Sermon-"I am what I am"

Douglas Hodge as Albin in the 2010 production of La Cage aux Folles (photo by Joan Marcus)

A sermon given at a service of Holy Communion (BCP) on Sunday 31st August 2025 at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on the text of 1 Corinthians 15.1-11 and Luke 18.9-14.

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

Sermon-Who is the Greatest?

The Second Lord Baltimore Cecilius (Cecil) Calvert (1605-1675) by Gerard Soest, c. 1670

A sermon given during Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields at 11am on Sunday 24th August 2025 (Saint Bartholomew, Apostle) based on the text of Acts 5.12-16, Luke 22.24-30 and referencing the International Day for the Remembrance of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its Abolition. The service was followed by the baptism of Ava Coumbe.

Sermon-Balancing the Books

Dollar Sign 9, Andy Warhol, 1982

A sermon given during a service of Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 17th August 2025 based on the text of 1 Corinthians 10.1-13 and Luke 16.1-9.

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-Doorway to the Sublime

Rene Magritte – The Improvement, 1962

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 6th August 2025 - The Feast of the Transfiguration based on the text of Luke 9.28-36 

Sermon-The Final Chapter

Rembrandt, The Death of Jacob, 1640-42

A homily written for a service of Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 3rd August 2025 based on the texts of Genesis 50.4-end and 1 Corinthians 14.1-19.

Sermon-Multiplying Freedom

Am Not I A Man and A Brother, 1800 - International Slavery Museum

A sermon given during a service of Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 3rd August 2025, the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, based on the texts of Romans 6.19-23 and Mark 8.1-9

Thought for the Day-The Price of Freedom

Robert Wedderburn, Museum of Colour

A brief ‘Thought for the Day’ given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on July 30th 2025 based on the text of Matthew 13.44-46.

Today the Church of England remembers anti-slavery campaigners William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano (who lived in the area and was buried just off Tottenham Court Road) and Thomas Clarkson. It is perhaps also a day when here at St Giles especially we should remember Robert Wedderburn, whose book ‘The Horrors of Slavery’ he dedicated to Wilberforce, who was a frequent visitor while Wedderburn was incarcerated – branded one of the most dangerous reformers in England.

Sermon-Forward people of Christ, forward people of the Cross

The Crypt Chapel at St Olave Hart Street

A brief Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street, City of London on Tuesday 29th July 2025 – the Feast Day of St Olaf. The service, the last before the summer break, took place in the medieval crypt chapel, using the altar there for the first time in several years. Services resume at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 2nd September at 12.30pm when I will be back preach and celebrate.

Sermon-First be Reconciled

 ‘The Reconciliation’ (1989) by Josefina de Vasconcellos at Coventry Cathedral

A sermon given during Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 27th July 2025, the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, based on the text of Romans 6.3-11 and Matthew 5.20-26.