Sermon-The Way to the heart is through the stomach?

Anxiety by Edvard Munch, 1894

A sermon given at the Harvest Festival at St Barnabas Pimlico on Sunday 29th September 2024 and at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 6th October 2024 based on readings from 1 Timothy 6.6-10 and Matthew 6.25-33. At St Giles-in-the-Fields the sermon was preached following the baptism of James Roberts and took place in the week leading up to World Mental Health Day. 

This Harvest Festival Day the scriptures are packed with food for thought about how each of us might best grow by nurturing our "felt sense" - engaging both our rational brains and our 'gut' feelings....

Wedding Sermon - The Song of Divine Love

A sermon given at the marriage of Scott Westoby and Shani Cantor at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Thursday 26th September 2024. Scott manages The Phoenix Arts Club, a drag and cabaret bar next to the church. Shani is a fantastic performer and sings at the club as well as in numerous productions on the West End stage. The marriage service ended with a procession behind a band down Denmark Street. The sermon draws on lyrics from songs recorded, demoed or written in Demark Street – the UK’s version of Tin Pan Alley, which is next to the church.

LSHTM Chaplaincy Welcome Week Presentation

Frieze outside the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street by  P.R.Morley Horder

It is a great privilege to serve as Honorary Chaplain to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I work as part of the Student Support Services Team and at the start of each year we offer welcome presentations and hold a ‘marketplace’ (a post-graduate version of a freshers fair) for new students, many of whom are studying one year Masters Degrees, often travelling from overseas, leaving behind families and friends and having never visited London before.

Here is an approximation of my ‘welcome’ speech which I have given over various presentations to different grounds of students today:

Homily-The Baptism of Frederick William Wright

View of Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament with a Hay Barge by James Francis Danby (1816–1875)

A homily given at the baptism of Frederick William Wright at St Mary le Bow on Saturday 21st September 2024 inspired by one of the readings chosen for the service – ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ by William Wordsworth.

Thought for the Day - And the greatest of these is love

War & Peace (Peace), Candido Portinari, 1957

A Thought for the Day given at the lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 18th September 2014 based on the text of 1 Corinthians 13

A reflection on the primacy of love in the Christian life, inspired by the writing of Dag Hammarskjöld who died on this day in 1961.

Sermon-Twelve Angry Men

Still from the film Twelve Angry Men (1957)

A sermon given during Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 15th September 2024, based on the text of Matthew 7.1-14

Is the classic 1957 film Twelve Angry Men a dramatization of Matthew 7.1-14?

Sermon-A visit to Caesarea Philippi

Reconstruction of the Sanctuary of Pan at Banias (Wikipedia)

A sermon given during the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 15th September 2024 (Year B, Proper 19) based on readings from James 3:1-12 and Mark 8:27-38 (Peter’s declaration at Caesarea Philippi).

Knowing something about the place in which the events of today’s gospel reading took place can help illuminate our understanding of it’s message.

Thought for the Day - Seeing the Beatitudes

Haywood Street Beatitudes Frescoe, by Christopher Holt

A Thought for the Day given at the lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 11th September 2014 based on the text of Luke 6.20-26

Sermon-God Save our Gracious Church

King Charles III by Jonathan Yeo, 2024

A meditation drawing on the imagery of Proverbs 8.1-17 and Revelation 21.22-22.4 the words of the first verse of the national anthem, written for Evensong on Accession Day at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 8th September 2024.

Sermon-The Accession Day-Why Pray for the King?

A sermon given during Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on The Accession Day, Sunday 8th September 2024, drawing on the texts of 1 Peter 2.11-17 and Matthew 22.16-22. 

Why ought we to pray for the King? A former Rector of St Giles-in-the-Fields (and Chaplain to King George II) helps us to understand why…

Thought for the Day-Encountering Jesus the Healer

Jesus Heals the Sick, Markey Robinson

A Thought for the Day given during the celebration of the Eucharist at St Mary-le-Bow on Wednesday 4th September 2024 based on the text of Luke 4.38-end and beginning with an imagined Whatsapp exchange between Simon Peter and his wife.

Sermon-The lives of St Giles through the scriptures

The seal of the hospital of St Giles

A sermon given during Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on St Giles Day, Sunday 1st September 2024, based on the text of 2 Corinthians 12.1-10 and Matthew 5.1-12 and Psalm 131 (texts specially chosen for this day. For more suggested texts for St Giles Day, see this post