The Open to All tour continues with its 13 intriguing and affirming canvases, exploring the equality and inclusivity of God’s love.
We are presently enjoying the hospitality of Newport Cathedral, tucked into a town full of history of justice. Without question, the first objective of our tour, to open dialogue, is continually being achieved. We knew, half way through, that the churches and cathedrals where we’ve been invited have already developed an inclusive heart.
Coventry Cathedral’s Dean told us that the exhibition helped the cathedral illustrate what it had been saying. City URC in Cardiff has had an inclusive meeting like OTN since 2011, yet the exhibition helped them speak this more plainly. People brought people to see the images to speak about the content. Among many positive notes in the visitors book were,
‘Thanks for a very inspiring exhibition, hope it will stimulate me to find new ways of expressing my evolving experience of the mystery; I found this exhibition profoundly moving, the layers, the depths, the connections; Immensely moving and hopeful.’
An already established inclusive heart was made quite clear to us in Newport where one of the speakers was OTN patron the Right Revd Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, openly gay and in a civil partnership. She led the Pentecost communion service and was deeply welcoming of the exhibition’s message of God’s inclusive love. Revd Canon Andrew Lightbown from Newport Cathedral also spoke at the launch of the city’s Chartist history and the active work even now to let all voices be heard. The exhibition was welcomed with open arms by a very full congregation who walked away from the launch having bought enough prints to contribute £158 to OTN.
Our second objective, to help people engage with God more deeply for themselves continues to be met well. In one personal conversation, a woman told me that her experience of the painting Am I Free, illustrated absolutely her experience of coming to faith. She bought a print to be able to share that story with others. We continue to be thrilled as we see again and again how the conversations around the paintings help people talk about their own personal faith.
The exhibition’s third objective, to help people gain personal confidence, seems to be being met though people don’t talk so much about it to us or write it in the visitors book. We see it as we watch people have faith conversations and we know that it must be true because church members are inviting non-church members to visit the exhibitions. It is reported to us that there are a good number of visitors to each venue and this perhaps underlies those more confident engagements.
