Sermon-The Good Samaritan

Martin Luther King's first public speech in the UK at Bloomsbury Baptist Church, October 1961

A sermon given during Holy Communion (BCP) at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Sunday 25th August 2024, The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity based on the text of Luke 10:23–37.

Drawing on Martin Luther King's final sermon to explore the parable of The Good Samaritan. 

Start:Stop - Social Poets. Celebrating the foundation of The Samaritans.

The Good Samaritan, Jared Small, 2013

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

Two weeks ago Pope Francis addressed a meeting of those working to promote social, economic and racial justice across the world. He described them as Social Poets, because they are creating “hope where there appears to be only waste and exclusion.”

The recent history of St Stephen Walbrook owes a great deal to one such social poet; Chad Varah - who on 2nd November 1953 took the first call from someone contemplating suicide, on what became the world’s first telephone helpline. The organisation that we know as The Samaritans was born.

Our Bible reading is the Parable of the Good Samaritan, from the Gospel of Luke.

Start:Stop-The Good Samaritan Today

"First Duty" by Phillip Job on show at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 8th November 2018

Thank you for joining us for Start:Stop. This reflection will last around ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates. This month we celebrate the founding of the Samaritans here in this church 65 years ago. We begin with the Parable of the Good Samaritan which can be found on page 76 of the New Testament section of the bibles.