Science in The Sanctuary.
Faith, Beauty & Science at
St Peter’s Church, Horningsea, near Cambridge, UK
22nd/ 23rd April, 11 am to 4pm, Saturday.
11.30 - 4pm Sunday.
If you live close to Cambridge, please read the opening 3 paragraphs. If you do not live in the vicinity of Cambridge, please start reading at Paragraph 4
This coming Saturday and Sunday, some of the Faith, Beauty & Science material on this site will go on display in St Peter’s Horningsea just outside Cambridge. It is one entry in an Exhibition mounted by Studio CB25 who have generously allowed Pam and me to make a guest contribution to their exhibition.
The aim of the display is the same as the aim of this website:
To glorify God and his Son, Jesus Christ within a framework of the glorious discoveries of recent years about the Universe in which we live.
The Incumbent and Churchwardens have agreed that the display can be mounted in the Sanctuary area, hence the heading to this post.
A pdf poster for the display can be found by clicking HERE and if there is somewhere you could display it in the Cambridge vicinity for just the next few days, that would be much appreciated.
If you do not live in the vicinity I will post more details of the display after the exhibition, to encourage those of you who might want to introduce themes of faith and science in your home churches, but don’t quite know where to start to think through the following possibility.
1, First, think about the way you might make any aspect of a scientific discipline with which you are familiar, accessible to the lay people within your church. (A telescope in the sanctuary, looking at the roof of the church and with large posters from Hubble/ James Webb Telescopes/ NASA and ESA adorning the altar area is just one possible idea)
2. Ask your incumbent and churchwardens if you/ they are prepared to invite a local art club/ society to mount an exhibition in your church. Make it clear to the society, they must exhibit without disturbing the fabric of the church. Even with this limitation, many art societies will be pleased to be able to display their skills to the local community.
3. Make it clear to the Society that the sanctuary area is reserved for your faith and science display.
4 Consider whether your display can be enhanced by any of the material on this blog, material from the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion - resources for churches, or material from God and the Big Bang project or from Messy Church does Science. Most of these resources can be viewed on the websites of these organisations
After the exhibition I will list the various elements of our display here on this blog which may help to crystallise your ideas/ aspirations.
On a less demanding note, might you be able to pass on our promotional poster? - simply to show what might be possible in terms of promoting the message that faith and science can together make us and our fellow members in Christ more aware of actions of God in the sheer wonder of the universe.
Trevor Thorn.
The Display Poster
A GUIDE TO THIS DISPLAY
In this collection of poems, songs, hymns, embroideries, watercolours, acrylics and computer generated images (CGI), there are a number of concepts which have emerged within the key theme of Faith, Beauty and Science. Those displayed here fall within these groups:
Creation - Ex Nihilo, which means ‘Out of Nothing’ and the Reimagining of the Creation Passage in the Book of Job, Chapter 38
Icons as demonstrations of the way in which the magnificence of some of the elements forged in creation have been, and are used to express the holiness of God’s angels and saints. Gold, as the most valuable element is prominent in most of these devotional aids. Icons, with their key role in the Eastern Orthodox faith, also represent a significant part of the amazing global reach of Christianity.
Place. There are undoubtedly some locations which are often described as ‘thin places’ where many people (not only Christians) sense an ambience of the spiritual. These are often places of pilgrimage. These places can also give rise to meditation and creativity. Special for us have been the island of Iona and Bradwell-on-sea in Essex (Othona, after the Roman fort which provided the stone for the chapel built by St Cedd in the sixth century). They are both represented here.
Our relationship with our technology again is presently utterly reliant on some of the rare elements forged in creation.
Inspired more by the beauty of family love and care is the Wedding song which was written for the wedding of Helen and Jonathan, and embroidered by Pam in celebration of that key event in our daughter’s / step-daughter’s life.
The themes of Creation also feature strongly in a set of songs for Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils. They are written to help children to understand that faith and science are not enemies, but friends in showing how wonderful the Universe is, and how amazing life is, despite human failings. The wonderful workings of the human brain have achieved so many marvels of today. This 40 song collection is represented here by Fossils are Fantastic, I’m Making Friends with Science and The Bible Starts with Awesome Tale.
In building these collections, which draw on many scientific disciplines, it has become increasingly evident that many, many sciences point to the clear evidence ofCLIMATE CHAOS. For this reason, and the fact that people of faith are guided by their scriptures to being guardians and stewards of our precious planet, there are 3 fold leaflets on display to be taken away which incorporate poems of human-induced climate change and species loss.
