Start:Stop - Nation shall speak peace unto nation

You can listen to an audio recording of this reflection at this link. Hello and thank you for joining us for Start:Stop here at St Stephen Walbrook, when we start the day by stopping to reflect for ten minutes. Please come and go as your schedule dictates.

This month marks one hundred years since the foundation of the British Broadcasting Company (as it then was). Known for its mission to “inform, educate and entertain,” the official motto of the Corporation, found in its now rarely seen coat of arms, is actually “Nation shall speak peace unto Nation”. The text is thought to be based on a passage from the book of Micah:

Sermon - Christ is made the sure foundation

Sermon given at Choral Evensong at St Stephen’s Church, Rochester Row on Sunday 9th October based on readings from Nehemiah 6.1-16 and John 15.12-end.

Prayers of Intercession - God of the Margins

Ruth Gleaning. Study for the Painting 'The Gleaner', Sir Joseph Noel Paton, 1844 – Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Prayers written for the Business Harvest Festival at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 5th October 2022, based on the theme of ‘margins’ inspired by the message of Stephen’s excellent sermon, inspired by the Jewish practice of leaving the edge of the fields unharvested to make the grain available for the poor to glean (Deuteronomy 24.19).

 

God of the margins,

We pray for the church throughout the world; for all who use their gifts to glorify your name.

Strengthen those who practice their faith where the margin of safety is slim.

Guide your church to become a marginal habitat; a dynamic place of nurture, transition and change, 

  where we are each able to grow in your likeness;

offering space for reflection; a margin on the story of our lives. 

We welcome into your fellowship the recently baptised, including Leonora, and all those beginning a new chapter in their life of faith.

 

Lord in your mercy

Hear our prayer 

Sermon - The Lord doth magnify my soul

Piety Choi, A Mustard Seed, 2015

A talk given during the Contemporary Worship service at Holy Sepulchre London on Sunday 2nd October 2022 (Year C, Proper 22) and Tuesday 4th October 2022 based on 2 Timothy 1.1-14 and Luke 17.5-10. My script is below. An shorter version of this sermon was preached at Choral Evensong on Wednesday 5th October 2022.

Sermon - St Michael & All Angels

Marc Chagall, Jacob’s Dream, 1966, Nice, Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall

A sermon preached at the Choral Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 29th September 2022 at 12.45pm. The Feast of Michael and All Angels.

 

Sermon in a nutshell

The idea of angels – with wings and halos can be a bit of a turn off for some. Others recount personal experience of coming face to face with angelic beings. Wherever we stand, angels – heralds or ‘instruments’ of God – are a fact of life; rooted in our scripture and tradition and our belief in ‘all that is, seen and unseen’. Our conception of angels has changed over time. It is at times of transition when we seem most willing to entertain the concept of universal forces affecting our lives. In the sacrament of the Eucharist we come as close as we can in this life to the ultimate transition - the boundary between heaven and earth. In the Eucharistic prayer we repeat the very words of the heavenly host – Holy, holy holy, Lord God of hosts. Perhaps at this moment we are most receptive to these instruments of God, as we join in their heavenly song of praise?

Start:Stop - The language of love

The Rosetta Stone (close up)

Listen to an audio recording of this reflection at this link. Hello and welcome to St Stephen Walbrook and our Start:Stop reflection, when we start the day by stopping for ten minutes. Please come and go as your schedule dictates.

Two hundred years ago today, a brilliant French linguist, Jean-François Champollion, announced in Paris a breakthrough in translating the Rosetta Stone. His discovery allowed scholars to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, transforming the western discipline of Egyptology and turning the Rosetta Stone into an icon of our attempts to understand other languages and cultures - and decoding just about anything.

The 27th September also marks the day the church remembers St Vincent de Paul, a French priest who decoded the purpose of his life and calling when he was summoned to hear the confession of a dying servant. Ten years after he was ordained, Vincent came to understand God’s universal language - of love. 

 

This morning’s bible reading is taken from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:

Start:Stop - Her Majesty's Life of Faith

The People's Monarch - Helen Marshall, Gatwick Airport/BBC South East, 2012

Hello and welcome to St Stephen Walbrook and our Start:Stop reflection, when we start the day by stopping for ten minutes in prayer and reflection. Please come and go as your schedule dictates. You can listen to an audio recording of this week's reflection at this link.

The world is mourning the death of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II; monarch, Supreme Governor of The Church of England and perhaps one of, if not the most prominent advocate for the Christian faith in recent times. 

I confess I have found it impossible to put into words the loss of someone known to 94% of the population of the globe - the single most visually recorded human being in history.  

So, rather than my words, this morning’s reflection, which follows uses her own. Words of wisdom drawn from just some of the public statements and Christmas Broadcasts (CB) she gave over her long reign. Please do take a sheet away with you to reflect on these words further.

Sermon - Both sides of John the Baptist

St. John the Forerunner, Angel of the Desert, Lyuba Yatskiv, 2019

Sermon preached at Evensong at St Stephen's Rochester Row on Sunday 28th August 2022 (Year C, 11th after Trinity, Proper 17) based on the text of John 3.22-36

This bank holiday weekend many people will be spending time on road trips - as far as the traffic jams will allow of course! Looking out for funny signs is often a good way to brighten up a long and tedious car journey. I found a book full of funny signs recently and thought I would share some of the cleaner ones with you (which isn’t actually that many!)

Sermon - The beginning of the end

This Small House, Richard Woods, 2022

Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 28th August 2022 (Year C, 11th after Trinity, Proper 17) based on the text of Hebrews 13.1-8, 15-16 and Luke 14.1, 7-14.

“It’s the beginning of the end!”

screams an article I was sent this week - bemoaning what it claims to be a growing culture of commercialization in churches and cathedrals; some of which have played host to mini-golf courses, model dinosaurs and helter-skelters during the summer months. It describes such initiatives as pursuing "the lowest common denominator” which means - and I quote - “higher purposes” are squeezed out.

Apparently, "God has left the building."

The bilious broadside is illustrated with a photograph of the latest contemporary art installation in Southwark Cathedral, which has been on display for the past few months.

Prayers of Intercession - Our Messy March of Progress

Adolf Hölzel, Journey, 1915

Prayers of Intercession written for the Sung Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 24th August 2022 (Year C, 10th after Trinity, Proper 16) based on the text of Hebrews 12.18-end and Luke 13.10-17.

Sermon - Embracing our messy 'March of Progress'

‘(R)evolution’ by street artist Herr Nilsson

Sermon preached at the Sung Eucharist at St John the Divine, Richmond on Sunday 21st August 2022 (Year C, 10th after Trinity, Proper 16) based on the text of Hebrews 12.18-end and Luke 13.10-17.

There’s a powerful – and much parodied - image that has become associated with human evolution.

It shows fifteen male figures in a line, drawn in profile. On the left of the image, the figures are bent double, their arms hanging down, almost dragging on the floor. 

Moving along the sequence from left to right, the figures become progressively more upright - and less hairy - illustrating what were then considered to be our evolutionary forebears, shown as if brought back to life - Jurassic Park style - and marching in a parade. 

The work of art is titled “The March of Progress” and was drawn by Rudolph Zallinger in 1965 for Time Life Magazine. Variants of the image graced the pages of school text books around the world. 

However, the ‘march of progress’ it depicts - known as orthogenesis, which means “straight line” evolution - is disputed by the majority of scientists today. Like us, they know that our progress in life - whether over the course of millennia or just a few moments, is rarely (if ever!) as simple as a straight line from A to B. 

Life is naturally full of twists and turns. 

But something in us seems to idolize the straight and is suspicious of the bent and crooked. So the image remains iconic, despite being recognised as a false portrayal of progress.