Thought for the Day-Our Family of Faith

Egon Schiele, Mother with Two Children III, 1915–17. Oil on canvas, Belvedere, Vienna.

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 22nd September 2026 based on the text of Luke 8.19-21.

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.

Thought for the Day-My peace I give to you

Dove, Pablo Picasso, 1949

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime sermon of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street, City of London on Tuesday 5th May 2026 based on the text of John 14.27-end.

Thought for the Day-Seeing Salvation

Earthrise by William Anders, Apollo 8, NASA, 1968

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 7th April 2026 based on John 20.11–18

Thought for the Day-Visions of Peace

Mount Zion and the Church of the Dormition, Jerusalem, 1923 by David Bomberg

A Thought for the Day given during Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 30th September 2025 based on the texts of Zechariah 8.20-23 & Luke 9.51-56

Radio 4 Daily Service-Now in the Lord you are light

The earliest Morris & Company windows in Christ Church Southgate

It was a great privilege to present the Daily Service on Radio Four Extra on Wednesday 10th September 2025 as part of a week of programmes on the subject of Art and Spirituality. If you are in the UK you can listen to the recording on the BBC IPlayer at this link. The script of my reflection is below. Thank you to the producer, Andrew Earis. The photographs in this blog post are by Christine Matthews and John Salmon.

Thought for the Day-A Matter of Perspective

"The Class System" from The Frost Report

A Thought for the Day given during a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 9th September 2025 based on readings from Colossians 2.6-15 and Luke 6.12-19.

Thought for the Day-Texts of Healing

The Great Fire of London, with Ludgate and Old St Paul's, Yale Centre for British Art

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 2nd September 2025 based on the text of 1 Thessalonians 5.1-6, 9-11 and Luke 4.31-37 and the anniversary of the start of the Great Fire of London.

Thought for the Day-All the World's a Stage?

Actor’s Mask, Paul Klee, 1924, Museum of Modern Art, New York City

A Thought for the Day offered at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 27th August 2025 based on the text of Matthew 23.27-32

Thought for the Day-When two or three are gathered

Signing of the Treaty of Versailles by John C. Johansen (1876–1964), Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 13th August 2025 based on the text of Matthew 18.15-20.

Thought for the Day – Spiritual Friendship: Barnabas and the Holy Trinity

Friendship, Pablo Picasso, 1908

A Thought for the Day given at St Giles-in-the-Fields on the Feast of St Barnabas the Apostle, Wednesday 11th June 2025 at 1pm based on the texts of Acts 11.19-30 and John 15.12-17.

Thought for the Day - The True Vine

Vines and Olive Trees, Tarragona, Joan Miró, 1919

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 21st May 2025 based on the text of John 15.1-8.

Thought for the Day - Decisions, decisions

Hugo Simberg, Tienhaarassa, 'At The Crossroads' (1896)

A Thought for the Day for Wednesday 14th May 2025 based on Acts 1.15-26

Thought for the Day - Bread that Changed the World

Ilya Mashkov Still Life with Loaves of Bread, 1912

A Thought for the Day given during a lunchtime service of St Olave Hart Street given on Tuesday 6th May 2025 based on the text of John 6.30-35

Thought for the Day - The Beginning and the End

The Course of Empire: Destruction, Thomas Cole, 1836

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 29th April 2025 based on the text of Mark 13.5-13

Our gospel reading today forms the start of what some call the “Little Apocalypse”. As well as recording the longest speech by Jesus in the whole of Mark’s gospel, it’s a passage that may reveal something about the people who first heard the text, whose writer the church remembers today.

Thought for the Day - Love and Betrayal

The Wounded Deer, 1946 by Frida Kahlo

Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion on Wednesday 16th April 2025 at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on the text of Hebrews 12.1-3 and John 13.21-32.

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 - 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.

Thought for the Day - A Mighty River

Olafur Eliasson's ‘Waterfall’ at Versailles, 2006

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street, City of London on Tuesday 1st April 2025 based on Ezekiel 47.1-9, 12

Thought for the Day - Hitting the Kill Switch

Street art by Muralist Escif

A Thought for the Day given during a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 19th March 2025 at 1.00pm based on readings from Jeremiah 18.18–20 and Matthew 20.17–28.