Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 54, Wednesday 2 July 2025

‘Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them’ (Matthew 8: 30) … sculptures of pigs throughout Tamworth celebrate the political achievements of Sir Robert Peel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 29 June 2025) and the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Two demoniacs coming out of the tombs met him’ (Matthew 8: 28) … in the graveyard between Koutouloufari and Piskopiano in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 8: 28-34 (NRSVA):

28 When he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs coming out of the tombs met him. They were so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, ‘What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’ 30 Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them. 31 The demons begged him, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.’ 32 And he said to them, ‘Go!’ So they came out and entered the swine; and suddenly, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and perished in the water. 33 The swineherds ran off, and on going into the town, they told the whole story about what had happened to the demoniacs. 34 Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighbourhood.

A cartoonist’s take on the pigs in the Gospel accounts of the herd of swine the swine who rush down the steep bank into the lake

Today’s Reflection:

This morning’s reading at the Eucharist (Matthew 8: 28-34) comes after yesterday’s account of Christ calming the storm as he and the disciples are in a boat crossing the lake or sea. In today’s reading, they arrive at the other side, where Jesus heals the Gadarene demoniacs.

This story appears in all three synoptic Gospels: Matthew 8: 28-34; Mark 5: 1-20; and Luke 8: 26-39, and we read Saint Luke’s account the Sunday before last (22 June 2025, Trinity I, see HERE).

After Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee, he and his disciples arrive on the other side of the lake in the countryside surrounding Gerasa, present-day Jerash. This city, also known as Antioch on the Chrysorrhoas or the Golden River, was founded by Alexander the Great. It is 50 km south-east of the Sea of Galilee and 30 km north of Philadelphia, modern-day Amman.

However, Saint Matthew sets this story in Gadara (present-day Umm Qais), about 10 km from the coast of the Sea of Galilee. Either location poses questions, for neither Gadara nor Gerasa is near to the coast of the Sea of Galilee: Gadara was about a three-hour walking distance, while Gerasa was well over twice that distance.

The differing geographical references to Gadara and Gerasa can be understood in light of the social, economic, and political influence each city exerted over the region. In this light, Saint Matthew identifies the exorcism with Gadara as the local centre of power, while the city of Gerasa was a major urban centre and one of the ten cities of the Decapolis.

Whatever the location and setting of this story, it takes place deep inside Gentile territory. From the very moment they get off the boat, this story involves a place and people regarded as unclean by the standards among the disciples: this is Gentile territory, the people are ritually ‘unclean,’ the two men have unclean spirits, they men of visible and public shame living among the tombs, which are ritually unclean, and the pigs are unclean too.

Prisoners or people who had been deprived of their liberty lost the right to wear clothes. Tombs were ritually unclean places. Swine were a symbol of pagan religion and of Roman rule, but even they are subject to Christ’s authority.

This episode plays a key role in the theory of the ‘Scapegoat’ put forward by the French literary critic René Girard (1923-2015). In his analysis, the opposition of the entire city to the two men possessed by demons is the typical template for a scapegoat.

Which is more self-destructive:

the tormented lives of two demoniacs living among the tombs?

the herd of pigs rushing headlong over the precipice to certain drowning in the lake?

the swineherds who abandon their herd and rush back into the town?

the townspeople who placed all their collective guilt on these two men and forced them to live on the edges of the town or the margins of society?

or the people of the town when they demand that Jesus should leave immediately?

And we might ask ourselves this morning:

Who do you think we see as scapegoats today, as outsiders to be pushed to the margins, so that we can maintain the purity of our family, church or society?

Who do we expose and shame so that we can maintain the appearance of our own purity?

Are these the very people who might bring the good news to people on the margins, inviting them into the household of God?

‘Now a large herd of swine was feeding at some distance from them’ (Matthew 8: 30) … free-range pigs grazing in fields at Packington Farm, between Lichfield and Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 2 July 2025):

I am sorry to miss the USPG Annual Conference which takes place over three days this week at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. The theme of the conference this year is ‘We Believe, We Belong?’ and centres around the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (AD 325). Updates of the conference as it happens are available by following USPG on social media @USPGglobal.’

‘We Believe, We Belong?’ is the theme this week (29 June to 5 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Wednesday 2 July 2025) invites us to pray:

We thank you, Lord, for the USPG trustees and Communion-Wide Advisory Group – may their wisdom and experience continue to guide the work of USPG.

The Collect:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Saint Thomas:

Almighty and eternal God,
who, fothe firmer foundation of our faith,
allowed your holy apostle Thomas
to doubt the resurrection of your Son
till word and sight convinced him:
grant to us, who have not seen, that we also may believe
and so confess Christ as our Lord and our God;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Night settles on the Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick in Derbyshire … the venue for the USPG conference this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daisy Stuart Shaw, pioneering woman in Lichfield life and politics, is celebrated with a plaque at her former home

The new plaque at 8 Bore Street, celebrating Daisy Stuart Shaw, Lichfield’s first woman mayor (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

It is always good to see new plaques or ways of commemorating pioneering people who have made an impact on public and social life in Lichfield. When I was in Lichfield a few months ago, I had noticed the name of Daisy Stuart Shaw on the Friary Clock Tower. A few days later, a plaque honouring her was unveiled at the house on Bore Street where she lived 100 years ago.

So, it was interesting last week the see the plaque that was unveiled recently at No 8 Bore Street, to honour this pioneering and forward-thinking woman.

Daisy Stuart Shaw (1861-1955) was the wife of Dr Thomas David Stuart Shaw, a Lichfield GP. She was the first woman councillor to sit on Lichfield City Council (1919), the first woman to become Mayor of Lichfield (1927-1928) and the first woman to become an Alderman of the city.

Daisy Stuart Shaw was born Daisy Ramsay in Edinburgh in 1861. She had been a nurse before she married Dr Thomas David Stuart Shaw, a general practitioner. The couple moved from Gloucester to Lichfield 120 years ago in 1905 when her husband took over the practice of Dr Welchman, a medical practice in Bore Street that dated back to the 1850s.

No 8 Bore Street … Daisy and Thomas Stuart Shaw moved to Lichfield in 1905 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

In Lichfield, Daisy became involved in working with the Victoria Cottage Hospital, which had opened on Sandford Street in 1889. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Freeford Manor, the home of the Dyott family near Lichfield, became a military hospital for soldiers wounded in action. Daisy worked there as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Red Cross nurse, looking after wounded soldiers.

In the last year of World War I, an act was passed in 1918 giving women the vote for the first time. The Act came after almost 30 years of campaigning, but was also a response to the women who had worked throughout the war in factories, farms and businesses. Thousands of men who had previously been disenfranchised, mainly because they were not house owners, were also given the vote.

Daisy Stuart Shaw became the first woman member of Lichfield City Council the following year when she was elected a councillor for the South Ward in November 1919. She was re-elected in 1923 and was a councillor for over 20 years. She took a particular interest in the rights of women, particularly women who were widows or on low incomes, in the welfare of children, and in housing reform.

Both Daisy and Thomas Stuart Shaw continued to be actively involved in the Victoria Cottage Hospital in the inter-war years. By the 1920s, the hospital on Sandford Street had become too small to meet the needs of an growing number of patients and the couple were involved in fundraising efforts to build a new, purpose-built, hospital on land off The Friary, on the other side of the Bowling Green public house.

Thomas provided his medical services to the new hospital voluntarily and they both dedicated many hours of their own time and funds, ensuring the success the new hospital in the days long before the National Health Service.

Meanwhile, Daisy was the first woman to become the Mayor of Lichfield, holding office in 1927-1928. As Mayor, she took part in the official reopening of the Clock Tower on The Friary in 1928, after it had been relocated, brick by brick, from its original location on the junction of Bore Street, Saint John Street and Bird Street. While Daisy was Mayor of Lichfield, the Sheriff of Lichfield in 1927-1928 was Joseph Henry Bridgeman, the son of Robert Bridgeman, the noted stonemason and wood carver, whose premises were on Quonians Lane, off Dam Street.

Daisy Stuart Shaw was Mayor of Lichfield when the Clock Tower was moved a new location in 1928 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Ten years later, Daisy was honoured when she became the first woman to be made an alderman of Lichfield by Lichfield City Council in 1938 in recognition of her long service and dedication, and for her tireless voluntary work in and around the city.

After almost 40 years in Lichfield, the Stuart Shaws retired in 1945 and moved away from their adopted city. The general committee of the Victoria Hospital made a presentation to them, recognising their ‘outstanding services of a public and charitable nature’.

Daisy died in 1955 in Castle Douglas in her native Scotland. Her widowed husband died in 1960.

After more than half a century, Daisy Stuart Shaw’s commemoration was championed by the city council chair, Councillor Ann Hughes, who said she ‘learned about Daisy through the Wayward Women history group which set up plaques temporarily across the city in 2021.’ Her story has also been told by local historian and tour guide Jonathan Oates in the local magazine CityLife in Lichfield and on social media platforms.

A blue plaque celebrating Daisy’s life and contribution was installed at 8 Bore Street, her former home, earlier this year. It was unveiled on 7 March at a ceremony that also marked International Women’s Day and that included the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Claire Pinder-Smith, and the town crier, Adrian Holmes.

Daisy Stuart Shaw was the first woman councillor, first woman mayor and first woman alderman in Lichfield (Photograph courtesy of the Saint Mary’s Lichfield Photographic Collection, via Jonathan Oates)

Sources/Further Reading:

Jono Oates, ‘Daisy Stuart Shaw’, Lichfield’s First Lady,’ CityLife in Lichfield, March 2025, p 47

(Professor) Janet Hunt, Staffordshire’s War: Voices of the First World War (Amberley, 2017)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 53, Tuesday 1 July 2025

‘And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him’ (Matthew 8: 35) … waiting gondolas near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 29 June 2025) and the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, so that these days are sometimes known as Petertide.

Today also brings us into the second half of the year. The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Henry Venn (1797), John Venn (1813), and Henry Venn the younger (1873), priests and evangelical divines. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The calming of the storm depicted in a window in the Chapel in Westminster College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Matthew 8: 23-27 (NRSVA):

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ 26 And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. 27 They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’

On the water at Bako National Park, north of Kuching in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

This morning’s reading at the Eucharist (Matthew 8: 23-27) comes after yesterday’s account (Matthew 8: 18-22) of the crowds following Jesus being so great that he tried to get away to the other side of the lake. Now in this morning’s reading, Christ and the disciples are leaving the crowd and crossing to the other side of the lake or sea. But a storm blows up, and the disciples show how weak they truly are, with all their doubts and fears.

As we work our ways through the storms of life, we have many questions to ask about the purpose or meaning of life. Often, we can feel guilty about putting those questions to God. Yet, should we not be able to put our deepest questions and greatest fears before God?

In this Gospel reading, the frightened disciples challenge Christ and ask him whether he cares that they are perishing (verse 25). But he offers them words of peace before doing anything to remedy the plight in which they have been caught, and goes on to ask them his own challenging questions: ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ (verses 26). They, in turn, end up asking their own challenging question about who Christ is for them.

I enjoy being on boats, whether it is on punts in Cambridge or Oxford, island hopping in Greece, or cruising on rivers from the Shannon to the Seine or Sarawak. But I also recognise the fears of the disciples in this reading, having found myself in unexpected storms on lakes on the Shannon and on the waters of the Mediterranean. In retrospect, they were minor storms each time, but those memories give me some insights into the plight of refugees crossing choppy waters every day in the English Channel and in the Mediterranean.

The plight of the disciples in this reading seems like the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type many of us experience at different stages: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

Christ is asleep in the boat when a great gale rises, the waves beat the side of the boat, and it is soon swamped by the waters. He seems oblivious to the calamity that is unfolding around him and to the fear of the disciples. They have to wake him, and by then they fear they are perishing.

Christ wakes, rebukes the wind, calm descends on the sea, but still Christ challenges those on the boat: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’

Instead of being calmed, they are now filled with awe. Do they recognise Christ for who he truly is? They ask one another: ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ (verse 27). Even before the Resurrection, Christ tells the disciples not to be afraid, which becomes a constant theme after the Resurrection.

Do those in the boat begin to ask truly who Christ is because he has calmed the storm, or because he has calmed their fears?

Through the storms of life, through the nightmares, fears and memories, despite the failures of the Church, past and present, we must not let those experiences to ruin our trusting relationship with God. Despite all the storms of life, throughout all our fears and nightmares, we can trust in God as Father and trust in the calm presence words of Christ among us.

‘Then … there was a dead calm’ (Matthew 8: 26) … boats in the calm waters at Mesongi on the island of Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 1 July 2025):

I am sorry to miss the USPG Annual Conference which takes place over three days this week at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. The theme of the conference this year is ‘We Believe, We Belong?’ and centres around the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (AD 325). Updates of the conference as it happens are available by following USPG on social media @USPGglobal.’

‘We Believe, We Belong?’ is the theme this week (29 June to 5 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Tuesday 1 July 2025) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the first day of the conference. We pray particularly that you will use the speakers to inspire and encourage all to grow in your likeness.

The Collect:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

The Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick in Derbyshire … the venue for the USPG conference this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.