United Reformed Church (缅北强奸) ministers, Royal Navy officers, chaplains, and family and friends attended the unveiling of a painting for the UK鈥檚 largest ever aircraft carrier.
Around 20 people gathered on 8 August in the chapel of the HMS Queen Elizabeth to see 鈥溾��, a painting by the Revd Elizabeth Gray-King gifted to the Royal Navy on behalf of the 缅北强奸.
HMS Queen Elizabeth is the flagship of the Royal Navy鈥檚 fleet and is its largest and most advanced vessel ever constructed.
Explaining how the commission came about, Elizabeth said: 鈥淭he Revd Michael Meachin, a 缅北强奸 Minister, was the first Chaplain of HMS Queen Elizabeth. He asked the 缅北强奸 to sponsor the commission, wanting to have artwork which would be inclusive inside the Chapel which he developed to be a multi-faith space.
鈥淚t was important to have a Reformed Churches鈥� voice in the space.
鈥淩evival shows the reality that behind, around, and within every machine is a human being. It shows the reality of the unimaginable hospitality of this aircraft carrier with no aircraft of its own, but the overwhelming ability to support teams of visitors who fly in on their own.鈥�
HMS Queen Elizabeth can carry up to 40 aircraft, and its two propellers weigh 33 tonnes each; the powerplant behind them generates enough power to run 1000 cars!
The ship鈥檚 flight deck is an enormous four acres, and the ship boasts five gyms, the chapel and a medical centre.
鈥淲hen I visited the first time, I was struck by sheer size,鈥� continued Elizabeth, describing her painting process.
鈥淏ut more than that, I was inspired; I increasingly grasped her purpose while being led through her various decks and operations rooms. What I saw was an overwhelming sense of hospitality.
鈥淭his ship鈥檚 purpose is to welcome and house with the most extraordinary sense of practicality and professionalism. It has no purpose but to serve in the most profound sense. This touched me deeply and evokes the historic tradition of calling ships 鈥榮he鈥� because a vessel carries and protects.鈥�
Starting from bottom left and working anticlockwise, the painting depicts Wildcat helicopters arriving aboard the ship and then slowly turning from aircraft into people. The people work their way into the ship. None of the people are human colours, inviting viewers to see who they choose to see.
Elizabeth continues: 鈥淧eople gather in groups to have conversations, plan, brief, relax, rewind. The yellow glows around and in between some of them are, to me, the light of God, the ultimate giver of inclusivity and revival who energises people to do the same. The circles and spots of that light are energy enfolding those who need deep care.鈥�
Eventually, working up to the top right corner, people emerge onto the flight deck with its ski ramp to help lift those crafts and people out to other calls on their time and their focus. The people are lighter coloured now, able to lay down some of the burden they鈥檝e carried and are revived by the experience onboard. The occasional dove swirls above them, a hint to a time when each human will choose compassion over greed and the world may be at peace.
鈥淭he world is not at peace yet, so, moving across to the top left,鈥� explains Elizabeth, 鈥減eople morph back into aircraft, this time F35s, the revival of fixed wing carrier operations.鈥�
鈥淩evival has been real for the crews, all of them, as encounters between host crews and visitor crews will have been a blessing to all.鈥�
The Commanding Officer is said to have remarked that the painting clearly illustrates the purpose of the ship in its commitment to harbour a community of people, and that the sense of community is deeply important to them.
The Revd Dr Michael Hopkins, Clerk of the General Assembly, who represented the 缅北强奸鈥檚 highest decision-making body at the event, said: 鈥淚t was a pleasure听to see the culmination of this partnership between the Royal Navy and the United Reformed Church, and an important piece of our Church’s outreach to be able to assure the Royal Navy and its chaplains of our prayers for them.鈥�