Thought for the Day-The Parable of the Sower

Green Ears of Wheat, Vincent van Gogh, 1888

A Thought for the Day given at the lunchtime service of Holy Communion at 11am on Wednesday 24th July 2024 at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on the text of Matthew 13.1-9

Further Prayers for Choral Evensong on Sunday 1st October 2023

The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne by William Blake

Further Prayers written for Choral Evensong at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 1st October 2023 (The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity) kept as Harvest Sunday based on text from Isaiah 6.1-7 and Revelation 4.1-11 and the anthem ‘Thou Visitest the Earth’ by Maurice Greene, based on verses from Psalm 65.

A Bouquet for Saint Giles

Saint Giles and the Deer by The Master of Saint Gilles, c1500 (National Gallery)

‘Saint Giles and the Deer’ by the mysterious ‘Master of Saint Giles’ originally formed one section of a multi-panelled altarpiece dating from the early 1500’s. 

The painting and its companion piece ‘The Mass of St Giles” depict two of the three most popular stories about the saint mentioned in the accounts of his life, the most recent of which being The Golden Legend, a famous medieval hagiography.

 

Both paintings can be seen in The National Gallery and their website allows us to zoom in to see minute detail. The commentary for St Giles and the Deer states: “The different types of plants and flowers in the wilderness are perhaps a reference to the legend that the desert flowered around Giles’s hermitage.” Tantalisingly no description of the flora or what it might symbolise is offered - nor in The Golden Legend or other versions of the Life of St Giles - so I have attempted to make an educated guess!

Sermon - Fearful Symmetry?

Franz Marc, The Tiger, 1912

A homily given at St Stephen's Rochester Row at Evensong on Sunday 21st February 2022 based on the readings from Genesis 1.1 - 2.3 and Matthew 6.25-34

When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

 

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Start:Stop-Celebrating St Francis of Assisi

The San Damiano Cross, the image of which inspired Francis of Assisi

Introduction

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 hear an audio recording of this reflection at this link. 

Last week the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee published its report on ‘The UK's footprint on global biodiversity’ which highlighted the growing number of animal and plant species that are threatened with extinction. The UK’s consumption patterns, the report concluded, remain unsustainable and overseas development assistance that seeks to integrate poverty and environmental objectives remains rare. 

Someone who understood all about the integration of poverty and the environment   was Saint Francis of Assisi, who was remembered by the church this week. The spirituality that Francis embodied; one which integrated justice, peace and ecology, was unique in European Christianity at the time. Today Francis is inspiring a renewed focus on the relationship between humanity, its Creator and His creation, not least by the current Pope, who took his name.

Renouncing the riches and prestigious clothes of his merchant father, Francis of Assisi embraced a life of material poverty, working for food or begging for alms. He didn’t leave an environmental footprint of his own because he was always walking in the footprints of Christ.

The reading for the Feast of St Francis of Assisi is taken from the Gospel according to Saint Luke. 

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.

Lessons in Lockdown - Making it through

Jesus the Carpenter, 1963, St Paul's Goodmayes - photography by Jonathan Evens

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

“The Makers” is a wonderful poem by Dorothy Sayers, used as a dedication to her scripts for ‘The Man Born to be King’ - a series of radio plays on the life of Christ, first broadcast by the BBC in December 1941. The poem reveals the interconnectedness of the creative process and reminds us of the ultimate source of our creative spirit – the Lord, our Maker.

Prayers of Intercession - Trinity 17

James B Janknegt – The Wicked Tenants (2018)

Prayers of intercession written for the Choral Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 8th October 2020 Trinity 17/Proper 22 – Year A, based on the Epistle (Philippians 3.4b-14) and the Gospel reading Matthew 21.33-end.

Let us pray to the Lord, who has made us his own.

Start-Stop : A Confession on Shrove Tuesday

The Creation of the World, Fernand Leger, 1923

Start:Stop at St Stephen Walbrook offers busy commuters in the City of London the chance to start their day by stopping to pray and reflect for ten minutes. This is my reflection for Tuesday 25th February 2020 - Shrove Tuesday. Good morning and welcome to Start:Stop. In many Eucharistic liturgies it is common to say together a ‘memorial acclamation’; “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” The season of Lent, which begins tomorrow, is a time when we are particularly encouraged to pause in the space after that second comma; to consider how we have filled this in-between-time after Christ’s resurrection and before His second coming.

BOOK REVIEW : Saying Yes to Life by Ruth Valerio

Saying Yes To Life - The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2020 by Ruth Valerio

Ruth Valerio uses the Days of Creation (Genesis 1) to form the seven chapters of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 2020 Lent Book, which ends with a large bibliography and is accompanied by a website that contains five fifteen minute video clips and links to further resources associated with each chapter - which will be helpful for those using the book in the context of a weekly study group during Lent.

Haiku from the Kruger Park inspired by Brother Sun

Couple and newborn
trudge across rocky terrain.
A family flees.