Christ, we will be focusing on remembering our own baptisms. As the Presbyterian baptismal liturgy says, it’s the time when we were “sealed by the Holy Spirit,” and “marked as Christ’s own forever.” What better time than at the beginning of the new year to remember out Christian “beginning.” In case you don’t know, our contemplative worship includes singing, scripture, prayer, and silence based on the pattern of worship in use at the ecumenical community at Taizé, France. It is a quiet, candlelight service in which we sing and pray together. The music consists of simple chants and rounds that are easily learned and quite beautiful. Contemplative worship is intentionally ecumenical, and we encourage you to invite your friends. In a hectic world, this worship is a welcome respite and an opportunity to truly encounter the wonder and mystery of God.

We will also convene another Faith & Arts Conversation at 7:00 p.m. in the Chapel. Anyone who considers themselves an artist (of any sort…visual, literary, musical, dance, theatre, culinary, crafts, etc.) or anyone who just has a healthy interest in the arts is welcome. You do not have to be Presbyterian! You do not have to be a member of any church. We do not intend to steal members from other churches. We just want to form a community of people who are interested in the intersection of faith and the arts. This Sunday St. Petersburg artist MJ Dicus will bring some of her work for us to see and discuss. Please come.

Dorothy Day, 1934

Don’t forget Faith & Film, coming up on Sunday, January 27. We’ll watch Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story, a wonderful telling of the beginning of the Catholic Worker movement in the 1930s. It’s free…even the popcorn.

Questions? You can reach me at tlippert@fpc-stpete.org or 727-828-3973.

Peace,
Tom

I’d like to invite you to worship with us on Christmas Eve, December 24. We offer three services, each with it’s own emphasis. Please come join us as we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child.

5:00 p.m. – Cocoa and Carols Praise Worship in Fellowship Hall
This is a special worship experience designed for families with young children, led by our outstanding Praise Team. There will be a special children’s story and lots of carols.
Solos will be sung by Cathy Swanson and Beth Vivio.
Cocoa will be served following the service.

7:00 p.m. – Candlelight Lessons and Carols in the Sanctuary
This is a traditional Christmas Eve worship with candlelight, Chancel Choir,
oboist Katherine Young Steele (principal oboe of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra)
and soloist Beth Vivio. Anthems will include “Unto Us a Son is Born” (arr. Harmon), “Pachelbel’s Canon/The First Noel” (arr. Clawson), “What Child is This” (arr. Bulla), and “Mary, Did You Know?” (Lowery/Green).

10:00 p.m. – Candlelight and Communion in the Sanctuary
This is our traditional Christmas Eve Communion worship with candlelight, Chancel Choir, oboist Katherine Young Steele (principal oboe of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) and soloist Beth Vivio. Anthems for this service will also include “Unto Us a Son is Born” (arr. Harmon), “Pachelbel’s Canon/The First Noel” (arr. Clawson), “What Child is This” (arr. Bulla), and “Mary, Did You Know?” (Lowery/Green).

May the peace of the Christ Child be with you,
Tom

Sunday, December 16, at 4:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary
A freewill offering will be taken to benefit
the St. Petersburg Free Clinic

A treasured holiday tradition at First Presbyterian Church, this year’s concert will feature K. Lee Scott’s Gloria and lots of traditional carols: ”O Come, Emmanuel;” “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear;” “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen;” “Away in a Manger;” “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice;” ”The First Noel;” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” The concert will be performed by the Chancel Choir, Chancel Handbell Ringers, harpist Anna Kate Mackle, brass ensemble, woodwind quartet, organist Jack Rain, and music director Tom Lippert. It’s another not-to-be-missed concert, performed for a very worthy cause!

Hope you have a blessed Christmas.
Tom

First Presbyterian Church, St. Pete, will offer a “Blue Christmas” worship service this Sunday, December 9, at 6:00 p.m. in the Chapel (building just to the north of the main sanctuary entrance). This service recognizes the fact that the Advent and Christmas season can be a painful time for some. It may be the first Christmas without loved family members who have recently died; it may be a time that has always been difficult. We invite any and all to join with us in sharing and hearing prayers, scripture and music that acknowledge that God’s presence is for those who mourn, for those who struggle—and that God’s Word comes to shine light into our darkness.

This is an ecumenical worship, and all are welcome. If you know of someone who could benefit from this healing worship experience, please tell them…or better yet, offer to come with them. So many people are hurting, and our presence is so very comforting to them. Hope to see you there.

And, of course, worship will be followed by our regular “Faith & Arts Conversation” at 7:00 p.m.

Peace,
Tom

I’ve started reading a book: Translucence: Religion, The Arts, and Imagination, edited by Carol Gilbertson and Gregg Muilenburg. It is a collection of essays that evolved from a seminar sponsored by the Lutheran Academy of Scholars in 2001. I’m intrigued because they use the word translucence as a metaphor for the interaction of art and religion. Translucence suggests a “shining through,” from the Latin verb translucere. When I think about it, it seems quite obvious; but I’ve never thought of the arts as translucent.

John Milton wrote this in Paradise Lost:

…thou Celestial light
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.

Milton here is asking for a light that is “purged and dispersed,” but I believe the light we actually receive is what the apostle Paul described to the church at Corinth: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

We see only in part…a lovely translucence…the glory of God partially clear and yet partial obscure, which not coincidentally mirrors God’s paradoxical disclosure and concealment to humanity. As I’ve said before, I believe art is sacramental. Albert Blackwell, Professor Emeritus of Religion at Furman University, says that the term “sacramental” can be defined as “any finite reality through which the divine is perceived to be disclosed and communicated…” Translucence is just another way of thinking about it, and I find the image quite apt.

So I ask you: in what artistic works have you seen the light of God, the glory of God shining through? What artistic experience was a memorable encounter for you? What was the insight you received? Did you want to talk about it or just savor it? Was it at all frightening? Is translucence a good word for what you experienced? Talk to me.

Peace,
Tom

Because we have a screening this Sunday (11/18) of the film Babette’s Feast (First Presbyterian Church, St. Petersburg, Sunday, 2:00 p.m. in the Youth Center, discussion to follow, and it’s free), I’ve been thinking about “Christian” movies. I just googled “top 10 Christian movies,” and found pretty much what I expected. Included on nearly every list were such films as the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Passion of the Christ, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, Barabbas, and The Gospel of John. Now I have nothing against any of these movies, but rather than the telling or re-telling of nice , edifying stories, I want something that makes me think…that pushes me to more deeply examine my faith…to consider just exactly what Jesus’ message was and is…something that speaks to life as I live it in 21st-century America.

Which brings me to Babette’s Feast…which wasn’t on any of those top 10 lists. The film’s subject matter is overtly religious: it tells of a late 19th-century Danish Christian sect and focuses on two pious women whose life experiences are defined solely by their religious beliefs. Director and writer Gabriel Axel based this 1987 film on a short story by Danish writer Isak Dinesen. It won many awards, including the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

What I like most about this film is the many levels of meaning that one discovers and the depths of that meaning. As one scholar put it, “[Babette’s Feast] could be viewed as a critique of religion itself. But one doesn’t have to scratch the surface of the film very deeply to find this a limited view. For Babette’s Feast is saturated with religious symbolism of the most specifically Christian kind and read through the lens of the symbolism the film is simultaneously an exploration of the foundational Christian myth of death and resurrection, a study of competing Christian views of reality, and an affirmation of the ultimate sacramentality of the created order.” (Wendy M. Wright in Journal of Religion and Film, Vol. 1, No. 2, October 1997)

We’ll have a brief (believe me, not nearly long enough) discussion following the screening. Some of the questions raised by the film are: “What does it really mean to live the hope held out by the Christian faith? Does it mean that one is to endure the present world as a place of testing, where the forces of evil are loose, tempting one to turn one’s eyes from a truer, not yet realizable fulfillment? Does discipleship consist of moral rectitude, avoiding sin and doing good works? Or is the Christian life perhaps about the realization, at least partially, of that fulfillment here and now? Is discipleship about celebration? About the recognition and embodiment of that final banquet? Is the world a sacrament, a visible means of access to what is yet invisible?” (ibid.)

I hope I’ve tweaked your interest. I’ll just let you know that this is an “art” film. It has subtitles. It would not be appealing to children (but we will have child care available). It is not filled with beautiful music. You will enjoy it, but just don’t expect The Sound of Music. The popcorn is free. I hope to see you there.

Blessings,
Tom

In our upcoming Faith & Art Conversation (Sunday, November 11, at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, St. Pete…yes, you are invited) we will be discussing the definition of “Christian art.” In anticipation of that, I thought I’d post a couple of quotes for your consideration and then let you tell me what you think about the subject. Please post your comments, and then I’ll give you a brief overview of the discussion after our Conversation.

This first quote is from Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin in their book, Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts:

“Many of us would hate to be called a ‘Christian artist’ or be accused of making ‘Christian art.’ Apart from sounding pretentious, it is hardly a major selling point for galleries or commissioning editors.”

The next quote comes from writer and blogger Mike Duran (mikeduran.com), in a post entitled, “What is Christian Art?”:

“In the last few decades the existence of a Christian subculture, particularly in North America, has given rise to a specific genre of Christian novel, written by and for Christians and generally with explicit Christian themes. Such novels are often marketed exclusively to Christians and sold in Christian bookshops. The Christy Awards honour exccellence in this genre.

Here, Christian fiction is defined as something “written by and for Christians” and characterized by its “explicit Christian themes.” Those three earmarks –author, audience, message–serve as a barometer of contemporary Christian art. Furthermore (and maybe even more integral to the examination), is the recognition of “a Christian subculture” that “has given rise to a specific genre of Christian novel.”

So tell me what you think. I have to admit that when I think of “Christian art,” I expect to use descriptors such as tacky and cheesy. That’s the same reason I sometimes cringe to be described as a Christian (it carries a lot of baggage) and I’d much rather be known as a simple follower of Christ.

But I want to hear from you. What is “Christian art?”

Peace,
Tom

We had a wonderful first meeting of our Faith & Arts Conversation group last Sunday evening. There were 15 people in attendance, and I think we were all very pleased with the time we had together and with the potential for continued meaningful discourse. I’ve already heard from other artists who plan to join us for our next session on  November 11.

One of the things we talked about was the idea that we all believe that the arts are “sacramental.” Let me point out that this definitely does not mean we consider the arts to be a sacrament. Our denomination has only two sacraments, baptism and communion. I’m happy with that and in complete agreement. So when we talked about the arts, we purposefully described them as “sacramental.”

What does that mean? Albert Blackwell, Professor Emeritus of Religion at Furman University, says that the term “sacramental” can be defined as “any finite reality through which the divine is perceived to be disclosed and communicated…”

Duke University theologist Jeremy Begbie says that the “arts afford access to
a realm that lies beyond the reach of any verbal claims to truth or falsity, a
realm language may gesture towards but can never directly mediate. For some
this opens up a distinctly theological role for the arts. They are richly
meaningful yet stubbornly resist being reduced to language: this surely
suggests a prime place for the arts among those who sense acutely both the
reality of God and God’s sheer inexpressibility. Where words fail God, the arts
speak.”

I love that, because that has been my life’s experience. For example, I cannot express in words the intense divine encounter I had the first time I sang the last movement of the Beethoven 9th Symphony; and I don’t believe any written or spoken word could have taken me to that same place. God chose the arts (in this case, music) to speak to me…to reveal a small part of himself to me…and life has not been the same since.

So, do you believe that the arts are (or at least have the potential to be) “sacramental?” Do you have a personal experience of that? I’d be pleased to hear from you.

Peace,
Tom

The first of a series of Faith & Arts Conversations will take place this Sunday, October 14, at 7:00 p.m., in the Chapel (just north of the Sanctuary). I will be leading the conversation, and I’d be very pleased to have you join us. The conversation will consist of a short presentation, conversation/discussion, Q & A, and (of course) light refreshments. Anyone who considers themselves an artist (of any sort…visual, literary, musical, dance, theatre, culinary, crafts, etc.) or anyone who just has a healthy interest in the arts is welcome. You do not have to be Presbyterian! You do not have to be a member of any church. We do not intend to steal members from other churches. We just want to form a community of people who are interested in the intersection of faith and the arts. Please come. (And please note that the meeting time is immediately following the 6:00 p.m. Contemplative Worship …you’re welcome to join us for that, too!)