Daily prayer in Lent with early English saints: 38, 22 March 2024, Saint Gilbert of Sempringham

The seal of the Master of Sempringham, depicting Saint Gilbert

Patrick Comerford

Passiontide – the last two weeks of Lent – began last Sunday, the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), also known as Passion Sunday (17 March 2024).

Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in Common Worship.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks for life and love, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

When Saint Gilbert died in 1189 at the age of 106, there were nine double monasteries in England

Early English pre-Reformation saints: 38, Saint Gilbert of Sempringham

Saint Gilbert of Sempringham (1189), founder of Gilbertine Order, is remembered in Common Worship on 4 February.

Gilbert was born in 1083 in Sempringham, near Bourne, in Lincolnshire, the son of the squire, and became the parish priest in 1131. He encouraged the vocation of seven women of the town and formed them into a company of lay sisters. A group of lay brothers was also formed and they all kept the Benedictine Rule.

Gilbert was unsuccessful in his bid to obtain pastoral guidance from Cîteaux for the incipient communities and they came under the ambit of Augustinian canons, with Gilbert becoming the Master.

At Gilbert’s death in 1189, aged 106, there were nine double monasteries in England and four of male canons only. It was the only purely English monastic foundation before the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century.

Saint Gilbert of Sempringham depicted at Brothertoft, near Boston, Lincolnshire (Photograph: Dave Hitchborne / CC BY-SA 2.0

John 10: 31-42 (NRSVA):

31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus replied, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’ 33 The Jews answered, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’ 34 Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? 35 If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods” – and the scripture cannot be annulled – 36 can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’ 39 Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. 40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. 41 Many came to him, and they were saying, ‘John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ 42 And many believed in him there.

The Gothic ruins of 18th century Saint Andrew’s Church, on the site of a 13th century Gilbertine church (1205-1215) in Bishopthorpe, near York (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 22 March 2024):

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 ‘Lent Reflection: True repentance is the key to Christian Freedom.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Dr Simon Ro, Dean of Graduate School of Theology at Sungkonghoe (Anglican) University, Seoul, Korea.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (22 March 2024, World Water Day) invites us to pray in these words:

Oh Lord, giver of all. We pray for fresh, clean water for all people around the world. Guide us to use your water wisely and well, ensuring that all your creation can share in your provision.

The Collect:

Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
through Jesus Christ your Son 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:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us
that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters
we do also for you:
give us the will to be the servant of others
as you were the servant of all,
and gave up your life and died for us,
but are alive and reign, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday: Saint Thomas Becket

Tomorrow: Saint Hugh of Lincoln

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 Mary’s Church in Woughton-on-the-Green, a mediaeval church with an ecumenical partnership

Saint Mary’s Church, beside the Village Green in Woughton-on-the-Green (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

After our visit to Milton Keynes University Hospital earlier this week to mark the second anniversary of my stroke (19 March), Charlotte and I went to the nearby village of Woughton-on-the-Green, to the east of the hospital, for lunch in Ye Olde Swan, to walk around the mediaeval village, and to see Saint Mary’s Church, beside the Village Green.

Woughton-on-the-Green was listed in the Domesday Book in 1086. Fifty years ago, the village had a population of 100; today, the parish has a population of 28,000, and is part of the city of Milton Keynes. The civil parish of Old Woughton in south central Milton Keynes was established in 2012 by the division into two parts of Woughton parish. The undivided civil parish was itself originally called Woughton-on-the-Green.

Saint Mary’s Church dates from the 13th century, if not earlier, and the entrance to the churchyard is through a Victorian lychgate, which is also a war memorial to villagers who died in World War I.

The Victorian lychgate is a war memorial to villagers who died in World War I (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The formal mediaeval dedication of Saint Mary’s is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The church includes a chancel (38 ft by 17 ft), north vestry, south organ chamber, nave (46 ft 6 in by 19 ft), south aisle (9 ft 6 in wide), west tower 10 ft square, and south porch. The north vestry and south organ chamber are modern additions.

The parish church has 11th century pillars but was built mainly in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, and it was restored in the 19th century. It is built of coursed limestone. The nave and aisle were built in the 13th and 14th centuries, the 15th century 60 ft west tower is embattled and has three stages, and the porch dates from the 19th century. The north vestry was added in 1867 and the organ chamber in 1891.

The 14th century south porch has an outer archway with chamfered jambs that have half-octagonal pilasters and moulded capitals but no bases. An empty image niche over the arch has with a trefoil-shaped head, and at the sides are square openings with two lights with trefoil-shaped heads.

The 14th century south porch has an outer archway and an empty image niche over the arch (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Inside, the church has are a single arcade of four bays with piers of clustered shafts and plain moulded capitals, a chancel arch, a 13th century tub-shaped font that – said by some sources to have Saxon origins – with a Victorian wooden counter-weighted cover, and traceried windows. There is a 14th or 15th century piscina with a cinquefoil-shaped head.

The south aisle has a rood stairs with upper and lower doors, and the lower door has a carved decoration above. The present rood screen and the pulpit are Victorian.

The so-called Monkston tomb is in an ogee-headed recess in the chancel and probably dates from the 14th century. The recumbent effigy is of a priest in mass vestments, with his feet resting on an animal, and it lies on a slab raised above the floor with a panelled front of tracery.

The Buckinghamshire antiquarian Browne Willis (1682-1760) was mistaken when he identified the figure with William de Mokelestone, at one time lord of the manor in Woughton, but who may have given his name to Monxton's Bridge, linking the parishes of Walton and Woughton.

The church also has many memorial tablets, particularly to past vicars.

The tower has six bells in the chamber, the earliest dating from 1743.

The 15th century 60 ft west tower is embattled and has three stages (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The church was extended in the 19th century, adding the north porch and organ loft. The church was re-ordered in 1974, in the early days of Milton Keynes. Although this involved removing traditional church furnishings, the church has tried to adapt to the needs of a modern congregation it serves.

The churchyard includes the graves of many village families, including the Levi family who lived next door in what is now the Parkside Hotel. A ridged coffin lid in the churchyard has remains of an incised cross from the 13th or 14th century.

As Milton Keynes continues to grow, Saint Mary’s Church has seen many changes and has been adapting to the needs created by urban expansion.

A gravestone in the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Woughton Ecumenical Partnership consists of five churches south of central Milton Keynes: Saint Mary’s Church, Woughton-on-the-Green; Christ the Vine Community Church, Coffee Hall; Saint Thomas’s Church, Simpson; Trinity Church, Fishermead; and Holy Trinity Church, Woolstone.

Woughton is an Ecumenical Parish, combining Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed churches. It includes Woughton, Woolstones, Coffee Hall, Leadenhall, Simpson, Ashland, Tinkers Bridge, Netherfield and Beanhill, and also draws in people from other parts of Milton Keynes.

The ministry team includes: the Revd Ian Herbert (Church of England), the Revd Nicola Vidamour (Methodist), the Revd Charmaine Howard (Baptist) and the Revd Paul Norris (Church of England).

The regular Sunday services in Saint Mary’s are at 10 am, and include Café Style Worship and Junior Church (first Sunday), Ecumenical Communion and Junior Church (second Sunday), Worship and the Word with band and Junior Church (third and fifth Sunday) and Traditional Holy Communion and Junior Church (fourth Sunday). In addition, there is a traditional said Holy Communion at 8:30 am on the first Sunday.

The east end of Saint Mary’s Church … the formal mediaeval dedication is the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)