08 September 2023

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)

Finding a new favourite
bookshop at Blackwell’s
in Oxford, with Europe’s
largest book selling area

Blackwell’s in Oxford has the largest single room devoted to book sales in Europe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

I have spent a day in Oxford once again, having lunch with a friend who is working on a PhD in mission and theology.

One of the delights of a day wandering around Oxford is having time to indulge myself browsing in the bookshops – and I have even found a new favourite bookshop in Oxford. Milton Keynes has its own Waterstones outlet, but there is no proper bookshop in Stony Stratford, so browsing along the shelves of Blackwell’s has been one of the real pleasures of spending a day in Oxford.

Every academic values Blackwell’s imprint as a publisher of books and journals. But in recent months I have delighted in getting to know Blackwell’s on Broad Street. The way this shop has become a tourist attraction in its own right is comparable with Livraria Lello in Porto, said by many to be one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world.

Blackwell’s in Oxford may not have the Harry Potter links, but it is beautiful in its own right, and it too has its own architectural quirks, with the largest single room devoted to book sales in Europe, the cavernous Norrington Room that covers a floor area of 10,000 sq ft.

There are good bookshops in every university town. In Cambridge, I have known and enjoyed Heffers, David’s and the Cambridge University Bookshop for many years, and I miss the bookshops near Trinity College Dublin, especially in Dawon Street.

Sadly, Oxford University Bookshop closed its bookshop on Oxford’s High Street last year. So, it has been a particular delight in recent weeks to get to know Blackwell’s on Broad Street.

In truth, Blackwell’s is not just one Oxford bookshop, but nine. The main shop at 48-51 Broad Street is the largest, holding 250,000 volumes. But there are also specialised shops for art, music, rare books, paperbacks, maps and travel, medicine, children’s books, and a university bookshop. The main shop also has a large used books section, essential to any true bibliophile.

Benjamin Henry Blackwell first opened his shop in 1879 in a tiny building at 50 Broad Street that is now the main shop. Blackwell was a son of Benjamin Harris Blackwell, the first city librarian. He finished his education at 13, and was apprenticed to a local bookseller.

That first shop measured only 12 ft sq, and stocked just 700 used books. But it quickly grew to incorporate the upstairs, cellar and neighbouring shops. Benjamin Henry Blackwell was well respected in Oxford and was the first Liberal councillor for Oxford North.

The first Blackwell publication in 1897 was Mensæ Secundæ, verses by HC Beeching written in Balliol College. Blackwell’s began the careers of many writers, including JRR Tolkien’s first poem, ‘Goblin’s Feet’ (1915). Since the 1920s, Blackwell’s has also published its own textbooks, medical texts, and periodicals.

When Benjamin Henry Blackwell died in 1924, Basil Blackwell took over from his father, and went on to head the company for decades. Blackwell’s catered exclusively to the academic market and gradually opened new shops in university towns around the land. Blackwell’s has become the largest academic and specialist bookseller in Britain and one of the most famous booksellers in the world.

The Norrington Room, with three miles of shelving and covering 10,000 sq ft is the largest single room selling books (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Since the 1990s, the company has followed a determined policy to spread out from its Oxford base and to find a much broader presence throughout the UK.

In 1995, Blackwell’s became the first bookshop in the UK to allow customers to buy online from a catalogue of over 150,000 titles. That same year, it opened a flagship shop in London at 100 Charing Cross Road, which is now one of the company’s six most prominent shops.

Blackwell’s took over the Heffers bookshops in Cambridge in 1999, and acquired the academic bookshops of James Thin in Scotland in 2002. The group were also publishers, and under the Blackwell imprint published more than 800 journals when it was sold to John Wiley & Sons in 2007 to form Wiley-Blackwell.

There was a public dispute in the Blackwell family in 2002, though family members continued running the company until 2022, when the book chain Waterstones bought Blackwell’s. Today, the Blackwell brand has a chain of 18 shops, an accounts and library supply service, and employs around 1,000 staff.

But the very fact that Blackwell’s has managed over the years to keep on expanding in Oxford when the city is so short of space is an amazing feat in itself.

The Norrington Room, opened in 1966, was named after Sir Arthur Norrington, the President of Trinity College. It boasts three miles (5 km) of shelving and, at 10,000 sq ft (930 sq metres) is said by the Guinness Book of Records to be the largest single room selling books.

Blackwell’s managed to create enough space for the Norrington Room simply by excavating under the Gardens of neighbouring Trinity College. So while I was peruse endless miles of bookshelves underground this afternoon, Trinity students were walking around above.

Despite all these changes and expansions, the White Horse has managed to survive as a traditional pub on Broad Street, squeezed in between the façades of Blackwell’s. It is one of Oxford’s oldest pubs, and dates from the 16th century. It has appeared several times in the Inspector Morse series, and it remains an inviting place to sip a cold drink on these record-breaking warm, sunny September afternoons.

Benjamin Henry Blackwell first opened his shop in 1879 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)