Prayers of Intercession - Parish Carol Service

Madonna and Child, Barbara Hepworth, 1954

Prayers written for the Parish Carol Service at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 17th December 2020 inspired by lines from famous Christmas Carols.

Start:Stop - Ode to Joy (and Freedom)

From The Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt, 1902

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for ten minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. You can hear an audio version of this reflection at this link. Today our text is taken from Luke’s Gospel, in which we hear the words Jesus spoke in the synagogue at the start of his ministry. 

Prayers of Intercession - Lead us through the wilderness

 

John the Baptist by Caiphas Nxumalo, 1970

Prayers written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook at 12.45pm on Thursday 10th December 2020 (Year B, Advent 2) based on readings from Isaiah 40.1-11 and Mark 1.1-8

God our Father, we look for the day when your Good News is told by the whole world. Strengthen us, your church; that we might proclaim with one voice your message of salvation. We give thanks for our Bishops, Priests and Deacons and all who point others towards you. Prepare us, with their guidance and through the power of your Spirit, to live each day according to our baptismal promises; emptying our lives so that we might discover the fullness of your love.

Start:Stop-His Fullness

Woodcut by Benjamin Miller, 'John the Baptist in Prison,' 1927

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, my name is Phillip Dawson. You can listen to an audio recording of this reflection at this link. We begin with a short reading from the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

Daily Devotion - Ode to (Advent) Joy

From 'Ode to Joy' a series of woodcuts by Ernst Barlach, 1927

A Daily Devotion written for St Stephen’s Rochester Row, where I have been on a placement this term.

Sunday School - Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas by Arthur J Gaskin (1895)

As part of our project this term at St Stephen's Rochester Row, we were invited to prepare a video for Sunday School and a Primary School Assembly which you can see at this link! Our placement has involved many 'firsts' and this was the first time I have written a script for a Sunday School play. Due to the lockdown restrictions some members of the team were not able to join us at the church, so the cast includes two narrators. Good King Wenceslas was played brilliantly by Annie and the Poor Man by Grey. I played the role of King's servant and cameraman. 

Prayers of Intercession - Come to us Lord

Anselm Kiefer - nubes pluant, 2016

Prayers written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 3rd December 2020 – the First Week in Advent.

Morning Prayer - A New Jerusalem

The New Jerusalem from The Apocalypse Tapestry, Chateau Angers, France

 
It was a great pleasure to lead Morning Prayer today for the online community of St Augustine's College of Theology. Please join the service at the link below. 

Prayers of Intercession - Make All Things New

Make All Things New, James B. Janknegt, 2005

Prayers of Intercession written for Morning Prayer on Wednesday 2nd December 2020 based on Revelation 21.1-8

Prayers of Intercession - Christ the King

Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph, Graham Sutherland, 1962

Prayers of Intercession written for the Eucharist celebrating Christ the King held at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 26th November based on readings from Ephesians 1.15-end and Matthew 25.31-end.

Let us pray to Almighty God, that we might see in ourselves and in others the image of his Son, our Servant King.  

Start:Stop - Making it out of lockdown

Henry Moore inspects the altar at St Stephen Walbrook

You can listen to an audio recording of this Start:Stop reflection at this link.

On Monday the Prime Minister announced that places of worship will be able to reopen across the country from Thursday 3rd December, provided that social distancing restrictions remain in place. This means that we should be able to gather around our altar once again to receive the Eucharist. 

There is a wonderful black and white photograph of the church taken towards the end of its reordering, showing Henry Moore inspecting the altar he sculpted. Standing with one hand on the flat surface, the artist is leaning down towards the side of the altar, looking intently at it as if in conversation with the stone itself. The image reminds me of “The Makers” a poem by Dorothy Sayers, in which a stone speaks to an architect and craftsman, revealing the interconnectedness of our lives and reminding us of the ultimate source of life; the Lord, our Maker.