I was asked (quite a while ago… :-\) to perhaps make a few comments on the 'Holiness and Justice' booklet that came out of this year's Methodist Conference, here on my blog. And so this post is just a few of those thoughts; though I would really like to continue delving into these topics a bit more deeply here in the future! Thoughts on the booklet: Well, it's well-designed and easy to use - the words and artwork flowing together nicely! During the week of conference, I'd somehow heard about the artwork which had been done for it, and so I was following along on the artist's blog, where he shared a new image for each of the 7 days of the week, alongside a bit of a description about how he'd developed that image and the particular themes it was depicting. Half of the pages in the booklet are these paintings - a combination of intense, emotional watercolours and firm, thought-provoking black spray paint, sprayed through various stencils - the combined force of which is very powerful. And the other half of the pages are corresponding introductions to the themes, Bible verses and other quotations, and questions for the reader. The themes given are:
It's not an easy relationship to comprehend - drawing together, so comprehensively, these themes of holiness and justice. And yet the booklet portrays the moulded-together-whole in a way that makes sense, and which remains true to all the hard work that went into choosing and developing these as the themes of the year. The artwork, alongside the brief descriptions, quotes and questions lead the viewer to actually partake in thinking about how those 2 aspects play out in their own life, and how they combine together. How our internal experience of abiding in Christ and daily living with God relates to how we live and interact with the world around us. For we cannot have one without the other. This booklet is a great starting point, to push us into thinking about how we do, might, could and should seek after holiness and justice in our lives. And I hope it can be built on in our churches and, ultimately, in our day-to-day lives, to shape us into the "holiness movement" that Methodism is at its core and bring forth a new wave of people standing up for justice. 'Holiness and Justice' was the theme for the year that the President and Vice-President of Methodist Conference have chosen. Numerous addresses were given on this topic over the time of conference itself (I'd really recommend watching both the president's and vice-president's addresses, on holiness and justice respectively!), and hopefully people across the country's Methodist churches will have reason to keep delving into it throughout the year. As I pointed to, this booklet was one of the things to come out of that desire, and I intend to keep coming back to it, to spur me on in reflecting on how better to seek to be holy as God is holy, and stand for justice as he weeps against injustice.
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AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
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