Start:Stop - All that is seen and unseen

Pillars of Creation - Image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

Hello and welcome to St Stephen Walbrook where on Tuesday mornings we start the day by stopping to reflect for ten minutes. Please stay as long as your schedule allows. Today our reflection is inspired by the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope which took place on this day in 1990. We begin with a short Bible Reading. 

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

Church of England National Online Service - The Road to Emmaus

Frances Watt - Road to Emmaus

It was a great pleasure to be invited to contribute to the Church of England’s online service which we recorded today for release on Sunday 23rd April 2023. I was asked to speak for two minutes about what I had learnt from my time at St Stephen Walbrook, framing the response around themes from the gospel reading – the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24.13-35). This is what I said:

Reflection - What Next?.....

The Three Maries at the Sepulchre, 1862, Eugène Delacroix

A reflection given at Evensong at St Stephen’s Rochester Row on Sunday 16th April 2023 (Year A, Easter 2) based on Mark 15.46-16.8.

Four years ago today Europe was left dumbstruck as it awoke to pictures of a smouldering Notre Dame. After a night described by one fire-service chaplain as hell on earth - when endless waterfalls of flames engulfed the ancient beams of the roof - the next morning, the shell of the cathedral stood empty. 

Sermon - Easter Sunday : Eyes which see life anew

The False Mirror by René Magritte, 1929

It was a great privilege to be invited to preach for the Pascal Triduum at St George’s Bloomsbury in April 2023. The first time I have preached at all three services and the first time I have spoken in front of so many people at once. I drew on my experience visiting the Holy Land last year and based each sermon loosely around part of a prayer attributed to St Teresa of Avila ‘Christ has no body now on earth but yours’ and the theme of connection, disconnection and reconnection. On Thursday the focus was ‘Feet which walk to do good’ and connections to the embodied love of Jesus through the symbolic washing of feet and the sharing of the Last Supper. On Friday the focus was ‘Hands which bless the world’ and our disconnection from the embodied love of Jesus when he died on the cross. On Sunday the focus was ‘Eyes which see life anew’ and our re-connection to the love of Jesus through Mary Magdalene’s vision in the garden at dawn. The sermon on Sunday drew each reflection together to encourage us to choose to live life as pilgrims – not tourists. To embody the love of God we have now received through the Spirit of the risen Christ.

A sermon given at the Choral Eucharist on Easter Sunday, April 9th 2023 at St George’s Bloomsbury. A version of this sermon was also given at the Easter Vigil at St Stephen Walbrook on Saturday April 8th 2023 (Year A) based on John 20.1-18. A recording of this sermon and the gospel reading (and the fantastic Nessun Dorma style acclamation that preceded it!) can be watched below:

Sermon - Good Friday : Hands which bless the world

Renato Guttuso, Mano del Crocifisso 

It was a great privilege to be invited to preach for the Pascal Triduum at St George’s Bloomsbury in April 2023. The first time I have preached at all three services and the first time I have spoken in front of so many people at once. I drew on my experience visiting the Holy Land last year and based each sermon loosely around part of a prayer attributed to St Teresa of Avila ‘Christ has no body now on earth but yours’ and the theme of connection, disconnection and reconnection. On Thursday the focus was ‘Feet which walk to do good’ and connections to the embodied love of Jesus through the symbolic washing of feet and the sharing of the Last Supper. On Friday the focus was ‘Hands which bless the world’ and our disconnection from the embodied love of Jesus when he died on the cross. On Sunday the focus was ‘Eyes which see life anew’ and our re-connection to the love of Jesus through Mary Magdalene’s vision in the garden at dawn. The sermon on Sunday drew each reflection together to encourage us to choose to live life as pilgrims – not tourists. To embody the love of God we have now received through the Spirit of the risen Christ.

A sermon given at the Good Friday Liturgy on Friday April 7th 2023 at St George’s Bloomsbury. (Year A) based on John 18.1-end of 19.

Sermon - Maundy Thursday : Feet which walk to do good

Stanley Spencer, The Last Supper, 1920

It was a great privilege to be invited to preach for the Pascal Triduum at St George’s Bloomsbury in April 2023. The first time I have preached at all three services and the first time I have spoken in front of so many people at once. I drew on my experience visiting the Holy Land last year and based each sermon loosely around part of a prayer attributed to St Teresa of Avila ‘Christ has no body now on earth but yours’ and the theme of connection, disconnection and reconnection. On Thursday the focus was ‘Feet which walk to do good’ and connections to the embodied love of Jesus through the symbolic washing of feet and the sharing of the Last Supper. On Friday the focus was ‘Hands which bless the world’ and our disconnection from the embodied love of Jesus when he died on the cross. On Sunday the focus was ‘Eyes which see life anew’ and our re-connection to the love of Jesus through Mary Magdalene’s vision in the garden at dawn. The sermon on Sunday drew each reflection together to encourage us to choose to live life as pilgrims – not tourists. To embody the love of God we have now received through the Spirit of the risen Christ.

A sermon given at the Choral Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, April 6th 2023 at St George’s Bloomsbury. (Year A) based on John 13.1-17, 31b-35.