Prayers of Intercession - Trinity 2

Jesus Carrying the Cross by Salvador Dali, 1965

Prayers of intercession for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 25th June 2020 (Trinity 2) based on readings from Romans 6.1b-11 and Matthew 10.24-39.

Night Prayer - St John's Eve

It was a great pleasure to lead Night Prayer today on the St Augustine's College of Theology Facebook page. Please follow along by watching the video below

Start:Stop-The Perfect Messenger

Alberto Giacometti, Pointing Man (detail)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, my name is Phillip Dawson. Reminding us that change is a natural part of God’s creation, Midsummer’s Day falls this week in the northern hemisphere, the point at which the days start to decrease and the nights start to increase in length. Six months before Christmas, Midsummer’s Day also marks the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist. Jesus himself said of John that “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater”. So it should come as no surprise that alongside that of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist is the only saint whose birth is celebrated in the calendar of the church.

Our bible reading this week describes the birth and naming of John the Baptist and is from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

Prayers of Intercession - Trinity 1

The Great Commission by James He Qi

Prayers of intercession for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 18th June 2020 (Trinity 1) based on Matthew 9.35-10.8.

Let us pray

Corpus Christi - Prayers of Intercession

Corpus Christi Procession, Amadeu de Souza Cardoso, 1913

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 11th June 2020. At Walbrook our principal service takes place on Thursday (because the church is closed at the weekend), so we follow the lectionary for the preceding Sunday, in this case Trinity Sunday. Today is also Corpus Christi, so these prayers draw on themes from both feasts, inspired particularly by Chapter 9 of the Didache  John 6.51-58 and Luke 22.19 and a famous prayer of Teresa of Avila. The prayers of intercession are addressed in turn to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in recognition of the Trinity. A lot of references for one service and short prayers! Hopefully it is not to much of a mish-mash!

Night Prayer - Columba, Abbot of Iona

It was a great pleasure to lead Night Prayer today on the St Augustine's College of Theology Facebook page. Please follow along by watching the video below. 

Start:Stop - I wash my hands in innocence

Raw Material Washing Hands by Bruce Nauman, 1996

Hello and welcome to our weekly reflection from St Stephen Walbrook. You can listen to an audio version of this text here. 

“I pray that those of us who are white Christians repent of our own prejudices, and do the urgent work of becoming better allies to our brothers and sisters of colour."

"For those of us who are white Christians, I pray that we reflect and pray deeply and honestly on what it means to follow the teaching of Jesus to “love your neighbour as yourself””

Tweets by the Archbishop of Canterbury last week which were met with support but also criticism by some white Christians who claimed to be innocent of the charge; and had no need to repent for prejudice.

“I wash my hands in innocence” cries the psalmist. I wonder how many of us can say the same with integrity?

Songs for Suffering - Psalm 6

The first telephone used by The Samaritans, on display at St Stephen Walbrook, where the organisation began

How long?
Time
Stops.
Life & love leached through red eyes.
Drained from my nose.
And even that's clear - nothing of substance!
Suffocating in my swollen face.
The cracked voice of a broken body gives
One
Last
Hoarse
Cry.

Save me.

What changed?
He listened.

(A paraphrase of Psalm 6)

Pentecost - Prayers of Intercession

Pentecost, Batik by P. Solomon Raj

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 4th June 2020. The prayers are inspired by words and themes from Acts 2.1-21 and John 20.19-23

Morning Prayer from the Prayer Book of Thomas Becon

Thomas Becon (sometimes spelt Beccon or Bekon)

I found online (at this link) a copy of the Prayer Book of Thomas Becon (sometimes spelt Beccon or, as on the board in our church Bekon). He was Rector of St Stephen Walbrook twice. A Protestant reformer and a married priest, he was ejected from the church when Mary I came to the throne. He was sent to the Tower of London as a seditious preacher. He briefly returned to Walbrook as Rector after Elizabeth I came to the throne. There is an interesting article about his life and legacy here. Becon was known particularly for his writings in which he called on Christians to avoid partitioning their lives into 'sacred' and 'secular' and to pursue godliness in the rhythms of their daily lives. Some of the prayers in his prayerbook are now very dated - such as the prayers for handmaids and servants. But many of them are timeless. I used some for our service of Morning Prayer today: