Praying in Lent and Easter 2021: 32, The Chapel, USPG office

Inside the chapel in the USPG offices near Southwark Cathedral in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

During Lent and Easter this year, I am taking some time each morning to reflect in these ways:

1, a photograph of a church or place of worship that has been significant in my spiritual life;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).

This week I am offering photographs from seven churches that have shaped and influenced my spirituality.

My photographs this morning (20 March 2021) are from the chapel in the offices of USPG at Trinity Street, close to Southwark Cathedral. USPG moved to these new premises in 2019, and USPG’s unique stained-glass windows of four pioneering missionary bishops were put in place in the USPG chapel last year after a year in storage.

These windows date from the 250th anniversary of SPG (now USPG) in 1951. The bishops depicted in the windows are: Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Vedanayakam Samuel Azariah, Tsae-seng Sing, and Joseph Sakunoshin Motoda. These windows have brought the chapel to life, with their bright colours and their sense of history.

USPG was founded in 1701 and I have been a supporter of USPG throughout my adult life. But my six-year term as a Trustee of USPG comes to an end this summer. I shall miss the friendships that have grown over these years, and the inspiration I have drawn from fellow trustees, staff members, and other people linked with USPG. However, I hope many of these friendships continue to grow, and that I can continue to take part in the USPG conferences each year in High Leigh, near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, and in Swanwick in Derbyshire.

John 7: 40-52 (NRSVA):

40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ 41 Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? 42 Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ 43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ 46 The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ 47 Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? 48 Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 51 ‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ 52 They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (20 March 2021) prays:

Let us give thanks to God for all those who devote their lives to seeking a fairer world in which all are treated equally and with dignity.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Four missionary bishops on four windows in the USPG chapel in Trinity Street, near Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020; click on image for full-screen view)

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

Turning the hearts of parents to children and of children to parents

Patrick Comerford

This year, Pesach – the Great Jewish Festival of Passover – begins at sunset on Saturday evening next week (27 March 2021). Each Shabbat in the weeks immediately before Passover has a special name, and the Shabbat beginning at sunset next Friday evening (26 March 2021) is known as Shabbat haGadol (שבת הגדול), the ‘Great Sabbath,’ for many reasons.

Many special customs are associated with this Shabbat. The people celebrated the very first Shabbat haGadol in Egypt on the Tenth of Nissan, five days before their redemption. On that day, they received the first commandment that applied only to that Shabbat, but not to future generations, ‘on the tenth of this month [Nissan] they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household’ (Exodus 12: 3).

This mitzvah of preparing a lamb for the Passover offering four days before it was to be brought, applied only to that first Passover in Egypt. The Torah does not say that this must continue before every future Passover. Nevertheless, the people continued to do this to make sure that their lambs had no blemishes that would preclude their being sacrificed.

The Egyptians, for whom the lamb was a deity, were aware that the people observed Shabbat and did not busy themselves tending animals on that day. So, they were surprised and decided to investigate what was happening.

They answered, ‘It is to be slaughtered as a Passover sacrifice as God has commanded us.’

The Jewish Sages said, ‘Even an ignorant man will not tell lies on Shabbat.’ The Egyptians were angry but did not say anything in protest.

It is also said that 40 years later Miriam died on Shabbat haGadol and that the well that accompanied the people and provided them with water in the wilderness, disappeared.

Many communities sing special hymns at the morning services on Shabbat haGadol. The main theme of these hymns is the laws of Passover, presented in verse form to make it easy for people to become familiar with the laws of the festival

Part of the Passover Haggadah is read on Shabbat haGadol, beginning at the paragraph that opens with the words ‘We were slaves’ and continuing until the words, ‘to atone for all of our sins.’ One reason for this is that the redemption began on Shabbat haGadol. Another reason is so children become familiar with the contents of the Haggadah. Yet another explanation is that the reading from the Haggadah on Shabbat haGadol is like a rehearsal for the Seder night, and allows people to become more familiar with the text.

In some Sephardic communities, it is customary to greet each other on this Shabbat to adding the title of the day: ‘Shabbat haGadol mevorach, a blessed Shabbat haGadol.’

It is a custom in some communities on the day before Shabbat haGadol to bake a small quantity of bread from the flour that has been reserved for making the matzot. This bread is referred to as the ‘challah of the poor’ or the ‘synagogue challah,’ and it is distributed to the poor in the community. The wealthy prepare a large quantity of this special challah, and those less well-off prepare a smaller quantity.

Traditionally, a lengthy and expansive sermon is given to the general community in the afternoon. There is a special Haftarah reading on this Shabbat from the Book of Malachi: ‘Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents …’ (Malachi 4: 5-6).

Shabbat haGadol mevorach

Shabbat haGadol begins at sunset next Friday evening, and Passover begins at sunset on Saturday evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)