Faith - An Exhibition

Today’s Gospel reading (Mark 9.38-40) highlights the difficulties we face in trying to live up to The Great Commandment - to love God and to love our neighbour. It shows us that suspicion and judgement of others - even those of the same faith or religion - is nothing new - and even plagued the disciples; those closest to Jesus. The passage reminds us that setting aside our fear of ‘otherness’ is crucial if we are to live a life in Christ.  

Start:Stop : The Fire of God's Love

The Apostles Speaking in Tongues - Nicholas Pope

Introduction
Good morning and welcome to Start:Stop.

My name is Phillip Dawson. Reverend Stephen is away today, he returns next week. This reflection will last ten minutes. The readings and prayer responses can be found on the leaflet on the table, please do take a copy.

Well….who isn’t talking about “that” sermon?  Bishop Michael Curry’s words at the Royal Wedding on Saturday certainly set the media on fire this weekend! This morning we’ll be reflecting more about the transformative power of God’s love using the imagery of fire, with the help of the Venerable Bede, whose feast day the church celebrates on Friday – and brothers John and Charles Wesley, who are remembered on Thursday.

First, a reading from scripture, which you can find on page 70 in the Old Testament section of the church bibles. This passage describes the moment before Moses receives the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, fifty days after Passover.

Intercessions following our Day of Prayer

The principal service at St Stephen Walbrook is our Thursday lunchtime Eucharist. Our intercessions are usually “secret”, with prayers read by the clergy according to the order of the Book of Common Prayer. Today, Reverend Stephen asked me to write and read intercessions incorporating some of the prayers that were submitted during our Day of Prayer yesterday, held as part of the Thy Kingdom Come week of prayer:

Join us for our Day of Prayer - Wednesday 16th May 2018 from 7am – 9pm

The Parish of St Stephen Walbrook & The London Internet Church

Day of Prayer - Wednesday 16th May 2018 from 7am – 9pm

Prayer moves us closer not only to God, but to one another.  Drop in when you can during our Day of Prayer to take a moment to give thanks, to remember and to reflect.

A Future Not Our Own : My last day as Churchwarden!

Today is my last day as Churchwarden of the parish of Christ Church Southgate. It has been a wonderful experience! My time as warden has seen two different Diocesan Bishops, three Suffragan Bishops, two Archdeacons and two parish priests and now it’s time for me to move on! 

A prayer of welcome to St Stephen Walbrook

Whether we are here for the first time or more regularly, whether we are laity or clergy and whatever our faith, we are part of a community of the past, present and future, all drawn to this place as visitors.

New Seeds of Contemplation – Have they taken root?!

This is the transcript of my 30 minute talk on the “contemplative tradition” of Thomas Merton, delivered as part of a course at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction. My talk followed one given by another student, who spoke about Eckhart von Hochheim OP, commonly known as Meister Eckhart.

Music In Worship at St Sepulchre's - Choral Music

Tonight was the second “Music in Worship” evening at St Sepulchres, this time focussing exclusively on choral music. The evening was presented by Peter Asprey, the Director of Music. 

The Death of Jesus - Reflection for the Churches Together Good Friday Walk of Witness

This is my reflection for the Churches Together in Southgate, Oakwood and Cockfosters Good Friday Walk of Witness. Each church in the partnership reads a passage from scripture, then gives a short reflection and leads prayers based on the passage during the service which takes place after the walk. Due to one church being in an interregnum and not able to offer anyone else to give a reflection, as Lay Chair of the Ecumenical Partnership this year, I gave the following reflection - my first experience of doing something like this. Thank you to Sandra Anderson for reading the bible passage and prayer, to save my voice – still recovering from the 'flu!

Week of Prayer in Daily Life - Day 6 - Review of the Week

For our final piece of work on the retreat, Miriam asked me to review the week using two questions, in the form of The Examen. 

Week of Prayer in Daily Life - Day 5 - Seeing as Zacchaeus

This morning after talking with Miriam and reading out my imagined conversation between Jesus and Zacchaeus, I decided to go back to imaginative drawing as an aid to prayer. I wanted to try to draw from the point of view of Zacchaeus - to put myself in his place as I had done in writing. I also wanted to create an image that addressed some of the points I was not so happy with after my sketch on the second day of the retreat.