Thought for the Day - Who, What and Why

Carmen Lomas Garza, La Curandera, 1989, The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA

A Thought for the Day given during the lunchtime Eucharist at St Mary le Bow on Wednesday 2nd April 2025 based on the text of John 5.17-30.

Sermon - The uncomfortable truth about God's love

James Janknegt (b1953), The Day Laborers

A sermon given during the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 24th September 2023 (The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity), Year A, Proper 20, based on readings from Jonah 3.10-end of 4, Psalm 145.1-8, Philippians 1.21-end and Matthew 20.1-16

Daily Devotion - There's a wideness in God's mercy

Jesus and Peter on the Water by Gustave Brion, 1863

A Daily Devotion written for St Stephen's Rochester Row. You can read all the Daily Devotions on the church website at this link.

It was wonderful to be back at St Stephen’s Rochester Row to celebrate Jeremy Cavanagh’s ordination to the Diaconate and a great treat to sing a hymn again for the first time in six months - and quite appropriate to sing this particular hymn in the great outdoors!

BOOK REVIEW - Job - The Story of a Simple Man by Joseph Roth

There is a long list of novels which have been inspired or influenced by scripture, but Phoebe by Paula Gooder is, I think, the first time I have consciously read a work of fiction which is based on part of (and named after someone in) the bible! I found it a fascinating book (described here) and I wondered whether there were other, similar novels. I haven't found anything quite like Phoebe yet but the search led me to Job - The Story of a Simple Man, by Joseph Roth.

Mercy and "Moral Imagination"

I have been singing a lot about mercy - most recently as part of the quartet in Allegri’s Miserere, a setting of Psalm 51, on Ash Wednesday. In the Prayer of Humble Access before receiving the  Eucharist, we say:

“But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy.”

But what is mercy?