Start:Stop - Out of the deep

Sunrise III, Arthur Garfield Dove, 1937

Hello and welcome to our Start:Stop reflection, when we stop for a few moments and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. Our reading this week is Psalm 130.

Prayers of Intercession - That We May All Be One

Christ the King - Source : 'Holy Textures' a blog by David Ewart

Prayers written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook at 12.45pm on Thursday 20th May 2021 (Year B, Easter 7) based on readings from John 17.6-19

Let us pray to God our Father as His Son prays for us;

Prayers of Intercession - Ascension Day

Bagong Kussudiardja (Indonesian, 1928–2004), Ascension, 1983

Prayers written for Ascension Day based on text from Luke 24.44-end  references from the hymn ‘Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise’ by Charles Wesley  and ‘O clap your hands’ a musical setting of Psalm 47 by Orlando Gibbons.

Start:Stop - I have called you by name, you are mine

From My Naam is Februarie - Slave Calendar produced by Cape Town’s Iziko Slave Lodge

Hello, my name is Phillip Dawson, welcome to our Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. You can listen to an audio version of this reflection at this link.

This week we turn to words which come from what some call the second part of the book of the Prophet Isaiah, which addresses the people of Israel in exile in Babylon; an event Isaiah prophesied as a divine judgement against Israel for turning away from God. Instead of showing who God is by their living lives in accordance with His commandments, society had become riven by injustice and inequality, with the powerful abusing their wealth and influence for personal gain.

In this passage, Isaiah does not proclaim the failures of Israel but instead he is used by God to provide an ‘oracle of salvation’; offering hope at a time when the gods of the people of Babylon seemed stronger than the God of Israel. 

Sermon – You don’t have to wait ‘till the Eventide to Abide!

The Vine and the Branches, P. Solomon Raj, 2009

Sermon preached during the Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook at 12.45pm on Thursday 6th May 2021 based on the text of John 15.1-8 and referencing Acts 8.26-end

Good News in 100 words
Jesus promised that those who believe will abide with him in eternal life. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus calls on us to abide in the present; illustrating discipleship as being like branches of the true vine; bearing the fruits of God’s grace. He says that fruitfulness comes from abiding – not ‘growth’. Abiding is hard to define and even harder to measure, but when it comes to the crunch, we know how important it is. Abiding is the measure of a loving relationship. The Good News is we don’t need to wait until the ‘eventide’ to abide. We can abide today!

Prayers of Intercession - Living Stones

Cecily Brown, untitled (Blood is thicker than mud), 2012

Prayers of intercession written for Morning Prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer, to be read at St StephenWalbrook on Wednesday 5th May 2021, based on the text of 1 Peter 2.1-10