Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week leads us into Kingdom-time or the Kingdom Season. This week began with the Last Sunday after Trinity (26 October 2025). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship and Exciting Holiness today remembers James Hannington (1847-1885), Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda.
Later this evening, I hope to be part of the choir rehearsals in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. But, before the day begins, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, 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.
Luke 13: 22-30 (NRSVA):
22 Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few be saved?’ He said to them, 24 ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”, then in reply he will say to you, “I do not know where you come from.” 26 Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” 27 But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!” 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. 29 Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’
Today’s Reflection:
Our flats in Stony Stratford and in Kuching, like my flat on High Street in Wexford in the 1970s, are reached through a narrow door and up narrow steep stairs. And we are so high up above the street, that sometimes we cannot hear someone knocking on the doors or the people in the streets below.
How often in life do we want to be the first ones in the door, to be in the ‘in-gang’, to be picked for the first team, or to have the best seats.
I never made it to the first team in sports at school, perhaps to the disappointment of my parents, and to the reluctant acceptance of my teachers, who always told me I never reached my potential, either academically or athletically.
That still did not stop from enjoying sports later in life. I tried valiantly, but failed to tog out for Wexford Wanderers when I was in my early 20s, and I still tried to play cricket with a team from the Irish Times when I was in my early 40s, but was mercifully bowled out immediately.
My experiences at trying to play cricket in middle age reminded me of an old postcard I once saw in Cambridge: being bowled out at an early stage allowed me to enjoy watching the rest of a game.
I still remember my father trying to teach me to row when I was 15. But I was too late in years when I got to study at Cambridge, nor was I there long enough, to think about taking up rowing.
But that does not dull my enthusiasm for rugby, soccer, cricket and rowing.
It sounds glib to say now, but it should never be about winning, but about taking part, and how we take part, whether it is with enthusiasm and honesty on one hand, or, on the other, half-heartedly or, even worse, determined to win at the expense of others who deserve recognition.
The saying ‘It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game’ is often attributed to the American sportsman and coach Grantland Rice (1880-1954), who was a highly regarded sports writer who was known for his eloquent and philosophical approach to sports journalism.
Rice emphasised the importance of integrity, sportsmanship, and character over mere victory.
Winners get the medals and get to write biographies that are published. But, as I found out at a second-hand book stall at a charity sale, few people want to buy the memoirs of Michele Smith or Lance Armstrong.
Even among the best sellers, Jeffrey Archer’s real character was thinly veiled in some of the Freudian choices for the titles of his blockbusters. First Among Equals (1984) betrays many of Archer’s own pretensions and lies about his life. The title of his The Eleventh Commandment (1998) refers to the rule, ‘Thou Shalt Not Get Caught’ – but Archer was eventually caught and jailed for perjury and many critics accuse him of plagiarism.
I hope I have learned in life, not to worry about coming first or last, or how I have performed when I have been chosen or selected. To be among the saints and the disciples should be good enough, and I hope never to be jealous of the achievements or recognition of others, for ‘people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God’ (Luke 13: 29).
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 29 October 2025):
The theme this week (26 October to 1 November) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Bonds of Affection’ (pp 50-51). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections from Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 29 October 2025) invites us to pray:
Bless the Revd James Dwyer and all those involved in Bonds of Affection. May their vision of deeper relationships and collaboration flourish in your name.
The Collect:
Most merciful God,
who strengthened your Church by the steadfast courage
of your martyr James Hannington:
grant that we also,
thankfully remembering his victory of faith,
may overcome what is evil
and glorify your holy name;
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:
God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr James Hannington:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflections
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
