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.

The Life of St Giles in Scripture

Detail - Saint Giles from The Hermit Saints Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch

If we wanted to meditate on the Life of St Giles using scripture, which passages might we choose?

The different accounts of the Life of St Giles (summarised in a post at this link) offer a number of possibilities:

The Life of St Giles - a Living Text

The Mass of Saint Giles, by The Master of St Giles c1500 (The National Gallery)

My parish church is dedicated to St Giles whose feast day is September 1st. Surveying recent scholarship on surviving manuscripts shows how the ‘Life of St Giles’ is a living text - how his story has evolved as he inspired each new generation. How do we respond to the text today?

Sermon - Maundy Thursday : Feet which walk to do good

Stanley Spencer, The Last Supper, 1920

It was a great privilege to be invited to preach for the Pascal Triduum at St George’s Bloomsbury in April 2023. The first time I have preached at all three services and the first time I have spoken in front of so many people at once. I drew on my experience visiting the Holy Land last year and based each sermon loosely around part of a prayer attributed to St Teresa of Avila ‘Christ has no body now on earth but yours’ and the theme of connection, disconnection and reconnection. On Thursday the focus was ‘Feet which walk to do good’ and connections to the embodied love of Jesus through the symbolic washing of feet and the sharing of the Last Supper. On Friday the focus was ‘Hands which bless the world’ and our disconnection from the embodied love of Jesus when he died on the cross. On Sunday the focus was ‘Eyes which see life anew’ and our re-connection to the love of Jesus through Mary Magdalene’s vision in the garden at dawn. The sermon on Sunday drew each reflection together to encourage us to choose to live life as pilgrims – not tourists. To embody the love of God we have now received through the Spirit of the risen Christ.

A sermon given at the Choral Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, April 6th 2023 at St George’s Bloomsbury. (Year A) based on John 13.1-17, 31b-35.

Sermon - Dead ends, life starts

The Raising of Lazarus, 1943, by Jose Clemente Orozco

A sermon preached at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 26th March and St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 30th March 2023 (Year A, 5th Sunday of Lent) based on readings from Psalm 130, Romans 8.6-11 and John 11.1-45.

Prayers of Intercession - Our Messy March of Progress

Adolf Hölzel, Journey, 1915

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 24th August 2022 (Year C, 10th after Trinity, Proper 16) based on the text of Hebrews 12.18-end and Luke 13.10-17.

Sermon - The Persistent Neighbours of Present Day Palestine

Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 24th July 2022 (Year C, 6th after Trinity, Proper 12) based on the words of Luke 11.1-13. A recording of the sermon can be seen at this link.

Start:Stop-How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings

The Dome of St Stephen Walbrook

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 bible reading which can be found on page 572 in the Old Testament. We have been thinking a lot about journeys recently – you will see that the Wise Men made it to the manger when we celebrated the Epiphany on Thursday – today our reading has a similar theme: