Sermon-I Look Up to Him. I Look Down on Him.

 

Contempt of Hatred (Expressive Head), by Ernest Joseph Bailley, c1792 (Museum of Fine Arts Ghent)

A sermon given during Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 13th September 2026 (Year A, Proper 19) based on the texts of Romans 14.1-12 and Matthew 18.21-35 and drawing on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together”.

Thought for the Day-Freedom

Paul and Silas in Prison, Washington Allston, Kemper Art Museum

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 12th May 2026 based on the text of Acts 16.22-34.

Sermon-Hidden in Plain Sight

The Black Boy, William Lindsay Windus, 1844

A sermon given during Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 8th February 2026 based on the texts of Romans 8.18-25 and Matthew 6.25-end on the day the church marked Racial Justice Sunday.

Sermon-"I am what I am"

Douglas Hodge as Albin in the 2010 production of La Cage aux Folles (photo by Joan Marcus)

A sermon given at a service of Holy Communion (BCP) on Sunday 31st August 2025 at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on the text of 1 Corinthians 15.1-11 and Luke 18.9-14.

Sermon-Who is the Greatest?

The Second Lord Baltimore Cecilius (Cecil) Calvert (1605-1675) by Gerard Soest, c. 1670

A sermon given during Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields at 11am on Sunday 24th August 2025 (Saint Bartholomew, Apostle) based on the text of Acts 5.12-16, Luke 22.24-30 and referencing the International Day for the Remembrance of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its Abolition. The service was followed by the baptism of Ava Coumbe.

Sermon-Multiplying Freedom

Am Not I A Man and A Brother, 1800 - International Slavery Museum

A sermon given during a service of Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 3rd August 2025, the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, based on the texts of Romans 6.19-23 and Mark 8.1-9

Sermon-Unto thee shall all flesh come

A sermon given at Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 6th October 2024 inspired by the life and writings of abolitionist and radical Robert Wedderburn one of the ‘St Giles Blackbirds’ and readings from Deuteronomy 26.1-11 and John 6.26-35. This sermon was given on Harvest Sunday and during Black History Month.

Thought for the Day-The March for Freedom

Soldiers and Students, 1962, Jacob Lawrence

A Thought for the Day given at the lunchtime service of Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 28th August 2024 based on the text of 2 Thessalonians 3.6–10, 16–end and drawing on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speach.

Thought for the Day - The image of freedom

“The Statue of Liberty Illuminating the World", Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, 1875. The Met, New York 

Thought for the day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 3rd July 2024, based on the text of Amos 5.14-15, 21-24 & Matthew 8.28–end. You can listen to an audio recording of this reflection at this link.

Sermon - Sing that Bittersweet Symphony

Marian Anderson by William H. Johnston, 1945 (Smithsonian Museum)

A sermon given during Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 21st April 2024 (The Third Sunday after Easter) based on the text of 1 Peter 2.11-17 and John 16.16-22. You can listen to an audio recording of this sermon at this link.

Sermon - A Tale of Two Letters

'A Slave's Plea for Freedom' - 4th August 1723 (Lambeth Palace Library)

A sermon given at the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 22nd October 2023 (Year A) based on readings from Isaiah 45.1-7, 1 Thessalonians 1.1-10 and Matthew 22.15-22 and resources prepared by the Church of England marking Black History Month.

Homily - Freedom and Judgement

The Three Judges, Georges Rouault (Tate Gallery)

A Homily given during Choral Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 17th September 2023 (Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity) based on readings from Job 1 and Matthew 7.1-14. In this homily I sought to explore personal disclosure, as part of my curacy training. 

Sermon - Embracing our messy 'March of Progress'

‘(R)evolution’ by street artist Herr Nilsson

Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at St John the Divine, Richmond on Sunday 21st August 2022 (Year C, 10th after Trinity, Proper 16) based on the text of Hebrews 12.18-end and Luke 13.10-17.

There’s a powerful – and much parodied - image that has become associated with human evolution.

It shows fifteen male figures in a line, drawn in profile. On the left of the image, the figures are bent double, their arms hanging down, almost dragging on the floor. 

Moving along the sequence from left to right, the figures become progressively more upright - and less hairy - illustrating what were then considered to be our evolutionary forebears, shown as if brought back to life - Jurassic Park style - and marching in a parade. 

The work of art is titled “The March of Progress” and was drawn by Rudolph Zallinger in 1965 for Time Life Magazine. Variants of the image graced the pages of school text books around the world. 

However, the ‘march of progress’ it depicts - known as orthogenesis, which means “straight line” evolution - is disputed by the majority of scientists today. Like us, they know that our progress in life - whether over the course of millennia or just a few moments, is rarely (if ever!) as simple as a straight line from A to B. 

Life is naturally full of twists and turns. 

But something in us seems to idolize the straight and is suspicious of the bent and crooked. So the image remains iconic, despite being recognised as a false portrayal of progress. 

Prayers of Intercession - Fruit of the Spirit

Pomegranates, Gustave Courbet, 1871

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 30th June 2022 (Year C, Second Sunday after Trinity) based on the text of Galatians 5.1,13-25

Start:Stop - Ode to Joy (and Freedom)

From The Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt, 1902

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for ten minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. You can hear an audio version of this reflection at this link. Today our text is taken from Luke’s Gospel, in which we hear the words Jesus spoke in the synagogue at the start of his ministry. 

Daily Devotion - Ode to (Advent) Joy

From 'Ode to Joy' a series of woodcuts by Ernst Barlach, 1927

A Daily Devotion written for St Stephen’s Rochester Row, where I have been on a placement this term.

Christ on the Mount of Olives - Beethoven's only oratorio

Christ on the Mount of Olives by Giovanni

In this, his 250th Anniversary year, please listen to Beethoven’s only oratorio – Christ on the Mount of Olives. Criticised by some for emphasizing Jesus’s humanity, for others it is precisely the vivid portrayal of Christ’s agony in the garden that connects the listener to the divine.