Prayers of Intercession – Season our lives with the foretaste of your Kingdom

Motoi Yamamoto, Salt Installation 

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 30th September 2021 (Year B, Trinity 17, Proper 21) based on readings from James 5.13-end and Mark 9.38-end

Towards A Theology of Climate Change

Gaia by Juke Jerram, Salisbury Cathedral

Notes from a Church of England Webinar ‘The Theology of Climate Change’ given on Tuesday 21st September 2021 by Reverend Ruth Newton.

This was an interesting webinar given by Ruth Newton, a priest and ‘Eco-Champion’ for the Diocese of Leeds and a member of the Church of England’s General Synod. She is undertaking a Doctorate in Practical Theology at the University of Chester. The lecture proposes a new approach to a theology of Climate Change that is fit for the age of the 'Anthropocene' - one not based on the concept of environmental stewardship alone but that draws on other theological resources from the Christian faith.

Choral Classics - More than Hymns

It was a great pleasure to introduce Choral Classics at St Stephen Walbrook today, live in church on Thursday 23rd September 2021 and broadcast online on Monday 27th September 2021. My script is below. You can watch the recording below (the video will not appear in ‘mobile view’ – please click “view web version” at the bottom of the home page if reading on a tablet or phone) or watch on YouTube at this link.

Sermon - Through the eyes of a child

The Painter and the Child, Pablo Picasso

A sermon read during the Choral Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 23rd September 2021 (Year B, Trinity 16, Proper 20) based on readings from James 3.13-4.3, 7-8a and Mark 9.30-37 and the text of the hymn ‘Lord of all hopefulness’ by William Walsham How which was sung to music by Bob Chilcott as an introit to the service.

Good News in a Nutshell

The truth of the answers to the most fundamental questions - like those we are asked before we take vows of marriage or the declarations we make at our baptism - take a lifetime to explore. To answer the questions we must embody them in our lives.  Adults aren’t comfortable with these timescales. We prefer truth from below to truth from above. We like to box up our answers and pull them out in bingeable box sets; complete and on demand. Children are more open to beholding the wonder and mysteries of life. Jesus calls us, through baptism, do likewise.

Daily Devotion - The Light of the World

The Light of the World, William Holman Hunt, 1904 (St Paul's Cathedral)

A Daily Devotion written for St Stephen's Rochester Row. 

The founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were inspired by the paintings of the fifteenth century that displayed minute attention to detail and were drenched in symbolism and story. The story of the most iconic painting to emerge from the movement is a fascinating account of how Victorian entrepreneurialism and the age of Empire created what became the most travelled artwork in history and one of the most recognised Christian images in the world. 

Further Prayers written for Morning Prayer on Wednesday 22nd September

An Illuminating Path, David LaChapelle, 1998

Further prayers written for Morning Prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer, held by telephone conference call from St Stephen Walbrook on Wednesday 22nd September 2021 and based on readings from Mark 13.1-13, Wisdom 13.1-9 & Psalm 107.

Start:Stop - Frozen Assets?

All are welcome, by Sieger Koder

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

This week the church celebrates Saint Matthew, patron saint of bankers, tax collectors and accountants. Inspired by Matthew, perhaps we might make time this week to take stock and interrogate where the value lies in the balance sheet of our lives.  

Our Bible Reading describes the Calling of Matthew:

Prayers of Intercession – Take up Thy Cross & Tame Thy Tongue

Prayers of Intercession – Take up Thy Cross & Tame Thy Tongue 

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 16th 2021 ((Year B, Trinity 15, Proper 19) based on readings from Mark 8.27-end, James 3.1-12 and the words of the hymn; O Jesus I have promised.

Further Prayers written for Choral Evensong on Sunday 12th September 2021

Frederick James Brown, Knock and the door shall be opened, 1996

Further prayers written for Choral Evensong at St Stephen’s Rochester Row on Sunday 12th September based on texts from Psalm 119.73-88, Exodus 18.13-26 & Matthew 7.1-14.

BOOK REVIEW : Daughter of Jerusalem by Sara Maitland

Written by Sara Maitland and set around the time it was first published (1978), the book is divided into nine ‘months’ and tells the story of Liz and Ian as they struggle to conceive a child; with some passages containing quite graphic detail. 

Each chapter concludes with an imagined account of a biblical story, with no apparent separation in the way the text is set out - no double spacing or page marking - each month of the story of Liz and Ian is meant to be read as one with the parallel narrative, the content of which seems to relate to an event or theme earlier in the chapter. Each of the ‘biblical’ stories has a female character as its principal focus.

This is the first novel I have read by Sarah Maitland, who is a noted writer of what is described by some as “religious fantasy” although this novel seems more “religious reality” to me. Maitland is also known as a feminist author. Daughter of Jerusalem was her first novel. 

I was introduced to the book by Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester, when he kindly gave a lecture at St Augustine’s College one Friday evening before the summer holiday. The subject of his lecture was Mary, the Mother of God. 

Further Prayers written for Morning Prayer on Wednesday 8 September

Chris Offili - The Holy Virgin Mary, 1996

Today we remember the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.

Start:Stop - Role conflict: a Marian perspective

The Virgin Spanking The Christ Child - Max Ernst (1926)

Role conflict is a significant cause of workplace stress. It can occur when we face seemingly incompatible expectations - for example, conflicting deadlines set by different supervisors or clients. Role conflict may also arise when there is ambiguity or overlap between the different roles we fulfill; for instance, where a manager has to discipline members of a team who they consider to be their friends. 

It’s not just in the workplace that we face role conflict, but within all areas of life - and perhaps especially at the point at which the different areas of our lives meet. Nor is it always a third party - another person - who places these pressures upon us; it is just as likely that role conflict arises from expectations we place on ourselves or from a desire to conform to overlapping societal and cultural “norms” - for instance, to have a successful career and a happy family.

This week, the church remembers the birth of Mary, the mother of God; who is also the Blessed Virgin Mary - someone who embodies the ultimate role conflict. 

What can the example of Mary teach us about the conflicting roles we embody? 

The gospel reading set for the Nativity of the Mary is from the Gospel according to St Matthew, chapter one, beginning at verse eighteen. 

Prayers of Intercession - Open our hearts and minds

Sadao Watanabe, Woman of Canaan, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 5th September 2021 ((Year B, Trinity 14, Proper 18) based on readings from Mark 7.24-end and James 2.10-17.

Prayers of Intercession - Love that shows no variation or shadow

Chila Kurami Singh Burman, Remembering A Brave New World at Tate Britain, 2020. Photo by Joe Humphrys. 

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 2nd September 2021 ((Year B, Trinity 13, Proper 17) based on readings from Mark 7.1-8, 14, 15, 21-23 and James 1.17-end.