BOOK REVIEW-Barabus by S.J. Fowler

So far a unique way for me to discover a book - from a link in the footer of an email sent to me by the author; the title caught my eye. Unlike the novel with a similar name by Pär Lagerkvist, this isn’t a story about the man who was expecting to be crucified until Jesus took his place on the cross. But both seem to offer rich points of reflection on matters central to our faith.

The life-saver in this novel is an unnamed paramedic. Such is the depth of the honest and sometimes uncomfortable detail, I wondered if the author had direct experience as a first responder?

Thought for the Day-To be called Christians

The Good Shepherd, Niels Larsen Stevns, 1921

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 28th April 2026 based on readings from Acts 11.19-26 and John 10.22-30.

Sermon - Word Made Flesh

Aaron Douglas, The Creation, 1935. Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

A sermon given during the Choral Eucharist at St Olave Hart Street, City of London on Palm Sunday, 13th April 2025 based on the text of the Palm Gospel (Luke 19.28-40) and the Passion Gospel (Luke 23.1-49)

Sermon-Why oh why oh why?

The Problem we all live with – Norman Rockwell, 1964

A sermon given at a service of Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 12th January 2025 – the First Sunday after the Epiphany based on readings from Romans 12.1-5 and Luke 2.41-52 and the Collect appointed for the day.

Start:Stop - I have called you by name, you are mine

From My Naam is Februarie - Slave Calendar produced by Cape Town’s Iziko Slave Lodge

Hello, my name is Phillip Dawson, welcome to our Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. You can listen to an audio version of this reflection at this link.

This week we turn to words which come from what some call the second part of the book of the Prophet Isaiah, which addresses the people of Israel in exile in Babylon; an event Isaiah prophesied as a divine judgement against Israel for turning away from God. Instead of showing who God is by their living lives in accordance with His commandments, society had become riven by injustice and inequality, with the powerful abusing their wealth and influence for personal gain.

In this passage, Isaiah does not proclaim the failures of Israel but instead he is used by God to provide an ‘oracle of salvation’; offering hope at a time when the gods of the people of Babylon seemed stronger than the God of Israel.