Sermon - Both sides of John the Baptist

St. John the Forerunner, Angel of the Desert, Lyuba Yatskiv, 2019

Sermon preached at Evensong at St Stephen's Rochester Row on Sunday 28th August 2022 (Year C, 11th after Trinity, Proper 17) based on the text of John 3.22-36

This bank holiday weekend many people will be spending time on road trips - as far as the traffic jams will allow of course! Looking out for funny signs is often a good way to brighten up a long and tedious car journey. I found a book full of funny signs recently and thought I would share some of the cleaner ones with you (which isn’t actually that many!)

Sermon - The beginning of the end

This Small House, Richard Woods, 2022

Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 28th August 2022 (Year C, 11th after Trinity, Proper 17) based on the text of Hebrews 13.1-8, 15-16 and Luke 14.1, 7-14.

“It’s the beginning of the end!”

screams an article I was sent this week - bemoaning what it claims to be a growing culture of commercialization in churches and cathedrals; some of which have played host to mini-golf courses, model dinosaurs and helter-skelters during the summer months. It describes such initiatives as pursuing "the lowest common denominator” which means - and I quote - “higher purposes” are squeezed out.

Apparently, "God has left the building."

The bilious broadside is illustrated with a photograph of the latest contemporary art installation in Southwark Cathedral, which has been on display for the past few months.

Prayers of Intercession - Our Messy March of Progress

Adolf Hölzel, Journey, 1915

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 24th August 2022 (Year C, 10th after Trinity, Proper 16) based on the text of Hebrews 12.18-end and Luke 13.10-17.

Sermon - Embracing our messy 'March of Progress'

‘(R)evolution’ by street artist Herr Nilsson

Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at St John the Divine, Richmond on Sunday 21st August 2022 (Year C, 10th after Trinity, Proper 16) based on the text of Hebrews 12.18-end and Luke 13.10-17.

There’s a powerful – and much parodied - image that has become associated with human evolution.

It shows fifteen male figures in a line, drawn in profile. On the left of the image, the figures are bent double, their arms hanging down, almost dragging on the floor. 

Moving along the sequence from left to right, the figures become progressively more upright - and less hairy - illustrating what were then considered to be our evolutionary forebears, shown as if brought back to life - Jurassic Park style - and marching in a parade. 

The work of art is titled “The March of Progress” and was drawn by Rudolph Zallinger in 1965 for Time Life Magazine. Variants of the image graced the pages of school text books around the world. 

However, the ‘march of progress’ it depicts - known as orthogenesis, which means “straight line” evolution - is disputed by the majority of scientists today. Like us, they know that our progress in life - whether over the course of millennia or just a few moments, is rarely (if ever!) as simple as a straight line from A to B. 

Life is naturally full of twists and turns. 

But something in us seems to idolize the straight and is suspicious of the bent and crooked. So the image remains iconic, despite being recognised as a false portrayal of progress.