COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am’ (John 8: 58) … ‘Abraham, our Father in Faith’ by Sean Rice (1931-1997), in the west apse of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are in the last two weeks of Lent, and this week began with the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), sometimes still known as Passion Sunday. The Church Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers the life and witness of Harriet (O’Brien) Monsell (1811-1883), the Limerick-born founder of and first Superior of the Community of Saint John the Baptist or Clewer Sisters.
I have been on a 24-hour fast in preparation for an appointment this morning for blood tests as part of the continuing monitoring of my post-stroke condition, my sarcoidosis and my low levels of Vitamin B12. But, before the day 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 Sacrifice of Abraham depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 8: 51-58 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 51 ‘Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ 52 The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ 54 Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, 55 though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ 57 Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ 58 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Abraham depicted in a stained glass window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflection:
The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders in Jerusalem continues in the Gospel reading at the Eucharist (John 8: 51-58) today. Today’s reading opens with Jesus promising that ‘whoever keeps my word will never see death’ (verse 51), but ends with him being threatened with death himself as his interlocutors picked up stones to throw at him (verse 59), threatening him with the very same form of execution that faced the woman who had been caught in adultery and was brought before Jesus by scribes and Pharisees at the beginning of this chapter (John 8: 1-11), which we read about on Monday (23 April 2026).
That woman escaped being stoned to death when Jesus challenged her accusers, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’, and then wrote on the ground (verse 7-8).
Jesus escapes death this time, hiding himself and going out of the temple (verse 59). But we know his death is inevitable, and we shall focus on his passion and his death, not by stoning but on the Rock of Golgotha, next week throughout Holy Week.
Harriet Monsell (1811-1883), who is remembered today, is one of the few Irish-born women in the Calendar of Saints in Common Worship in the Church of England. She was the daughter of Sir Edward O’Brien (1773-1826) of Dromoland Castle, Co Clare, and a sister of the Irish patriot William Smith O’Brien (1803-1864).
Harriet and her Irish-born husband Canon Charles Henry Monsell (1815-1850) were closely identified with the Oxford Movement. After he died in 1850, she began working in the railroad and army village of Clewer among former prostitutes and unmarried mothers at a House of Mercy. The house had been founded some years earlier by Mrs Mariquita Tennant, who was a Spanish refugee, a convert to Anglicanism and a clergyman’s widow.
Harriet Monsell moved to Clewer with her sister Catherine and her husband, Canon Charles Harris, later Bishop of Gibraltar. Harriet Monsell professed religious vows with two other women, and became Mother Superior of one of the first Anglican religious orders since the Reformation 300 years earlier.
The women lived according to a rule attributed to Saint Augustine of Hippo. At first, they were called the Sisters of Mercy. They later changed their name to reflect their inspiration from Saint John the Baptist’s call to penitence. During the order’s first five years, it expanded from assisting about 30 marginalised women to dedicating a building to serve about 80 women.
The foundation of the sisterhood was viewed with alarm, but the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, despite his misgivings, acted as Visitor to the Community until he moved to Winchester in 1869.
As the Community of Saint John Baptist, the nuns were guided by Mother Harriet, with her energy and humour. They extended their original mission to running about 40 institutions, including mission houses in parishes, as well as orphanages, schools and hospitals. Mother Harriet retired to Folkestone, Kent, in 1875 for health reasons, although she was occasionally able to visit the communities she founded.
She died in Folkestone on the morning of 25 March 1883, which that year was both the Feast of the Annunciation and Easter Day. Because of this coincidence, her commemoration in the Calendar of the Church of England has been moved to the following day, 26 March.
So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself (John 8: 59) … stones and pebbles on the beach in Portrane, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 26 March 2026):
The theme this week (22-28 March 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Myanmar Earthquake: One Year On’ (pp 40-41). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by the Revd Davidson Solanki, the USPG Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 26 March 2026) invites us to pray:
Lord, we thank you for those who have provided support over the past year; church workers, volunteers, aid workers, and faithful supporters.
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.
The Cottage on a bend on Moreton Road, Buckingham … an early 19th century ‘picture postcard’ blue and white ‘cottage orné’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Patrick Comerford
As I was walking between Buckingham and Maids Moreton a few times this week and last, four houses at the Buckingham end of Moreton Road that are Grade II listed buildings caught my attention: Moriah Cottage, Sandon House and Fernleigh are side-by-side with one another, and, facing them on the opposite side of Moreton Road, is The Cottage at 47 Moreton Road.
The Cottage is on a bend on the road and set back from the street behind a hedge. It is an attractive ‘picture postcard’ blue and white cottage orné dating from the early 19th century.
It is set back from the street behind hedges and railings and remains a unique example in Buckingham of this picturesque style of architecture.
The Cottage on Moreton Road, Buckingham, is set back from the street behind hedges and railings (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
The cottage orné or decorated cottage style dates from a movement of ‘rustic’ stylised cottages in the late 18th and early 19th century, when there was a fashion to discover a more ‘natural’ way of living as opposed to the formality of the baroque and neo-classical architectural styles.
As with the earlier Petit hameau de la Reine at Versaillesin France, these picturesque cottages were popular with aristocratic and gentry families in the early 19th century as places to ‘play at being peasants’ and to entertain guests, and as places for picnics, card games and theatricals.
English Heritage defines the term as ‘a rustic building of picturesque design.’ These cottages often feature well-shaped thatch roofs and ornate timberwork. Many were inspired by Strawberry Hill House – often known simply as Strawberry Hill – the Gothic Revival villa in Twickenham built by Horace Walpole (1717-1797) in 1749-1776.
Some cottages in this style in Ireland include the Swiss Cottage in Cahir, Co Tipperary, designed by the Regency architect John Nash (1752-1835) ca 1817 for Richard Butler (1775-1819), 1st Earl of Glengall; Martinstown House, Co Kildare, designed by Decimus Burton (1800-1881) for Augustus Frederick FitzGerald (1791-1874), 3rd Duke of Leinster; and Laurelmere Lodge in Marlay Park, Rathfarnham, designed for the La Touche family and later known as Tamplin’s Cottage – although, to generations of children in south Dublin, it is known as ‘Goldilocks Cottage.’ There are similar cottages at Burrenwood, Co Down, Derrymore, Co Armagh, and Glengarriff, Co Cork.
The Cottage in Buckingham has a central hipped tiled range with thatched roofs on the small side wings (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
The Cottage on Moreton Road in Buckingham is a storey and a half in height, is ‘T’-shaped in plan and has a central hipped tiled range with thatched roofs on the small side wings on each side, and with rear ranges, a brick ridge and end stacks. It is built of brick, pebble-dashed and colour washed. The windows are metal casements with arched heads.
The house has a central plank door with a pointed arched head flanked by two-light leaded casement windows with pointed arched heads, central division and glazing bars that evoke Y-tracery. Similar ‘Gothick-style’ leaded casement can been seen in the wing to the left.
The wing to the rear, behind the central unit, has a half-hipped thatch roof and an attic storey, with a pair of two-light leaded casements on the ground floor, pointed-arched heads and a two-light leaded casement in the attic.
The right wing is separate from the rest of the cottage and it was formerly an outbuilding. The right-hand wing has a plank door to the left with a pointed-arched head and a small quartered window to the far right. Undressed timbers are said to be used in the roofs throughout The Cottage.
Moriah Cottage was once the coachman’s house for Sandon House (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Across the street from the Cottage, Moriah Cottage is a curious and eye-catching detached house on Moreton Road. It was once the coachman’s house for Sandon House. Moriah Cottage was built in the Tudor style in the early 19th century and was altered in the 20th century. It house stands close to the back edge of the footpath, with its gable end facing onto the street.
But how did Moriah Cottage gets its name?
Moriah Cottage may take its name from the place in the Book of Genesis where Abraham’s binding of Isaac is said to have taken place. Traditionally, the mountain in Genesis is also identified with Mount Moriah in the Book of Chronicles where Solomon’s Temple was built. Both places are identified with the present Temple Mount in Jerusalem.< br />
Moriah Cottage drip-moulds to the windows and the central arched doorway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Moriah Cottage is two storeys high, with a basement, and the front façade of the house is the gable end. The roof is covered in Welsh slate and the wooden bargeboards are ornamental. A prominent element of the elevation facing onto the street is the ground floor drip-moulds to the windows and the central arched doorway.
In front of the 20th century front door is one stone step. The door has a depressed arched head, a rendered surround with incised masonry patterns and a hood mould.
The two-light casement windows on the ground floor and the first floor have similar surrounds, and those on the ground floor have hood moulds. There is a rendered, chamfered plinth with basement windows on either side of door with cambered arched heads.
Sandon House on Moreton Road is set back from the road and probably dates from the late 18th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Beside Moriah Cottage, Sandon House on Moreton Road is set back from the road behind a low brick wall, and it probably dates from the late 18th century. The stone house was re-fronted in red brick in the early 19th century. It is a three-bay, four-storey red brick house in Flemish bond with a slate roof and brick end stacks.
A flight of 11 stone steps leads to up to the central front door at the first-floor level. The steps have iron balustrades with standards bearing vase finials. The six-panel door has a fanlight with intersecting glazing bars, panelled reveals and a round-arched head. Other features and details include a curved, hanging bay window and a 12-pane sash window on the first floor, incised masonry patterns, giant blank arches, blank windows and round-arched and segmental-arched heads with key blocks. The semi-circular headed panels at the second-floor level add to the distinctive appearance of Sandon House.
Beside Sandon House on Moreton Road, Fernleigh is an early 19th century red brick house. The house is three bays wide and two storeys high with a cement rendered basement. Like Sandon House, the principal entrance to Fernleigh is up a flight of steps to a central doorway flanked on either side by sash windows.
As a cluster of buildings close to one another on Moreton Road, these four picturesque houses and cottages make an important contribution to the streetscape and to the Conservation Area in the Buckingham North area of Aylesbury Vale.
Fernleigh (left) is an early 19th century house, while Sandon House (right) dates from the late 18th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Lazarus and the Rich Man … a panel in the East Window by Mayer & Co in Saint Michael’s Church, Limerick, depicting a series of ten parables (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XV, 28 September). Later this morning, I hope to be at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.
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.
Bonifacio Veronese, Dives and Lazarus, 1540-50. Oil on canvas (Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice)
Luke 16: 19-31 (NRSVA):
[Jesus told this parable:] 19 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. 24 He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” 25 But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” 27 He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house – 28 for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” 29 Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” 30 He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” 31 He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead”.’
The Rich Man and Lazarus … a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Banbury, Oxford
Today’s Reflections:
The Gospel reading today (Luke 16: 19-31) is a popular Bible story. We usually know this as the story of Dives and Lazarus, and it is almost as well-known a story as the parables of the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son.
But there are some unique and distinctive aspects to this story.
For example, this story is found only in Saint Luke’s Gospel.
Surprisingly, God is not named in this story. But, of course, as in the Book of Esther, God is seldom named in the Gospel parables either. Instead, the parables challenge us to think who is God for us by asking us to see who is most God-like, who acts like God would act.
The poor man at the gate is named, but the name Lazarus could be confusing, because this is also the name of the brother of Mary and Martha, the dead friend Jesus raised to life in Bethany.
The name Lazarus, or in Hebrew Eleazar, which means ‘the Lord is my help,’ is an interesting name for those who first heard Jesus tell this story, for the rich man in his castle certainly is of no help to the poor man at his gate.
Abraham is named. And Moses is named. Both are key figures in this story, for all the descendants of Abraham are promised that they are going to be children of the covenant with God. And it is Moses who receives that covenant in the wilderness on Mount Sinai. The man at the gate, who is being ignored by a leading religious figure of the day, must have been made to feel hopeless, outside the scope of the covenant, abandoned, in a wilderness, impoverished, exiled outside the community.
But there are six other characters in the story – and not one of them is named.
The Rich Man, who is at the centre of the story, is sometimes called ‘Dives.; But the name Dives is one he does not have in the Gospel story, in the parable as Jesus tells it. Tradition has given him the name Dives, but the rich man is anonymous and he has no name. The name Dives derives simply from a misreading of an early Latin translation of the Bible.
The rich man has five brothers, but not one of these is named either.
I like to think this man is anyone who claims to be religious but who falls in love with riches. It is not his wealth that is his downfall, but his love of wealth and how he uses it.
The Apostle Paul is often misquoted as saying money is the root of all evil. But what he actually tells Timothy is that ‘the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,’ and that, ‘in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.’
It is possible to be religious and rich at one and the same time. But if I appear to be religious, I need to be careful that my religious practices are not a contradiction of, a denial of, the way I live my life in the world, and respond to the needs of others.
God’s covenant is only meaningful when it is lived as a covenant of love. The rich man loves himself first, and, perhaps, his family, his own inner circle second. But that is as far as his religion goes. It does not go beyond his own front door.
I like to think Jesus is playing a little game with those who are religious and listening. The Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) is told that she is wed to five husbands but has no true marriage at all.
The five husbands could represent the first five books of the Bible – the Torah. The Samaritans would not accept any other writings as Holy Scripture, and there was a joke among Jews at the time that the Samaritans were so insistent on these five books alone that it was like being wedded to them. They were the Biblical fundamentalists of their day. She is being told that you cannot be wed to Holy Scripture and have a covenantal relationship with God without love. She realises that just as being wed but without love is no marriage, so being religious without love is no religion at all.
Love is the active ingredient of true religion. And when that dawns on her, she becomes one of the greatest missionaries in the Gospels.
Similarly, Jesus may be playing a game with those who are listening to today’s parable. If the rich man, as it appears, is a priest of the Temple, then he too is a religious figure. But the priestly caste of the day were Sadducees, not Pharisees. And so the Pharisees who were listening to this story (verse 14) would have known that the Sadducees too refused to accept as part of the Bible any books other than the first five – when it came to Holy Scripture they only admitted those five into the family of faith.
The rich man realises that being wed to the Torah without love is no covenant. But unlike, the Samaritan woman, it is too late for him when this truth dawns on him.
There is no covenant without love, and this is true for marriage and for religion.
There is no true religion without love … not self-interest, but love for God and love for others.
Of course, there is one other character in this story who is not named. This is not a human character, but an animal – the dog.
There is a 1996 film produced at the Sullivan Bluth studios in Dublin, All Dogs go to Heaven, with a voice over by Burt Reynolds. But, while we think of dogs today as faithful pets, there was a religious tradition in the time of Jesus that dogs did not get into heaven.
Lazarus is hungry and covered with sores, and sits outside the gate of what must have looked like a Heavenly City inside. He is in such a condition and in a place that even the dogs come and lick his sores (verse 21). For its time, this is a description of abject living, so abhorrent that this man is totally outside normal, good clean company. He is in the wilderness, in exile, and at a point where only God can redeem him.
Dives is not a single identifiable rich man. He is each and every one of us. Who among us, on first hearing this story, as it opened, as the first part of it began to be told, would not have delighted in the lifestyle of the rich man. After all, how often do I find myself saying, quite rightly, all I want is for me and those I love to have somewhere decent to live, decent clothes and decent food?
But that decency turns to indecency when these things soon become all we want in life … and want nothing for others, have no place for meeting the needs of others.
I heard a comedian once complaining about the size of a pizza slice he was served in a café – if you had a pie chart for what you would do if you a won a million in the lotto, this was the size of the slice for what I would give to charity, he said.
Having lost his compassion for others, especially the needy on his doorstep, Dives loses his religion, for without love there can be no true religion; and Dives loses his humanity, for I am only human in so far as I am like God and love others.
The loss of Dives’ humanity is symbolised by his loss of a personal name. I am baptised with a personal name, and so incorporated into the Body of Christ; that name is how I am known to God and to others – God calls me and you recognise me by my name. Without a name, can Dives remain in the image of God? Can he be called on by others as a fellow human being?
On the other hand, the name Lazarus means ‘God helps’ – the Greek Λάζαρος (Lazaros) is derived from the Hebrew Eleazar (אֶלְעָזָר, Elʿazar), ‘God’s assistance,’ or: ‘God has helped.’ Eleazar was a nephew of Moses and the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. So, as this story unfolds, our expectations of God’s actions, of God’s deliverance, are raised incrementally, but we are also expecting a conflict between two priests about who are the true heirs to Abraham and Moses, and a conflict about the teachings on and expectations of eternal justice and eternal life.
The coming of Christ turns all our skewed values upside down: those we think are most outside God’s compassion and outside the Kingdom of Heaven may well be those most likely to be signs of what the Kingdom of God is, and to be reminders of kingdom values.
Lazarus who is an outsider becomes the true insider; Lazarus who is totally poor becomes rich in the one way that really matters; Lazarus who is at death’s door finds eternal life.
The dogs too play an important role – like the woman who mops the brow of Jesus on his way to Calvary, and the women who weep with him above the city … they do not take away his suffering, but they tell him that his suffering is shared in creation.
So, who is most like God, most like Christ, in this Gospel story?
Those who first heard this story, would initially have expected the person to be most like God to be the religious leader, the one who can cite the Bible, who calls out to Abraham and Moses. And those who first heard this story would initially have expected that the person to be least like God is going to be the beggar at the gates, the man outside among the dogs.
But is that not what Christ is like? He gives up everything to identify with our humanity in his incarnation, life and death; he is rejected, suffers and dies outside the city walls.
You may not want to be like Lazarus, but Christ wants us to be like him. And we are most like him not when we hope for riches and pleasures beyond our reach, but when we love God and when we love one another. God calls each and every one of us to be like him, to love like him, and when he calls us he calls us by name.
When the poor man dies, he is carried away by the angels to be with Abraham (verse 22). When the rich man dies and finds himself in Hades he calls out to Abraham as ‘father’ or ‘Father Abraham’ (verse 24), and he in turn is addressed by Abraham as ‘Child’ (verse 25).
These are not mere terms of affection but in a profound way they open one other possibility in this story, a perspective that is not offered by commentators, perhaps because many are not familiar with customs within Judaism, yet one that I believe may be possible and perhaps even profound.
Jewish law or halakhah considers converts to Judaism as spiritually adopted into the lineage of Abraham, the first Jewish patriarch. Male converts are often called ‘ben Avraham Avinu’ (son of Abraham, our father) during liturgical ceremonies such as being called up to Torah readings in the synagogue.
This custom serves to emphasise their connection to these foundational figures and signifies that converts are spiritually adopted into the Jewish lineage, becoming part of the covenant established with Abraham and Sarah. This practice is a way to acknowledge their entry into the Jewish people and their spiritual connection to the foundational figures of Judaism.
The custom of referring to a man who is a convert to Judaism as ‘ben Avraham Avinu’ is connected with the prohibition in Jewish law of mistreating proselytes, including reminding them that they were once not a Jew.
There is a possibility here that Lazarus was a convert to Judaism, but that he was constantly reminded of this by Dives, metaphorically left outside the gates, outside what he defined as the community of faith, denied his place as a true child of Abraham, as though he had been thrown to the dogs.
We are told that when the poor man in the Gospel reading died, he ‘was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.’ In calling him ‘child’, Abraham restores the outsider to his proper place as an insider within the community of faith, restores him to him to his rightful place in the community, an eternal justice that he had been denied in mortal life.
Jesus uses a similar phrase in a Gospel reading last month (Luke 10: 13-17, Sunday 24 August 2024, Trinity X), when he seess a woman who has endured suffering for 18 years, calls her into the centre of the synagogue, heals her and refers to her as a daughter of Abraham. Was she too a convert to Judaism, or the widow of a convert, denied her rightful place in the community of faith, marginalised and never fully accepted, bent over for 18 years by the demands and expectations that had been laid on her shoulders?
Who is Lazarus to me today?
Who do I exclude, who do I make a stranger at the gate?
The story of Dives and Lazarus has inspired great artists, and composers like Vaughan Williams
Today’s Prayers:
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 28 September 2025, Trinity XV):
The theme this week (28 September to 4 October) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘One Faith: Many Voices’ (pp 42-43). This theme is introduced today with Reflections from Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG:
To mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, USPG created a unique video showcasing Christians from around the world reciting the Nicene Creed in their own languages. The compilation features speakers of Twi, Bengali, Portuguese, Welsh, and various forms of English spoken by believers from the Middle East, Zambia and the Solomon Islands.
Interestingly, the project revealed some similarities concealed within the different languages we speak. For instance, the Arabic term for Holy Spirit, ar-rūh al-qudus (رلاُّحو لاْقُدُس), closely resembles Roh Kudus in Iban, an Indigenous language of Malaysia, due to the influence of Islam. Likewise, Biblical Hebrew rúakh hakódesh (ורּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ) shares a striking similarity – a clear sign of the legacy of Abrahamic religions and their languages. In the Philippines, espíritu santo in Tagalog reflects the same expression in Spanish, highlighting the enduring legacy of Spanish colonial influence.
And so, whilst history, culture, and even colonial legacies have shaped the languages we speak, they have not divided the essence of our faith. Although we sound different, the central message remains the same. It is a beautiful thing to affirm together that ‘we believe in one God, one faith, and one baptism’.
Watch now and hear the Nicene Creed as you’ve never heard it before. Available on YouTube @USPGglobal.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 28 September 2025, Trinity XV) invites us to pray by reading and meditating on Luke 16: 19-31.
The Collect:
God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
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:
Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy;
and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall,
keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful,
and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Lord God,
defend your Church from all false teaching
and give to your people knowledge of your truth,
that we may enjoy eternal life
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Saint Michael and All Angels:
Everlasting God,
you have ordained and constituted
the ministries of angels and mortals in a wonderful order:
grant that as your holy angels always serve you in heaven,
so, at your command,
they may help and defend us on earth;
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.
Maddy Prior’s live performance of ‘Dives and Lazarus’ at the Nettlebed Folk Club on the ‘Seven For Old England’ tour. The song is on the album of the same name ‘Seven For Old England’
‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am’ (John 8: 58) … ‘Abraham, our Father in Faith’ by Sean Rice (1931-1997), in the west apse of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are in the last two weeks of Lent, and this week began with the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), sometimes still known as Passion Sunday. The Church Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers the life and witness of William Law (1686-1761), priest and spiritual writer; and William of Ockham (1347), friar, philosopher and teacher of the faith.
I have an appointment early this morning for my regular B12 injection. But, as the day 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 Sacrifice of Abraham depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 8: 51-58 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 51 ‘Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ 52 The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.” 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?’ 54 Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, 55 though you do not know him. But I know him; if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word. 56 Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad.’ 57 Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ 58 Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Abraham depicted in a stained glass window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflection:
The conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders in Jerusalem continues in the Gospel reading at the Eucharist (John 8: 51-58) today. Today’s reading opens with Jesus promising that ‘whoever keeps my word will never see death’ (verse 51), but ends with him being threatened with death himself as his interlocutors picked up stones to throw at him (verse 59), threatening him with the very same form of execution that faced the woman who had been caught in adultery and was brought before Jesus by scribes and Pharisees at the beginning of this chapter (John 8: 1-11), which we read about on Monday (7 April 2025).
That woman escaped being stoned to death when Jesus challenged her accusers, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her’, and then wrote on the ground (verse 7-8).
Jesus escapes death this time, hiding himself and going out of the temple (verse 59). But we know his death is inevitable, and we shall focus on his passion and his death, not by stoning but on the Rock of Golgotha, next week throughout Holy Week.
How we understand the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and live out the consequences of that understand, is one of the primary concerns of the writings of William Law (1686-1761), who is commemorated in the Church Calendar today (10 April).
Law was born in King’s Cliffe, Northamptonshire, and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After ordination as a deacon, he became a fellow of Emmanuel College in 1711. When George I came to the throne in 1714, Law declined to take the Oath of Allegiance. He became a non-juror and lost his fellowship, but was ordained priest in 1728.
Barred from the pulpit and the lecture hall, Law preached through his books. These include Christian Perfection, The Spirit of Love, The Spirit of Prayer, and best-known of all, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728). His writings stress the moral virtues, a personal prayer life and asceticism, and strongly influenced people such as Samuel Johnson and John and Charles Wesley.
Law returned to King’s Cliffe in 1740, where he led a life of devotion and simplicity and caring for the poor. He remained there for the rest of his life and died on 10 April 1761.
According to Law’s theology, God is an ‘infinity of mere love.’ God is love and love is God. Therefore, nothing in God’s character can be contrary to love. Although as humans we cannot see God’s essence, that God exists is self-evident because we bear the stamp of divine nature. Any positive ability or quality we have in ourselves is a reflection of God’s essence. We form our idea of God by ‘adding Infinite to every perfection that we have any knowledge of.’
The love of God is the basic premise upon which Law’s theology is based. Because God is total love, e his completely good. God’s desire to communicate God’s love and goodness is the ultimate purpose behind creation. Consequently, it is the perfect will of God that humans experience his love and goodness.
We are all in the image of God, and, according to Law, Christ entered the human race, participating with us in our human nature in order that through his life, death and resurrection, he could restore the fallen faculties of human nature to the state God intended. In short, for Law the atonement is simply the reclaiming of human nature.
So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself (John 8: 59) … stones and pebbles on the beach in Portrane, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 10 April 2025):
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 ‘Healthcare in Bangladesh.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Suvojit Mondal, Programme Director for the Church of Bangladesh Community Healthcare Programme in Dhaka.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 10 April 2025) invites us to pray:
Pray for the ongoing provision of resources, partnerships, and support that will enable the programme to expand its services to reach more villages and communities in need.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who called your servant William Law
to a devout and holy life:
grant that by your spirit of love
and through faithfulness in prayer
we may find the way to divine knowledge
and so come to see the hidden things of God;
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 of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with William Law to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Saint Aelred of Rievaulx, frontispiece of John Henry Newman’s ‘Lives of the English Saints’ (1845)
Patrick Comerford
Passiontide – the last two weeks of Lent – began on Sunday, the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), also known as Passion Sunday (17 March 2024). Today is the Spring Equinox (20 March), and today the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.
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.
Saint Aelred of Rievaulx in an icon by Brother Robert Lentz OFM
Early English pre-Reformation saints: 36, Saint Aelred of Rievaulx
Saint Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, is remembered in Common Worship on 12 January. He was born at Hexham in 1109, the son of Eilaf, a Saxon priest. After spending some years in the court of King David of Scotland he entered the newly-founded Cistercian abbey at Rievaulx, near Helmsley in Yorkshire, ca 1133.
Rievaulx Abbey was the first Cistercian monastery in the north of England, founded in 1132 by 12 monks from Clairvaux Abbey. Its remote location was well suited to the Cistercian ideals of a strict life of prayer and self-sufficiency with little contact with the outside world. Rievaulx Abbey remained one of the great abbeys in England until it was seized in 1538 at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Aelred became Abbot of Revesby in Lincolnshire in 1143. He returned to Rievaulx four years later to become abbot and to spend the remainder of his life. He was profoundly influential through his spiritual writings, which he began at the request of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the two having a similar approach to the spiritual life. Because of this, Aelred was often called ‘the Bernard of the North’.
His most famous work is The Mirror of Charity; On Spiritual Friendship is a Christianised version of Cicero’s De amicitial. Aelred also wrote lives of Saint Ninian and of Edward the Confessor, a rule for recluses and a genealogy of the kings of England. His correspondence and his work on Saint Cuthbert have been lost. He died at Rievaulx on 12 January 1167.
Rievaulx Abbey was founded in 1132, the first Cistercian monastery in the north of England (Photograph: English Heritage)
John 8: 31-42 (NRSVA):
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ 33 They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’
34 Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. 38 I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’
39 They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, 40 but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ 42 Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.’
‘Abraham is our father’ (John 8: 39) … ‘Abraham, our Father in Faith,’ by Sean Rice (1931-1997), in Liverpool Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 20 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 (20 March 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
Let us pray for husbands and fathers. May they have the compassion and steadfastness of Joseph and know courage and joy in the face of challenge.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who called your servant Cuthbert from following the flock
to follow your Son and to be a shepherd of your people:
in your mercy, grant that we, following his example,
may bring those who are lost home to your fold;
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:
Holy Father,
who gathered us here around the table of your Son
to share this meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal
the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share with Cuthbert and all your saints
in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne depicted in a window of the Church of All Saints Pavement, York … he is remembered in Common Worship on 20 January (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
‘You who build the altars now / To sacrifice these children / You must not do it anymore’ (Leonard Cohen) … the Sacrifice of Abraham depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Patrick Comerford
We are in the final stages of countdown to Christmas, with just five days to go to Christmas Day. The last week of Advent began on Sunday with the Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday (17 December 2023), and this is a very short Advent this year.
I have spent a few days in Dublin, and after an evening flight from Birmingham I got back to Stony Stratford late last night. Before today begins, I am taking some time for prayer, reflection and reading this morning.
Throughout Advent this year, my reading and reflection each day includes a poem or song by Leonard Cohen. These Advent reflections are following this pattern:
1, A reflection on a poem or song by Leonard Cohen;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
‘The door it opened slowly / My father he came in’ (Leonard Cohen) … Abraham preparing for the sacrifice of Isaac … a stained glass window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen: 18, ‘Story of Isaac’:
The poem and song ‘Story of Isaac’ by Leonard Cohen was first recorded by Judy Collins on her album Who Knows Where the Time Goes, released in December 1968, and it was the second track on Leonard Cohen’s second album, Songs from a Room, released in April 1969.
This song has also been covered by a number of musicians including Suzanne Vega, Linda Thompson, the Johnstons, Pain Teens and Roy Buchanan.
‘Story of Isaac’ is of the Biblical story in Genesis 22 of Isaac’s planned sacrifice by his father Abraham, but told now from Isaac’s perspective. It is also an anti-war song, specifically about the Vietnam war, and it’s a story about the children being sacrificed on behalf of the older generation.
Almost 20 years after it was first recorded, Cohen explained to John McKenna of RTÉ in 1988 that ‘Story of Isaac’ was an anti-war protest song. But he added, ‘I was careful in that song to try and put it beyond the pure, beyond the simple, anti-war protest, that it also is. Because it says at the end there the man of war the man of peace, the peacock spreads his deadly fan. In other words it isn’t necessarily for war that we’re willing to sacrifice each other.’
He added: ‘We’ll get some idea – some magnificent idea – that we’re willing to sacrifice each other for; it doesn’t necessarily have to involve an opponent or an ideology, but human beings being what they are we’re always going to set up people to die for some absurd situation that we define as important.’
The song is a commentary on the nature of sacrifice and faith, and the idea that we may think God is asking us to give up something we love in order to serve a higher purpose. The song also touches on themes of war and violence, as well as the relationship between father and son.
Overall, the message of the song is one of questioning and reflection on the nature of sacrifice and faith, and the idea that sometimes we may be called on to give up something we love in order to serve a greater good.
According to Leonard Cohen, the song is ‘about those who would sacrifice one generation on behalf of another.’
In another interview, he reflected: ‘There’s a story in the Bible about Isaac, how his father summoned him to go and climb a mountain, how his father built an altar there after he had been commanded to offer up his son. And just at the last moment before he was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel held the hand of the father. But today the children are being sacrificed and no one raises a hand to end the sacrifice. And this is what this song is about.’
Rabbi Aubrey Glazer, formerly of Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco, discusses ‘Story of Isaac’ and many other poems by Leonard Cohen in his book Tangle of Matter & Ghost: Leonard Cohen’s Post-Secular Songbook of Mysticism(s) Jewish and Beyond (2017). The book is part of a series, ‘New Perspectives in Post-Rabbinic Judaism.’ Glazer notes the sudden and effective change of perspective as father and son ascend up the mountain and have a bird’s-eye view of the valley now far below. They are so high up that it takes a full minute for the bottle to fall and shatter, but Abraham calms his young son with a warm touch.
The tension is heightened, however, by Isaac’s continuing confusion over whether the scene was hurtling towards life, power and triumph, symbolised by the eagle; or towards imminent death, captured by the vulture. Either way, Abraham is secure in Isaac’s compliance and certain their destiny is firmly in God’s hands.
A stunning change of time and place juxtaposes the Biblical story with the still-unfolding tragedy between the descendants of Abraham. Cohen brings this ancient tale right up to the present, as he, through the voice of Isaac, begs us to tear down the altars upon which the children of our age are still sacrificed to settle age-old grievances.
He crystallises the parent’s grief and ambivalence by describing his ‘trembling hand,’ even as Abraham, and so many today, stands in awe of the divine command he believes he is obeying.
Cohen, whose father, like Abraham in this poem/song, also had blue eyes, always returned to his own Judaism. He refers to one of the most poignant messages of this Biblical passage, and one that recurs throughout the history of the Abrahamic people: this is a story of brothers. Earlier in the Biblical narrative, Isaac’s half-brother Ishmael was banished. Although they later come together to bury their father (Genesis 25), the effects of Ishmael’s exile and Isaac’s near-sacrifice reverberate through time.
Cohen deftly expresses the pain and power in this eternal family feud. In the end, he prays for mercy as these brothers take up arms against each other, and on which side one stands determines who is cast as the ‘man of peace’ and who is the ‘man of war.’
In Cohen’s telling, this tale becomes an anti-war hymn and a cautionary warning against all the ways we still sacrifice our children. Cohen expressed this in a BBC interview: ‘Just at the last moment before he was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel held the hand of the father. But today the children are being sacrificed and no one raises a hand to end the sacrifice. And this is what this song is about.’
The near-sacrifice of Isaac, or the Akedah as it is known in Jewish tradition, is a gripping, chilling and troubling story, and a story that seems to ask more questions than it answers.
Each time I hear it, I am listening in horror as Abraham seems to be preparing to sacrifice his only son. And the story comes with all the gruesome details, as Abraham climbs the mountain, builds the altar, arranges the wood, binds his son, places him on the altar, and takes the knife into his hand. The looming tragedy is averted only at the very moment second.
But at a time when child-sacrifice was a cultural norm in that part of the ancient world, when people believed that sacrificing their first-born children was a way of appeasing the gods, this story turns those old superstitions on their head.
Abraham knows the old ways. But his relationship with God becomes a startling new relationship, founded on love. And this God is different from all the so-called gods. No, he does not demand human sacrifice. No, he does not have a mean and violent, capricious streak.
Instead, this God that Abraham has begun to get to know, wants a relationship with us that is built not on fear and brutalism, but on love and on freedom.
The child who was at risk is saved, the child who was bound up is set free, the child who was the victim of old-fashioned, out-dated superstitions now becomes part of the relationship between God and humanity and the promise for the future that is sealed not by sacrifices like this, but by love.
How could Abraham hav forgotten God’s earlier promise so soon, the promise made to Abraham and Sarah that they would have children and through them they would be the spiritual ancestors of all nations?
And it is a story that challenges us to reassess our own notions about God.
Are our relationships with God founded on fear or on love?
Do we believe in a god who would treat us as slaves who must obey, or as faithful partners who are caught up in his love?
Once again, we are offered a choice between death and life, between slavery and freedom, between blind obedience and love.
‘Abraham, our Father in Faith,’ by the Liverpool sculptor Sean Rice (1931-1997), in the west apse of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Leonard Cohen, Story of Isaac:
The door it opened slowly
My father he came in
I was nine years old
And he stood so tall above me
Blue eyes they were shining
And his voice was very cold
Said, ‘I’ve had a vision
And you know I’m strong and holy
I must do what I've been told’
So he started up the mountain
I was running, he was walking
And his axe was made of gold
Well, the trees they got much smaller
The lake a lady’s mirror
We stopped to drink some wine
Then he threw the bottle over
Broke a minute later
And he put his hand on mine
Thought I saw an eagle
But it might have been a vulture
I never could decide
Then my father built an altar
He looked once behind his shoulder
He knew I would not hide
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You who build the altars now
To sacrifice these children
You must not do it anymore
A scheme is not a vision
And you never have been tempted
By a demon or a god
You who stand above them now
Your hatchets blunt and bloody
You were not there before
When I lay upon a mountain
And my father’s hand was trembling
With the beauty of the word
And if you call me brother now
Forgive me if I inquire
‘Just according to whose plan?’
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must
I will help you if I can
When it all comes down to dust
I will help you if I must
I will kill you if I can
And mercy on our uniform
Man of peace or man of war
The peacock spreads his fan.
‘The peacock spreads his fan’ (Leonard Cohen) … a peacock spreads his fan in a vineyard in Rivesaltes near Perpignan in France (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Luke 1: 26-38 (NRSVA):
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 34 Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35 The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38 Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
The Annunciation depicted in a panel in the altar in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 20 December 2023):
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 ‘The Joy of Advent.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (20 December 2023) invites us to pray in these words:
O Lord, help us to see the wonder in your creation, to find the joy amidst the trials. For in you, we can rejoice and be glad. No matter what the world brings, we can find joy in you.
The Annunciation depicted in a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Bletchley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
The Collect:
O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit
that when your Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
God for whom we watch and wait,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son:
give us courage to speak the truth,
to hunger for justice,
and to suffer for the cause of right,
with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Adam and Eve depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Patrick Comerford
Easter Day on Sunday (9 April 2023) ushered in all our hopes and joys.
I am in Prague on the last day of a very brief mid-week visit to the Czech capital. But, before this day begins, and before returning to England, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading. In these days of Easter Week, I am reflecting each morning in these ways:
1, Short reflections on the stained-glass windows in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
The Sacrifice of Abel depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
The East Window, Outer Circle:
The East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton, dominates the chancel and the whole church. This is a spectacular Rose window by Nathaniel Westlake in 1888, with eight lobes around a large central circle and.
This window was the final element in the scheme of decoration in the church carried out from 1870 on under the supervision of the Stony Stratford-born architect Edward Swinfen Harris.
The window provides a magnificent climax to the interior of the church, drawing the attention of worshippers and visitors to the high altar below it.
The central panel window depicts the Crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary and Saint John, Christ standing beside the Cross. The inner circle surrounding the central panel depicts four scenes I described on Wednesday morning (12 April 2023).
The middle circle depicts six Biblical figures – King David and five prophets: Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Daniel and Job – and two representations of the IHS monogram, described in my posting yesterday (13 April 2023).
The outer circle surrounding the central image of the Crucifixion depicts six Biblical stories, as well as an image of the Risen Christ and a symbol of the Holy Trinity
These six Biblical scenes combine to tell the story of perfect worship and sacrifice:
1, Adam and Eve: This image shows Adam and Eve beneath the Tree of Knowledge, with the serpent, and Eve offering fruit from the Tree of Knowledge (Genesis 2-3). Westlake’s signature, in the form of his initials, can be seen in this panel, behind one of Eve’s feet.
2, The Sacrifice of Abel: Abel is kneeling before a stone altar, offering his sacrifice (Genesis 4: 2-4).
3, The Sacrifice of Noah: Noah and his family – in all, the eight people who survived the flood – are offering a sacrifice (Genesis 8: 20-22).
4, The Sacrifice of Melchizedek: the priest Melchizedek is offering bread and wine, a foretaste of the Eucharist and a forerunner of Christ as the Great High Priest (Genesis 14: 1-24; see Hebrews 7: 1-28).
5, The Sacrifice of Abraham: Abraham is offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice … but God has other plans (Genesis 22: 1-19).
6, The Tree of Life in the Book of Revelation: The Tree of Life in the Book of Revelation is a symbol of perfect worship:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22: 1-5)
This window is by the stained glass artist NHJ Westlake (1833-1921). He was a partner and finally the sole proprietor of Lavers, Barraud & Westlake (1855-1920s), a London-based firm that changed its name several times and became Lavers, Westlake and Co, and eventually NHJ Westlake, before closing in the 1920s.
The Sacrifice of Noah depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
John 21: 1-14 (NRSVA):
21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ 6 He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
The Sacrifice of Melchizedek depicted in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)
Today’s Prayer:
The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘USPG’s Lent Appeal: supporting young mothers affected By HIV.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by USPG’s Fundraising Manager, Rebecca Allin, who reflected on the 2023 Lent Appeal supporting young mothers affected by HIV, and their children.
The prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (14 April 2023, Friday of Easter Week) invites us to pray:
Let us pray for our neighbour near and far. May we reach out to those in need and seek to build inclusive communities where all are valued and none excluded.
Collect:
Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.
Post Communion:
God of Life,
who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son
to the death of the cross,
and by his glorious resurrection
have delivered us from the power of our enemy:
grant us so to die daily to sin,
that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his risen life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
