Jon has tagged me with another meme. This one is: “To list an artwork, drama, piece of music, novel, and poem that you think each express something of the essence of Christianity and for each one explain why. Then tag five other people.”
Artwork: Resurrection, Cookham by Stanley Spencer. This has always struck me as the perfect expression of Easter in Ordinary.
Drama: Magnolia (assuming that ‘drama’ isn’t restricted to the stage). A warts’n’all portrayal of modern life, which nevertheless contains the rumour of grace and forgiveness.
Music: haven’t I said enough about music recently? OK, off the top of my head: Leonard Cohen’s Anthem, which I’m listening to a lot at the moment. The light gets in through the cracks; in other words: pride leads to darkness.
Novel: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant; I’m thinking especially of the second series and the way in which Covenant’s ‘poison’ is redeemed, which seems authentically orthodox.
Poem: Teach me my God and King, George Herbert – if we do what we do for God, then all shall be well (a theme of mine at the moment)
BTW readers in the UK are strongly recommended to watch this programme on the IPlayer which is highly relevant (and it might not remain up for much longer).