Start:Stop - Decisions, decisions!

Georges Rouault, Christ and the Apostles, 1937-8

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, my name is Phillip Dawson.

Decisions, decisions! Before the lockdown, one newspaper reported that we each make up to 35,000 decisions every day. Sounds a bit far-fetched to me – but whatever the figure, I imagine it’s considerably lower at the moment. It may be no exaggeration to say that at the present time, life and death decisions are being made by those with responsibility for our health and wellbeing. Decisions which, for the most part, are outside of our control. Decisions which are certainly having an impact on people living in the poorest countries in the world; supporting whom is the focus of this year’s Christian Aid Week appeal, which continues until Saturday.

On Thursday, the church celebrates the life of St Matthias. Virtually all we know about him is from a few short passages in Acts of the Apostles, which I’m about to read. This tells us that he’d been a loyal follower of Jesus right from the start, as had another man, Justus. Faced with the task of selecting a replacement after the death of Judas, the eleven remaining apostles found they could not decide between Matthias and Justus, so they prayed to the Lord, before casting lots. The rest, as they say, is history - or perhaps 'unknown' history in the case of Matthias.

Personal Journal - Preparing, Producing and Participating in an Act of Worship

Mosaic based on the Deesis Mosaic, Hagia Sophia

This journal records my thoughts on the experience of preparing, producing and participating in a service of Morning Prayer on Thursday 30th April 2020. The service was broadcast on the Facebook page of St Augustine's College of Theology and can be watched online here. The order of service is here. The paragraph numbers were added later to assist referencing to a coursework assignment.

Facebook Art - Lord you have called me by name

Mosaic based on a batik 'Jesus on the Lotus Flower' by Dr P Solomon Raj, 1998 

Today I led a virtual service of Morning Prayer on our College Facebook page. You can watch the recording here and follow the order of service here. I am grateful to Ben Schoeman for the music in today’s service and to my partner Henry for reading and for acting as cameraman. Today the Church of England remembers Mary Ramabai, a Sanskrit scholar and translator of the scriptures and the first woman to be awarded the title ‘Pandita’ which means scholar or learned person. She is remembered for her opposition to child marriage and the caste system, for setting up schools and homes for women and orphans and for pioneering an Indian vision of the faith.

Start:Stop - Why Work?

Office in a Small City - Edward Hopper, 1953

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, my name is Phillip Dawson. Under normal circumstances we would be repeating this short reflection in church every quarter of an hour; commuters on their way to work would drop in as they pass by, starting their day by stopping to reflect for a few minutes. For many, the journey to work at the moment is a somewhat shorter affair - and finding an appropriate environment in which to work may be more of a challenge than it was a few months ago! For those who have been furloughed during the coronavirus pandemic, there is an expectation that they won’t do much, if any work – at least not paid work for their employers.

In our reflection this morning we will be exploring our relationship with work. We begin with a short passage from scripture, to which the editors of the bible we use in church have chosen to add the rather ominous title “Warning Against Idleness.”

You can listen to a copy of this reflection here.

Congregation Festival – Celebrating the Architecture of Sacred Space

St Theresia Church, Linz - Rudolf Schwarz

On Saturday 29th February 2020, the Architecture Foundation held a one day conference at St Mary's Paddington. "Congregation" drew together architects, academics and philosophers to discuss building spaces for worship.

Start:Stop - Raising the bar

The Creation of Animals - Paul Nash, 1924

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection, helping you start your day by stopping to reflect for ten minutes. Through Lent we have been exploring the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, using as our guide the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book “Saying Yes to Life.” Our reading this morning describes the sixth day of creation:

Lord, help us to flatten the curve and deepen our faith

Oscar Romero Cross, St George's Cathedral, Southwark

It was a great pleasure to lead morning prayer for St Augustine's College of Theology today live on Facebook. These are the prayers I wrote, inspired by the life of Harriett Monsell, remembered today, and the readings and psalms appointed for this morning: Psalms 53, 86,  Exodus 4.27-6.1 and Hebrews 10.19-25.

We are being told day in day out to flatten the curve - to help the NHS. This is good advice! But the cross has two parts. As well as focussing on the horizontal (something we find easy to do in life), we must not forget the vertical! (I have written more about that recently here: "Thank God for Mountains").

Start:Stop - We see furthest in the dark

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

Good morning! I hope you are all safe and well. This is our Start:Stop reflection for Tuesday 24th March in a slightly different format than normal. The church is now closed. Please visit our website where you can find details of how we hope to continue to offer services throughout the coronavirus pandemic. 

Through Lent in our Tuesday morning Start:Stop reflections, we have been exploring the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, using as our guide the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book “Saying Yes to Life.” Our short reading this morning describes the fourth day of creation, when God created the day and night:

Lent Quiet Hour - Week 3

Study for Nicodemus Visiting Jesus, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1899

Poems, prayers and readings for our Lent Quiet Hour based on the themes in the gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Lent.

Start-Stop : Head in the clouds, feet in the water

Urizen, from Europe, A Prophecy by William Blake, 1794

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 10th March 2020. Good morning and welcome to Start:Stop. Our readings and prayers will last around ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates - please don’t be disturbed if others do the same!

Through Lent we are exploring the creation story in Genesis using the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book “Saying Yes to Life.” Our short reading this morning describes the second day of creation, when God separates the waters to create the sea and sky:-

BOOK REVIEW : Evil - The Shadow Side of Reality by John A. Sanford

I was recommended this book a few years ago while taking part in a Christian Spirituality course led by John-Francis Friendship at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction, when the class got into an interesting discussion about the nature of evil.