ONLINE DISCUSSION: “Poems of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany” led by Brian Volck, December 13, 2025, 12–1:30 p.m. ET: Poet Brian Volck (whose work I’ve shared here and here) is leading a free online discussion on Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany poetry next Saturday. Sponsored by the Ekklesia Project, it will bring together diverse poetic styles and voices. “Each poem is read by a volunteer and then the group discusses what stood out, what struck them, and what questions the poem raises,” Volck says. “My goal is to encourage a diversity of responses rather than impose mine. No preparation is required.” Register here to receive the Zoom link and the poems in advance.
+++
INSTALLATION: Hear Us, Canterbury Cathedral, October 17, 2025–January 18, 2026: Graffiti-style stickers are affixed to the medieval walls, floors, and pillars of England’s Canterbury Cathedral in the temporary installation Hear Us, voicing questions to God collected from local marginalized individuals, such as:
- Why is there so much pain and destruction?
- Is this all there is?
- Are you there?
- Does everything have a soul?
- Do you ever regret your creations?
- How do I break the cycle?
- Does our struggle mean anything?
- How is my dog Bear doing?
- God, do you know me?
Curator Jacquiline Creswell [previously], collaborating with poet Alex Vellis, organized a series of workshops led by artists Sven Stears, Henry Madd, Jasbir Dhillon, Adam Littlefield, Alice Gretton, and Callum Farley, which invited people who felt the cathedral was not for them to gather together and delve into discussions about their lives, experiences, and aspirations. Among the participants were members of the Black and Brown diasporas, LGBTQIA+ people, neurodivergent people, people in addiction recovery, and people with mental health disorders. They were asked to respond to the prompt “If you could ask God a question, what would it be?”
Many of the responses were then translated into big, colorful word graphics that cannot be overlooked. “All of the questions are prayers. All of the questions are already sacred,” Vellis says. “So by putting the questions into an already existent sacred space, we are saying you are valid, your words are valid, your prayers are in a place in which they can be heard and they can be seen and they can be supported.”
I learned about this installation from the Exhibiting Faith podcast’s interview with Creswell and Vellis—an episode I heartily commend. They explain how the exhibition was developed, how they persuaded the cathedral to agree to it, and how they have dealt with the storm of criticism it has generated. Many have called it an act of vandalism (even though the stickers were authorized by the dean and will leave no trace when they’re removed next month) and irreverence, desecration. US Vice President JD Vance said the exhibition “mak[es] a beautiful historical building really ugly,” and Elon Musk called it a “suiciding” of Western culture.
I have not seen the exhibition in person, and I am neither British nor Anglican, so I don’t possess the same sense of my identity or heritage being threatened that many Church of Englanders have expressed. But I personally like the confrontational clash of aesthetics: traditional juxtaposed with modern; majestic Gothic architecture, staid limestone, garishly “spray-painted” in a street style, bringing contemporary spiritual and theological questions into a nearly millennium-old church building. I also like the concept of amplifying rather than diminishing the voices of those who feel marginalized by the church but who still want to engage, who are curious—bringing their questions into the space where we gather as a community of Christ followers and using them as a portal into further faith conversations, as Creswell put it in a media interview.
+++
BLOCKPRINT SERIES: Dios con Nosotros (God with Us) by Kreg Yingst: Kreg Yingst [previously] is my favorite contemporary printmaker working on religious themes. Last December he shared a series of hand-colored linocut prints that he started in 2019 and that is ongoing, collectively titled Dios con Nosotros (God with Us)—“a modern-day American Christmas story which takes place somewhere south of the U.S. border,” he writes.
Several of the linocuts are for sale at Yingst’s Etsy shop, as is a set of twelve identical Christmas cards featuring Madona y Niño as the primary image. You can browse the rest of the series as it currently stands on his PsalmPrayers Facebook page; I’ve linked to the individual images below:
- El Encuentro: Zacarías y el Ángel Gabriel (The Encounter: Zechariah and the Angel Gabriel)
- La Anunciación (The Annunciation)
- La Visitación (The Visitation)
- El Dilema de José (Joseph’s Dilemma)
- Viaje a la Ciudad Natal (Journey to the Hometown)
- La Natividad (The Nativity)
- Una Multitud de Ángeles del Cielo (A Multitude of Angels from Heaven)
- Unos Sabios Procedentes del Oriente (Some Magi from the East)
- Los Refugiados (The Refugees)
- Matanza de los Inocentes (Massacre of the Innocents)
- Madona y Niño (Madonna and Child)
+++
SONGS:
>> “Un Cuento de Navidad” (A Song of Christmas): This original song by Adrian Roberto and Melissa Romero is about a town that had lost its wonder—until a child discovered a Bible, and his reading aloud its story of a Savior sparked revival.
>> “What Child Is This / Child of the Poor”: The Hound + The Fox are Reilly and McKenzie Zamber, a husband-wife musical duo from Oregon. This song of theirs interleaves the classic Christmas carol “What Child Is This” by William Chatterton Dix with a new song that emphasizes Christ’s solidarity with the poor.
Here are the Zambers’ new lyrics:
Helpless and hungry, lowly, afraid,
Wrapped in the chill of midwinter;
Comes now, among us, born into poverty’s embrace,
New life for the world.Who is this who lives with the lowly,
Sharing their sorrows,
Knowing their hunger?
This is Christ revealed to the world
In the eyes of a child, a child of the poor.Who is the stranger here in our midst,
Looking for shelter among us?
Who is the outcast? Who do we see amidst the poor,
The children of God?So bring all the thirsty, all who seek peace;
Bring those with nothing to offer.
Strengthen the feeble;
Say to the frightened heart,
“Fear not: here is your God!”
(Related posts: https://artandtheology.org/2023/12/29/christmas-day-5-poor-little-jesus/; https://artandtheology.org/2021/12/17/advent-day-20/)
>> “Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right”: Arranged and expanded by Dan Damon [previously], this traditional blues song is performed here by the Dan Damon Quartet, featuring guest vocalist Sheilani Alix, at a concert at Community Church of Mill Valley in California on December 10, 2023. “Blind Willie Johnson recorded this song in 1930 with two Christmas verses mixed in. I separated them out, added two verses to tell a fuller Christmas story, and recorded the Christmas version with my band on the album No Obvious Angels,” Damon explains. “According to the writer of Hebrews, some have entertained angels unawares.”
Art & Theology 