Movement Issue 169

THE MAGAZINE FOR CHRISTIAN STUDENTS
ISSUE 169 SPRING 2024
INTERVIEW:
JAY HULME
In conversation with
Melody Lewis
PAGE 12
MAKING WORLDS:
Celia James on
Sandplay, Meditation
and Prayer
PAGE 18
FAITH IN ACTION:
Paper Boats, Human
Rights And Imago Dei
PAGE 28
FAITH ON FILM
Michael Dickinson
reflects
PAGE 35

CONTENTS
EDITORIAL 4
COMING UP 5
NEWS 6-9
COMMUNITIES
NEWS 10-11
INTERVIEW:
JAY
HULME
12-17
Melody, Movement Editor, sat down
with Jay to find out where he draws
inspiration for his work and to
discuss how the church can be more
welcoming of queer people.
MAKING WORLDS:
SANDPLAY,
MEDITATION
AND PRAYER 18-19
Celia James reflects on how
sandplay, a therapeutic play
technique, can become meditative
and prayerful, leading to a deeper
connection with God.
ASK THE
MOVEMENT 20-21
What hymn would you like to get
rid of forever, and which could you
happily sing all day every day?
YOUR
SPACE
22-23
The digitial community advocating
for connection and wellbeing.
THE MAGICAL
DAHL
RECIPE 24-25
2 MOVEMENT Issue 169

REVIEWS 42-43
STUDENT
FAITH
SUNDAY 26-27 ON FILM 35-38
Resouces to help you celebrate the Michael Dickinson reflects on
Universal Day of Prayer for Students.
FAITH IN ACTION:
PAPER BOATS,
HUMAN RIGHTS &
IMAGO DEI 28-33
SCM’s Faith in Action Project
Workers, William and Phoebe, share
about their work.
questions of faith on the silver
screen.
POETRY
CORNER 39-41
Poems by Georgia Day, Joel Samuel
and Yasmin Hussein.
If you find it hard to read the printed version of Movement, we can send it to you
in digital form. Contact editor@movement.org.uk.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
3

Welcome to Movement magazine
issue 169!
The theme of this issue is faith and art, looking at the
connections between spirituality and artistic practice, as
well as the implications of what it means to be a person
of faith creating religious art in a modern world.
Faith and art have long been intertwined. For centuries,
people of faith have been creating artwork that
represents a connection with God, whether that be the icons of Christianity, the
meditative mandalas of Hinduism and Buddhism, or the intricate calligraphy of
Islam. Pictorial representations of faith are often intended to capture the essence
of God in a way that does not require words, for God can many-a-time be far
too expansive and awe-inspiring to be described by human language. Painting,
collage, or handicraft work can be used to express a profound spirituality in a
way that gives shape to a feeling that we may not be able to describe, yet know
instinctively within us. In this issue, Celia James touches on this connection
between spirituality and creation in her piece on the meditative practice of sand
play, and Michael Dickinson’s article on the use of religious imagery in cinema
calls us to ponder the connection between film and faith.
Religious art is not just about artistic images however. A rich tradition of devotional
writing from poetry to prose allows us to engage with a wealth of literature from
around the world, and in this issue I’m delighted to present an interview with
the wonderful poet Jay Hulme, who muses on his work, his attitudes towards
LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Church, and what really goes into writing a good poem.
We also have some thought-provoking poetry submissions from Georgia Day,
Joel Samuel and Yasmin Hussein that we hope you will enjoy just as much as
we have.
As well as these fantastic articles, we also have our usual news from across the
movement, as well as some dates for your diary of all the fabulous events SCM
has lined up for the year ahead!
We hope you enjoy the issue, and perhaps you might be inspired to create some
art yourself!
MELODY LEWIS
EDITOR
Student Christian Movement
Grays Court, 3 Nursery Road, Edgbaston,
Birmingham, B15 3JX
t: 0121 426 4918
e: scm@movement.org.uk
w: www.movement.org.uk
Advertising
e: scm@movement.org.uk
t: 0121 426 4918
Movement is published by the
Student Christian Movement (SCM) and is
distributed free to all
members, groups and supporters.
Our vision is of SCM as a generous
community, expressing a lived faith in Jesus
Christ where social action meets prayerful
devotion. We seek to be both a radical voice
for equality and justice, and a safe home for
progressive Christian students.
SCM staff: CEO: Revd Naomi Nixon,
Operations Manager: Lisa Murphy,
Communications and Marketing Officer:
Ruth Harvey, Faith in Action Project
Workers: William Gibson and Phoebe
Edmonds, Movement Administrator: John
Wallace-Howell, Finance and Fundraising
Administrator: Jenna Nicholas, Fundraiser:
Naomi Orrell.
The views expressed in Movement magazine
are those of the particular authors and
should not be taken to be the policy of the
Student Christian Movement. Acceptance
of advertisements does not constitute an
endorsement by the Student Christian
Movement.
ISSN 0306-980X
SCM is a registered charity in England and
Wales, number 1125640, and in Scotland,
number SC048506.
© 2024 Student Christian Movement
Design: penguinboy.net &
morsebrowndesign.co.uk
4 MOVEMENT Issue 169

COMING UP
STUDENT SUNDAY
SUNDAY 18TH FEBRUARY AT 6PM
VIA TEAMS
Join us for a short online service as we pray for students
around the world on the Universal Day of Prayer for
Students.
AGM
MONDAY 22ND APRIL AT 7PM
VIA TEAMS
The annual general meeting is an opportunity to find out
more about what happens behind the scenes at SCM and
what future plans are in the pipeline. Members also have
the opportunity to elect new representatives to General
Council – look out for more information about how to
stand for election!
NATIONAL GATHERING:
THEOLOGY DAY
SATURDAY 22ND JUNE AT ST PANCRAS
NEW CHURCH, LONDON
BONHOEFFER IN BERLIN
15-21 JULY
SCM has had a long association with the theology of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and this trip will enable members to
immerse themselves in his theology by seeing the places
and people who influenced him and who went on to live
out his kind of courageous discipleship in the city where
he lived.
COMING SOON:
NATIONAL GATHERING:
CREATIVE RETREAT
SEPTEMBER 2024
Gather with students from across the movement to be
inspired by our guest speakers and be challenged in
thought-provoking workshops.
TO FIND OUT MORE AND TO BOOK,
VISIT WWW.MOVEMENT.ORG.UK/EVENTS
MOVEMENT Issue 169
5

NEWS
SCM AT
GREENBELT
Over the August Bank Holiday
weekend, a team of enthusiastic
volunteers and staff travelled to the
Greenbelt Festival to spread the
word about SCM.
On Friday the festival got underway,
with lots of visitors stopping by at
the stall to sign up to the mailing
list and collect a goody bag stuffed
with resources and a few treats. In
the evening, volunteers ran a meet
up for students at the festival which
was well attended, and lots of new
members were signed up!
The second day of the festival was
all about recent graduates, with
SCM hosting a panel discussion in
the Hope and Anchor venue titled
‘Onward Christian Workers’. On
the panel were current members
of SCM and some SCM alum,
who all shared their experience
of discerning their vocation for
work after university before taking
questions from the audience. Later
that day a meet up for graduates
was hosted by the Graduate Rep
from SCM’s General Council where
the conversations continued.
As the festival came to a close on
Sunday, SCM supporters joined staff
and volunteers for a picnic after the
Communion service.
Thank you to the fabulous
volunteers that supported SCM at
Greenbelt!
WELCOME WEEK
At the start of October, staff and
members of General Council
hosted our annual welcome week
Members’ Meet-Up event. The
online gathering was a chance for
people to get to know one another
while playing some games together,
and to find out more about
opportunities to come together
throughout the year.
We have also been supporting
SCM’s student communities by
providing marketing resources for
their freshers’ fairs, and sharing tips
and messages of support through
our Community Leaders’ Chat on
Instagram. If you’re interested in
setting up an SCM community
at your university please get in
touch with John, our Movement
Administrator, by emailing
john@movement.org.uk
6 MOVEMENT Issue 169

HOW TO BE A
GOOD CHRISTIAN
ALLY
While the national denominations
and traditions continue to argue
over their stance on the inclusion
of LGBTQ+ people, SCM and
OneBodyOneFaith have joined
together to publish a resource
for churches who want to take a
step further along the journey, and
want to grow not only as allies to
LGBTQ+ people but also in their
own faith too.
How to be a good Christian Ally is
the first in the Affirming Christianity
series, a project led by SCM. Rather
than debate biblical verses that
cause disagreement, this short
course seeks to offer ways to
explore the idea of allyship in the
Bible, and as a church, as well as to
learn from LGBTQ+ stories.
Revd Naomi Nixon, CEO of
SCM, says, “We believe that the
future of the church is affirming.
Campaigning to get there is
important, but we also need to
prepare for that future. We want
to create discipleship resources
that inspire and equip affirming
Christians for the years ahead, for
the future God is calling us into.”
Intentionally simple and accessible,
the structure of the course
introduces key principles, bible
studies and exercises, as well as a
videos made by students to convey
their experiences and identities.
It is a dynamic, engaging, and
thought-provoking resource that is
a timely and necessary addition to
the ongoing national dialogue.
One student said, “Allyship isn’t
just saying quietly to the queer
person you know, ‘We’re glad to
have you here.’ That’s just being a
reasonable human being. Allyship
is going out and actually doing
something about it.”
Luke Dowding, CEO of
OneBodyOneFaith adds,
“This resource is moving the
conversation forwards. Whilst it
remains important to have the
challenging debates, it’s vital that
we don’t forget about our churches
who are seeking support in their
journey in how to be a good ally to
LGBTQ+ people. OneBodyOneFaith
is delighted to partner with SCM on
this, continuing our work so that
LGBTQ+ people can thrive, not just
survive.”
Copies of the resource can be
ordered from
movement.org.uk/GoodChristianAlly
MOVEMENT Issue 169
7

SCM’S 200
CHURCHES
CAMPAIGN
CONTINUES TO
GROW
Over the last two years, SCM has
been asking churches to donate to
SCM as part of our 200 Churches
campaign.
The aim of the campaign is to have
200 churches commit to donating
to SCM on an annual basis.
Churches in the campaign typically
donate £200 every year, which is
often raised in a collection during
a service or given from a church’s
mission allocation. This regular
donation allows us to plan the use
of our financial resources effectively
to help make our vision a reality.
We are delighted to have over
30 churches signed up to the
campaign so far, and the number
continues to grow. In 2023 we
received £7,650 in donations from
churches, and we are very grateful
for their support.
Churches in the campaign also
support SCM by praying for our
work, offering their time and
expertise if needed, and spreading
the word about our work. Please do
consider asking your church to join
the campaign.
For more information visit
movement.org.uk/support-us/
churches
or email our Fundraiser,
Naomi Orrell
naomi.orrell@movement.org.uk
8
MOVEMENT Issue 169

A TRIBUTE TO
MARTIN CONWAY
Early last year SCM received the sad news of the
passing of Dr Martin Conway, a loyal member of the
SCM community. Martin spent his life campaigning for
ecumenism, which he understood as concern for the
unity of Christians for the sake of the unity of humankind.
This began when he was a member of Cambridge SCM
between 1954-1958. Following his graduation, Martin
became the British SCM International Secretary between
1958-61, and during this period met his wife Ruth, who
was SCM Regional Secretary in Liverpool. He then went
on to be Study Secretary of the World Student Christian
Federation in Geneva. This led to three years’ work with
Chaplaincies in Higher Education in England, followed by
four years’ as Publications Editor for the World Council
of Churches. Back in the UK, he served with the British
Council of Churches, Ripon College Cuddesdon, and
finally as President of the Selly Oak Colleges. In 1997,
Martin and Ruth retired to East Oxford, where Martin
continued his ecumenical work and increasingly dedicated
time to environmental justice and creation ethics.
Martin was best known for his faithfulness to the
ecumenical vision. Throughout his career, Martin travelled
widely and had friends in many different places and
cultures. This deepened his concerns for social and racial
justice, peace and reconciliation, and interfaith issues.
Martin was passionately committed to encouraging and
advocating for lay roles and ministries in the life of the
church. In 1993, Martin was awarded a Lambeth doctorate
for his commitment to ecumenical work and lay ministry.
Martin was also a gifted linguist, whose skill in languages
made him an extremely valuable presence in ecumenical
conferences, workshops and seminars. He was often
found doing simultaneous interpretations from German or
French into English at large international gatherings.
Martin also authored several books. The Undivided Vision
(SCM Press, 1966) explores mission as “a whole way
of living” and describes how SCMs can enable students
to bring their experience and understanding of what is
happening in the contemporary world together with the
meaning and purpose found through faith in Jesus Christ.
There are examples of this ‘undivided vision’ in World
Christianity in the 20th Century (SCM Press, 2008),
co-authored with Noel Davies, as they examined
theological issues at the heart of key historical events
last century. It led them to say that the Christian faith
should equip us to “live undespairingly” through whatever
the future may hold. SCM Friends have commented that
Martin was spectacularly well-read and loved to choose a
specific topic to research in immaculate and careful detail.
After leaving the SCM staff team, Martin continued to
support SCM and keep in touch with our work. He often
attended our events and supported our appeals. In
1989, Martin was key in organising the SCM’s centenary
celebration, which was hosted at the Selly Oak Colleges.
Students came from all over the UK, Europe and even the
USA! SCM is fortunate to have been supported by Martin
for a very long time and we are so honoured that Martin
chose to ask for donations at his funeral to be left to us.
Dr Martin Conway died on 14 January, aged 87. Martin
and Ruth were married for 61 years and have three
children and seven grandchildren.
Written by Sophie Mitchell, Alison Webster, Tim McClure
and Salters Sterling.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
9

COMMUNITIES NEWS
KEELE CHAPEL STUDENT
FELLOWSHIP
SCM COVENTRY
After our group grew exponentially last academic year,
we’ve been delighted to see a continued increase in
numbers this year with new students who’ve joined
and become part of our chapel community. Together
we’ve explored how and why faith might evolve with
our Anglican chaplain sharing her experiences of a
changing faith, and different approaches to reading the
Bible. We’ve also explored Trans* Theology and different
interpretations of the body of Christ, and heard more
about the work and values of organisations like L’Arche
and Christian Climate Action
At the end of the year we held our annual Christingle
service, which we held for the first time in 2022 and which
has now become tradition. We followed this with a social
event before the end of term and the Christmas break.
SCM Coventry has been meeting monthly for the past
term, having relaunched in Spring 2023. So far we
have run an introductory session and an engaging bible
study on Jesus turning water into wine, and also had a
workshop on Human Rights from Phoebe and William,
SCM’s Faith in Action project workers.
We are a small group for all students in the city of
Coventry and are hoping to both grow in number and
expand our links with the city’s universities during the rest
of the year.
10 MOVEMENT Issue 169

SCM BRIGHTON
SCM CAMBRIDGE
After an eventful summer where members attended the
Greenbelt Festival and joined Christians At Pride to march
in the Brighton Pride Parade, SCM Brighton kicked off the
new term with our first Freshers’ Week – the highlight
of which was the annual LGBTQ+ Affirming Church
Search hosted in collaboration with Queer Christians
Brighton, where representatives of churches from seven
denominations gathered to invite new students to their
congregations.
As term continued, we held workshops organised by
different society members – from the serious Sexuality
and Religion Workshop, sourced from national SCM
resources, to more casual Spooky Theology and
Interactive Fiction sessions. We also held our first ever
inter-society collaborative event with Sussex Film Society
to watch the brilliant satirical comedy Saved.
With the term coming to a close, fun Christmas
events such as card-making ran alongside more
serious endeavours, with our members joining various
demonstrations in support of Palestine and participating
in the national SCM paper boats campaign to call for
refugee rights. We also took our first big trip as a group,
travelling to London to watch the moving LGBTQ-affirming
documentary 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted
Culture.
With our first successful winter term over, we hope to
move on to even bigger and better things next term!
The academic year at Cambridge got off to a good start
for SCM! The Michaelmas was the first term for Keelan
Shorten and Lara Poole as co-presidents and they are
really enjoying the role. This year SCM has an expanded
committee, which is a huge help and contributes to our
sense of community. We’ve run events every week,
including a successful Halloween fundraising event for the
homeless organised by our talented Faith in Action officer
Katie and a lovely carol service organised by music officer
Matthew to end the term!
Last term the theme was ‘fruits of the spirit’ and our
sessions had us thinking about what that really means for
us as Christians as we express and enjoy those fruits in our
journey with Jesus. We’re excited for 2024, so follow us to
see what exciting events are coming up in the new year!
Love and prayers, Keelan and Lara
MOVEMENT Issue 169
11

12 MOVEMENT Issue 169

INTERVIEW
JAY HULME
Jay Hulme is an award winning transgender poet, speaker and theologian. With a
special interest in queer rights and theology, Jay’s work engages particularly with ideas
of faith, place, and identity, with many of his poetry books for adults being published
by one the UK’s foremost Christian publishers. Melody, Movement Editor, sat down
with Jay to find out where he draws inspiration for his work and to discuss how the
church can be more welcoming of queer people.
Firstly, thank you so much for agreeing to chat with
us. So, a little warm up question to start – what are
you currently reading?
In big nerd energy I’m currently reading St Augustine’s
Confessions.
And why did you choose that?
Firstly it’s one of the big ones, one of the standard reads if
you’re going to be weird about medieval theology. But also
because I think there’s a big push, particularly in modern
Christianity, towards being perfect all of the time. I think we
also apply this to Christian converts, and to young people
who are still just being stupid and young, and I think more
people should read Augustine’s Confessions to understand
that he sometimes sucked and yet he became a saint.
Where do you find the inspiration for your work?
I find inspiration everywhere to be honest. A large portion
of writing a poem is to consume as much stuff as possible,
be that worthy books by medieval theologians, or rubbish
telly, weird road signs or conversations with people. You
boil it down, you put it in your brain and jump up and down
on it, and out of the bottom comes a poem.
I do feel that people who write religious poetry often feel
that they can only get inspiration from religion, so that’s
why it often feels like people are just going over the same
thing over and over again and writing the same poem. We
are all coming at it from the same starting point. I think for
something to be fresh or interesting you need to combine
inspirations.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
13

Would you say that your work fits within the canon of
religious art that has gone before it? Or do you think
it is necessary to break out of that in order to create
something more thought-provoking for a modern
audience?
Everything is a reaction to something that has gone
before it, whether consciously or unconsciously. Even if
I very consciously ignore the last fifty years of Christian
poetry, everything at some point hails back to the first
poem that influenced everything else that has come after
it. If I consciously skip over the last fifty years then what
I’m doing is just engaging with the last one hundred years
instead.
I think the question is, what is canon, particularly in the
last one hundred years? In a hundred years’ time there
will be a new canon that is established by people, but we
don’t know what it is yet. When Dickens was writing, he
was writing for popular magazines, and Shakespeare wrote
lewd jokes for the stage and is now seen as one of the
greatest writers of all time. We don’t know what the canon
will be in a hundred years, maybe I will be part of it, and
maybe I won’t.
You came to faith in adulthood. Would you say that
gives your work a different perspective to the work of
someone who had been brought up in faith?
I think I haven’t engaged with things in the way that
others have. I didn’t go to Sunday School, there was no
VeggieTales. When I was engaging with poetry there was
no sense of being unable to engage with certain topics or
authors because it was seen as dodgy, and I still don’t think
as Christians we should avoid art that is ‘unacceptable’
as deemed by random people. Art is art and we should
engage with it because art is the creative wellspring of
humankind.
that they can then write Christian art, and it is the great
trap because then you will end up writing the same poem.
With regards to potentially ending up in an echo
chamber of religious writing, do you think that
everything a religious person writes is necessarily
faithful, or is it possible for a religious person to write
something entirely secular?
One of my hot-takes is that every single poem ever written
is an act of faith in some way. Poetry is all about the
impossible. Every poem ever written that has been any
good has been written out of love. Whether that be love
for a person, love for a place, or love so strong it makes
you angry at what is happening. That is why when you read
poetry written by bigoted people to push an agenda it is
garbage, because you cannot write a good poem out of
hate, a good poem has to spring from love.
Faith is about connection with others, and about
connection with an other, and so good poetry, whether it is
about a religion or whether it is about that tree in the back
garden, and whether it’s written by Christian or Muslim or
Hindu or somebody who isn’t of faith but believes in love
for one another – that’s where good poetry comes from.
Do you think your poetry comes from that place of love?
I hope so, I like to hope that I live in love.
Is there an aspect of spirituality to performance that
gives poetry or scripture a level of understanding that
you can’t get from just reading?
I didn’t know what Christian writers were writing, and I
wasn’t going to imitate their work because I didn’t know
their styles. I probably draw influence from a lot of writers
that Christian writers do not draw from, and there are
probably some writers out there who do not engage with
a breadth of art because they’re reading Christian art so
14
MOVEMENT Issue 169

So in another life, I started my career as a performance
poet. It was a very deliberate choice, not because I enjoyed
taking part in competitions, but because that was a back
door for a working-class person to get into the industry.
You can write the world’s greatest poem, but if you read it
in a tiny mutter nobody is going to care, and you can write
a garbage poem and claim it well enough that people will
think it is better than it is.
Performance poetry is a skill, and I think a lot of poets fail
to recognise the power of performance, but also of human
connection. I don’t know if I agree with her, but my priest
once said to me that the feeling in the room when I read
‘Jesus at the Gay Bar’ is what grace feels like. And I don’t
know if I agree with her on that, but
as I’ve said previously, all poetry is
about love, and human connection is
an exceptional form of love.
That’s one of my favourite poems
that you’ve written.
It’s not my best poem by a long
stretch. I wrote it while I was sat in
the choir stalls at St Nick’s, in five
minutes, and my friends came in and
I said ‘I have just written this poem,
and it is not a good poem, but it is
what people need to hear.’ And I was
very correct. I think skill-wise, it is the
poem equivalent of a nice dessert
your nan makes, it’s lovely and warming, you’re always
going to go back to it. It is not the fancy thing they make at
the Michelin starred restaurant, and as a poet I’m always
seeking to the best at my craft, and the craft in ‘Jesus at
the Gay Bar’ is extraordinarily low. The message is what
people need to hear, and that is how I feel about ‘Jesus at
the Gay Bar’. I know that it is important, and I will continue
giving that gift of love into the world. Skill-wise, it is a
mediocre poem.
Every poem ever
written that has
been any good has been written
out of love. Whether that be
love for a person, love for a
place, or love so strong it makes
you angry at what
is happening.
Where do you feel the inspiration for that poem came
from, especially the message of queer acceptance
and love in Christianity?
The thing about being an adult convert to Christianity, who
was already massively queer, is that I have been blessed
with the greatest gift I could be given in this world, which is
that I have absolutely no doubt that God loves me exactly
as I am. I was so far removed from Christianity that I didn’t
even get that tiny little niggle in your gut that makes some
people who are otherwise completely fine a little bit upset.
I didn’t get the horrible conversion therapy, but I also
didn’t get the guy at the back saying something weird at a
pot luck. I got nothing, and that is an incredible gift. That
certainty is an incredibly rare gift.
Do you think that your experience
of faith as a queer person has
influenced your writing?
All of my poems are queer, because
I wrote them and I’m queer. An
example that I often bring up is in
Backwater Sermons there’s a poem
called Splitting Fares, and that poem
is inherently queer, because it is a
conversation between two people
where an event is being narrated.
In that event the narrator goes to a
bar on a date with a man, they leave
the bar and fall in love with God in
a taxi, and God is a woman. And that poem is inherently
bisexual no matter who reads it. It’s a good example of
how all of my poems are inherently queer, and all of them
have anticipation of God because I believe in God and I
wrote them. From queer authors people always want
queer poems. There is no acceptable world in which
people demand queer things from the authors without
recognising that everything that they write is inherently
queer. When you want to hear a queer voice you should be
waiting to hear what that queer voice thinks is important
to say, instead of saying it doesn’t have enough ‘gayness’.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
15

My latest book features a lot about bones in the earth,
about caring for bones that have escaped graveyards. And
on the surface that has nothing to do with me being queer,
but I wrote them because as a trans person I’m massively
transfixed by the way in which we treat the dead, and I
care hugely about the way in which I care for those bodies
in the graveyard at our church because I have a body that
is treated with so little respect by this world. Trans bodies
are treated with so little respect by the world. When people
bring in transphobic laws it is all about the physical body,
whenever people fixate and say weird things to a trans
person, it is always about the physical body, it is always,
“Have you had that surgery yet?”, not, “How is your brain
feeling?” So for me it is extremely important to treat bodies,
the bodies of the dead, with the respect that perhaps I
am not afforded in this world. And it also speaks to the
members of my church, because subconsciously they see
us treating the bodies of the dead with such care and they
know that if we treat the bodies of these strangers from
whom we can expect nothing in return with such care, how
much more care will we have for them, who are living,
breathing members of the congregation at this time. So to
care for the body, and the bodies of others, is inherently
for me a queer thing. It isn’t only queer, other people can
care for the bodies of the dead, but I am interested in it
from a level that the base of it is to do with the fact that I
am queer, and so everything I write is queer, even when it
is not about a queer topic.
Do you find that you have to fight not to get pushed
into the box of the ‘queer Christian poet’? Or are you
OK with that label?
Every agent who’s ever approached me has used the
phrase, “I am building my LGBT list”, and I have said no to
every single one. Either you appreciate me for the quality
of my work, or I don’t want to know.
Many years ago, there was a Mumsnet thread about how
terrible I was. I was writing children’s stuff, which is part of
the reason they were mad at me because I also had some
very public beef with a transphobic children’s poet. I’ve
forgotten everything that it said except for one comment.
I clicked on the profile and all they had done was post
transphobia, but they said something like, “I mean, he’s a
terrible human being, we all hate him, what an awful trans
person. But don’t be mean about his poems, he’s actually
a really good poet.” And that lives rent free in my head. I
want all of my art to be so good that everybody who hates
me has to admit that I’m good at what I do.
I want all of my art to be so
good that everybody who hates
me has to admit that I’m good
at what I do.
How do you think the church could be more inclusive
to queer people?
Stop discussing it like we’re not already here. There seems
to be a feeling that queer inclusion in church is the hill upon
which we die. The church did divorce, which Jesus actually
spoke about, and it was fine, but the gays is a step too
far and you’re telling me that’s not human bigotry? Jesus
Christ said absolutely nothing about queer relationships,
and he had a lot to say on divorce, but we’re allowing that
while stopping people from being in queer relationships.
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be allowed to get
divorced, because the world in which we live now is so
very different from the one that Jesus lived in, and the
social and economic and cultural understandings of what
marriage means and what divorce means are so very
different to what they were in the culture in which Jesus
was speaking. I am saying that if Jesus, whose opinions
we apparently care a huge amount about, never said
anything about gay relationships and queer people, and
yet apparently stood with all of those marginalised by
society, why would we stand in a society in which queer
people are marginalised and be ok with it?
16 MOVEMENT Issue 169

Something that I often struggle with is reconciling the
fact that the church as the institution is structurally
unwelcoming to queer people. How do you reconcile
the idea that God isn’t homophobic but the church that
humanity has created, and that many of us attend, is?
They don’t get Jesus. We can’t let them have Jesus. If we
as queer people were to leave, they – the church – get
to put whatever words they want into the mouth of Jesus
Christ. By being present and by following the Spirit’s call
to places that are difficult, we get to witness by our sheer
presence there the expressive and expansive love of Christ.
If queer people flee, homophobes get what they want. What
they want fundamentally is to erase us from the social and
public sphere to the point that we can no longer exist at all.
To refuse to do something, to refuse to be in a space out of
fear. Though that fear is valid and I’m not ignoring the fact
that it can be physically dangerous for queer people to be
in homophobic and queerphobic and transphobic spaces,
when you feel able to be in a space it is important to be
there, because to live in fear and discomfort to the point in
which you no longer engage in the things that you want to
engage in is the point at which they win.
I will not be erased from the church or erased from the
community of Christ. I will be there and I will be myself and
everybody is going to have to deal with it. There are other
people whose choice may waver at that point, and that is
entirely valid. But to be queer and to say you are a Christian
is to, at its core, win that fight. Every single day a queer
person says “I’m also Christian” or a Christian says, “I’m
also queer,” or somebody puts those two words together in
a way that one does not proceed the other. That is a day in
which queer people win.
Part of my advice would be, do
not let your fear prevent you
from living fully in this world, because
to live in fear and to live not as
yourself, that’s not the queer way.
A final question, do you have any advice for young
trans, non-binary, or queer people either in the church
or outside of it?
Part of my advice would be, do not let your fear prevent
you from living fully in this world, because to live in fear
and to live not as yourself, that’s not the queer way. That’s
not what we do, that’s not what our predecessors did. We
stand joyously in the face of oppression because our joy
is found in our queerness, and to be fully ourselves may
lead to oppression, but it also leads to that joy. If you’re
Christian, Jesus Christ calls us to not fear those who will kill
the body but cannot kill the soul. We as Christians believe in
a God who is all genders and none simultaneously. They are
gender weird in a way far beyond human comprehension.
Of course trans people exist, of course trans people are
part of creation, because we are all made in the image of
God, and God is not just male or female.
Don’t settle for a church community. Fight like hell in the
church as a structure, for example the Church of England,
or the Methodist Church, or the Roman Catholic Church.
Fight like hell in those spaces and do not leave, because
you belong there, but do not settle for a specific local
church in which you are not appreciated for who you are.
Find the communities within your wider community that
appreciate you, because they exist in every denomination
even if within that denomination those communities are
extra to the structures. There are Roman Catholic groups
that support LGBT people of faith, even when there is no
church near you that supports you. Don’t settle and don’t
let them shut you up.
We are all called to be irritants, to be those grains of sand
that wear away the structures of oppression. Sometimes it
sucks to be an irritant but it’s not the grain of sand that gets
worn away, it is that which it grates. Be grating, be irritating.
My life motto is, “Cause problems on purpose.”
You can find out more about Jay’s work on
his website at Jayhulme.com. To read the full
interview with Jay head over to the SCM website,
movement.org.uk/blog
MOVEMENT Issue 169
17

Celia James reflects on how sandplay, a
therapeutic play technique, can become
meditative and prayerful, leading to a
deeper connection with God
THE ORIGIN OF SANDPLAY
MAKING
WORLDS:
SANDPLAY,
MEDITATION
AND PRAYER
In saying ‘Making Worlds’, I want to introduce you to
Margret Lowenfeld’s work with children in the 1920s
onwards and to describe what I see as an overlap between
sandplay, meditation, and prayer. Lowenfeld was a pioneer
of child psychology and play therapy who introduced sand,
trays, and toys to the children attending her Peckham
Institute. It was the children playing who called their trays
‘worlds’, and this activity became known as ‘The World
Technique’.
Subsequently, the theories and methods originated by
Lowenfeld became the basis of a range of therapeutic
techniques, in particular the development of sandplay
therapy credited to Dora M. Kalff, a Swiss Jungian analyst,
whom Jung sent to England to study with Dr Lowenfeld
in the 1950s. It was under Jung’s influence that adults
had the opportunity to work with sand trays and that
the experience could become consciously meditative or
prayerful.
The time spent making a world is time spent in silence,
where we can let the usual, busy side of our minds relax. It
is a bit like making a collage in 3D, or doodling with objects
and sand rather than with a pencil. Wandering around the
collection of hundreds of little objects is not like the way
we are busy in our everyday lives; it’s more like wandering
round a street market without a fixed budget, seeing what
takes your fancy. It can be dreamy, and yet it’s thoughtful
as well, because choosing and holding an object starts you
thinking about it; and when you put it with other things in
your tray it joins the scene that you’re making.
18
MOVEMENT Issue 169

DOING SANDPLAY
To give you an idea of what a ‘world’ could look like
for adults, the image right is of a tray made by me in
a group of adults that has been meeting for 20 years.
People sometimes use a sand tray to purposely describe
something like a poem or a memory, but most often it
comes as a surprise which objects one picks up. It can feel
that the objects we are choosing are choosing us, and that
the world we are making in the tray is talking to us. At the
end, it can feel that the tray we have made has listened to
us: that we have been in a time out-of-time. It is hard to
describe how, in World Technique or sandplay, play turns
into reverie, and how reverie turns into meditation. I believe
the way meditation can then turn into prayer comes from
the intensity of our ‘conversation’ with the World we have
made. I believe that prayer can emerge from us feeling so
part of the World we are making that we can find ourselves
both talking to and listening to our World, and that is a
component of prayer. In sandplay I believe that we are
being both attentive and receptive to how our imagination
can grow into insight: how imagination can be meditative
and one’s World become prayerful.
In a sandplay group each person has their own tray
and a box of sand on an individual table, and on a
central table there is a collection of a few hundred
objects laid out for participants to use.
Making a sand tray World is a chance to have a chunk of
time in which to quietly do something quite unlike our usual
activities. It is a creative experience; one in which there is
no need for ‘artistic talent’; one in which there is no ‘right
or wrong’; one in which mistakes are not possible; one
in which there is no sense of having to put-things-right. I
believe this is how making Worlds is meditation and prayer.
THINKING OF MY LIFE AS A RIVER.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
19

ask the
movement
what hymn
would you
like to
get rid of
forever?
and which
could you
happily
sing all day
every day?
20

bangers
1. Thine be the Glory
2. In the Bleak Midwinter
3. Guide me O Thy Great Redeemer
4. I Cannot Tell Why He Whom Angels Worship
5. Crown Him With Many Crowns
6. Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
7. What A Friend We Have in Jesus
8. Sweet Sacrament Divine
9. In Christ Alone
10. Bless The Lord My Soul
flops
1. All Things Bright and Beautiful
2. Onward Christian Soldiers
3. Jerusalem
4. O Happy Day
5. Shine Jesus Shine
6. Lord of the Dance
7. Away in a Manger
8. Battle Hymn of the Republic
9. We Plough the Fields and Scatter
10. And Can It Be
21

YOUR
SPACE
THE DIGITAL COMMUNITY
ADVOCATING FOR CONNECTION
AND WELLBEING
22
MOVEMENT Issue 169

Imagine a digital space where you are free to just be. A place where you are safe to
explore life questions and faith. A community passionate about improving well-being,
tackling loneliness and connecting with like-minded people.
Launched in November 2023,
Your Space is an online Christian
community that exists to provide a
safe, welcoming space where every
individual can feel truly accepted.
We offer both ‘real-time’ online
gatherings, which usually take place
monthly on a weekday evening,
as well as discussions within our
Facebook and Slack groups.
We place a real emphasis on
improving wellbeing and reducing
loneliness, as well investment into the
exploration of faith and discipleship.
Each month, we have a theme that
we base our events and discussions
around, however we leave space
within that to respond to anything our
community wishes to bring.
The latest Office for National
Statistics data from 2023 reports
that people aged between 16-
29 are over two times as likely to
report feeling lonely often or always
than those over 70 (9.7% versus
3.7%), with those aged between
30-49 close behind at 8.2%. An
average of 7.08% of people reported
feeling lonely often or always from
November 2022 to February 2023.
This equates to an estimated 3.7
million people.
In the context of exploring and
developing faith, the increased isolation
that people are experiencing can make
it extremely difficult for them to access
communities where they can do this.
On top of this is the very real fact that
the traditional Church model does not
suit a significant proportion of today’s
society. People can experience barriers
to attending Church and exploring
faith for a variety of reasons, such as
disability, chronic illness, mental health
issues, work or busy schedules.
Two of the Your Space team members
have a chronic illness and experience
the challenges that this brings on a
day-to-day basis. Chronic illness leaves
you struggling with your own pain and
limitations that you face in day-to-day
life, whilst also struggling with the
FOMO (fear of missing out) that
it brings.
Your Space was born out of a vision to
not settle for the status quo. To refuse
to accept that this is the way that
things have to be. To provide an online
community with no barriers, where you
can fully engage with others and be
accepted for who you are.
Tori Allen, Your Space lead, says
“loneliness exists in many different
forms. You can be in a room full
of people and still feel emotionally
lonely. You can have a busy schedule
and still feel lonely. You can be
receiving loads of likes on social
media and still feel the loneliest
you’ve ever felt.
“When I hit my twenties, I was
shocked at the disappearance of
friendships that I thought would be
in my life forever, which was caused
simply by the pressures of life and
differing life stages. Coupled with the
pressures of social media and health
challenges that I face, this left me
feeling very isolated.
“I have been able to see first-hand
the vast benefits that a community
of like-minded people can bring you.
I am so passionate about Your Space
as this community is a way for us to
ensure that nobody else has to go
through what I did.”
You can follow Your Space on
Instagram at
@yourspacecommunity,
and on Facebook at
@yourspacecom.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
23

THE MAGICAL
DAHL RECIPE
SERVES 2-4 | PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 40 minutes
‘For me this dahl is magical; warming
and comforting, sweet and spicy, full
of flavour and protein. It’s vegan and
gluten free too, we owe much to the
humble lentil!’ Niall Hammond
INGREDIENTS:
• 300g red lentils or yellow split peas
• 1 tsp salt
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 5cm piece of root ginger, grated
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 60g cane sugar or light brown sugar
• A small bunch of coriander leaves (optional)
• 50-75ml vegetable oil
• Pinch of dried chilli flakes (or more if you like it hotter)
• 1 tsp each of cumin seeds, mustard seeds and nigella seeds
24 MOVEMENT Issue 169

Thanks to Niall Hammond, lay Catholic chaplain
at Keele University for sending in this recipe for
The SCM Cookbook – you can get your copy at
www.movement.org.uk/merch
METHOD:
1. Wash and drain your lentils, either in a pan or under
running water.
2. Bring your lentils to a boil with 1–1.5 litres of water
and the salt and leave to simmer until they are a soft,
squashable texture. This takes about 20 minutes for red
lentils, 30 minutes for yellow. Drain off most of the water
for a thicker dahl, or leave a bit more in the pan for a
more soup-like consistency.
3. Add the tomatoes, ginger, turmeric and sugar to the
lentils and simmer for another 5 minutes. Blend until
smooth, and then add in the coriander if using.
5. Add a ladleful of the dahl to the hot oil and spice
mixture (it will splatter so I stand back and do this at an
arms length, and you’ll also see why you needed a large
frying pan!), stir the oil and dahl mixture together then
pour it back into pan with the rest of the dahl and stir
well – the oil should have emulsified into the dahl along
with all the flavours from the spices.
6. Simmer for a further five minutes and serve – it’s great
on its own but even better with rice or bread, and you
can add a dollop of mango chutney if you’re feeling
fancy!
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat,
add the chilli flakes, then the cumin, nigella and mustard
seeds and fry until toasty (the mustard seeds should
begin to pop when they’re done). Turn off the heat.
MOVEMENT Issue 169 25

STUDENT SUNDAY
The Universal Day of Prayer for Students (UDPS), or ‘Student Sunday’ is coordinated
by the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), and has been celebrated since
1898, making it one of the oldest ecumenical days of prayer.
It is marked on the third Sunday of February every year, serving
as a tangible sign of our common life, connecting student
movements and WSCF friends across the world. We invite all
our members and supporters to unite in prayer for the
world, the church, students, and WSCF.
To help you mark the occasion, we’ve provided
some ideas and prayers for you here. A full
resource pack will be available to download
from movement.org.uk/student-sunday
TO CELEBRATE STUDENT
SUNDAY YOU COULD:
• Use our intercessions and/or prayer
requests from students in your
service or event.
• Invite one or more students from
your congregation, or someone from
the local university (contact your
university chaplain or the SCM office
for details), to share their story during
the service or event.
• Use social media to get the word out and
tag your posts using #StudentSunday24.
Feel free to download hi-res SCM and UDPS
logos from our website, too!
• Use our fundraising guide to get ideas of how
fundraise for SCM as part of the service or event.
26 MOVEMENT Issue 169

A PRAYER FOR SCM
Creator God,
who has sustained the Student Christian
Movement across three centuries,
we thank you for the gift it is in this
generation. Help those who are its
stewards to act wisely. Help those who
are its members to seek your change
and growth as this movement endures
and renews. Deepen the faith of all who
find you through SCM, that they might
act justly, love mercy and walk humbly
with you, our God.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
INTERCESSIONS
God of all life, we give thanks for all
students. We think of those who are
starting their academic journeys and
the excitement of taking this new step.
We think of those in the middle of their
degrees and the pressure they might be
feeling. We think of those who are finished
and are looking forward to what might
be next. Whatever stage we are at, let us
be reminded that You are always with us.
May we always be guided towards Your
truth.
God of all wisdom:
Hear our prayer.
God of all creation, we pray for the
gift of teaching. Throughout Jesus’
ministry, he used stories to teach us to be
compassionate and to love our neighbour.
We give thanks for those who teach and
for those there to learn. Let us honour
the hard work and sacrifice that teaching
requires, and the joy of expanding our
minds as our hearts are expanded by Your
grace.
God of all wisdom:
Hear our prayer.
God of all loving, we turn our minds to
those who are struggling to cope. We pray
for those who are overwhelmed by the
thoughts of exams and deadlines that are
looming. When our minds are clouded
over with the stresses of life, it is hard to
find the light amongst the darkness. We
pray that, by the power of Your grace,
those who are struggling can reach out
for help and find the light amongst the
darkness.
God of all wisdom:
Hear our prayer.
God of all compassion, we remember those
around the world who aren’t able to access
an education. We pray for those who are
prevented from finishing their degrees
because of their sex, their race, or their
background. Let it be a reminder to us
that learning is a precious gift; inspire in
us the fires of justice so that we may work
for a world where everyone can receive a
proper education.
God of all wisdom:
Hear our prayer.
MOVEMENT Issue 169 27

FAITH IN ACTION:
28 MOVEMENT Issue 169

To mark Human Rights Day in December, our Faith in Action project workers ran
workshops with SCM communities to encourage them to reflect on Bonhoeffer’s concept
of Christuswerklicht, or Christ’s reality, in the context of the rights of Refugees and
Asylum Seekers and the UK Government’s plan to “stop the boats.” SCM members
have also been taking part in a craftivism action, sending over 150 origami boats to
the Home Secretary.
CREATIVE PROTEST
In 2023 we marked the 75th Anniversary of The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights by encouraging as many
people as possible to create origami boats with messages
of kindness, peace, and generosity on them. These were
then sent to the new Home Secretary with the objective
of encouraging him to treat refugees and asylum seekers
in the same way. Article 14 of the Declaration of Human
Rights grants the right to seek and enjoy asylum from
persecution. This right, in addition to the right to leave
one’s own country (Article 13), and the right to nationality
(Article 15) is designed to protect the most vulnerable
in our community. In sending the Home Secretary our
messages we hope to remind him of the importance of
Article 14, and to encourage him to make decisions and
take a stance that is inclusive of refugees.
This act of protest is inspired both by the work of other
origami protests, and in opposition to the phrase “stop
the boats”. By focussing on the boats and not the people
on them, the Government runs the risk of dehumanising
those arriving on our shores and forgetting the struggle
they have gone through to get here. Therefore, in our
messages we reminded the Home Secretary of the power
he has in making decisions rooted in humanity.
MOVEMENT Issue 169 29

Origami is the art of paper folding and is truly one of
the most peaceful acts of protest. Although it is hard
to track where it initially began, many researchers think
it was about a thousand years ago in Japan. The most
famous piece of origami that has been used in protest
is the peace crane. Although it has been used as a
symbol of peace for hundreds of years, the peace crane
rose to fame in modern times again in 2012, with the
Peace Crane project created by Sue DiCicco to connect
children around the world through origami. Participants
were encouraged to fold peace cranes, with messages
written on their wings to promote a peaceful future and
an awareness of International Peace Day. Those who
took part in the project were then encouraged to sign up
and share their cranes with someone else in the world.
It truly encapsulated the building of a global community
through art.
A more recent tale of origami as protest has been
brought about by the Climate Coalition. Although they
encourage use of all art forms, origami has been a
popular choice for their ‘Green Heart Campaign.’ This
involves making and sending green hearts to local MPs
and decision makers, to encourage them to take a stand
against climate change. Using a universal symbol such
as the green heart is very effective in drawing people
together in protest as it offers a shared motif to ensure a
message can have a big impact.
Activism through craft, or Craftivism, is an accessible
form of protest, because it can come in many forms. It
is also a truly peaceful act, and can be done with friends
or in communities, it does not require people to leave
the house, and so can be engaged with by people with
accessibility needs too. It is also an effective and often
successful form of protest, as seen with our very own
origami boats campaign. We’ll be planning lots more
creative protests over the year so do look out for more
information and get involved!
30 MOVEMENT Issue 169

“So God created humankind in
his image, in the image of God he
created them”. Genesis 1:27
Whatever your background, you will have most likely
come across these words from the opening chapter of
the Bible at some point. The concept of humanity being
the Imago Dei, or the image of God, is a powerful one
and throughout its history it has been used in a variety
of ways for good and for ill. It has been used as an
argument against the evil of slavery, declaring the dignity
and humanity of enslaved people in various times and
places. Yet, it has also been used to deny the humanity
of others, such as trans people, as some Christians have
used the words that follow the declaration of the image
of God in humanity, “male and female he created them”,
as a divine mandate of a strict gender binary.
When we reflect on the Imago Dei in relation to human
rights we are presented with several challenges and
opportunities, especially as people of faith. The work
of theologian I Sil Yoon on the relationship between the
theological concept of Imago Dei and human rights is
a good place to start. When we look to the Bible, we
do not find any references to the concept of human
rights, but Yoon correctly points out that, “both the
Hebrew Bible and the New Testament reveal the justice
of God that serves to protect and liberate the powerless
in society who are often susceptible to mistreatment
and oppression… Imago Dei is the fundamental and
foundational concept that undergirds the inviolable dignity
and rights of every person that necessitates the social
duty to respect such dignity.”1
Yoon draws upon both Catholic Social Teaching and
the term ubuntu, used by the Nguni people who reside
in South Africa, to argue for personal integrity and
rights as well as a commitment to or duty for others,
especially the marginalised or mistreated. Drawing
upon these ideas Yoon argues that the use of Imago
Dei in public theology can strengthen the implications
of human rights, especially in situations where human
rights laws are broken, not implemented, or ignored.
Yoon concludes that Imago Dei “provides the ultimate
foundation and justification for every human’s duty to
respect the rights of fellow humans, including those who
are socially vulnerable and oppressed, not only through
personal decisions but also through social conditions in
accordance with laws and policies”. 2
I. I Sil Yoon, “Imago Dei and Human Rights: A North Korean Case Study”, Theology Today, Vol. 79 (2): 167.
2. I Sil Yoon, “Imago Dei and Human Rights: A North Korean Case Study”, Theology Today, Vol. 79 (2): 183.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
31

While Yoon’s argument highlights the place that the
concept of Imago Dei can play in promoting human
rights, there are ways in which the use of Imago Dei can
be a challenge. The legal scholar Louis Henkin argues
in his article Religion, Religions and Human Rights that
historically religious communities have violated human
rights norms despite their conception of Imago Dei. He
highlights the issues raised for freedom of religion in
relation to apostasy, proselytising, equality and nondiscrimination,
gender distinctions, religious antisemitism
and more. Henkin contends that religions are much older
than human rights law and that historically they have not
seen the need for the idea of rights. He concludes that
human rights cannot be grounded in religious conviction
as it would be “conceptually imperialistic”.
...both the Hebrew Bible and
the New Testament reveal
the justice of God that serves to protect
and liberate the powerless in society
who are often susceptible to
mistreatment and oppression…
There are some important questions raised by Henkin
which we must consider when reflecting on the concept
of the Imago Dei and human rights. Such as, does the
failure of a religious community to live up to an ideal such
as the Imago Dei, necessarily mean that it has no use?
Can the Imago Dei be useful to a Christian conception of
rights in such a way that is not imperialistic or colonial?
How do we as Christians reconcile a history of human
rights violations with a religious understanding of rights?
So how do we respond to these challenges? First, it is
important to address the fact that the failure to live up to
a particular ideal does not subtract from its value as an
ideal. There are certain instances where human rights law
fails those who it is designed to protect, yet just because
the legal protections offered by human rights have failed
in many instances this does not mean they are any less
necessary. Similarly, where religious people committed to
the ideal of Imago Dei have failed to uphold this ideal it
does not mean that it is any less necessary to a holistic
Christian conception of rights. In fact, Imago Dei can
be used as a justification for Christians to confront past
atrocities through reconciliation, reparations, and apology.
It is in recognising the image of God in those who
have been wronged by the Church that we can find an
argument for pushing the Church to do more to right their
past wrongs.
32 MOVEMENT Issue 169

There are also potential alternative Christian theological
concepts which can offer a basis for Christian support
of human rights. For example, Waldron argues that the
“premise that there is something of Christ in every needy
person with a claim on us” as found in Matthew 25 can
provide a similar basis for a Christian conception of
human dignity and rights. While there are some justified
and worthwhile arguments against using the Imago Dei as
a foundation for human rights, if we embrace Imago Dei as
being complementary rather than exclusive it can still be
a useful basis for Christian action both to promote human
rights today and for the Church to face up to their past
sins and violations of human dignity.
To find out more about SCM’s latest campaigns and to
read more of William and Phoebe’s reflections visit the
SCM blog – movement.org.uk/blog
MOVEMENT Issue 169
33

THE SCM
PODCAST
IS BACK!
Hosted by William, our Faith in Action
Project Worker, this season will have
three themes:
• THEOLOGICAL, where William will interview theologians
and scholars to discuss Bonhoeffer and how he relates
to our Christian life and political action today
• ACTIVIST, where SCM members and Christian political
activists will share what Faith in Action means to them
and spend some time reflecting on Bonhoeffer’s impact
on their activism
• DEVOTIONAL, drawing upon the theology and work of
Bonhoeffer to provide you with a space to reflect and pray.
Available on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you listen
to podcasts – just search for
‘Student Christian Movement’.
34
MOVEMENT Issue 169

FAITH
ON FILM
By Michael Dickinson
MOVEMENT Issue 169
35

I’ve heard people bemoan that there aren’t more good
Christian films, or perhaps that Christian films are
just no good at all. This will very possibly come from
someone who has suffered through God’s Not Dead
(2014), amongst my least favourite films I’ve ever seen,
or something similar.
As you may be aware, God’s Not
Dead tells the story of a Christian
student who, upon enrolling in a
philosophy class in his first year
of university, is mandated by his
professor to sign a declaration that
God is dead before he can continue
with the class. Of course, our
protagonist does not accept these
terms, and the debate is on to prove
once and for all whether God is dead
or is surely alive. It will come as no
surprise I’m sure, that it concludes
with the existence of God in no doubt
and with a last-minute conversion
from the villainous atheist professor.
Its many other objectional elements
aside, its villainisation of various
groups (atheists, Muslims and
journalists for example), its tenuous
claim to be based on true events,
its insistence to drive a wedge and
create a clear ‘us’ and ‘them’, there
is something quite unappealing
about the very closed messaging
of the film. I’m not saying anything
new here about God’s Not Dead, a
film that despite finding commercial
success and being embraced by its
intended audience, has been widely
and thoroughly criticised ever since
its release.
It is, however, only the tip of
the iceberg of many such films
successfully catering to an American
Evangelical audience, a small but
lucrative audience consistently
showing up for small films that
make steady returns. Despite an
unsurprising political move in recent
years (God’s Not Dead’s own sequels,
which I have not seen, seem to
have shifted by now to fighting
against government involvement in
homeschooling and an upcoming film
about the pastor character running for
Congress?!) there have been a steady
stream of films such as War Room
(2015), Heaven Is For Real (2014),
Miracles From Heaven (2016) and
Facing the Giants (2006) giving such
inspiring and confirming messaging as
God’s Not Dead.
Of course, there is an obvious
commercial incentive towards this
approach to such stories, but even
aside from this as an approach
to faith, it also feels like a rather
uninteresting approach to film, or to
art more broadly.
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MOVEMENT Issue 169

I remember from my studies as a film
student coming across an idea from
John Fiske, an influential writer on
television, of ‘producerly texts’, that
is texts (a text in film/media/cultural
studies being not just something
written, but rather whatever the
object of study: film, painting,
performance, a set of practices, a
Tweet, etc.) that leave a number
of loose ends that are open to new
meaning through their audience.
The opposite of this openness would
be the ultimate of closed texts –
propaganda – that seeks to limit
the possibilities of interpretation
down to just one. Whilst seeking
not to be too harsh and pejorative,
I can understand the desire for
reassurance and comfort from time
to time, this second approach seems
to much more closely describe the
films discussed above. What would
God’s Not Dead be without a clear
message that God is, in fact, not
dead? The filmmakers surely do not
want threads of doubt or ambiguity
to offer a different reading, even
if I have felt that, reading against
the grain, the film poses its own
cinephile’s problem of evil; why would
a good God allow themself to be
represented by such a horrible film?
The opposite of
this openness
would be the ultimate of
closed texts – propaganda
– which seeks to limit
the possibilities of
interpretation
down to just one.
Some prefer the language of
watching a film as a conversation,
but either way, the filmmaker brings
what they have to offer, and you
bring yourself, along with your ideas,
experiences, opinions, emotions. And
so it is with all art, viewing a painting,
MOVEMENT Issue 169
37

“Reflecting on why I love
film as much as I do, I
am sometimes drawn to
the idea that watching a
film can in some way be a
guided meditation of sorts.”
listening to music, reading literature
and poetry. Giving my attention to a
film for two hours or so I am directed
in my thoughts and made to consider
something and to move back and
forth with the film and my own
thoughts and experience.
Of course, there are different types
of films and filmmaking that are
more or less suited to this way of
thinking, but one aspect it requires
is this level of producerly openness,
some ambiguity, or (dare I say
it) doubt. These films that are so
concerned with a closed, certain
message are defeated by their own
anxiety of what the audience might
bring. Rather it often seems to be
filmmakers with a more complicated
relationship with faith who produce
films with more to offer a viewer.
To take some examples from recent
years, see Silence (2006) from Martin
Scorsese, who variously seems to
describe himself as a Catholic or a
lapsed Catholic depending on when
he’s asked, through the story of
two undercover Jesuit missionaries
facing persecution in 17th century
Japan facing up to the role of
Christianity in colonialism and the
seeming silence of God in the face
of suffering, whilst still offering a
hope in faith. First Reformed (2017),
from writer-director Paul Schrader,
who was raised in a strict Calvinist
setting he now rejects, follows a
priest’s growing awareness of the
climate crisis, the conflict of what his
place in it is to be, and whether there
is any hope in it. Thirdly, in a more
commercial example, Noah (2014),
from atheist filmmaker Darren
Aronofsky, throws a strict following
of the Biblical account to the wind to
probe into the relationship between
God and humanity and to bring to
the fore environmental ideas about
our duty of care for the Earth. This
is a fairly narrow selection, but by
allowing that spread of ambiguity,
of their own questioning and
exploration in, we too are invited into
these questions and explorations to
bring to the table what we bring, our
faith, our questions, our doubts, and
be in the exploration together.
Michael Dickinson is a trustee of the
Student Christian Movement.
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MOVEMENT Issue 169

Searching,
Searching.
Poetry
corner
I miss the way that place used to smell.
I miss the peeling paint in the corridors.
I miss the green carpet in the kids’ rooms,
the out-of-tune piano,
the one window of stained glass,
and the old ladies
who always got my name wrong.
I even miss – God
Help me – the cheap grape juice, used
Instead of wine
Instead of blood
Instead of Him
Once a month, like clockwork,
I miss the way Christ came out of a carton.
Georgia Day
MOVEMENT Issue 169
39

Ode to Peace
The Lord is Peace – Judges 6:24
O, Peace! Thou art the blesy being,
Thy presence doth bring a new spring,
Yond stirs our hearts with love and swing,
‘Tis to Divine Peace yond we cling.
O, Lord! Thy comfort seeketh we,
Thy mercy needeth and we plea,
Thankful hymns our tongues chant to Thee,
‘Tis Thee the Peace we thirst and plea.
Raw war in our minds we doth dace,
Chasing us at breakneck pace,
Mere mortals we, needeth of grace,
‘Tis blest Peace want we to embrace.
Amen
Joel Samuel
In this world which is torn by fight,
Our thoughts and lives art now in fright,
Lord, Thy holdeth the hope of light,
‘Tis from Thee cometh great delight.
40 MOVEMENT Issue 169

A hopeful dream,
from a Palestinian in diaspora
I will return home to Palestine.
I will taste the love-grown watermelons and oranges of Palestine,
I will regrow the olives from the ashes in Palestine,
I will rebuild the homes from the rubbles of Palestine,
I will bring flowers to the martyrs of Palestine,
I will sing and dance in relief and safety for Palestine,
I will sit in the remains of my family’s village in Palestine.
I will find love in Palestine,
I will keep peace in Palestine,
I will grow old and wrinkly in Palestine.
And when God calls me back,
I will lay by my ancestors in the blood-soaked ground of Palestine.
Yasmin Hussein,
a third-generation refugee
MOVEMENT Issue 169
41

REVIEWS
THEOLOGY FOR THE
END OF THE WORLD
The book is an invitation to honesty;
honesty about who we are, what has
influenced us, the institutions we
participate in, and how we use God
in our lives. If we choose to accept
this invitation, we will find no escape
from the need for analysing our own
complicity in harmful and oppressive
systems and actions.
Marika opens the first chapter by
stating that “Christianity has a very
long history, and a lot of it is terrible.
It’s tempting to deal with this history
by disavowing it, by suggesting that
real Christians wouldn’t do the kinds of
things that actually existing Christians
have done”. Theology for the End
of the World offers an apocalyptic
theology that calls us to reject the world
as it is, reject God as a tool to be used
for gradual progression in society, and
reject romanticised depictions of an
essentially ‘good’ Christianity. Marika
argues for an “abolitionist theology”,
recognising that an immediate
abolition of the various systems of
oppression we encounter in the world
does not necessarily produce an end to
the oppression itself.
After reading the book I am left
with several questions. How do we
undermine the world as it is without
further perpetuating harm and
upholding systems of oppression?
What does this abolitionist theology
look like in practice? Where are we to
go from here? Marika does not offer
an answer to these questions, nor does
she aim to. Rather the book is a call
to seek to answer these questions with
the type of honesty that acknowledges
the ways in which our radical politics,
our progressive Christianity, and
our best attempts at bringing about
liberation can further perpetuate
harm and uphold the very systems we
seek to dismantle. In a way it is a book
of spirituality and confession, it does
not offer a solution to Christianity’s
problems but asks that we participate
in the ancient Christian practice of
confessing our complicity in the sins
of the world, while we simultaneously
continue to participate in bringing
about the community of God and the
liberation and joy that we hope could
come with it. It truly is a theology for
the end of the world as we know it.
WILLIAM GIBSON
Theology for the End of the World
Marika Rose
ISBN:9780334060666
Paperback
SCM Press
42 MOVEMENT Issue 169

THE HUNGER GAMES:
THE BALLAD OF
SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes place 64 years
before the events of the first Hunger Games novel. We
follow Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) as she is selected
as tribute in the 10th Hunger Games, with a young
Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blythe) assigned to be her mentor.
Right from the start Lucy Gray sings. She sings when she
is selected for the Games, she sings when she is in captivity,
she sings when she is introduced on TV, and she sings
during the Games themselves. She is literally singing for
her survival.
In a later conversation with Snow, she describes how she
and her people (The Covey) believe they were put on earth
to bring joy to others through music. We see her do this
multiple times when she is no longer singing to survive.
The concerts she and The Covey give in District 12 bring
such light and life to the people living in miserable and
oppressive conditions. Lucy Gray uses what she has to
enhance the lives of others, and what she has is a guitar
and song.
The arts are often decried as a waste of time and dismissed
as luxury degrees. But creation is an inherent part of being
a human, of have been created in God’s image. I can’t sing
anywhere near as well as Rachel Zegler, but I can use the
gifts that I have been given to try and bring light and life to
those around me.
JOHN WALLACE-HOWELL
The Hunger Games: The Ballad
of Songbirds and Snakes
Directed by Francis Lawrence
2023
PG13
PALESTINE SPEAKS:
NARRATIVES OF LIVES
UNDER OCCUPATION
Given the ongoing horrors that have been unfolding in Israelioccupied
Palestinian territories over the last months, the situation
of those trapped within Gaza and those living in the West Bank has
been heightened in the public consciousness. However, the lives of
Palestinians – Christian, Jew and Muslim – have been hellish for long
before October 7th, with the steady occupation of land and destruction
of culture, rights, and national identity.
This book is a collection of over thirty detailed testimonials from a wide
variety of Palestinians living under the occupation, from a Cultural
Centre director, a journalist and a lawyer who was born in a refugee
camp and still lives there, to a Shepherd, a fisherman and a farmer
whose land is being encroached upon by settlers. A notable theme is
how much Hamas is disliked by many of the ordinary Palestinians.
It tries its best to be objective, providing excellent footnotes to each
interview and a great appendix that allows the reader to decently start
to grasp how the situation has developed since the Nakba (literally ‘The
Catastrophe’) of 1948, which saw the forcible removal of Palestinians
from the land. There’s also a helpful timeline of modern Palestine.
The book was published in 2015, and although a decade has passed since
the interviews were conducted, it still gives an idea as to what everyday
life is like for Palestinians. One might wonder whether the interviewees
are still around and how their situations have developed (I admit to
googling the young fledgling journalist and breathing a sigh of relief
to find via Instagram that she is still alive and now living outside of
Palestine). It is illuminating, heartbreaking and deeply infuriating, as
well as very pertinent. As part of its solidarity pledge, Verso Books has
made the eBook available for free download from their website* (along
with half a dozen other titles).
JENNA NICHOLAS
Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Lives Under Occupation
Edited Cate Malek and Mateo Hoke
ISBN: 1784780502
Verso Books
* At the time of writing, January 2024.
MOVEMENT Issue 169
43

scm_britain
student christian movement
Grays Court, 3 Nursery Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3JX
t: 0121 426 4918 e: scm@movement.org.uk w: www.movement.org.uk