More Music and Poems for Corpus Christi

Francis Newton Souza, The Last Supper, 1990

It was a great joy to lead Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook on the Feast of Corpus Christi, which you can watch at this link. Preparing for Choral Classics involved finding out a lot about music and poems related to Corpus Christi. This post contains some of the information I didn’t have enough time to share in the service! 

Prayers of Intercession - Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi procession by Amadeu de Souza-Cardoso (1913)

Prayers written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook at 12.45pm on Thursday 3rd June 2021, the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Choral Classics - Corpus Christi

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook today, live in church on Thursday 3rd June 2021 and broadcast online on Monday 7th June 2021. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link. 

Corpus Christi - Prayers of Intercession

Corpus Christi Procession, Amadeu de Souza Cardoso, 1913

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 11th June 2020. At Walbrook our principal service takes place on Thursday (because the church is closed at the weekend), so we follow the lectionary for the preceding Sunday, in this case Trinity Sunday. Today is also Corpus Christi, so these prayers draw on themes from both feasts, inspired particularly by Chapter 9 of the Didache  John 6.51-58 and Luke 22.19 and a famous prayer of Teresa of Avila. The prayers of intercession are addressed in turn to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in recognition of the Trinity. A lot of references for one service and short prayers! Hopefully it is not to much of a mish-mash!

This is my body given for you

This is my Body.

Breathing, bruised, betrayed. Now bowing. Living Word; Sacred Heart. Each sense enlivened! O taste and see the colour, joy & infinite possibility. Draw near. Reach out; feel. A body which kneeled, ached, laughed, gasped, hungered, shivered and bled like mine.

Given.

Freely offered, unlocked, unchained.
For us to receive and discover.
A sacrifice. Forgiven.
The present of presence.

For you. 

All; a multitude in One, called by name; each jarring atom, every peculiar heart loved. Saved by a still, small voice. The Mystery alive.

This is my body given for you.

I wrote these words after attending a service of Benediction tonight at St George’s Bloomsbury, which took place after the Eucharist on the Feast of Corpus Christi. The celebrant was Fr David Peebles and the preacher was Fr David Cherry.

As well as being the first service of Benediction that I remember attending, I found out afterwards that this was the first time this liturgy had taken place at the church for many years; so in many ways a first for everyone.

Fr David Cherry used his sermon to suggest ways in which we might engage with the liturgy -  especially helpful for those of us, like me, participating for the first time. He suggested that rather than seeking to intellectualise or explain what is happening during Benediction, we should focus on the present moment and the presence of Christ. Perhaps in writing down my thoughts - no matter how incoherent - I am doing precisely what Fr David asked us not to do?!

It was a very physical service and we used our whole bodies at different times, to kneel and bow during the exposition, when the consecrated Host was placed in a monstrance on the altar. There were certainly no “stiff necked” people in the church tonight! We all followed the clergy in procession around the church, blessing all those within and without the building with the sacrament and remembering the path that Jesus trod for us.

This was a very special service and I am grateful to all who were involved in organising it.

Though we are many, we are one body, because we all share in one bread

In June 2017 I was asked to be the "face of the Church of England on Twitter", taking over the “OurCofE” Twitter account for a week. With over 10,000 followers from around the world, the account aimed to give a glimpse of life in different churches across England each week, to show the diversity of the church and God at work in everyday life. It was a wonderful and liberating experience to share and receive so many wonderful tweets from such a variety of people from all around the world. I tweeted over 1200 times, showing life in our parish and sharing stories from some of the many fascinating people in our congregation. You can read all the tweets at these ‘storify’ links:

Monday June 12th to Wednesday June 14th 2017Thursday June 15th to Sunday June 18th 2017