Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in the Kingdom Season in the Church Calendar and today is both the Third Sunday before Advent and Remembrance Sunday. The calendar of the Orthdox Church today commemorates the Synaxis of the Archangels (Michael, Raphael and Gabriel) and All the Heavenly Host. Later this morning, I am reading one of the lessons at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, and I hope to attend the Remembrance Sunday commemorations in Stony Stratford at 3 pm this afternoon.
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 on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 25: 1-13 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” 7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9 But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” 10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” 12 But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.’
Today’s Reflections:
The half-term elections in the US have done little to abate fears about Trump’s pursuit of war in Iran, nor has it negated his betrayal of the President and people of Ukraine in the war being waged against them by Putin’s Russia. With the rise in power of Steve Miller in recent days, I continue to fear for world peace and stability, about global change, about rules-based international order and about the course of world democracy. The far-right has been emboldened by Trump and Elon Musk and other far-right mega tycooons in the US have a direct link with the upsurge in violence, racism and antisemitism in Britain, across Europe and around the world.
But I am finding comfort this morning in the words of the Collects and the Post-Communion Prayer, as they ask God to ‘govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,’ seek God’s ‘just and gentle rule’, ask God to ‘look with compassion on the anguish of the world’, and to ‘bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end’.
In a world in which the most powerful leaders and the richest lack wisdom and as they pursue war in the Middle East, the Gulf and between Russia and Ukraine, the first reading in the Lectionary this morning (Wisdom of Solomon 6: 12-16) reminds us of the virtues of seeking wisdom:
14 One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty,
for she will be found sitting at the gate.
15 To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding,
and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care,
16 because she goes about seeking those worthy of her,
and she graciously appears to them in their paths,
and meets them in every thought.
On this morning, Remembrance Sunday, the epistle reading (I Thessalonians 4: 13-18) challenges us to think about appropriate ways of remembering those who ‘have fallen asleep,’ the dead.
Is there a thin line that separates remembering the dead and glorifying war?
Is there a way in which we might realise that God identifies with our sufferings through war, injustice and oppression, whether that is in the present or in the past?
The setting for the Gospel reading (Matthew 25: 1-13) is on the Mount of Olives, looking down on the Temple, where Christ has been teaching in the week leading up to his Passion, Death and Resurrection. In the Church, we too are preparing, preparing for Advent, when we think about Christ’s Second Coming, as King in Glory, at the end of time: ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Matthew 23: 39).
Christ is speaking about the connection we should make between how we live now and what will happen at the Second Coming.
Christ comes not as a special, added decoration for shop windows in the weeks before Christmas, or to make the Christmas crib cosy and comfortable … and everything else in the window marketable.
This Gospel reading challenges us: do we too easily accept the easy values of this world’s kingdoms … or are we prepared to meet the demands and expectations of the Kingdom of God?
The exhortation to ‘Keep awake’ is a call to be prepared – for the coming of the Kingdom of God, for the Second Coming of Christ.
The American poet Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918) died in France in World War I. In his poem, ‘Prayer of a Soldier in France,’ he shows not only how Christ identifies with suffering in war-time but with our suffering at all times:
My shoulders ache beneath my pack
(Lie easier, Cross, upon His back).
I march with feet that burn and smart
(Tread, Holy Feet, upon my heart).
Men shout at me who may not speak
(They scourged Thy back and smote Thy cheek).
I may not lift a hand to clear
My eyes of salty drops that sear.
(Then shall my fickle soul forget
Thy agony of Bloody Sweat?)
My rifle hand is stiff and numb
(From Thy pierced palm red rivers come).
Lord, Thou didst suffer more for me
Than all the hosts of land and sea.
So let me render back again
This millionth of Thy gift. Amen.
I conclude my reflections on this Remembrance Sunday with a well-known prayer from Westminster Abbey:
May God grant
to the living grace,
to the departed rest,
to the Church and the World peace and concord,
and to us sinners eternal life. Amen
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 8 November 2026, Remembrance Sunday):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 8 to 14 November 2026 (pp 54-55), is ‘Pray for COP31’. This theme was introduced today with a reflection by Sophia Jones, Interim Director of Communications, Engagement, and Fundraising, USPG:
The theme of the Lambeth Conference in 2022 was God’s Church for God’s World – Walking, Listening and Witnessing Together. The bishops discussed ten Lambeth Calls on themes and world affairs. One of them was the Lambeth Call on Environment and Sustainable Development.
In its declaration it states: “Anglicans hold to Scripture and the teachings of the Church, reflected in the Five Marks of Mission. These provide a clear vision and holistic framework for intentional discipleship and for being God’s Church for God’s World. They call us to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom, nurture disciples, and to express our concern for people and planet, for justice, peace, and care for vulnerable people, as well as our duty to safeguard creation (Genesis 2:15) and to sustain and renew the life of the earth (Fifth Mark of Mission).”
As the annual UN Climate Summit, COP31, meets this week in Antalya, Türkiye, we are reminded that we each have a role to play in caring for God’s creation. Anglicans have been speaking out and amplifying the voices of the vulnerable at the highest levels of diplomatic advocacy at the UN, and we will have a presence at COP31 this year too.
We are planting trees in our local parishes and dioceses, growing the Communion Forest, a global initiative of local activities of forest protection, tree growing and ecosystem restoration undertaken by provinces, dioceses and individual churches across the Anglican Communion to safeguard creation.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 8 November 2026, Remembrance Sunday) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on Micah 4: 1-5:
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty Father,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of all:
govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,
and bring the families of the nations,
divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin,
to be subject to his just and gentle rule;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
God of peace,
whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom
and restored the broken to wholeness of life:
look with compassion on the anguish of the world,
and by your healing power
make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Additional Collect:
God, our refuge and strength,
bring near the day when wars shall cease
and poverty and pain shall end,
that earth may know the peace of heaven
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflections
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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