Author Archives: Pastor Martin

You can find today’s artwork and reflection from The Visual Commentary on Scripture here. It’s a wonderful shroud-like piece by Sam Gilliam from 1969 entitled 4 April. It refers to the assassination of Martin Luther King on 4th April 1968. What is extraordinary about this piece is that it takes us into the depths ofContinue reading “Fractured Memory”

Here is today’s reflection from the Visual Commentary on Scripture. The theme this week is lament, and today’s image is a powerful artwork of a body in an open grave with flowers sprouting from the corpse. The rather grim subject matter is transformed by the image of new life coming from death and decay. ForContinue reading “Exiled from our Environment?”

Here is a link to today’s post from The Visual Commentary on Scripture. It’s an introductory video to this week’s theme of Lamentation. A friend of mine has been undertaking a PhD looking at the theme of lament in religious culture. A big question is whether in our contemporary culture we have lost the abilityContinue reading “Lamentation”

This week we’ve been reflecting on Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones, a great vision of future restoration after catastrophe. Although slightly morbid from our perspective, it’s essentially an incredibly hopeful vision. At the heart of it is restoration and a recomposition of the traditions of the dispersed people of Israel after some were dispersed andContinue reading “Recomposing”

Today’s reflection from the Visual Commentary on Scripture can be found here. To some it may seem obvious to say, but for Christians, we begin our reflection on God with the resurrection of Jesus. Everything else in our tradition, including the prophecies of Ezekiel, are seen through that lens. So this week’s reflections on theContinue reading “Shoots from the dark earth”

Today’s reflection from the Visual Commentary on Scripture can be found here. It focuses on a painting entitled Ezekiel: Resurrection painted by Richard McBee in 1980. McBee was compelled by the grim events of the Nazi holocaust of the Jews and his engagement with Ezekiel’s dry bones vision is read through that experience. This isContinue reading “A Holocaust Vision”

You can find today’s artwork and commentary from the Visual Commentary on Scripture, here. The artwork is a monumental sculpted Menorah located outside the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. It’s hard for us to avoid considering the issues of homeland and return from exile which are at the heart of the Hebrew Bible and carved onContinue reading “The politics of prophecy”

Today the Visual Commentary on Scripture continues to explore Ezekiel Chapter 37, the vision of the valley of dry bones. You can find a reflection here which focuses on the extraordinary Synagogue murals at Dura-Europos which date from the year 250CE. They include stunning depictions of scenes from the prophetic writings. Hopes of a Messiah,Continue reading “Out of the valley”

You can find the introductory video for this week’s Visual Commentary on Scripture here. The Scripture theme is the wonderful passage from Ezekiel 37: 1-14, the mysterious vision of the valley of dry bones. Followers of Jesus have looked back from their experience of Jesus’ death and rising and found in the passage a foreshadowingContinue reading “Resurrection”

At the end of this week thinking about Psalm 130, we have following the psalmist through from the depths of despair and tragedy to the light of hope and love. Psalm 130: 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,for with the Lord is unfailing loveand with him is full redemption. This verse is a wonderful affirmation of God’sContinue reading “Unfailing love”