VE Day 80 - Planning a Service

We are holding a special Choral Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Thursday 8th May at 6.30pm to mark the eightieth anniversary of Victory in Europe Day – the end of WW2 in Europe. Those looking for a summary of what VE Day is might find the preface of this booklet useful, prepared by the Ministry of Defence for the VE Day 70 celebrations. The text may be a useful guide for an introduction to your own order of service - and the resources below may also be of use.

Sermon at St Paul's Cathedral - Passion Sunday

A sermon given during Choral Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday 17th March 2024, ‘Passion Sunday’ - Lent 5 (Year B) based on the text of Romans 5.12-end

Sermon - What are we doing here?

The Choir Singer, Allan Rohan Crite, 1941

A homily given at Choral Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 19th November 2023 based on readings from 1 Corinthians 14.6-19 and Psalm 96.

Further Prayers for Choral Evensong on Sunday 10th September 2023

Zandile Tshabalala, Untitled, 2021

Further Prayers written for a service of Choral Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on text from the hymn ‘O Perfect Love’ by Dorothy F. Gurney (1883), Psalm 119.46-64, Proverbs 31.10-31 (‘The Valiant Woman’) and Matthew 6.19-34.

Prayers - Teach Us O Lord

Joseph Beuys, Four Blackboards, 1972 (Tate)

It was a great pleasure to officiate at Choral Evensong at St Stephen Walbrook on Wednesday 8th February. I wrote these prayers in response to the words of part of Psalm 119, sung by the choir during the service. 

The text in the image above reads ‘He who in 1972 can live carefree and sleep peacefully despite knowing that two thirds of humanity are hungry or dying of starvation while a large proportion of the well-fed third must take slimming cures in order to stay alive should ask himself what kind of man one is and whether, moreover, he is a man at all.’

You can watch the service online below or at this link.

Homily - Fulfilled in our ears

Walls have ears. Street art by El Jerrino, Chrisp Street Market, Poplar

A homily given at Choral Evensong at Holy Sepulchre London on Wednesday 26th October 2022 based on Romans 15.1-6 and Luke 4.16-24. The service marked the 400th anniversary of the death of the Spanish priest and composer Sebastian de Vivanco. A recording of the service can be found at this link. 

BOOK REVIEW: The Canterbury Book of New Parish Prayers & Lighten our Darkness : Discovering and celebrating Choral Evensong

This week I have acquired two excellent and useful books which I highly recommend - the Canterbury Book of New Parish Prayers by Max Kramer and Lighten our Darkness - Discovering and celebrating Choral Evensong by Simon Reynolds.