13 July 2024

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024:
65, Saturday 13 July 2024

The Samaritan Woman … originally part of a 17th century supply of fresh, clean water in Hoddesdon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection in connection with this week’s USPG conference;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The Samaritan Woman once stood on the corner of the High Street and Conduit Lane in Hoddesdon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Matthew 10: 24-33 (NRSVUE):

[Jesus said:] 24 “A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

32 “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”

A plaque remembers where the Samaritan Woman once stood in the centre of Hoddesdon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

This morning’s reflection:

I spent much of this week at the High Leigh Conference Centre on the western fringes of Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 13 July 2024) invites us to pray as we reflect on these words in Saint Matthew’s Gospel: ‘For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ (Matthew 25: 35).

I spent much of this week at the USPG annual conference in the High Leigh Conference Centre in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire. During one early morning walk into Hoddesdon this week, I saw the 17th century statue of the Samaritan Women in the grounds of Lowewood Museum in Hoddesdon but that originally once stood as a fountain in the centre of the town.

Sir Marmaduke Rawdon (1582-1646), a wealthy merchant, built Rawdon House in the centre of Hoddesdon in the early 17th century. He invested in the nearby New River and in 1631, when he provided a conduit from his estate at Rawdon House to Hoddesdon to supply clean, fresh water for the people of the town. Water poured from the pitcher in the Samaritan Woman’s arms into a small pond below.

Sir Marmaduke Rawdon also assisted in building a Market House in Hoddesdon. His son, also Marmaduke Rawdon, built the Grange. The Rawdon family were royalists during the Civil War and their fortunes suffered considerably.

Over the years the statue has been located in various places, until it was taken into storage and restored. It was relocated in 1986 to the gardens of Lowewood House and now stands in the museum grounds.

Lowewood House was built around 1750, and members of the Warner family lived there from 1835 until 1935. The house was bought by Douglas Taylor who gave it to the town in 1936 for use as a public library and museum. The library was relocated in 1977 and since 1982 Lowewood House has been the home of Broxbourne Museum. The museum has been managed by the Lowewood Museum Trust since 2021 and is open on Fridays and Saturdays.

The statue of the Samaritan Woman has been cleaned and restored recently and a blue plaque at the corner of the High Street and Conduit Lane marks the original location of the statue of the Samaritan Woman. The plaque celebrating the statue and the fountain was unveiled last month (24 June 2024) by the Mayor of Broxbourne, Councillor Sherrie McDaid, as part of the Love Hoddesdon Midsummer Festival.

There is a similar figure in the fountain on the lawn at High Leigh. It is one of outdoor features the gardens created by the Pulhams, a family of landscape gardeners in nearby Broxbourne. I wonder whether it was inspired by the Samaritan Woman in the centre of Hoddesdon and, indeed, whether it too was ever known as the Samaritan Woman?

The Samaritan Women now stands in the grounds of Lowewood Museum in Hoddesdon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 13 July 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘United Beyond Borders.’ This theme was introduced last Sunday with reflections on this week’s USPG conference by Rachael Anderson, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 13 July 2024) invites us to pray reflecting on these words in Saint Matthew’s Gospel:

‘For I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ (Matthew 25: 35).

The Collect:

Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God of our pilgrimage,
you have led us to the living water:
refresh and sustain us
as we go forward on our journey,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Creator God,
you made us all in your image:
may we discern you in all that we see,
and serve you in all that we do;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity VII:

Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The fountain in the gardens in High Leigh has many similariities with statue of the Samaritan Woman in Hoddesdon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny (Matthew 10: 29) ... watching a mother swallow feed her chicks in a nest in the ceiling of Aghias Anna Church, Maroulas, near Retymnon in Crete (Patrick Comerford)

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