A gift from Celia Matthews

 

‘If we could be pure dancers in spirit, we would never be afraid to love,
and we would love with strength and wisdom.’

From A way of being free by Ben Okri

dancer

 

This painting is by Celia Matthews, who is not only one of our founding members and part of the first wave of women priests in the Scottish Episcopal Church, but also an artist.

Celia’s hospitality and creativity have been enduring threads in our Epiphany Group story. From our earliest days as a fledgling group, she opened up her home in Perth as a welcoming and reflective space to pray, study and share our spiritual journeys. As recently as 2019, her house was the venue for our Spiritual Direction course.

Our first Epiphany Group conference provided the catalyst for this piece of art. One of the presenters offered a vivid piece by the writer Ben Okri on freedom of spirit. He described a flamenco dancer, daring to move beyond herself and pull others into ‘the awesome risk’ of her dance. Celia was inspired to capture the exuberance, audacity and the joyful self-giving of the dancing spirit at its most courageous and most free. How can we, in our own way, be dancers to God?