Patrick Comerford
Before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.
For the rest of this week, I am reflecting in these ways:
1, One of the readings for the morning;
2, A reflection based on six churches or church sites I visited in London last week;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’
Luke 13: 31-35 (NRSVA):
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ 32 He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”.’
The Guild Church of Saint Katharine Cree, Leadenhall Street:
The Guild Church of Saint Katharine Cree at 86 Leadenhall Street, London, is just a few minutes’ walk from Bank station. This was one of the few City churches to survive the Great Fire of London in 1666, and also survived the Blitz. Today, it is one of many City churches almost lost amid the modern architecture of finance and commerce.
Saint Katharine Cree is in the Aldgate ward, on the north side of Leadenhall Street. A parish served by the church existed by 1108, when it was served by the Augustinian Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, also called Christ Church, which was founded by Queen Maud in the reign of Henry I.
The parishioners used the priory church but was unsatisfactory and disrupted the life of the priory. The prior partly resolved the problem in 1280 by founding Saint Katharine Cree as a separate church for the parishioners.
The site of the present church was originally in the priory churchyard and the church may have first been a cemetery chapel. It took its name from the priory, the word ‘Cree’ being derived ‘Crichurch,’ an abbreviation of ‘Christ Church.’
The church was initially served by a canon appointed by the prior, but this was not satisfactory either. So, the church became a parish church in its own right in 1414. The present tower was added ca 1504.
The present church was built in 1628-1630, retaining the older Tudor tower. The imposing Jacobean architecture is unique in London. It is larger than the previous church, incorporating a piece of ground previously occupied by a cloister on the north side, and the floor level is considerably higher.
The rebuilt church was consecrated by William Laud, Bishop of London, on 31 January 1631. His vestments and the form of service he used for the consecration were later held against him in his trial and conviction for heresy, when Puritans accused him of displaying Catholic sympathies through his ‘bowings and cringing.’ He is commemorated by a chapel in the church.
This is the only Jacobean church to have survived in London. The identity of its architect is unknown. It has a high nave, linked with the narrow aisles by arcades supported on Corinthian columns. The church is 28 metres long and 16 metres wide; the height from the nave to the ceiling is 11 metres.
The rose window in the chancel is reputedly modelled on the much larger one in Old Saint Paul’s Cathedral, destroyed in the Great Fire. The window and its stained glass are original, dating from 1630. The baptismal font dates from ca 1640. The vaulted ceiling bears bosses of the arms of 16 of the City’s livery companies and of the City of London itself. Tradition says these companies used Saint Katharine Cree for a time after the Great Fire while their Guild Churches were being rebuilt.
Handel and Purcell both played the organ in the church, which retains some of its 17th-century pipework.
There is a monument to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, after whose family Throgmorton Street is named. By the south wall is a memorial to RMS Lancastria, a troopship sunk with a huge loss of life in 1940.
Saint Katharine’s has a ring of six bells. Lester and Pack of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast five of them including the treble bell in 1754. Thomas II Mears of Whitechapel cast the tenor bell in 1842. The clock has a bell, also cast by Lester and Pack in 1754. It is the only tower in the City where the bells are rung from a ground-floor ringing chamber.
The church suffered only minor damage in the London Blitz in World War II. However, structural problems required extensive restoration in 1962.
Saint Katharine Cree Church is a Grade I listed building and one of the City’s Guild churches. The church was designated a Guild Church – it does not have a parish – in 1952 and was asked by the Bishop of London to focus its ministry on workers, especially industrial workers and workers in the worlds of finance, commerce and industry.
The church welcomes all who are looking to deepen their connection with their community and with Jesus Christ. The ministry is rooted in a rhythm of prayer and worship, focusing on those who work in the City in precarious, low paid or ‘hidden’ occupations.
As a City church, the church continues to celebrate its historic connections and partnerships, including links with the Baltic Exchange and the shipping industry, the Aldgate Ward Club, and Lloyd’s Choir.
Alongside prayer and worship, the activities include English classes, employment advice opportunities, health and well-being activities, community meals, and connections between migrant and diaspora community groups, churches and service providers.
Father Josh Harris is the Priest-in-Charge of Saint Katharine Cree, and is responsible for worship and ministry in the church.
Father Angus Ritchie, the Assistant Priest, is the Executive Director of the Centre for Theology and Community (CTC). He leads the CTC Eastminster Chaplaincy Team, which is developing ministry among local workers, especially cleaners, construction workers and security staff, ‘so that Saint Katharine Cree can be a place for them to worship God, build community and challenge injustice.’
The Eucharist is celebrated at 9:30 am on Tuesday and Friday, there are Prayers at 1 pm on Tuesday, and a Bible Study and ‘bring-and-share’ lunch at 1 pm on Friday. The church is open for prayer and reflection during the week at lunchtimes on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Today’s Prayer (Thursday 27 October 2022):
The Collect:
Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
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 all grace,
your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry
with the bread of his life
and the word of his kingdom:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your true and living bread;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘Theology in Korea.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.
The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:
Let us pray for the growth of open and inclusive environments for theological discussion.
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
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