21.5 million sq metres in Greece, 21.5 million metres on a bike, 21.5 million words in Arabic, and 21.5 million blog readers

The Corinth Canal, completed in 1893, separates the Peloponnese (21,500 sq km or 21.5 million sq metres) from the rest of mainland Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Once again, this blog continues to reach more and more readers, and had 21.5 million hits by about 6 am this morning (13 January 2026). This follows soon after reaching a landmark at the end of 2025 with 21 million hits shortly after 1 pm on New Year’s Eve (31 December 2025), and with almost 2.5 million visitors to this blog throughout December (2,423,018). We are less than two weeks into January, and there have been almost half a million (+492,000) hits or visitors for 2026 by early this evening (13 January 2026).

This blog passed the half million mark five times in one month alone last month, hitting the 21 million mark on New Year’s Eve (31 December 2025), 20.5 million on Christmas Day (25 December), 20 million mark a week earlier (18 December 2025), 19.5 million the previous Sunday (14 December 2025), and 19 million less than a week before that (9 December).

I began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers – a number reached in just xxx days this month alone. It then took more than another year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013. This blog reached the 10 million mark a year ago (12 January 2025), almost 15 years later. In the 12 months since then, another 11.5 million hits have been counted.

Throughout last year, the daily figures were overwhelming on many occasions. Eight of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog were last month alone and four were in January:

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2025)
• 166,155 (15 December 2025)
• 146,944 (14 December 2025)
• 140,417 (16 December 2025)

• 122,398 (17 December 2025)
• 116,911 (30 December 2025)
• 112,221 (13 December 2025)
• 106,475 (27 December 2025)
• 100,291 (10 January 2025)
• 94,824 (12 December 2025)

The latest figure of 21.5 million is all the more staggering as more than half of those hits (11.5 million) have been within the past year, since 12 January 2025. The rise in the number of readers seems to have been phenomenal throughout last year, and the daily figures have been overwhelming at times. With this latest landmark figure of 21.5 million readers, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 21.5 million people look like?

• Where do we find 21.5 million people?

• What does £21.5 million, €21.5 million or $21.5 million mean?

• What would it buy? How far would it stretch? How much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?

Bicycles outside Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge … Steph Devery cycled 21,500 km (21.5 million metres) through 40 countries over 2 years and 7 months (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

An average 21.5 million people have been displaced each year since 2008 by weather-related disasters such as floods, storms, wildfires and extreme temperature. Thousands of others flee their homes in the context of slow-onset hazards, such as droughts or coastal erosion linked to sea level rise.

The number of climate refugees continues to rise, and the projections suggest potentially billions displaced by 2050. Scientists believe climate change, combined with other drivers, is going to increase the displacement of people in the future.

There were 21.5 million victims of a massive US government data breach in the OPM Hack in 2015. The Office of Personnel Management data breach exposed the sensitive information, including Social Security Numbers, of about 21.5 million individuals, including government applicants and their families, in one of the largest US cyberattacks.

21.5 million people in the UK, a large proportion of the population, need financial support. Royal London research late last year (2025) indicates 21.5 million people could benefit from ‘targeted support’ for accessible financial guidance, addressing unmet needs in retirement and savings.

The Moscow Metropolitan Area in Russia has around 21.5 million, making it Europe’s most populous metropolitan area. Cairo in Egypt also has 21.5 million people – depending on who’s counting – and it’s a growing, expanding megacity. São Paulo, the megacity of Brazil and the Americas, has 21.5 million people living in its metropolitan area.

The Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language with 21.5 million words is the largest and most comprehensive historical linguistic project. The 127-volume dictionary, published at the end of 2024, was the culmination of a seven-year project involving 500 researchers and 200 proof-readers, and covering 351,000 historical citations from 11,300 linguistic roots.

Donald Trump’s mansion on St Martin, Le Château des Palmiers, is a luxury beachfront estate on Plum Bay, bought in 2013. Trump’s mansion on the French Caribbean island had a price tag of £21.5 million, but after a tropical storm he reduced the selling price to £13 million. Le Château des Palmiers is still listed today and unsold, and it lingers as a lesson in how luxury, politics, and weather can undo even the most gilded portfolios.

The special counsel Robert Mueller filed additional charges against Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a business associate in 2018. The filing added allegations of tax evasion and increased the amount of money Manafort was accused of laundering through offshore accounts to £21.5 million ($30 million).

21.5 million metres is 21,500 km and 21.5 million sq m is 21,500 sq km.

Steph Devery set off from Gibraltar in June 2021 on a solo cycle tour through Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She became the first Australian woman to cycle through Saudi Arabia, she experienced war in Sudan and took shelter with a family for 10 days before she was evacuated by the French military, arriving in Paris without her bicycle or many of her possessions. But she was determined to continue. Her trip eventually took her to the very tip of Southern Africa at the Cape of Good Hope and a total distance of 21,500 km (21.5 million metres) through 40 countries over 2 years and 7 months.

The Peloponnese at the southern tip of the Greek mainland is 21,500 sq km (21.5 million sq m) in area and is the southernmost part of mainland Greece. The peninsula is connected to the rest of the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth. Its name, Πελοπόννησος, comes from the legend in which the hero Pelops conquered the region.

The Peloponnesian War was the great struggle between Athens and its maritime empire with Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnese between 431 BCE and 404 BCE. The archaeological sites I have visited in the Peloponnese include Olympia, Mycenae, Sparta, Mystras and Epidavros, and the cities and towns I have visited there or stayed in include Pyrgos, Corinth, Nafplion and Spárti.

The Greek War of Independence began in the Peloponnese when rebels took control of Kalamata on 23 March 1821. The Corinth Canal, finally completed in 1893, makes the Peloponnese an island, technically speaking.

The theatre in Epidavros … the Peloponnese extends to 21,500 sq km or 21.5 million sq metres (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

And 21.5 million minutes is approximately 14,931 days or 40.88 years. In other words, if this blog was getting one hit a minute, it would take almost 41 years to reach this 21.5 million mark.

So, yet again, this blog has reached another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once more I am left with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

Once again, a continuing and warming figure in the midst of all these statistics is the one that shows my morning prayer diary continues to reach up to 700-900 people each day.

It is almost four years now since I retired from active parish ministry, but I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 500 to 600 people or more each week.

Today, I am very grateful to all the 21.5 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I am grateful for the faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

The Menelaion Hotel in Spárti, where I stayed during a working visit to the Peloponnese, visiting Spárta, Mystras and Nafplion

A morning stroll in Gawcott near Buckingham, the birthplace and childhood home of Sir George Gilbert Scott

Gawcott is a small village in the Aylesbury Vale district, about 2.4 km south-west of Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

During my visits to Buckingham during these weeks, I have been noticing the way the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott has left a deep impression on the town, including his restoration of the parish church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the early workhouse that was eventually replaced by the hospital designed by his son, the architect John Oldrid Scott (1841-1913), and Scott’s advice that helped save Castle House in the 1830s.

Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) was a prolific Gothic Revival architect who worked mainly in the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started his career as a leading designer of workhouses.

Scott designed or altered over 800 buildings, including the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station, the Albert Memorial and the Foreign Office, Whitehall, in London; Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, and Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh; the Martyrs’ Memorial in Oxford; the workhouse in Lichfield, now the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital, and the restoration of Lichfield Cathedral (1855-1861 and 1877-1881).

Sir George Gilbert Scott was born in Gawcott in 1811 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Scott was born in Gawcott, about 2.4 km (1.5 miles) south-west of Buckingham, where his father, the Revd Thomas Scott (1780-1835), was the perpetual curate or vicar. Scott’s first work, built in 1833, was a vicarage for his father in Wappenham, Northamptonshire, and he went on to design several other buildings in the village.

Scott’s works can be seen throughout Britain, and so one morning this week I decided to walk out from Buckingham to Gawcott to see the village where he was born.

Gawcott is a small compact, rural village with a population of about 500 people in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, about 2.4 km (1.5 miles) south-west of Buckingham. It stands on elevated ground south of the Great Ouse and west of Claydon Brook, and is surrounded by beautiful countryside, making it a popular destination for walkers and cyclists.

The name of Gawcott comes from the Old English for ‘cottage for which rent is payable’. The Domesday Book in 1086 records the village as Chauescote or Gaukote. Other sources say the name comes from the old Norse word for the cuckoo, Gaukr (Gawk) and ‘cott’ for house, home or cottage.

The village was originally a farming community and remained so until the 19th century. The oldest parts of the village, which have remained largely unchanged over the years, extend principally along Main Street, Church Street and Back Street. Newer developments run off from Main Street and along the roads from Preston Bissett, Radclive, Hillesden and Buckingham.

The oldest parts of the village have remained largely unchanged over the years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Uncharacteristically for the area, the parish church, Holy Trinity Church, does not stand on a prominent site within the street scene, but is screened from view by surrounding buildings and a high hedgerow along the south side of Main Street.

Despite the small size of Gawcott, the almost continuous line of brick and stone buildings along Main Street gives Gawcott what some see as an urban character, distinguishing it from the rural feel of the surrounding villages, matched locally only by Great Horwood, five miles to the east.

The estate known as Prebend End Manor or Buckingham with Gawcott Manor, formed part of the endowment of Buckingham Church at the time of the Domesday Book. It remained largely unchanged until the Enclosure Acts when blocks of land were allocated to the Marquis of Buckingham and several farmers, including William Eagles. Old Eagles farmhouse remains today in Main Street.

The centre of the village consists of mainly two-storey terraced houses and cottages fronting directly onto the footpaths that run the length of Main Street. The majority of these buildings date from the 18th and 19th centuries in origin, and they are built mostly of brick, with some of roughcast and colour-washed. The few older 16th and 17th century properties are of rubble stone, some with newer brick facings.

Charlotte Cottage, beside the churchyard, dates from the mid or late 17th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The oldest parts of the village have remained largely unaltered, and extend mainly along Main Street, Church Street and Back Street. Post-war developments have taken place in Buckingham Road, Radclive Road, Old Barn Close and Hillside, in the north part of the village and also off New Inn Lane, Cow Lane and The Rise, at the west end of the village.

There is a collection of listed buildings close to the junction of Main Street and Radclive Road, particularly Red Lion House, Westcott House and Old Eagles Farmhouse. In all, Gawcott has 17 Grade I, Grade II* and Grade II buildings.

Charlotte Cottage, beside the churchyard, dates from the mid or late 17th century. Inside, this thatched cottage has spine beams and an open fireplace with a bressumer.

The White House, is a thatched cottage dating from the 17th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The White House, another thatched cottage that dates from the 17th century, with chamfered spine beams inside, and an open fireplace with and unusual bressumer, moulded and cambered with an incised head at the centre and other incised ornamentation.

Honeysuckle Cottage and Ediecote Cottage form a pair of cottages that date from the 18th century.

The Crown public house is a former inn that dates from the mid or late 17th century. It was re-fronted and extended ca 1800, altered and extended in the 20th century.

From the 1700s, as many as a quarter of the women in the village were involved in lacemaking, and Gawcott became known for its black lace. Lacemaking continued as a cottage industry throughout the 19th and into the 20th century.

The Gawcott Labourers’ Movement became national news in 1867 when they went on strike for higher pay. Subsequently, the Gawcott Sick and Benefit Club was formed and remnants of the club’s banner still exist.

The administrative Parish of Gawcott with Lenborough was established as a separate entity from Buckingham in 1982. The parish council owns the playing field at Lenborough Road, donated to the village by Richard Roper, with the extension later donated by the Faccenda family.

The Crown public house is a former inn dating from the mid or late 17th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today, Gawcott is a thriving community with a range of amenities including the village hall built in 1924, a primary school, a pub and a post office. The centre of the village and its buildings are protected by Conservation Area status established in 1990. Gawcott hosts several local events during the year, including a summer fete, a fireworks display and a Christmas market, and the local clubs and societies include a cricket club and a football club.

As for Sir George Gilbert Scott, his works in Buckinghamshire and neighbouring Northamptonshire include the extension and alterations at Buckingham Gaol; churches in Ashley, Buckingham, Flaunden, Hillesden, Northampton and Spratton; vicarages and rectories in Blakesley, Dinton, Wappenham and Weston Turville; and workhouses in Amersham, Buckingham, Hillesden, Kettering, Northampton, Oundle, Towcester and Winslow.

But more about Holy Trinity Church, built in 1827 by Scott’s father, the Revd Thomas Scott, tomorrow, hopefully.

Gawcott is surrounded by beautiful countryside and is a popular with walkers and cyclists (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (104) 9 September 2023

Winslow Tabernacle, the former Baptist Chapel off High Street in Winslow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIV, 10 September 2023). The calendar of the Church of England today (9 September 2023) remembers the life and witness of Charles Fuge Lowder, priest (1880).

Before today begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at a church on the route of the annual Ride + Stride, organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust and taking place today (9 September 2023);

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Keach’s Meeting House is tucked away in Bell Walk, Winslow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The annual Ride + Stride organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust takes place today, 9 September 2023. Participants may be cyclists, walkers, horse-riders or drivers of mobility scooters. They can be of any age, but under-13s must be accompanied by an adult. All denominations are welcome.

Participants may visit as many churches as they like, planning their own route, and are asked to seek sponsorship from friends, relations and colleagues: so much per church visited or a lump sum. https://ridestride.org/

Ride + Stride offers opportunities find out what lies behind the churchyard gates of Buckinghamshire’s many churches and chapels.

Ride + Stride is open to walkers as well as horse-riders and cyclists. It always takes place on the second Saturday of September, between 10 am and 6 pm, and aims to raise money for the repair and restoration of churches and chapels of any Christian denomination in Buckinghamshire.

Half the money raised goes to the church or chapel of the participant’s choice, and the other half is added to a general fund administered by the Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust.

Churches are encouraged to make applications to the trust for grants to help with church repairs and restoration. Last year’s Ride + Stride event raised more than £26,610. Last year, the trust awarded grants totalling £28,000 to 11 churches that applied for funding to assist with both major and minor works.

My photographs this week have been from some of the churches taking part in this year’s Ride + Stride today. Two of the participating churches are Keach’s Meeting House and the Baptist Tabernacle in Winslow, Buckinghamshire. My photographs this morning are of these two buildings, with some additional photographs of Saint Laurence’s Church, the Church of England parish church in Winslow.

The Revd JA Spurgeon opened the new Baptist chapel in Winslow in 1864 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 6: 1-5 (NRSVA):

6 One sabbath while Jesus was going through the cornfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ 3 Jesus answered, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?’ 5 Then he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’

Keach’s Meeting House is hidden behind fences and rich foliage in a back garden in Winslow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

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 ‘Harvest.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday. To find out more, visit www.uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (9 September 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

May God the Son, who fed the five thousand and turned water into wine, feed us with his life and transform us in his love.

Saint Laurence’s Church dates from Saxon times and dominates the west side of the High Street in Winslow, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our creator,
you feed your children with the true manna,
the living bread from heaven:
let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage
until we come to that place
where hunger and thirst are no more;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Inside Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow, facing the east end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

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

The East Window in Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow, is by Charles Eamer Kempe (1897); the reredos was painted by Cherie Rush in 2000 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (103) 8 September 2023

Saint Mary’s Church, Shenley Church End … part of the Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership in Milton Keynes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII, 3 September 2023). The calendar of the Church of England today (8 September 2023) celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Before today begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at a church on the route of the annual Ride + Stride, organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust and taking place tomorrow, 9 September 2023;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside Saint Mary’s Church, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Mary’s Church, Shenley Church End:

The annual Ride + Stride organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust takes place tomorrow, 9 September 2023. Participants may be cyclists, walkers, horse-riders or drivers of mobility scooters. They can be of any age, but under-13s must be accompanied by an adult. All denominations are welcome.

Participants may visit as many churches as they like, planning their own route, and are asked to seek sponsorship from friends, relations and colleagues: so much per church visited or a lump sum. https://ridestride.org/

Ride + Stride offers opportunities find out what lies behind the churchyard gates of Buckinghamshire’s many churches and chapels.

Ride + Stride is open to walkers as well as horse-riders and cyclists. It always takes place on the second Saturday of September, between 10 am and 6 pm, and aims to raise money for the repair and restoration of churches and chapels of any Christian denomination in Buckinghamshire.

Half the money raised goes to the church or chapel of the participant’s choice, and the other half is added to a general fund administered by the Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust.

Churches are encouraged to make applications to the trust for grants to help with church repairs and restoration. Last year’s Ride + Stride event raised more than £26,610. Last year, the trust awarded grants totalling £28,000 to 11 churches that applied for funding to assist with both major and minor works.

My photographs this week are from some of the churches taking part in this year’s Ride + Stride tomorrow. Today is the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and my photographs this morning of a participating church are of Saint Mary’s Church, Shenley Church End.

The parish belongs to the Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership, including Shenley Church End, Loughton, Tattenhoe, Two Mile Ash and Furzton. The church is Grade I listed.

The Revd Sharon Grenham-Thompson was the Lead Minister at Saint Mary’s until recently. The Revd Ruth Harley is the curate. Sunday Services are: 10 am Holy Communion, first and third Sundays; Morning Worship, second Sundays; All-Age service, fourth Sundays.

Inside Saint Mary’s Church, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 1: 1-16, 18-23 (NRSVA):

1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4 and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

which means, ‘God is with us.’

The chancel and nave in Saint Mary’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

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), is ‘Harvest.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday. To find out more, visit www.uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (8 September 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for the work, ministry and people of the Diocese of Kurunagala in Sri Lanka.

The Lady Chapel was arranged in its present form in 1909 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who stooped to raise fallen humanity
through the child–bearing of blessed Mary:
grant that we, who have seen your glory
revealed in our human nature
and your love made perfect in our weakness,
may daily be renewed in your image
and conformed to the pattern of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
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 most high,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The 15th century East Window includes re-glazed stained glass (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

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

The south porch in Saint Mary’s Church, Shenley Church End (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (102) 7 September 2023

The Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos, the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford, was once the Anglican parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin on London Road (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII, 3 September 2023).

Before today begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at a church on the route of the annual Ride + Stride, organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust and taking place next Saturday, 9 September 2023;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside the Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos, the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos (Greek Orthodox), Stony Stratford:

The annual Ride + Stride organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust takes place on Saturday 9 September 2023. Participants may be cyclists, walkers, horse-riders or drivers of mobility scooters. They can be of any age, but under-13s must be accompanied by an adult. All denominations are welcome.

Participants may visit as many churches as they like, planning their own route, and are asked to seek sponsorship from friends, relations and colleagues: so much per church visited or a lump sum. https://ridestride.org/

Ride + Stride offers opportunities find out what lies behind the churchyard gates of Buckinghamshire’s many churches and chapels.

Ride + Stride is open to walkers as well as horse-riders and cyclists. It always takes place on the second Saturday of September, between 10 am and 6 pm, and aims to raise money for the repair and restoration of churches and chapels of any Christian denomination in Buckinghamshire.

Half the money raised goes to the church or chapel of the participant’s choice, and the other half is added to a general fund administered by the Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust.

Churches are encouraged to make applications to the trust for grants to help with church repairs and restoration. Last year’s Ride + Stride event raised more than £26,610. Last year, the trust awarded grants totalling £28,000 to 11 churches that applied for funding to assist with both major and minor works.

My photographs this week are from some of the churches taking part in this year’s Ride + Stride next weekend. This morning’s photographs are of the Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos, the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford, which was once the Anglican parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin on London Road.

The church was designed in 1863-1865 in the Gothic style by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), a prolific architect of the Gothic Revival.

The iconostasis in the Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 5: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Candles burning in the church on a recent Sunday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayer:

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), is ‘Harvest.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday. To find out more, visit www.uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (7 September 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for harvests this year and next. That they will be bountiful and protected from the elements.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our creator,
you feed your children with the true manna,
the living bread from heaven:
let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage
until we come to that place
where hunger and thirst are no more;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Saint Joseph the Hesychast and Saint Paisios of Mount Athos … two icons in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

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

Icons on sale in the parish hall during the recent the recent Greek Festival (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (101) 6 September 2023

Saint Guthlac’s Church … between the Old Rectory and Passenham Manor (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII, 3 September 2023). Today (6 September 2023), the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life and witness of Allen Gardiner (1851), Missionary, Founder of the South American Mission Society.

Before today begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at a church on the route of the annual Ride + Stride, organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust and taking place next Saturday, 9 September 2023;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The east end of Saint Guthlac’s Church in the tiny Northamptonshire hamlet of Passenham, near Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Guthlac’s Church, Passenham, Northamptonshire:

The annual Ride + Stride organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust takes place on Saturday 9 September 2023. Participants may be cyclists, walkers, horse-riders or drivers of mobility scooters. They can be of any age, but under-13s must be accompanied by an adult. All denominations are welcome.

Participants may visit as many churches as they like, planning their own route, and are asked to seek sponsorship from friends, relations and colleagues: so much per church visited or a lump sum. https://ridestride.org/

Ride + Stride offers opportunities find out what lies behind the churchyard gates of Buckinghamshire’s many churches and chapels.

Ride + Stride is open to walkers as well as horse-riders and cyclists. It always takes place on the second Saturday of September, between 10 am and 6 pm, and aims to raise money for the repair and restoration of churches and chapels of any Christian denomination in Buckinghamshire.

Half the money raised goes to the church or chapel of the participant’s choice, and the other half is added to a general fund administered by the Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust.

Churches are encouraged to make applications to the trust for grants to help with church repairs and restoration. Last year’s Ride + Stride event raised more than £26,610. Last year, the trust awarded grants totalling £28,000 to 11 churches that applied for funding to assist with both major and minor works.

My photographs this week are from some of the churches taking part in this year’s Ride + Stride next weekend. Although Saint Guthlac’s Church, Passenham, is in Northamptonshire and in the Diocese of Peterborough, it is close to Stony Stratford and Milton Keynes and is one of the churches taking part in the Ride + Stride organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust on Saturday. So, my photographs this morning are of Saint Guthlac’s Church, Passenham.

The waggon roof in the chancel of Saint Guthlac’s Church was restored in the 1960s and painted in blue with golden stars (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 4: 38-44 (NRSVA):

38 After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. 39 Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.

40 As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. 41 Demons also came out of many, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah.

42 At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. 43 But he said to them, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’ 44 So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea.

Inside Saint Guthlac’s Church in Passenham … Sir Robert Banastre rebuilt the church in 1626 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

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), is ‘Harvest.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday. To find out more, visit www.uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (6 September 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Thank you, Lord, for volunteers. For the giving of their precious time to serve their communities.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our creator,
you feed your children with the true manna,
the living bread from heaven:
let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage
until we come to that place
where hunger and thirst are no more;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Inside Saint Guthlac’s Church, Passenham, facing the gallery and the west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

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

The choir stalls in Saint Guthlac’s Church date from 1628 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (100) 5 September 2023

The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Buckingham Parish Church, stands on Castle Hill in the centre of Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII, 3 September 2023).

Before the day begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at a church on the route of the annual Ride + Stride, organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust and taking place next Saturday, 9 September 2023;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Buckingham, facing the liturgical east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Buckingham:

The annual Ride + Stride organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust takes place next Saturday, 9 September 2023. Participants may be cyclists, walkers, horse-riders or drivers of mobility scooters. They can be of any age, but under-13s must be accompanied by an adult. All denominations are welcome.

Participants may visit as many churches as they like, planning their own route, and are asked to seek sponsorship from friends, relations and colleagues: so much per church visited or a lump sum. https://ridestride.org/

Ride + Stride offers opportunities find out what lies behind the churchyard gates of Buckinghamshire’s many churches and chapels.

Ride + Stride is open to walkers as well as horse-riders and cyclists. It always takes place on the second Saturday of September, between 10 am and 6 pm, and aims to raise money for the repair and restoration of churches and chapels of any Christian denomination in Buckinghamshire.

Half the money raised goes to the church or chapel of the participant’s choice, and the other half is added to a general fund administered by the Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust.

Churches are encouraged to make applications to the trust for grants to help with church repairs and restoration. Last year’s Ride + Stride event raised more than £26,610. Last year, the trust awarded grants totalling £28,000 to 11 churches that applied for funding to assist with both major and minor works.

My photographs this week are from some of the churches taking part in this year’s Ride + Stride next weekend. My photographs this morning are of Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, the parish church of Buckingham.

The screen and chancel in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 4: 31-37 (NRSVA):

31 He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. 32 They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 ‘Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. 36 They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, ‘What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!’ 37 And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.

The East Window depicts the canticle ‘Te Deum’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

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), is ‘Harvest.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday. To find out more, visit www.uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (5 September 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us give thanks for charities across the world, for all that they do to provide help and support. We thank God for generous hearts even in the toughest of circumstances.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our creator,
you feed your children with the true manna,
the living bread from heaven:
let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage
until we come to that place
where hunger and thirst are no more;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The oak reredos dating from 1904 is by John Oldrid Scott, and has painted panels of the Nativity and angels (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

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

Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the paired niches above the south porch (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (99) 4 September 2023

Saint Mary’s Church dominates the skyline of Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and yesterday was the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII, 3 September 2023). Today, the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life Birinus (650), Bishop of Dorchester (Oxfordshire) and Apostle of Wessex.

Before the day begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at a church on the route of the annual Ride + Stride, organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust and taking place next Saturday, 9 September 2023;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside Saint Mary’s Church, Aylesbury, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Mary’s Church, Aylesbury:

The annual Ride + Stride organised by Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust takes place next Saturday, 9 September 2023. Participants may be cyclists, walkers, horse-riders or drivers of mobility scooters. They can be of any age, but under-13s must be accompanied by an adult. All denominations are welcome.

Participants may visit as many churches as they like, planning their own route, and are asked to seek sponsorship from friends, relations and colleagues: so much per church visited or a lump sum. https://ridestride.org/

Ride + Stride offers opportunities find out what lies behind the churchyard gates of Buckinghamshire’s many churches and chapels.

Ride + Stride is open to walkers as well as horse-riders and cyclists. It always takes place on the second Saturday of September, between 10 am and 6 pm, and aims to raise money for the repair and restoration of churches and chapels of any Christian denomination in Buckinghamshire.

Half the money raised goes to the church or chapel of the participant’s choice, and the other half is added to a general fund administered by the Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust.

Churches are encouraged to make applications to the trust for grants to help with church repairs and restoration. Last year’s Ride + Stride event raised more than £26,610. Last year, the trust awarded grants totalling £28,000 to 11 churches that applied for funding to assist with both major and minor works.

My photographs this week are from some of the churches taking part in this year’s Ride + Stride next weekend. My photographs this morning are of Saint Mary’s Church in Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire.

The ‘Aylesbury Font’ at the west end of the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 4: 16-30 (NRSVA):

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ 23 He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum”.’ 24 And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

The Lady Chapel was built at the east end of the south transept in the 14th or 15th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

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), is ‘Harvest.’ This theme was introduced yesterday. To find out more, visit www.uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (4 September 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for food banks and food pantries across the UK and the world. For all who are forced to use them as they can’t afford the essentials. For the volunteers and those who donate and for churches and buildings that house the vital projects.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who called your Church to bear witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our creator,
you feed your children with the true manna,
the living bread from heaven:
let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage
until we come to that place
where hunger and thirst are no more;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Inside Saint Mary’s Church, Aylesbury, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s Reflection

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

The Great West Window by Michael O’Connor & Sons depicts Biblical scenes from Creation to the Prophets (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)