COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
There are 59,000 km (59 million metres) of total waterways in England … boats on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Rugeley, Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Patrick Comerford
This month has been an exceptionally busy time on this blog, with a steady, overwhelming rise in viewing and reading figures. These figures reached 59 million late yesterday afternoon (28 September), having reached 58 million five days before that (23 September), 57 million five days earlier (18 September), and 56 million three days before that (15 September).
This is the eleventh time these figures have passed the million mark since the end of last month. In a steady climb, the figures reached 55 million on 12 September, 54 million two nights before that (10 September 2026), 53 million hits the day before that (9 September 2026), 52 million hits two days previously (7 September), 51 million on 5 September, 50 million on 4 September and 49 million on 31 August.
These viewing and readership figures are still overpowering, and this blog continues to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 38 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone, and 10 million so far this month (September) soon after 10 pm last night.
This means half of all hits or reader figures have been within the past six months or so, with 29.5 million hits since 27 March 2026. I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year, the daily figures have often been overwhelming. September is already the busiest month for traffic on this blog, with 10 million hits so far in September, the highest total in any single month since I began blogging.
Of the 10 days of busiest traffic on this blog, seven of them have been in this month alone (1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 September), two were in May (1 and 14 May) and one was in April (29 April):
• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 671,341 (10 September 2026)
• 647,187 (5 September 2026)
• 618,234 (8 September 2026)
• 583,320 (11 September 2026)
• 563,301 (9 September 2026)
• 557,448 (12 September 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 513,725 (7 September 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
Although traffic has slowed down in the past week or so, the daily average this month has been more than 350,000 hits a day. Yet, I recall how 10 years ago, back in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000, or 30,000 a month.
Some curious though random statistics help to put this new figure of 59 million into perspective:
Measles vaccination saved almost 59 million people, mainly children, from death between 2000 and 2024, according to figures from the World Health Organisation.
In Europe, 59 million tonnes of food are either lost or wasted every year. At the same time, 42 million people cannot afford a nutritious meal every other day.
The OED2, the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, was published on paper in 20 volumes in 1989, with 59 million words of text, 21,730 pages and 290,500 entries.
Italy has an estimated population of 59 million people.
It is estimated that 59 million adults in the United States are unpaid family caregivers for aging members of their families.
An estimated 59 million people require urgent protection and assistance in the Middle East and North Africa region.
There are 59 million millionaires in the world today and about 2,780 billionaires.
59 million metres is 59,000 km. There are 59,000 km of total waterways in England, but public access is highly restricted and heavily contested. While the total network spans tens of thousands of kilometres, the vast majority consists of non-navigable streams, tributaries, and rivers flowing through private land.
According to advocacy groups like Paddle UK (formerly British Canoeing), only 3.4% of rivers in England and Wales have an uncontested public right of navigation. Under English law, the banks and beds of most non-tidal rivers are privately owned, with landowners holding the right to restrict access for paddlers, swimmers and other recreational users.
Out of the 59,000 km, only 4,500 km are classified as Statutory Navigations. These include most managed canals and major rivers, such as the River Thames and River Trent, where legislation explicitly grants public access, usually managed through a licensing system.
59 million minutes amounts to 112 years, 2 months and 4 days. This means that if this blog was receiving just one hit a minute, I would need to have started blogging back in early July 1914, before the beginning of World War I.
I retired from active parish ministry 4½ years ago, on 31 March 2022. These days, though, about 150 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning, or more than 1,000 people each week. As this blog moves beyond 59 million hits, I am truly grateful today to the real readers among that 59 million. In particular, I am thankful for the faithful core group of people who join me in prayer, scripture reading and reflections each day.
How can tourists behave responsibly in Venice? … Italy has an estimated population of 59 million people (Patrick Comerford)
‘All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being’ (John 1: 3) … Christ the Pantocrator in the dome of the parish church in Panormos in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Festival of Creation in Christ or the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIV, 6 September 2026).
This weekend includes the Festal Weekend in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, coming between the Feast of Saint Giles (1 September) and the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September). There were children’s activities in the church yesterday, a Festal Eucharist this morning at which I hope to sing with the choir, and Calverton Fete is at All Saints’ Church, Calverton, this afternoon.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’ (John 1: 5) … light pours into the darkness in the Church of the Transfiguration in Piskopiano in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 1: 1-14 (NRSVA):
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
The statue of Pythagoras (1989) by Nikolaos Ikaris (1920-1994) on the harbour front in Pythagóreio on the Greek island of Samos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflections:
The Prologue to Saint John’s Gospel is the traditional Gospel reading on Christmas morning. Now we hear it again this morning (John 1: 1-14), when the Church Calendar in the Church of England marks Creation in Christ.
These opening verses in Saint John’s Gospel are like the opening verses of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis. They talk of a new creation, and a creation in which God is pleased, God is very pleased.
In this reading, we are introduced to key concepts in Saint John’s thinking: word or logos (λόγος, logos), life (ζωή, zoe), light (φῶς, phos), belief and being sent, testimony or witness, truth, and the cosmos (κόσμος, cosmos).
The word cosmos appears in this passage four times, and later, when Saint John goes on to tell us that ‘God so loved the world …’, he actually says ‘God so loved the cosmos that he sent his only Son …’ (John 3: 16).
The cosmos is the Universe, but the word specifically refers to a complex and orderly system or entity, the very opposite of chaos. The word cosmos gives us words in the English language like: cosmology, trying to understand the reasons for existence and its significance; or, more simply, cosmetics, an equal presence of order and beauty, an attempt to bring order or even beauty to the chaos of our skin, our facial appearance.
The term was first used by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (ca 570 BCE to ca 495 BCE), the philosopher we remember because everyone in school learned the theorem to which he gives his name: ‘The square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides.’
Pythagoras lived on the Greek island of Samos, and he influenced every Greek philosopher who came after him, including Plato and Aristotle. He is said to have been the first to prove that the earth is a sphere; he shaped how we think of numbers and musical notation, the perfect consonances of music; he taught the immortality of the soul; … and he was the first philosopher to develop the concept of the cosmos, the harmony of the created universe.
His followers, the Pythagoreans, believed in a superior divinity, the One God, above all other gods. Because of this belief in one God, and their rejection of the pantheon of mythical Greek gods, Pythagoras and his followers were labelled as atheists.
He was the first philosopher to give the word cosmos to the universe on the basis of his concepts of order and harmony which he believed govern all things.
He said that humanity and the universe are made in the image and likeness of God, and that understanding God, the universe and humanity are inter-connected.
In Pythagorean thinking, the cosmos is not just the whole world, but the whole universe, the whole created order; it is the earth and all that encircles the earth like its skin.
For Pythagoras, all things are related, just as in an ecosystem. In this thinking, the universe is a living organism and not an inanimate machine.
His followers compared a just and well-ordered society to a well-tuned lyre. While each note retains its individuality, all are proportionally linked together in a larger whole to form a musical scale, and all are interdependent in terms of their reliance on one another (Plato, Republic 443 D-444). Justice is present in any well-functioning organism, society, and the soul.
The word cosmopolitan, an important concept in modern philosophy and political discourse, is, of course, derived from the κοσμοπολίτης (kosmopoliítes) found in classical and koine Greek, formed from the words κόσμος (kosmos), world, universe, cosmos or created order, and πολίτης (politês), citizen, one of a city.
Contemporary usage defines the term as ‘citizen of the world’. But the word cosmopolitan was coined by the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic or Diogenes of Sinope in the fourth century BCE. When Diogenes was asked from what city he hailed, he replied that he was a citizen of the world, κόσμος πολίτης (kósmos polítēs), or κοσμοπολίτης (kosmopolites), a citizen of the world, rejecting narrow local loyalties.
The plural, κόσμου πολῖται (kosmou politai), means ‘citizens of the world’ or even ‘citizens of the universe’, of the whole created order. The phrase originates from Cynic and Stoic philosophy, describing the idea that human beings belong to a single, universal community rather than being defined solely by their local city-state or nation. At the time, the broadest basis of social identity among Greeks was either the individual city-state or the culturally and linguistically homogeneous Hellenic group.
Diogenes lived from ca 413/403 to ca 324/321 BCE, and he was one of the founders of Cynicism. He was renowned for his ascetic lifestyle and radical critiques of social conventions, and he became a legendary figure whose life and teachings have been recounted, often through anecdote, in both antiquity and modernity. He Diogenes advocated a return to nature, the renunciation of wealth, and introduced early ideas of cosmopolitanism by proclaiming himself a citizen of the world. Rather than declaring his lineage, city, social class, or gender, he defined himself as a human being, implicitly asserting the equal worth of all human beings.
When Saint John the Divine wrote the Book of Revelation, he was in exile on Patmos, the neighbouring island of Samos, where Pythagoras was born, and like Pythagoras, he too was in exile in a cave.
So, is it any wonder that the idea of the cosmos, the harmony of the created universe, is a key concept in the writings of Saint John?
The word cosmos occurs 188 times in the New Testament, and the vast majority of these occurrences (104) are in Saint John’s Gospel and his three letters.
The first use of the word cosmos in the New Testament is in the Gospel reading this morning. When Saint John uses the word here – ‘He was in the cosmos, and the cosmos came into being because of him’ (John 1: 10) – he is referring not to humanity, not to the world as our planet Earth, but to the created universe, the sum total of everything, not here and now but past, present and future, the orderly universe created by God to be in harmony.
When we care for the cosmos, the created order, we reflect the life of Christ. It is not a marginal, side issue for the Church, but it is at the heart of the mission of the Church, because it is at the heart of why the Word has become flesh and dwells among us (John 1: 14).
The fifth of the five marks of mission agreed in the Anglican Communion is: ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and re-new the life of the earth.’
As we celebrate Creation in Christ and continue to mark Creation Time, it is good to be reminded that the care of creation, the cosmos, is not an added-on extra to our priorities in mission; rather, it underpins and explains all we do in mission. When we care for the cosmos, the integrity of creation, we are being like Christ.
The Tower of Lysicrates in the Plaka in Athens was once known as the Lantern of Diogenes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 6 September 2026, Creation in Christ):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 6 to 12 September 2026 (pp 36-37), is ‘Turning Pain into Glory’. This theme is introduced today with a Reflection by Nolene Sheppard, Leader of a Women’s Empowerment Group, Magnificat, and Ukraine Aid Project Support Lead at Saint Thomas à Becket, Hamburg, Germany:
It was a deep pain that hurt so bad it made me feel sick. I looked into the mirror and saw black and brown lines. The image couldn’t possibly be me - an unrecognisable, swollen face. My head continued to spin out of control. All I felt was helplessness, anger and frustration.
Traumatic experiences like these are not an unusual experience – a first for me, but nothing that other women haven’t experienced. Could I find my way back from the depths of such overwhelming despair? How can I do this when I am in a country where I am a foreigner, and at a disadvantage in every aspect of the word.
“Are other women going through this same emotional and psychological torture due to similar experiences?”, I asked myself. The findings were overwhelming. With the power of prayer, I knew I was not walking the journey back to the top on my own. God was at my side every step of the way. He showed me the path, gave me wisdom, strength and vision.
Now on a road better than I could have ever imagined, in the same country, I created a group within the English Anglican Church in Hamburg called “Magnificat”. This group is all about empowering women. We give financial support to Ukrainian refugees, made up of women and children, in Romania and put on activities for women in Hamburg too. I listen to each of their stories. It’s been a year now and the bond is still there. Magnificat continues to uplift them, as it does me.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 6 September 2026, Creation in Christ) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on Matthew 18: 15-20.
‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’ (John 1: 4) … by Minster Pool in Lichfield at night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Collect of the Day:
Holy and eternal God,
you are the Maker of heaven and earth,
you are the Word through whom all things were made,
and you are the Spirit, the giver of life:
draw us into the mystery of your love,
that with all creation we may proclaim your praise,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
or
O God and Father of all that was, is and ever shall be,
help us to be thankful for all that is made
at the hands of your Son
and through the wisdom of your Spirit,
that we may care in heart and in deed for the life of our world,
to the praise and glory of your holy name.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God our Creator,
by your gift the tree of life was set
at the heart of the earthly paradise,
and the bread of life at the heart of your Church:
may we who have been nourished at your table on earth
be transformed by the glory of the Saviour’s cross
and enjoy the delights of eternity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’ (John 1: 4) … My Village Barok by the Sarawak River in Kuching at night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Sunset behind the Fortezza in Rethymnon in Crete, seen from Pavlos Beach in Platanias … ‘a little snatch of heaven’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church and today is the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII, 26 July 2026). Later this morning, I hope to sing with the choir at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stratford.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the Day.
A glimpse of Vicars Close, Lichfield, from Erasmus Darwin’s Garden, near Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52 (NRSVA):
31 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
33 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.
44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52 And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’
Sunrise on the River Slaney at Ferrycarrig, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflections
Have you ever found yourself lost for words when it comes to describing a beautiful place you have visited?
If you have ever been to the Bay of Naples or Sorrento, how would you describe what you have seen to someone who has never travelled outside a 30 km radius from Dublin?
You might try comparing the first glimpse of Vesuvius with looking at the Great Sugarloaf … but that hardly describes the experience of climbing the rocky path, looking into the caldera, or the experience of the sulphuric smell.
You might want to compare the Bay of Naples with the vista in Dalkey or Killiney … but that hardly catches the majestic scope of the view.
You might want to compare the church domes with the great copper dome in Rathmines … but that goes nowhere near describing the intricate artwork on those Italian domes.
You might compare the inside of the duomo in Amalfi with the inside of your favourite parish church … but you know you are getting nowhere near what you want to say.
And as for Capri … you are hardly going to write a romantic song about Dalkey Island, Ireland’s Eye or Lambay, Mersea Island or the Isle of Dogs.
Comparisons never match the beauty of any place that offers us a snatch or glimpse of heaven.
And yet, we know that the photographs on our phones, no matter how good they seem to be when we are taking them, never do justice to the places we have been when we get home.
We risk becoming bores either by trying to use inadequate words or inadequate images to describe experiences that we can never truly share with people unless they go there, unless they have been there too.
I suppose that helps to a degree to understand why Jesus keeps on trying to grasp at images that might help the Disciples and help us to understand what the Kingdom of God is like.
He tries to offer us a taste of the kingdom with a number of parables in this morning’s Gospel reading:
• The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed … (verse 31).
• The kingdom of heaven is like yeast … (verse 33).
• The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field … (verse 44).
• The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls … (verse 45).
• The kingdom of heaven is like a net in the sea … (verse 47).
‘Do they understand?’ They answer, ‘Yes.’ But how can they really understand, fully understand?
Once after a late lunch in Mount Usher, I posted some photographs of the gardens. An American reader I have never met commented: ‘A little piece of heaven.’
We have a romantic imagination that confuses gardens with Paradise, and Paradise with the Kingdom of Heaven. But perhaps that is a good starting point, because I have a number of places where I find myself saying constantly: ‘This is a little snatch of heaven.’ They include:
• The road from Cappoquin out to my grandmother’s farm in West Waterford.
• The train journey from outside Ferns to Wexford, along the banks of the River Slaney.
• The view from the east end of Stowe Pool across to Lichfield Cathedral at sunset on a Spring evening, or walking around Vicars Close in Lichfield.
• The Backs in Cambridge, which is visited once again last week.
• The fields in Comberford and the banks of the River Tame.
• Sunset at the Fortezza in Rethymnon on the Greek island of Crete.
• The sights and sounds on some of the shores and beaches I once walked on regularly … Bettystown, Skerries, Loughshinny, Portrane, Donabate, Bray, Wexford, Achill, Rethymnon, Platanias, Panormos …
The Kingdom of Heaven must be so like so many of these places where I find myself constantly praising God and thanking God for creation.
But … but it’s not just that. And I start thinking that Christ does more than just paint a scene when he describes the kingdom of heaven. Looking at the Gospel reading again, I realise he is doing more than offering holiday snapshots or painting the scenery.
He tries to describe the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of doing, and not just in terms of being:
• Sowing a seed (verse 31);
• Giving a nest to the birds of the air (verse 32);
• Mixing yeast (verse 33);
• Turning small amounts of flour into generous portions of bread (verse 34);
• Finding hidden treasure (verse 44);
• Rushing out in joy (verse 44);
• Selling all that I have because something I have found is worth more – much, much more, again and again (verse 44, 46);
• Searching for pearls (verse 45);
• Finding just one pearl (verse 46);
• Casting a net into the sea (verse 47);
• Catching an abundance of fish (verse 47);
• Drawing the abundance of fish ashore, and realising there is too much there for personal needs (verse 48);
• Writing about it so that others can enjoy the benefit and rewards of treasures new and old (verse 52).
So there are, perhaps, four or five times as many active images of the kingdom than there are passive images.
The kingdom is more about doing than being.
The projects and work supported by USPG at home and around the world is not supported because it hopes to transform those places with a few, selected quick-fix solutions, but because these projects are sacramental signs of the Kingdom.
Christ’s life on earth is marked by teaching, healing, caring for children and the marginalised, feeding the hungry, proclaiming the Kingdom.
In supporting projects in this work, USPG is offering signs of the ministry of Christ as he invites us to the banquet, as he invites us into the Kingdom – works that are little glimpses of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
Some time ago, a viral project on social media challenged people over five days to list three positive experiences they have had each day. Today, I challenge you to think of three places, three gifts in God’s creation, that offer you glimpses of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to think of three actions that for you symbolise Christ’s invitation into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Give thanks for these pearls beyond price, and share them with someone you love and cherish.
Punters on the River Cam behind King’s College, Cambridge, last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 26 July 2026, Trinity VIII):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 26 July to 1 August 2026 (pp 22-23), is ‘Lives in Transit’. This theme is introduced today with a programme update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG:
At a global summit on human trafficking and modern slavery, hosted by United Society Partners in the Gospel and the Diocese of Durgapur, two speakers illuminated the realities facing migrant workers in the Middle East: Saba, working in Lebanon and based in Jordan, and Pauline from Dubai.
In Lebanon, Saba Kerry describes the Kafala (sponsorship) system, where a worker’s legal status is tied to an employer. This can prevent workers from changing jobs, leaving the country freely, or holding their own passports, leaving them exposed and often without effective legal protection. As one migrant worker from Benin, quoted by Saba, explains: ‘In other countries, the one who has tricked you is usually the one who would be arrested, and your money would be reimbursed. But here, I’m the illegal one.’
In the city of sprawling skyscrapers, Dubai’s migrant workers face similar challenges. Many are separated from their families, carry recruitment debt, and depend on employers for legal residency.
Yet, amid these pressures, the Church often becomes a place of refuge and belonging.
At Holy Trinity Church, Dubai, and Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, Dubai, migrant communities gather for worship in many languages. These churches offer pastoral care and practical support for women in partners in global mission 22 crisis, including emergency assistance, shelter support, and help to return home safely where possible.
Across both contexts, the Church is called not only to respond to individual hardship, but also to recognise the systems that shape it. For the migrant domestic worker who longs to go home, caught within an unjust system, we now pray.
The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 26 July 2026, Trinity VIII) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on today’s Gospel reading, Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52.
Walking on the beach at Bako National Park, near Kuching in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;
glory to you for ever.
Additional Collect:
Lord God,
your Son left the riches of heaven
and became poor for our sake:
when we prosper save us from pride,
when we are needy save us from despair,
that we may trust in you alone;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Prophet Isaiah depicted in the iconostasis in Arkadi Monastery in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII, 19 July 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Elizabeth Ferard (1825-1883), first deaconess in the Church of England and founder of the Community of Saint Andrew.
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.
‘He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break’ (Isaiah 42: 2-3; see Matthew 12: 19) … a boat among reeds on the banks of the River Shannon, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Matthew 12: 14-21 (NRSVA):
14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
15 When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, 16 and he ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 ‘Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
20 He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smouldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
21 And in his name the Gentiles will hope.’
The Prophet Isaiah (right) and Saint John the Baptist … a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflections:
As we continue our daily readings in Saint Matthew’s Gospel, we see how Jesus is becoming a figure of controversy. We saw yesterday how he was accused by Pharisees of condoning the disciples breaking the Sabbath on the part of his disciples (Matthew 12: 1-8). Immediately afterwards he went to a synagogue and, in spite of a challenge about healing on the Sabbath, he went ahead and cured a man with a ‘withered hand’ (Matthew 12: 9-13).
Following this, Matthew tells us that ‘the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him’ (Matthew 12: 14), because his is a severe threat to their authority.
Jesus, aware of this plotting, disappears from sight for a while. He does not go out of his way to confront people or to create trouble for himself and does not deliberately engineer his own suffering and death.
At this point, Saint Matthew compares Jesus’s behaviour with a Biblical and quotes a passage in Isaiah (42: 1-4) to portray Jesus as fulfilling of the Spirit of God campaigning for justice for peoples everywhere.
Second Isaiah, or Isaiah 40-55), often referred to as ‘Deutero-Isaiah’ or the Book of Consolation, was probably written during the Babylonian exile, between 540 and 515 BCE, offering comfort and hope to the exiled people. This section contains beautiful poetic passages, emphasising God’s mercy, faithfulness, and the promise of salvation. It foretells the coming of a ‘Suffering Servant’, the Messiah, who will bring salvation not only to Israel but to all nations.
This is the longest Old Testament citation in this gospel (verses 18-21), although it does not correspond exactly to either the Hebrew or the Septuagint reading of that passage.
Isaiah 42:1-4 describes God’s servant, chosen and empowered by God’s Spirit, who will bring justice to the nations. This servant will be gentle, not resorting to loud public displays, and will not extinguish even the smallest hope. He is going to establish justice on earth and be a light to the nations, guiding those in darkness:
1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
For Saint Matthew, Jesus is the servant whom God has chosen, ‘in whom my soul delights’. He is no demagogue and ‘will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street’. Instead, he goes about quietly, tolerant and understanding of the weak, so gentle and kind in his behaviour that ‘a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.’
This reading, then, emphasises the meekness of Jesus, the Servant of the Lord, and foretells the extension of his mission to the Gentiles. His message, demanding thought it may be, does not crush people. Justice comes through compassion – like care for the bruised reed – not through the exercise of power and violence.
Christ will always intervene on behalf of the weak, and in a way that is sensitive to them, and that takes the limelight away from himself. His concern for justice will bring hope to all people.
In these days, we are so in need of this assurance that Christ will patiently bring justice to victory.
The Prophet Isaiah (left) and the Prophet Jeremiah (right) in a window in Saint Michael’s Church, Pery Square, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 18 July 2026):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 12 to 18 July 2026 (pp 18-19), is ‘The Land of the Highlanders’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection by the Most Revd Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
The USPG prayer diary today (Saturday 18 July 2026) invites us to pray
God, we hold before you the hope that the Highlands may once again be filled with Highlanders. Guide your Church to stand alongside its people and to trust in you.
The Collect of the Day:
Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
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 our pilgrimage,
you have led us to the living water:
refresh and sustain us
as we go forward on our journey,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect
Creator God,
you made us all in your image:
may we discern you in all that we see,
and serve you in all that we do;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Trinity VII:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
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.
‘He will not break a bruised reed’ (Matthew 12: 20), ‘a bruised reed he will not break’ (Isaiah 42: 3) … reeds in the breeze on the River Shannon at Carrick-on-Shannon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
The original statue of Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore … he died 200 years ago on 5 July 1826 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Stamford Raffles, who died on 5 July 1826 on his 45th birthday. Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (1781-1826) is best remembered as the founder of modern Singapore. Tradition says he first landed in Singapore on 28 January 1819 at Raffles Landing. The site is at Boat Quay in the Civic District, in the Downtown Core of the Central Area, Singapore’s central business district.
Stamford Raffles was the British colonial governor of the Dutch East Indies in 1811-1816 and lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen in 1818-1824. He was involved in the capture of the island of Java from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars, although it was returned under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1824. He also wrote The History of Java (1817), and the Rafflesia flowers are named after him.
Raffles played a major role in further establishing the British Empire’s reach in East and South-East Asia. He secured control over the strategically located Singapore from local rulers in 1819 to secure British access along the Strait of Singapore and in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
His ventures were initially not endorsed by the British government and led to tensions between the British and the Dutch. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 established their respective spheres of influence, with the Dutch relinquishing their claims to Singapore while Britain ceded Bencoolen to them. A port was subsequently established in Singapore, and maritime trade between Europe and Asia increased rapidly.
While Raffles is largely credited for the founding of contemporary Singapore, the early running of day-to-day operations was mostly done by William Farquhar, who served was the first Resident of Singapore from 1819 to 1823.
However, his historical role has become a subject of public debate, with critics characterising him as an imperialist. These perspectives argue that celebratory narratives of colonialism can overlook the history of the population that predated his arrival.
The statue of Sir Stamford Raffles at Raffles Landing in Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles was born on 5 July 1781 on board the ship Ann, off the coast of Port Morant in Jamaica, to Captain Benjamin Raffles (1739-1811) and Anne (née Lyde) Raffles (1755-1824). The young Raffles went to school at the Mansion House Academy, Hammersmith, where his subjects included Latin, Greek, French, arithmetic, book-keeping and geography.
At the age of 14, he started working as a clerk for the East India Company. In 1804, at the age of 23, Raffles married Olivia Mariamne Devenish, a widow 10 years his senior. He was sent to Penang Island in British Malaya in 1805, starting his long association with South-East Asia. The British invasion of Java took a total of 45 days, during which Raffles was appointed the lieutenant-governor of the Dutch East Indies by Lord Minto before hostilities formally ceased. As lieutenant-governor, Raffles restricted the local slave trade and tried to replace of the Dutch system of forced agricultural labour.
Raffles was devastated when his wife Olivia died on 26 November 1814. He left Java shorty before it was handed back to the Dutch after the Napoleonic Wars. He set sail for England in early 1816 to clear his name and on his way he visited Napoleon, who was in exile on St Helena, but found him unpleasant and unimpressive.
Back in London, Raffles was knighted in 1817 by the Prince Regent, the future George IV, and on 22 February he married his second wife, Sophia Hull, and they later set sail to Bencoolen, present-day Bengkulu in Indonesia.
Raffles arrived in Bencoolen on Sumatra on 19 March 1818, where he became the lieutenant-governor, and he set about reforms immediately, abolishing slavery.
At the time, Major-General William Farquhar was the British Resident of Malacca. Raffles sailed to Malacca in late 1818 to secure a British presence in the Riau area, especially Singapura, where he secure permission to set up a settlement. At this point in the history of Singapore, the name Lion City was used.
Raffles Hotel, named after Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, first opened in 1887 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Raffles first landed in Singapore on 28 January 1819 at Raffles Landing. He established a post at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula on 29 January 1819, having ascertained there was no Dutch presence on the island of Singapore. Raffles and Farquhar found Temenggong Abdul Rahman with 400-500 residents in Singapore in Captain John Crawford recalled meeting ‘upwards of 100’ Chinese people there.
A formal treaty was signed with Hussein Shah who claimed to be the ‘lawful sovereign of the whole of territories extending from Lingga and Johor to Mount Muar’. Hussein Shah had been the crown Prince of Johor, but while he was away in Pahang to get married, his father died, and his younger brother was made sultan, supported by some court officials and the Dutch. Raffles decided on behalf of the British Crown to recognise Hussein Shah as the rightful ruler of Johor.
Raffles declared the foundation of what was to become modern Singapore on 6 February, with control of the island transferred to the East India Company with much pomp and ceremony. Farquhar was officially named the Resident of Singapore, and Raffles was named as ‘Agent to the Most Noble the Governor-General with the States of Rhio (Riau), Lingin (Lingga) and Johor’. A small military presence was established with the trading post and, after issuing orders to Farquhar and the remaining Europeans, Raffles left the next day, 7 February 1819.
Raffles returned to Singapore, on 31 May. By then, the initial 500 villagers had grown to become 5,000 merchants, soldiers, and administrators, packed onto the island. Back in Singapore, Raffles established schools and churches in the local languages, he allowed missionaries and local businesses to flourish, a European town was built to segregate the population, separated by a river, carriage roads were built, and cantonments were built for soldiers, before Raffles sailed for Bencoolen once again on 28 June.
In 1820, Raffles appointed Thomas Otho Travers (1785-1844) as the Resident of Singapore, but Farquhar remained in charge. Travers was born and died in Cork, and his wife Mary Leslie was also Irish.
Boat Quay and Raffles Place, the commercial and tourism heart of Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Meanwhile, personal tragedies began to accumulate on Raffles: His eldest son, Leopold Stamford (1819-1821), died during an epidemic on 4 July 1821; his youngest son, Stamford Marsden (1820-1822), died of dysentery on 3 January 1822; and his oldest daughter Charlotte (1818-1822) died 10 days later. A devastated Raffles grew restless and depressed, and decided to visit Singapore for one last time before retiring and heading home to England with his wife Sophia and their only surviving child, Ella.
Raffles was back again in Singapore in October 1822. By then, the colony was a bustling hub of trade and economic activity. But Raffles was disappointed that Farquhar continued to tolerate the slave trade. In response, Raffles drew up the Jackson Plan or Raffles Town Plan, and levelled of a small hill south of Singapore River to create Commercial Square, now Raffles Place.
He originally allocated a piece of land between Hill Street and North Bridge Road in his Town Plan of 1822 for an Anglican church. However, due to a lack of funds, it was another 12 years before work began on building the first church, which eventually became Saint Andrew’s Cathedral.
Raffles dismissed Farquhar in April 1823, and took direct control. John Crawfurd, who had followed Raffles for over 20 years, became the new Resident of Singapore. Raffles also called a meeting that led to the founding of Raffles Institution.
In the final few weeks of his last stay in Singapore, in 1823, Raffles drafted a series of administrative regulations that aimed to govern Singapore, he outlawed gambling, imposed heavy taxation on drunkenness and opium smoking, and banned slavery, a police force and magistracy were set up, and what had been a trading post became a proper city.
Now feeling that he had completed his task in establishing Singapore, Raffles finally boarded a ship for home on 9 June 1823. On the way back, during a final stop in Bencoolen, tragedy befell Raffles once more when his youngest daughter, Flora Nightingall, who was born on 19 September, died on 28 November.
Raffles finally arrived back in England on 22 August 1824, over a year after he left Singapore. His longest tenure in Singapore was only eight months, but ever since he has been regarded as the founder of Singapore.
Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles first convalesced in Cheltenham and then moved to
Berners Street, London, at the end of November 1824, before moving to his country estate at Highwood in North London. By then he was seriously much too ill and he died of apoplexy or what we might today call a stroke at Highwood House in Mill Hill, north London, on his 45th birthday, 5 July 1826.
Because of his firm opposition to slavery, Raffles was refused burial inside Saint Mary’s Church, Hendon, by the vicar, the Revd Theodor Williams, whose family had made its fortune in Jamaica in the slave trade. The actual whereabouts of his body was unknown until 1914, when it was found in a vault. A life-size figure in white marble by Sir Francis Chantrey in 1832 sits in Westminster Abbey.
Raffles was survived by his second wife Sophia Hull and their daughter Ella. Ella died in 1840, aged 19. Sophia remained at Highwood House until her death in 1858, at the age of 72.
Two Singapore Slings … and a bag of peanuts … in the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel, Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
In Singapore, his legacy is commemorated by the Raffles’s Landing Site and the use of his name for many places and institutions, including Raffles City, Raffles Hospital, Raffles Hotel, Raffles College, currently National University of Singapore (NUS), and in the names of a number of primary and secondary schools.
There are three public statues of Raffles in Singapore, one made of white polymarble along the Singapore River, another made of bronze in front of the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall and a contemporary bronze sculpture at Fort Canning Park.
The black statue of Raffles that stands in the shadow of the clock tower of the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall in Empress Place, Singapore, was originally located in the middle of the Padang, facing the sea. It was placed there to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s accession, but it was moved as part of Singapore’s centenary celebrations in February 1919. The statue was moved again at the end of the Japanese occupation, but was placed back in its location after World War II.
However, tourists generally give more attention to a copy of the original statue, a white statue of polymarble made from a cast of the black statue. The copy stands by the Singapore River near Empress Place at the spot believed to be his original landing site. It was placed there in 1972 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Singapore.
Writing about Raffles in the Guardian in 2012, Victoria Glendenning said: ‘He was an idealistic entrepreneur, a romantic imperialist, passionately anti-slavery, and more concerned with transforming the lives of the peasants than making immediate profits for the company. He made no fortune for himself. Volatile, inconsistent, energetic, resilient, he wanted fame, and he wanted to do good.’
Following Raffles on a boat journey on the Singapore River, passing Raffles Landing (Patrick Comerford)
‘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 Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity IV, 28 June 2026) and yesterday was the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, so that these days are sometimes known as Petertide.
Today also brings us to the end of the first half of the year. 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.
‘And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him’ (Matthew 8: 35) … five minutes by the river in Oxford with boats, scullers and swans (Patrick Comerford, 2026)
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?’
Boats on the river near Folly Bridge in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Today’s Reflections:
This morning’s reading at the Eucharist (Matthew 8: 23-27) comes after the account usually read on the Monday of this week (Matthew 8: 18-22) of how 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 or by the boat clubs 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 and words of Christ among us.
‘Then … there was a dead calm’ (Matthew 8: 26) … boats in the calm waters at Mesongi on the Greek island of Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 30 June 2026):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 28 June to 4 July 2026 (pp 14-15), is ‘Living Stones’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Very Revd Lydia Kelsey Bucklin, President and Dean of Episcopal Divinity School.
The USPG prayer diary today (Tuesday 30 June 2026) invites us to pray:
Loving God, we pray for the Episcopal Church in the US. Make it a spiritual house where truth and justice shape our life together.
The Collect of the Day:
O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide
we may so pass through things temporal
that we lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for our Lord 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:
Eternal God,
comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken,
you have fed us at the table of life and hope:
teach us the ways of gentleness and peace,
that all the world may acknowledge
the kingdom of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Gracious Father,
by the obedience of Jesus
you brought salvation to our wayward world:
draw us into harmony with your will,
that we may find all things restored in him,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
The west end of Saint Matthew’s Church, facing onto Marlborough Road, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Patrick Comerford
When we were in Oxford earlier this week, and as temperatures rose during the day and the heatwave took a grip on the land, I spent part of the day walking by the river and in search of some churches and ecclesiastical sites I had not visited before, including Holy Rood Church near Folly Bridge on the Abingdon Road, and Holy Rood Church, the Roman Catholic parish church of Grandpont, which I was writing about yesterday.
Saint Matthew’s Church on Marlborough Road is the neighbouring Church of England parish church. The Grandpont area was named after the ‘grand pont’ or big bridge, which was more of a causeway with a series of bridges leading to the road to Abingdon. The causeway was first built by the Norman baron Robert d’Oilly, who had been made Governor of Oxford by William the Conqueror.
The low-lying land south of the River Thames at Folly Bridge remained part of Berkshire until it was incorporated into the City of Oxford in 1889. This opened the way for much house building in the area that became known as Grandpont.
It takes no more than half an hour to walk from one end of the parish to the other. It is just over a mile long, has an area of 0.4 sq miles and had 3,154 residents at the 2011 census. The parish begins at Folly Bridge, stretches south down the Abingdon Road, past Salter’s Steamers and the site of the original boatyards, and by Holy Rood Church. Within the bounds of the parish are college playing fields, the Buddhist Vihara house and the former South Oxford Baptist Church, now the home of the Oxford Salvation Army and a South Asian congregation.
Saint Matthew’s Church was designed by the London-based architects JT Christopher and EE White and was consecrated on 21 June 1890 by Bishop William Stubbs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
The streets of Grandpont around Saint Matthew’s form a grid of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, with some student accommodation, and a development of retirement apartments. To the south and west of the parish is the Church of Saint John the Evangelist, New Hinksey, part of the Parish of South Oxford with New Hinksey. Saint John’s is in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England, with episcopal oversight from the Bishop of Ebbsfleet. From time to time, members of Saint Matthew’s have joined Saint John’s for services.
Immediately to the north of the parish, Saint Ebbe’s is a large evangelical church that shares the governance of Saint Ebbe’s Primary School with Saint Matthew’s. To the north and east of the parish, Saint Aldate’s is the large city centre church where Saint Matthew’s has its roots.
Canon Alfred William Millard Christopher (1820-1913), who had been the Rector of Saint Aldate's Church since 1859, raised funds to build a large church on Marlborough Road, one of the principal roads in Grandpont that followed the line of a former spur track from the nearby Great Western Railway.
Thw west door of Saint Matthew’s Church, facing onto Marlborough Road (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
aint Matthew’s Church, Grandpont, was designed in 15th-century Gothic style by the Bloomsbury-based architects JT Christopher and EE White. The partners were John Thomas Christopher (1830-1910), who had worked briefly in the office of William Burges (1821-1881), the architect of Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork (1863), and who may have been a younger brother of Canon Christopher; and Eley Emlyn White (1854-1900), who also designed Saint John’s Church, Watford. Whyte’s private life was turbulent: he separated from his wife and shot himself in Kensington in 1900 after shooting a young actress.
Saint Matthew’s Church was consecrated on 21 June 1890 by William Stubbs (1825-1901), Bishop of Oxford and former Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. The church became independent from Saint Aldate’s in the 1920s, with its patronage going to the Oxford Churches Trust, while the patronage of Saint Aldate’s remained with the Simeon Trustees.
A brass plaque on the south wall is in memory of James Arthur Paintin of Marlborough Road, a steward on the Titanic who drowned when the liner sank in April 1912.
The Rev Wilfred Williamson was the vicar during World War I, when 66 men from Grandpont died in the war. Those 66 men are commemorated on the war memorial, and two of them, William Reginald King and Charles George Tyrrell, both 20, are commemorated in plaques on the north wall of the church.
Land behind the church to the east was leased from Brasenose College in 1921 and a small hall was built on the site. The vicarage was originally in Edith Road but a large house on the Abingdon Road was left to Saint Matthew's by an Oxford bookseller, and it remained the Vicarage until 1979.
The Revd (later Canon) David Keith Stather-Hunt (1896-1979) became Vicar in 1929 and remained until 1975. He had been in the Machine Gun Corps during World War I, and was a chaplain in the Territorial Army throughout World War II.
Saint Matthew’s Church struggled during World War II and in the absence of Stather-Hunt, despite Cecil Pain, a churchwarden and the local undertaker, urging him to return to Saint Matthew’s. After the war, and after a sharp disagreement in the parish in 1949, Saint Matthew's sub-let part of its land to Oxford City Football Club.
‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Luke 11: 1) … the lettering over the west door of Saint Matthew’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the congregation and Canon Stather-Hunt had aged, and church attendance was in decline. Only 12 parishioners attended his last AGM in February 1975, and at the age of 79 he retired as both Vicar of Saint Matthew’s and prison chaplain in Oxford at Easter 1975, with speculation that Saint Matthew’s would close and become a snooker hall.
Thanks to the efforts of the Revd Keith Weston, Rector of Saint Ebbe’s and Area Dean, the Revd Brian Ringrose became priest-in-charge in September 1975 on his return from mission work in India. When he moved to Scotland in 1979, Saint Matthew’s once again become part of Saint Aldate’s Parish, with the curate of Saint Aldate’s as priest-in-charge of Saint Matthew’s. The Revd John Woolmer, and the curates who followed him, lived at 60 Abingdon Road, and it became ‘the Vicarage’.
John Woolmer was succeeded as priest-in-charge by the Revd David Hawkins, who later became Bishop of Barking (2002-2014). Slowly, Saint Matthew’s began to grow again with the encouragement of Saint Aldate’s Church and the arrival of new, active parishioners.
When the church floor was being replaced in 1982, the congregation of Saint Matthew’s found hospitality for six weeks at Holy Rood Catholic Church on the Abingdon Road, the church I was writing about yesterday.
‘Thy face Lord will I seek’ (Psalm 27: 8) … the lettering over the south door of Saint Matthew’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
The Rev John Samways became the curate of Saint Aldate’s and priest-in-charge of Saint Matthew’s in 1986, and when the parish again became independent from Saint Aldate’s in 1995, he became the Vicar of Saint Matthew’s.
Brasenose College repossessed the adjacent Oxford City White House football ground in 1992 and began to redevelop the site, including land leased by Saint Matthew’s with the parish hall. At the same time, Saint Matthew’s bought a yard on the north side of the church. The compensation and changes enabled the parish to build Saint Matthew’s Family Centre beside the church, a new vicarage was built on Marlborough Road, and the church was refurbished.
When John Samways moved to Keynsham near Bristol, he was succeeded by the Revd Steve Hellyer as priest-in-charge from 1998 and then as vicar from 2010.
A glimpse inside Saint Matthew’s Church, Oxford, earlier this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)
Saint Matthew’s Church today has a similar appearance to when it was built In 1890, The choir vestry has been removed, and the rood screen has been placed at the back of the church. It was decided in recent year to ‘worship in the round’, the pews are no longer fixed, the chairs are movable, and a projector and screen were installed in 2013.
Saint Matthew’s is in the centre of Grandpont, close to the river and city centre, and has an average Sunday attendance of 120, with about one-third living in the parish.
A new council estate was built in the early 1930s, and Stather-Hunt built a wooden church there dedicated to Saint Luke in 1933. That building served the Saint Luke’s end of the parish until it was rebuilt in 2013. The new Saint Luke’s was officially opened by the Bishop of Oxford in 2014. Saint Luke’s Church is about a mile away, in the Cold Harbour area and marks the southern-most point of the parish.
Saint Matthew’s and Saint Luke’s have their own distinct styles. Saint Matthew’s has an ‘Open Evangelical’ tradition, but the spirituality in the congregation includes the contemplative, the charismatic, and people with a passion for social action.
The Revd Dr Jenni Williams, the Vicar of Saint Matthew’s and Saint Luke’s, is a former tutor in Old Testament at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and the author of several books; the Revd Jon Williams is the associate vicar, the Revd Mike Rayner is the associate minister, and the Revd Rob Rogers and the Revd Bethan Willis are curates.
The staff team includes a families’ worker, youth worker and children’s worker.
