Thought for the Day - Tested by Fire

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Burning Fiery Furnace, J.M.W. Turner, 1832 - Tate Gallery

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on the text of Daniel 3.14-20, 24-25, 28.

Thought for the Day-Bridle your tongue

Photograph of Albert Einstein by Arthur Sasse/ AFP

A ‘Thought for the Day’ given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 26th February 2025 based on the text of James 1:19-27 and Mark 9.38-40. You can listen to an audio recording of the bible readings and reflection at this link.

Homily-Seeing in the Acceptable Year of the Lord?

Big Ben Celebration - Robert Lyn Nelson

A Homily given during Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 29th December 2024 at 6.30pm based on the text of Isaiah 61 and 'New Years Day 1945' by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Sermon - Jesus' Wedding Sermon to Us

Louis Kahan, The Wedding Feast at Cana, 1949 

A sermon given at the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 21st January 2024 – The Third Sunday of Epiphany (Year B) based on readings from John 2.1-11. You can listen to an audio recording of this sermon in the video clip below:

Bonhoeffer's "New Year" Prayer

The Rocket, by Edward Middleton Manigault, 1909

A New Year hymn based on a poem written for all those for whom “the old year still torments our hearts” has been introduced into the Anglican church in a new hymnal.

Advent Course - Exploring 'Life Together'

Discussion by Milton Avery, 1944 (Mount Holyoake College Art Museum)

Our Advent Course at St Giles-in-the-Fields this year was based on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book ‘Life Together’. We held three sessions in church around our Sunday services and a separate half-day retreat on a Saturday at the Royal Foundation of St Katherine in Limehouse, which was also attended by parishioners from St George’s Bloomsbury. 

We selected ‘Life Together’ as the basis for our study group for a number of reasons. With the restrictions of the Covid pandemic behind us and a growing congregation at St Giles, it felt like a good time to consider what it means to be a Christian community. Bonhoeffer’s book offers practical advice on how to live together as Christians not only in times when we gather for worship but also when life means engaging in the world outside of the church (which for most of us is most of the time!) The book is profound but also short, which we felt made it a manageable study text over a few sessions during the busy season of Advent. 

Rather than explore the book chapter by chapter in sequence, we designed the course around four themes. Apart from the retreat day, we limited each session to a maximum of one hour and offered either a light lunch of soup and bread or tea and cakes depending on the time of day.

A copy of the poster and flier is below, followed by a brief summary of the structure of each session and a synopsis of the discussion that ensued.

Sermon - What did you come here to see?

“Visit Me” – illustration for Christianity Today magazine by Kumé Pather

A sermon given during Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 17th December 2023 (The Third Sunday in Advent) based on readings from  1 Corinthians 4.1-5 and Matthew 11.2-10.

Life Alone – A Half Day Retreat at The Royal Foundation of St Katherine

Edward Hopper, Chair Car, 1965

It was a great pleasure to lead a contemplative retreat for members of the parishes of St Giles-in-the-Fields and St George’s Bloomsbury at The Royal Foundation of St Katherine on Saturday 16th December 2023. I provided two addresses based on the text of ‘Life Together’ by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a short homily during Holy Communion, offering points for reflection during the periods of silence that characterised the day.  

BOOK REVIEW : Praying the Psalms by Thomas Merton

Abbey of Gethsemani – August 1962 by Pimon Singhasin

Since starting at St Giles-in-the-Fields I think have said more psalms each day than ever before! The Book of Common Prayer is the basis for all the liturgy here. In it, all 150 psalms are said consecutively, with the Psalter dividing the text into sixty groups of Psalms to be said each day of the month at Morning and Evening Prayer.  When a month has thirty one days, the psalms set for the thirtieth day are repeated. 

‘Praying the Psalms’ is a short essay by the Catholic Priest and Trappist Monk Thomas Merton. In it he offers advice on how to gain a “lived sense” of the Psalms - something he says is vital if we are to truly pray with them. 

The Irreplaceable Human Being - Bonhoeffer in Lent

Bishop Martin Lind gives the Bank Churches Lent Lecture 2019  (Picture: Lutheran Church of Great Britain)

The 2019 Bank Churches Lent Lecture was delivered by Bishop Martin Lind, Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and an expert in the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), the Lutheran pastor and theologian who resisted the Nazis and was killed in 1945 at the age of 39 in a concentration camp.

Start:Stop-The Stilling of the Storm

Sieger Koder - Stilling the Storm

Thank you for joining us for Start:Stop. This reflection will last around ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates. We begin with a short bible reading which can be found on page 8 of the New Testament section of the bibles.