Tuesday, 8 September 2026

Thought for the Day-God Save our Gracious Church

King Charles III (b. 1948) by Peter Kuhfeld (b. 1952), Royal Collection Trust.

A meditation drawing on the imagery of Proverbs 8.1-17 and Revelation 21.22-22.4 and on the words of the first verse of the national anthem, offered during a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 8th September 2026.
Following the service, at 1pm, a 62 gun salute was fired at The Tower of London, nearby.

Sunday, 6 September 2026

Great Fire Anniversary Sermon-Stirring Up Old Coals

The Great Fire of London, depicted by an unknown painter (1675), as it would have appeared from a boat in the vicinity of Tower Wharf on the evening of Tuesday, 4 September 1666.

A sermon given at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 6th September 2026 during a service of Holy Communion on Great Fire Anniversary Weekend. The service took place the day after our Faith & Fire Discovery Day, exploring the Great Fire through the lens of science and faith. The sermon is based on readings from
Romans 13.8–end, Matthew 18.15–20 and the words of an Great Fire Anniversary Sermon preached at St Olave Hart Street on 2nd September 1682 by Reverend William Wray, the text of which can be read at this link. 

Thursday, 20 August 2026

BOOK REVIEW- Lady Fanshawe’s Receipt Book: The Life and Times of a Civil War Heroine by Lucy Moore


It is a nice change to reada book about the record of a life of a woman connected to the church. Ann Fanshawe left a memoir and a ‘receipt book’ - not a record of things she has bought but a sort of recipe book, containing details of medicines as well as food and other tips on household management.

Ann was born in the parish of St Olave Hart Street in 1625 and spent her earliest years here. Her father, John Harrison, came from a modest background to occupy an important official position which involved engaging with the merchants, display rooms and warehouses that surrounded the church for most of its modern history and would have been well known in the parish.

In this book, Lucy Moore cross references both Ann’s memoir and her receipt book to tell the story of a woman raising a royalist family through the Civil War from exile to the Restoration.

Saturday, 8 August 2026

BOOK REVIEW- Golden Lads: A Study of Anthony Bacon, Francis and their Friends by Daphne du Maurier


Daphne Du Maurier’s account of the lives of Anthony and Francis Bacon ends with a description of her visit to St Olave Hart Street in October 1973.

Like a passage from her novels and short stories it offers a romantic scene in which an organist suddenly starts to play the Tudor melody Greensleeves as she ponders the life of Anthony, whose burial at St Olave’s she had rediscovered in the parish records but whose final years are shrouded in mystery. Most of this book focuses on Anthony - the lesser known of the two brothers.

Wednesday, 5 August 2026

BOOK REVIEW-Barabus by S.J. Fowler


So far a unique way for me to discover a book - from a link in the footer of an email sent to me by the author; the title caught my eye. Unlike the novel with a similar name by Pär Lagerkvist, this isn’t a story about the man who was expecting to be crucified until Jesus took his place on the cross. But both seem to offer rich points of reflection on matters central to our faith.

The life-saver in this novel is an unnamed paramedic. Such is the depth of the honest and sometimes uncomfortable detail, I wondered if the author had direct experience as a first responder?

Monday, 3 August 2026

BOOK REVIEW-More than Nine Lessons and Carols


Long time Head of History at the University of York and Lay Canon of the Minster, Allen Warren says he reluctantly accepted the task of writing the biography of the man best known for creating Nine Lessons and Carols with its now famous bidding prayer, first heard six weeks after the end of the First World War. The book documents his ministry at King's College, Cambridge and later at York Minster—an appointment, it is suggested, that was a result just as much of old school ties and circumstance as anything else—although one that Milner-White embraced as a "Civic Dean".

Saturday, 1 August 2026

BOOK REVIEW-The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys. A Novel


There must have been more than a few novels inspired by St Olave Hart Street and the area around it - and if not, there are plenty to be written! Jack Jewers opens his imaginary “post diary” life of Pepys with a veiled reference to one of the many legends associated with this place - the burial of Mother Goose here (who he calls Mother Quick in the novel) - said by some to have been the Madam of the Winchester Geese - streetworkers licensed by the Bishop of Winchester - who we glimpse in the novel, in a flash. 

Sunday, 21 June 2026

Sermon on the 75th Anniversary of the start of the restoration of St Olave Hart Street


A sermon given at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 21st June 2026 during a service marking the seventy fifth anniversary of the start of the restoration of the church after World War II, based on readings from Ephesians 2:19-22 and John 2.19-22 and the words given by Bishop Arne Fjelbu and King Haakon VII at St Olave Hart Street in June 1951. More information and pictures of the service are at this link.

Tuesday, 12 May 2026

Thought for the Day-Freedom

Paul and Silas in Prison, Washington Allston, Kemper Art Museum

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 12th May 2026 based on the text of Acts 16.22-34.

Tuesday, 5 May 2026

Thought for the Day-My peace I give to you

Dove, Pablo Picasso, 1949

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime sermon of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street, City of London on Tuesday 5th May 2026 based on the text of
John 14.27-end.

Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Thought for the Day-To be called Christians

The Good Shepherd, Niels Larsen Stevns, 1921

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 28th April 2026 based on readings from
Acts 11.19-26 and John 10.22-30.

Sunday, 26 April 2026

Sermon-The Gate to Salvation

Christ a la Porte from La Passion, Georges Rouault, 1939

A sermon given during Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 26th April 2026 (Year A) - also the day of the London Marathon which passes nearby and “Vocations Sunday” in the Church of England and based on readings from
Acts 2.42-47 and John 10.1-10

Tuesday, 7 April 2026

Thought for the Day-Seeing Salvation

Earthrise by William Anders, Apollo 8, NASA, 1968

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 7th April 2026
based on John 20.11–18

Saturday, 4 April 2026

Easter Vigil Sermon-The green blade riseth

The nave of St Olave Hart Street following bomb damage c1941

A sermon given during the Easter Vigil at St Olave Hart Street on Saturday 4th April 2026 based on the Vigil Texts of Genesis 1.1 – 2.4a, Exodus 14.10-end; 15.1a, Jeremiah 31.31-34 and the texts at Holy Communion Romans 6.3-11 and Matthew 28.1-10 and the astounding history of this church.

Sunday, 29 March 2026

Sermon-Rooted in the Cross


A sermon given during a service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Palm Sunday 29th March 2026 (Year A) based on readings from Matthew 21.1-11 and Matthew 27.1-54

Sunday, 15 March 2026

Sermon-Love at the Cross

Memorial to John Letts in St Olave Hart Street (from 'A London Inheritance')

A sermon given during Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 15th March 2026 (Mothering Sunday) based on readings from Colossians 3.12–17 
and John 19:25b–27. 

Sunday, 1 March 2026

Sermon-God so loved the world

The Kiss, Edvard Munch, 1897

A sermon given during a service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 1st March 2026, the Second Sunday of Lent based on readings from
Romans 4:1–5, 13–17 & John 3:1–17

Wednesday, 18 February 2026

Thought for the Day-Marked by God's Mercy

Detail of East Window of St Olave Hart Street

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service at St Olave Hart Street on Ash Wednesday 18th February 2026 at 12.30pm based on the texts of Joel 2.1-2, 12-17 & Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21

Tuesday, 17 February 2026

Thought for the Day-Critical Examination

De Pannenkoekenbakster (The Pancake Maker), Jan Miense Molenaer, 1645

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service at St Olave Hart Street on Shrove Tuesday 17th February 2026 at 12.30pm based on the texts of James 1.12-18 and Mark 8.14-21.

Thought for the Day-God Save our Gracious Church

King Charles III (b. 1948) by Peter Kuhfeld (b. 1952), Royal Collection Trust. A meditation drawing on the imagery of Proverbs 8.1-17 and Re...