Daily prayer in Lent 2026: 26, Sunday 15 March 2026, Fourth Sunday in Lent, Lent IV

‘Mother and Child’ by Anna Raynoch-Brzozowska … a sculpture in Auschwitz (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are more than half way through Lent, and today is the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Lent IV, 15 March 2026) and Mothering Sunday or Mothers’ Day, and is also known in some places as Laetare Sunday.

Later this morning, I hope to sing with the choir at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. But, 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.

‘Woman, here is your son … Here is your mother’ (John 19: 26, 27) … the Rood Screen in Holy Rood Church, Watford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

John 19: 25-27 (NRSVA):

25 Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ 27 Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

‘Woman, here is your son … Here is your mother’ (John 19: 26, 27) … a Pieta image in the Chapel in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

The Fourth Sunday in Lent is also known as Laetare Sunday because of a traditional Introit or prayer sung on this Sunday, Laetare Jerusalem, ‘O be joyful, Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 66: 10).

Mothering Sunday is a Sunday when we probably hear little about the main option for the Gospel reading (John 9: 1-41), the story of the man who is born blind but who is healed, at the expense of a lot of repeat sermons on the benefits of motherhood or the stellar qualities of ‘Mother Church’, of cathedrals as the ‘mother churches’ of dioceses, or, in these days of global conflict and uncertainty, the supposed virtues of the ‘motherland’.

But I wonder and worry at times how many women feel isolated and marginalised by some of those sermons on Mothering Sunday – women who have had miscarriages or seen their children suffer and die; women who would love to but have never given birth to children; people who have grown up in families where the mother figure was absent or ill, died early, or was abusive or violent, women who put under family or social pressures to be mothers?

Many grieving and suffering mothers hearing this Gospel reading on Mothering Sunday may wonder why their children are suffering and how or where their sufferings and the sufferings of their children fit into God’s plans for the fullness of creation.

The blindness of the young man in that reading could not possibly be due to his sins or the sins of his ancestors. But how many of us blame other people for their plight, and how many of us still believe that those in poverty and deprivation simply need to ‘pull themselves up’?

The two Gospel readings offered as choices for Mothering Sunday are not easy reading either. Motherhood is difficult, and brings pain and grief for mothers and children. But motherhood also brings pain and grief to men and women who whose desire to be parents is never fulfilled. These two choices offer a view of motherhood that is challenging and asks us to question what it is to be a parent, to parent and to be parented.

The first option (John 9: 1-41), Christ meets a young man who has been blind since birth. The disciples ask Jesus: ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ (verse 2) He answers them: ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world’ (John 9: 3-5).

Many grieving and suffering mothers hearing this Gospel reading on Mothering Sunday may wonder why their children are suffering and how or where their sufferings and the sufferings of their children fit into God’s plans for the fullness of creation.

We must agree the blindness of this young man could not possibly be due to his sins or the sins of his ancestors. But how many of us blame other people for their plight, and how many of us still believe that those in poverty and deprivation simply need to ‘pull themselves up’?.

The second option is a much shorter Gospel reading (John 19: 25-27), where we hear the tender words, ‘Woman, here is your son,’ as the dying Christ on the Cross entrusts his weeping mother Mary to the care of the Beloved Disciple. But Christ is not creating a one-way relationship. He immediately follows this by creating a new relationship for the Beloved Disciple: ‘Here is your mother.’

He entrusts her to him – and him to her. Relationships always have at least two dimensions. But the best of relationships are three dimensional – one to another, and each other to God.

There are some relationships we cannot create, there are others we cannot control, and others still that we have no choice about.

We cannot create our family. Our families are already given, even before we are born or adopted.

And those relationships survive though all adversities. They are fixed. They are given. Even though my father and mother are dead, they remain my parents. Even though a couple may divorce, each one in the old relationship remains a sister-in-law or a daughter-in-law, a brother-in-law or a son-in-law – albeit qualified by the word ‘former.’ In time, they may find they have new relationships: when their children have children, they share grandchildren they never expected. They may want to forget their past relationship, but it remains on the family tree for some future genealogist to tell everyone about.

I like to imagine that one of the untold stories in the aftermath of the Wedding at Cana is the new network or web of family relationships that have been created. After the wedding feast, the first of the Seven Signs in Saint John’s Gospel, Christ ‘went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days’ (John 2: 12).

On the way, or back in Capernaum, one finds he is now a brother-in-law, another that she is a sister-in-law, some, perhaps, realise they have a new aunt or uncle, or perhaps a new niece or nephew by marriage.

We cannot create family, yet family often creates us, shapes us, gives us identity and allows others to decide where we fit socially.

There are relationships we cannot control.

Most of us cannot control who we work with. That is the choice of our employers, and even for employers there is legislation to make sure they are not discriminating. Clergy cannot, and should not try to, control who are their parishioners.

If we try to control who is and who is not a member of the Church, depending on the relationships we like to have and the relationships we do not like to have, we will find we have a Church that has an ever-decreasing number of members, so that eventually we become a dwindling sect, wanting to make God in our own image and likeness, rather than accepting that we are all made in God’s image and likeness. And that eventually becomes a sect of one, where there is no place for the One who matters.

There are relationships we have no choice about. I cannot choose my friends and I cannot choose my neighbours.

Have you ever noticed that when a house is on the market, both the vendors and the estate agents tell you the neighbours are wonderful? It is only after you move in that you are likely to find out if you have, as the recent ITV television documentary series describes them, ‘the neighbours from hell.’

I cannot choose my friends. No matter how much I want to be friends with someone, if they do not want to be my friend, that’s it. I cannot force friendship. When I have a friendship, I can work on it, nurture it, help it to grow and blossom. But I cannot force a friendship. If you don’t want to be my friend, that is your choice, and if you do, and I don’t nurture that friendship, then you are going to change your mind.

Christ knows all about relationships, and he shows that on the Cross.

Relationships define us as human. Without relating to others, how can I possibly know what it is to be human? From the very beginning, God, who creates us in God’s own image and likeness, knows that it is not good for us to be alone. And in the Trinity, we find that God is relationship.

Relationship is at the heart of the cross. And there, on the cross, even as he is hanging in agony, the dying Jesus is compassionately thinking of others and of relationships.

His mother Mary is the only person throughout the Gospel narratives who has been with Christ from the beginning to the end, from his birth to his death. She has been with Christ throughout his whole life.

Saint John, the Beloved Disciple, is the disciple whom Jesus loved. We are blessed if we have a very best friend, a person to whom I am closer than any other. John is such a best friend for Jesus throughout the Gospel narrative. In the Fourth Gospel, we hear that John was ‘the beloved.’ John was the person to whom Christ was the closest. John was the best friend of Jesus.

In the midst of his dying, pain-filled moments before his death, Christ is heard thinking of the needs of the two people who love him most during his life: his mother and his best friend.

As the soldiers are gambling over his clothes and casting lots to divide them among themselves, Jesus sees three women – his mother Mary, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene, standing near the cross, and his mother is standing with the Beloved Disciple.

He turns to his mother and he says to her: ‘Woman, here is your son.’

He then turns to the Beloved Disciple and says: ‘Here is your mother.’

It is not a command, it is not a directive, it is not an instruction. It is a giving in love, just as his own death on the cross is self-giving. And, in giving, there is love and there is life.

Christ teaches us to love, even when he is dying, even when we are dying. That is what relationships are about, and that is what the Cross is all about.

The cross broadens the concept of family – the family of God. Jesus changes the basis of relationships. No longer are relationships to be formed on the basis of natural descent, on shared ethic identity, on agreeing that others are ‘like us.’

Our shared place beneath the cross is the only foundational space for relationships from now on.

Mary gained another son. And the Beloved Disciple gained a new mother.

Beneath the cross of Christ, Christian fellowship is born not just for Mary and John, but also for you and me, and for everyone else who believes, for all who believe.

Beneath the cross of Christ, we become a new family.

Beneath the cross of Christ, we become brothers and sisters in Christ.

Beneath the cross of Christ, we realise that we are now part of the family of God.

On the cross, Christ entrusts us as his children to one another, to love one another.

‘Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19: 5) … ‘Crucifixion with figures’ (1952-1958) by Graham Sutherland (1903-1980), chalk, ink and wash, in an exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral in 2018 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (15 March 2026, Lent IV):

The theme this week (15-21 March 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Lament and Hope’ (pp 38-39). This theme is introduced today with a programme update by Kennedy Jones, Church Engagement and Fundraising Officer, USPG:

‘At a recent workshop run by USPG, I was surprised and horrified to learn that the Church was deeply entangled in slavery, with scripture misused to justify oppression and racial hierarchies. These histories continue to shape how race is understood within Christian communities. During discussions, participants shared the ongoing struggles of living in contexts shaped by racial and religious histories. One reflected, “It is really challenging being an Irish Catholic in this country,” while another admitted, “We are tired. I feel like I’m just surviving … we are just tired.”

‘The Revd Dr Carlton Turner, Caribbean theologian and guest speaker, shared a powerful story of a woman discovering her family’s book listing enslaved people once owned by her ancestors. He spoke about the weight of inherited trauma and the Church’s struggle to lament, reminding us that “the Church doesn’t know how to lament … but Jesus does – he weeps, overturns tables, and is moved with compassion.”

‘As an African American woman, I have attended numerous conferences on racial justice, and I’ve grown up in classrooms where the history of slavery was often taught in ways that left Black students feeling deeply uncomfortable. These conversations are always heavy. Every Black person I know tries to stay engaged, but at the same time, we must protect our emotional wellbeing. There’s a constant tension between bearing witness and guarding ourselves from becoming numb.

‘Ultimately, I came away feeling this: we are desperately in need of Jesus. No amount of striving or strategising on our own will bring the healing we long for. He must be at the centre if we’re to make any real progress.’

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 15 March 2026, Lent IV) invites us to read and meditate on John 9: 1-41.

‘Woman, here is your son … Here is your mother’ (John 19: 26, 27) … the Crucifixion on the rood screen in Saint Ia’s Church in Saint Ives, Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect of the Day (Lent IV):

Merciful Lord,
absolve your people from their offences,
that through your bountiful goodness
we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins
which by our frailty we have committed;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Collect of the Day (Mothering Sunday):

God of compassion,
whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary,
shared the life of a home in Nazareth,
and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself:
strengthen us in our daily living
that in joy and in sorrow
we may know the power of your presence
to bind together and to heal;
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 (Lent IV):

Lord God,
whose blessed Son our Saviour
gave his back to the smiters
and did not hide his face from shame:
give us grace to endure the sufferings of this present time
with sure confidence in the glory that shall be revealed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Merciful Lord,
you know our struggle to serve you:
when sin spoils our lives
and overshadows our hearts,
come to our aid
and turn us back to you again;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post-Communion Prayer (Mothering Sunday):

Loving God,
as a mother feeds her children at the breast
you feed us in this sacrament with the food and drink of eternal life:
help us who have tasted your goodness
to grow in grace within the household of faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of love,
passionate and strong,
tender and careful:
watch over us and hold us
all the days of our life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Woman, here is your son’ … ‘Here is your mother’ (John 19: 26, 27) … a stained glass window in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

19.5 million tourists in Greece, 19.5 million people in Cairo, Tump’s secret $19.5 million loan, and 19.5 million blog readers

St Ives is the best-known beach in Cornwall … the United Kingdom has a total coastline of about 19.5 million metres or 19,500 km (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This blog continues to reach more and more readers, and has reached yet another staggering landmark, with 19.5 million hits by early afternoon yesterday (14 December 2025) and already heading towards 20 million hits, with more than 1.08 million readers so far this month, an average of about 72,000 hits each day in the first half of December, and over 130,000 hits by 6 pm today.

I first began blogging back in 2010, and the 19 million mark was reached less than a week ago (9 December), having passed the 18.5 million mark less than a fortnight earlier at the end of last month (27 November 2025), the 18 million earlier that month (2 November 2025), 17.5 million the previous month (18 October) and 17 million less than three weeks earlier (30 September 2025).

The latest figure of 19.5 million is all the more staggering as more than half of those hits (10 million) have been within this year, since January 2025. The rise in the number of readers has been phenomenal throughout this year, and the daily figures have been overwhelming at times. With this latest landmark figure of 19.5 million readers today, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 19.5 million people look like?

• Where do we find 19.5 million people?

• What does £19.5 million, €19.5 million or $19.5 million mean?

• What would it buy, how far would it stretch, how much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?

Minarets on the skyline in Cairo … Cairo has a population of 19.5 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Official estimate earlier this year show that both Somalia and Chile each has a population of about 19.5 million.

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, has a population of about 19.5 million permanent inhabitants, while Greater Cairo has over 20 million people. Over 19.5 million people live in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which is known as one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The New York metropolitan area was estimated to have a population of 19.75 million people in one ranking.

Florida, with the population of 19.5 million people, is one of the five largest states in the US.

The major global refugee crisis means there are about 19.5 million refugees worldwide. There are 19.5 million refugees in a world population of 7 billion, which means, of course, that it is a manageable problem but lacks the political will on the part of world leadership to solve it.

Among the top 10 most visited cities in 2025, Istanbul and Dubai rank fifth and sixth, with about 19.5 million visitors each.

In Greece, 19.5 million passengers passed through the 14 regional airports managed by Fraport Greece between January and July 2025, a 2.1% increase from the previous year. These airports are in Corfu, Chania (Crete), Kefalonia, Kavala, Aktion (Preveza), Thessaloniki (Makedonia), Zakynthos, Mykonos, Skiathos, Santorini (Thira), Kos, Mytilene (Lesvos), Rhodes and Samos.

Matenisa Trading, owned by the Melissanidis family, recently bought the Agia Triada Beach and Camping resort in Thessaloniki for a total of €19.5 million at a digital auction. The final price was 140.7% higher than the original starting price of €8.1 million.

The United Kingdom has a total coastline of about 19.5 million metres or 19,500 km, including larger islands. Although the shoreline of Great Britain’s mainland is about 17,820 km, adding major islands brings it close to the 19,500 km mark.

The Kruger National Park in South Africa covers 19.5 million sq metres or 19,500 sq km.

Winston Churchill’s former home in London was on the market last year with an asking price of £19.5 million. Churchill lived at 27 Hyde Park Gate from 1946 until he died in 1965. He bought the house in Kensington in 1946 for a £7,000 – the equivalent of about £250,00 today.

Donald Trump failed to disclose a loan of $19.5 million loan from a company with ties to North Korea while he was president the first time round, according to reports in 2022. The $19.8 million loan was from the South Korean firm Daewoo, which has historic ties to North Korea, and that debt remained more or less static between 2011 and 2016. Trump did not list the debt in financial disclosure filings while running for office in 2016, and only repaid the loan five months into his first presidency, the Forbes report said. Trump frequently brags about his close relationship with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Chania airport is one of the 14 regional airports in Greece that together have handled 19.5 million visitors in the first half of this year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

And 19.5 million minutes is almost 13,542 days or about 37.1 years. If this blog was getting one hit a minute, it would have taken over 37 years to reach this 19.5 million mark.

So, yet again, this blog has reached another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once more I am left with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

A continuing and warming figure in the midst of all these statistics continues to be the one that shows my morning prayer diary continues to reach up to 80-100 people each day, with similar figures for my daily Advent Calendar postings at noon. It is almost four years now since I retired from active parish ministry, but I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches averaged or totalled 560 to 700 people twice a week.

Today, I am very grateful to all the 19.5 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I am grateful for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

On the shores of Lake Eola in downtown Orlando … Florida has a population of 19.5 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Barbara Hepworth’s ‘Winged Figure’ at John Lewis’s flagship store in Oxford Street

‘Winged Figure’ (1963) by Barbara Hepworth on the corner of the John Lewis store on Oxford Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

I have long accepted three good tips for seeing the beautiful, the unusual and the unexpected in London: walk instead of taking the Tube; keep your eyes open; and look up rather than down.

Walking rather than taking the Tube may add another 10 or 15 minutes to a journey, but usually no more in the long run, and the rewards can be delightful.

As two of us were strolling around Oxford Street and the West End recently, we found ourselves beneath ‘Winged Figure’, a 1963 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth on the corner of the John Lewis flagship store on Oxford Street. It has been described as ‘a sculpture of high artistic and aesthetic quality, possessing a universal beauty in its sense of fluid movement and dynamic spatial expression.’

Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) was a leading figure in the colony of artists who lived in St Ives, Cornwall. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture.

‘Winged Figure’ is one of Barbara Hepworth’s best-known works and it has been on public display for the last 60 years, since April 1963. It is mounted on the south-east side of the John Lewis department store, on the corner of Holles Street and Oxford Street.

The John Lewis shop on Oxford Street replaced an earlier war-damaged premises. The building was designed by architects Slater, Moberly & Uren in 1956 and reopened in 1961.

The idea of adorning the plain Portland stone side wall of the new shop with a sculpture had been advocated by John Spedan Lewis, son and successor of John Lewis, in 1951. Sir Jacob Epstein was first approached, but he was engaged on other works at the time and turned down the commission. By 1960 a suitable artist had still not been found.

In May 1961, John Lewis asked six other artists to propose designs. Barbara Hepworth’s breakthrough public sculpture, ‘Meridian’, had recently been installed outside State House on Holborn, and caught the eye of Bernard Miller, who by then had taken over from Spedan Lewis. The other sculptors approached at the time were Ralph Brown, Geoffrey Clarke, Tony Hollaway, Stefan Knapp, William Mitchell and Hans Tisdall. However, none of their initial designs was accepted.

Hepworth had been asked to express ‘the idea of common ownership and common interests in a partnership of thousands of workers.’ In October 1961, she had proposed a different design, ‘Three Forms in Echelon’, but John Lewis rejected that. One of 10 bronze maquettes of ‘Three Forms in Echelon’ cast in 1965 is now in the Tate Gallery.

Her second proposal, based on an enlargement of her 1957 sculpture ‘Winged Figure I’, was accepted. Related sculptures by Barbara Hepworth, such as ‘Stringed Figure (Curlew)’ and ‘Orpheus’, were also made in sheet metal with rods.

The work is 5.8 metres (19 ft) high. It resembles a boat’s hull, with two wide asymmetric wings like blades rising from a small plinth, curving towards each other and linked to each other by a series of radial rods like strings that almost cross at a single point in the middle of the sculpture.

‘Winged Figure’ is the first sculpture Barbara Hepworth created in her Palais de Danse studio in St Ives. She made a prototype in 1962 in wood and then aluminium in St Ives, made from lengths of aluminium covered with aluminium sheets and linked by ten aluminium rods. The surface of the prototype was then textured with Isopon, a polyester resin filler.

The aluminium prototype – the largest prototype by Barbara Hepworth that is still in existence – is now in the Hepworth Museum in Wakefield, Yorkshire, where she was born.

The main body of the final work was cast in aluminium by the founders Morris Singer in Walthamstow, with the rods replaced by stainless steel. It was installed on the John Lewis building on Sunday 21 April 1963, on a plinth 4 metres (13 ft) above the footpath.

Hepworth summarised her ambitions for the project: ‘I think one of our universal dreams is to move in air and water without the resistance of our human legs, I wanted to evoke this sensation of freedom. If the ‘Winged Figure’ in Oxford Street gives people a sense of being air-borne in rain and sunlight and nightlight I will be very happy. It is a project I have long wished to fulfil and this site with its wonderful oblique wall was quite perfect.’

‘Winged Figure’ was refurbished for its 50th anniversary in 2013. ‘Winged Figure’ was given Grade II* listing in January 2016. The sculpture, its plinth, and the applied raised lettering beneath it, form part of the listing.

The listing says the piece ‘has become an Oxford Street landmark, inextricably associated with the John Lewis store’ and ‘it demonstrates the potential for art to enhance the built environment and become ingrained into a collective sense of place.’

It is said that about 200 million people see this sculpture each year. So, perhaps, I am just one in 200 people walking along Oxford Street, keeping my eyes open, and looking up rather than down.

‘Winged Figure’ by Barbara Hepworth ‘has become an Oxford Street landmark, inextricably associated with the John Lewis store’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Praying with the Psalms in Lent: 2 April 2022 (Psalm 53)

Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God’ (Psalm 53: 1) … ‘The Ship of Fools,’ by Hieronymus Bosch (ca 1450–1516)

Patrick Comerford

Two weeks after my minor stroke, I left John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford yesterday, and had my first dinner out in a fortnight last night in Ask in George Street last night. I am on my way to Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes later this morning. But, before this day begins, I am taking some time early this morning (2 April 2022) for prayer, reflection and reading.

During Lent this year, in this Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 53:

Psalm 53, in the view of most modern interpreters, is a lament.

This psalm is one of the Elohistic Psalms (Psalm 42-83). It is the Elohistic Psalter’s version of Psalm 14, and is almost identical to it. The mediaeval rabbinical scholar known as Rashi understood Psalm 14 referred to the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE), and that Psalm 53 referred to the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE).

There are two differences between Psalm 14 and Psalm 53. The first difference is the name of God used in these psalms. Psalm 14 uses the covenant name of God, YHWH, typical of the Psalms in Book 1 (Psalm 1 to Psalm 41). Psalm 53, on the other hand, uses Elohim, typical of the Psalms in Book 2 (Psalm 42 to Psalm 72). The second difference is the reference to ‘a refuge for the poor’ in Psalm 14: 6 that is missing from Psalm 53.

Both Psalm 14: 1 and Psalm 53: 1 say, Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’ Some take these verses to mean that atheists are stupid or lacking intelligence. However, this is not the only meaning of the Hebrew word translated ‘fool.’

In Psalm 53, the Hebrew word is nabal, which often refers to an impious person who has no perception of ethical or religious truth. The meaning of the text is not ‘unintelligent people do not believe in God.’ Rather, the meaning of the text is ‘sinful people do not believe in God.’

In other words, it is a wicked thing to deny God, and a denial of God is often accompanied by a wicked lifestyle. The verse goes on to list some other characteristics of the irreligious: ‘They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts; there is no one who does good’ (Psalm 53: 1).

Many atheists are very intelligent. It is not intelligence, or a lack of intelligence, that leads someone to reject belief in God. Some are shocked by the apparent moral contradictions in the lifestyle of people who claim to be religious. Ohers do not object to the idea of a Creator, but want a Creator does not in the affairs of the creation. Others, in their struggle against a guilty conscience, come to reject the idea of God altogether, and this is the sort of person described in Psalm 53: 1 as a fool.

Aldous Huxley, in Ends and Means, admitted that a desire to avoid moral restraints was a motivation for disbelief, offering a ‘liberation from a certain system of morality.’

Belief in a divine being is accompanied by a sense of accountability to that being. So, to escape the condemnation of conscience, created by God, some simply deny the existence of God. But we can never claim that science either proves or disproves the existence of God.

Some of the ambiguity found in the Psalms is created by the lack of capital pronouns in Hebrew. A great example is found in Psalm 53: 4: ‘Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?’

Translations differ as to whether this is God talking or the psalmist. If it is God, then the Psalmist is engaging in biblio-drama.

Psalm 53: 1-3 is quoted by Saint Paul in Romans 3: 10-12, where he argues that Jews and Gentiles are equally in need of God's grace. However, since Psalm 53 and Psalm 14 are almost identical, it is difficult to tell which one is quoted.

‘ Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?’ (Psalm 53: 4) … bread in a shop window in St Ives in Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 53 (NRSVA):

To the leader: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David.

1 Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’
They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts;
there is no one who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.

3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.

4 Have they no knowledge, those evildoers,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?

5 There they shall be in great terror,
in terror such as has not been.
For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly;
they will be put to shame, for God has rejected them.

6 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

Today’s Prayer:

The USPG Prayer Diary this week, under the heading ‘Let my people go,’ focuses on the approximately 230 million Dalits living in India. Considered outcasts, these communities suffer systematic exclusion and discrimination under the caste system, a system of social stratification. This theme in the USPG Prayer Diary concludes this morning (2 April 2022), inviting us to pray:

We pray for the Church of South India and the role they play in making Indian society a fairer place.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they will be put to shame’ (Psalm 53: 5) … a sand sculpture (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Praying with the Psalms in Lent: 6 March 2022 (Psalms 13, 14, 15)

‘Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death’ (Psalm 13: 3) … a funeral stele in Kerameikos Cemetery in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Lent began last week on Ash Wednesday (2 March 2022), and today is the First Sunday in Lent. Before today begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

During Lent this year, in this Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 13:

Psalm 13 is often known in English by its opening words in the King James Version, ‘How long, O Lord.’ The words ‘How long?’ – repeated four times in this psalm – resemble cries.

Early Patristic sources suggest Psalm 13 was composed by King David when his son Absalom conspired against him. The entire psalm is an appropriate prayer for the well-being of a sick person, according to the Chatam Sofer, one of the great rabbis of central Europe in the early 19th century. The Victorian preacher Charles Spurgeon described this as the ‘How Long Psalm’ – or the ‘Howling Psalm.’ Certainly, this psalm gives voice to feelings that arise in any of the many trials we may experience in life.

Both Jewish and Christian commentators note the three-part structure of Psalm 13, with verses 2-3 in the Hebrew (1-2 in the KJV) relating to David’s complaint, verses 4-5 in the Hebrew (3-4 in the KJV) expressing David’s prayer, and verse 6 in the Hebrew (5-6 in the KJV) describing David’s salvation.

The psalmist appears to be frustrated by waiting for God: four times he asks ‘how long …?’ When, he asks, will God care for him again and return to taking an interest in him? How long must his soul feel alienated from God? How long will his those who ignores God’s ways continue to insist that his trust in God is foolishness?

He prays for God’s help. He asks God to strengthen him and give him the will to continue living. The psalmist has trusted in God’s steadfast love and generosity. He hopes to thank God for saving him by singing God’s praises.

‘The evildoers … eat up my people as they eat bread (Psalm 14: 4) … bread in a shop window in St Ives in Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 14:

Psalm 14 laments the breakdown of the moral order. For the psalmist, the world is full of ‘fools’ who deny that God is concerned with human behaviour, people who are corrupt and do terrible things. God sees no one who seeks to follow God’s ways, so do these wicked people not understand God at all?

But God is in the community of those who follow his ways, and God will protect them and deliver the oppressed from the ungodly. When he does, all Israel, Jacob’s descendants, will rejoice.

Psalm 15:

Psalm 15 may have been written for a liturgy of admission to the Temple. The pilgrim asks God: who may come to holy mountain to worship God in the Temple?

The reply in verses 2-5a says those who truly worship God are those who do what it right, who speak truth, who do not lie, who do no evil to friends or neighbours, and who refuse to honour the wicked.

In addition, they do not exploit the poor financially through money-lending or usury, and they do not accept bribes.

Psalm 13 (NRSVA):

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, ‘I have prevailed’;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 14 (NRSVA):

To the leader. Of David.

1 Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.

3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.

4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the Lord?

5 There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.
6 You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.

7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

Psalm 15 (NRSVA):

A Psalm of David.

1 O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?

2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
and speak the truth from their heart;
3 who do not slander with their tongue,
and do no evil to their friends,
nor take up a reproach against their neighbours;
4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
but who honour those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5 who do not lend money at interest,
and do not take a bribe against the innocent.

Those who do these things shall never be moved.

Today’s Prayer:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary this morning (6 March 2022, Lent I) invites us to pray:

Loving God,
help us to reject earthly temptations
and focus on serving you.
May we trust in you
to provide for us.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’ … part of the Beatitudes in the reredos in the Unitarian Church, Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Cornwall’s Celtic Christianity and Spirituality are still alive

St Ives has the best-known beach in Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

In recent decades there has been a renewed interest in Celtic Christianity and Celtic spirituality. Celtic Christianity is usually linked with Ireland as the ‘Land of Saints and Scholars,’ but it is also associated with Scotland and Wales.

However, standard textbooks on Celtic Christianity pay little or any attention to Cornish Spirituality and the story of Christianity in Cornwall.

Indeed, I had little knowledge of these traditions either until I visited Cornwall at the end of autumn last year.

I was struck by the large number of towns and villages, from Saint Ives to Saint Agnes, named after Celtic saints, many of them from Ireland, others came from Wales and Brittany.

Saint Ia, a missionary from Ireland, gives her name to St Ives (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Saint Ives, Cornwall’s best-known seaside resort, takes its name from Saint Ia, a fifth century woman missionary from Ireland. Even Cornwall’s best-known beer takes its name from a town named after one of these Celtic saints, Saint Austell.

One of Cornwall’s main tourist attractions is the Saints’ Way, a 43 km trail that is well signed with Celtic cross markers and takes pilgrims, tourists and walkers across Cornwall from Padstow in the north to Fowey on the south coast.

This follows the route of early pilgrims making their way from Ireland and Wales to Brittany or Santiago de Compostella in Spain. It starts at the harbour in Padstow and heads along Little Petherick Creek, over St Breock Downs and onto Lanivet.

The second part of the walk visits Helman Tor, heads south by the Fowey River, skirts the ancient town of Lostwithiel, and continues on to Fowey, where the pilgrims set sail.

Saint Ia (centre) with two Irish companions, Saint Sennen (left) and Saint Levan (right) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Christian origins

Cornish legend says Joseph of Arimathea was a tin trader who visited Cornwall, and that he brought a young Jesus to address the miners.

From early times, Saint Michael the Archangel was recognised as the patron of Cornwall, and he gives his name to Saint Michael’s Mount off Marazion, which corresponds to a similarly named monastery in Normandy.

The Scilly Isles have been identified as the place of exile of two heretical fourth century bishops from Gaul. Instantius and Tiberianus were followers of Priscillian and were banished after the Council of Bordeaux in 384.

Mount St Michael’s, off the Cornish coast at Marazion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

But little is known about the early beginnings of Christianity in Cornwall, it probably owes its origins to post-Patrician Irish missions. Records of those early times are sparse and oral traditions were handed down long before written accounts of the lives of these saints were recorded.

Saint Ia of Cornwall and her companions, Saint Piran, Saint Sennen and Saint Petroc, and the rest of the saints who came to Cornwall in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, introduced or reintroduced Christianity to Cornwall, and brought their own customs and rites.

Saint Piran, who gives his name to Perranporth, is regarded by many as the patron saint of Cornwall, as is Saint Petroc, who was the patron of the pre-Norman Cornish diocese.

A Cornish Cross in the churchyard at St Agnes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Stones, crosses and wells

The earliest inscribed stones with inscriptions in Latin or Ogham date from the fifth century, and some have Christian symbols. Although they are difficult to date precisely, they are thought to come from the fifth to eleventh centuries.

Both the inscriptions and the Ruin of Britain by Gildas suggest that the leading families of Dumnonia or early Cornwall were Christian in the sixth century. Many early mediaeval settlements included hermitage chapels that are often dedicated to Saint Michael, who is associated with Saint Michael’s Mount, off Marazion.

Throughout Cornwall there is a large number of wayside crosses and inscribed Celtic stones. The inscribed stones, about 40 in number, are thought to be earlier in date than the crosses and are a product of Celtic Christian society.

Cornwall has over 400 traditional Celtic crosses, the highest density in any nation. These crosses may represent a development from the inscribed stones, but nothing is certain about dating them. They are found in a variety of locations, by the wayside, in churchyards, and in moorlands. Some may be route markings, a few may be boundary stones, and others could be wayside shrines. They are plain or ornamented, often carved in granite and with the wheel-headed style of Celtic crosses.

A Celtic Cross in the churchyard at St Ives (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Over 100 holy wells survive in Cornwall, each associated with a saint – although this is not always the same saint as the one commemorated in the name of the local church.

The church architecture in Cornwall and Devon typically differs from the rest of southern England. Most mediaeval churches in the larger parishes were rebuilt in the later mediaeval period with one or two aisles and a western tower; the aisles the same width as the naves and the piers of the arcades are of one of a few standard types.

St Ives Church … church architecture in Cornwall and Devon differs from the rest of southern England (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Early bishops in Cornwall

In the mid-ninth century, the Church in Cornwall was led by Bishop Kenstec, who lived at Dinurrin, sometimes identified with Bodmin. Bishop Kenstec acknowledged the authority of Ceolnoth and brought Cornwall under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury. By the 880s, many Saxon priests were being appointed in Cornwall and many of the church estates passed to the kings of Wessex.

In 909, the English or Anglo-Saxon Church created the Diocese of Crediton to cover Devon and Cornwall. King Athelstan of England (924-939) fixed Cornwall’s eastern boundary at the east bank of the Tamar, the remaining Cornish people were evicted from Exeter and the rest of Devon, and in Athelstan built a cathedral at St Germans, near Saltash in 926, with a bishopric at St Germans to cover the whole of Cornwall.

Bishop Conan was consecrated in 931, but it is not clear whether he was the sole bishop for Cornwall or the principal bishop in the area. The church in Cornwall may have been similar to the church in Wales, where each monastery or major religious house had a bishop.

At first, the new bishopric was subordinate to the see of Sherborne. By the end of tenth century, it emerged as a full bishopric in its own right, with a Bishop of Cornwall. But while the first few bishops were native Cornish, from 963 on they were all English. From around 1027 the see was held jointly with Crediton, and they were merged in 1050 to become the Diocese of Exeter.

A ‘Miner’s Loaf’ with a Cornish Cross on a market stall in Truro (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Surviving distinctions

It is not clear the degree to which the distinctive qualities of Celtic Christianity survived in Cornwall. But these traditions brought the church in Cornwall into conflict with the neighbouring Anglo-Saxon church in Wessex, and the differences continued until at least the tenth century.

Early, pre-Norman Cornish church records include the Bodmin Gospels, the Lanalet Pontifical, associated with St Germans, and the Codex Oxoniensis Posterior.

After the arrival of the Normans, many of the earlier but remote churches associated with the Celtic missionaries and saints remained as parish churches, while the churches in the mediaeval Norman towns became mere chapels of ease to the older, traditional parish churches.

Pascon agan Arluth (The Passion of our Lord), a poem of 259 eight-line verses and dating from 1375, is one of the earliest surviving works of Cornish literature.

The Tregear Homilies, the earliest surviving example of Cornish prose, is a series of 12 Roman Catholic sermons written in English and translated by John Tregear in 1555-1557.

A window in Truro cathedral recalls the Wesley brothers and their visits to Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Reformation changes

At the Reformation, the failure to translate the first Book of Common Prayer into the Cornish and the imposition of English liturgy over the Latin rite in Cornwall stirred the ‘Prayer Book Rebellion’ in Cornwall in 1549.

The ‘Prayer Book Rebellion’ was a cultural and social disaster for Cornwall. Some estimates say 10 per cent of the civilian population of Cornwall was killed in the reprisals, and the rebellion also marked the beginning of the slow death of the Cornish language.

Later Roman Catholic martyrs in 16th century Cornwall included Cuthbert Mayne, a priest harboured by the Tregian family. Others were forced into exile, although Roman Catholicism never died out in Cornwall.

In the English civil wars in the mid-17th century, Cornish loyalties were divided between the king and parliament. The Parliamentarians ejected the Bishop of Exeter and deprived the cathedral clergy in 1645. Some clergy in Cornwall submitted to the new order, but others were removed from their parishes. The stained glass at St Agnes and the rood screen at St Ives were removed, and the church organs at Launceston and St Ives were destroyed.

At the restoration of the monarchy, Puritan ministers were ejected ministers were ejected throughout Cornwall and non-Anglican services were only permitted in private houses.

The last church services in the Cornish language were held in Penwith in the far west in the late 17th century.

The Methodist Church at Saint Agnes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The arrival of Methodism

By the mid-18th century, the state-sponsored church was perceived as remote and ill-equipped to retain the loyalty of illiterate miners and labourers who formed most of the population of Cornwall. Mining was expanding, the population was shifting away from the old parish churches, and church attendance figures showed a downward trend.

John Wesley and his brother Charles first visited Cornwall in 1743, and gave their priority to the newly industrialised areas. But their timing was unfortunate and coincided with expectations of a French invasion. There were several incidents of mob violence at Methodist meetings, and John Wesley was threatened by a mob at Falmouth in 1745.

But as mining expanded, Methodism attracted many followers among the miners after 1780. From the early 19th until the mid-20th century, Methodism was the leading form of Christianity in Cornwall.

The Bible Christian Chapel in St Ives dates back to 19th century revivals (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Bethesda House in St Ives … memories of Cornish evangelicalism (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Anglican renewal

One reaction to the rise of Methodism among Anglicans was a renewal in High Church liturgy, with a new emphasis on the sacraments and priestly ministry. Many new parishes were established and new parish churches were built in Cornwall when Henry Phillpotts was Bishop of Exeter (1830-1869).

The Diocese of Truro was created in 1876, and Edward White Benson was appointed the first Bishop of Truro in 1877. The 24 honorary canons of Truro Cathedral hold stalls named after 24 Cornish saints, many of them with Irish, Welsh and Breton roots.

There was a renewed interest in Cornwall’s Christian past when the Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman was buried in the churchyard of St Enodoc's Church in Trebetherick with a simple inscription on his gravestone, ‘John Betjeman 1906-1984.’

Inside Saint Agnes Church … there was a renewal of Anglo-Catholicism in Cornwall in the 20th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Inside Saint Ia’s Church in Saint Ives (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Anglicanism in the 20th century was marked by the spread of Anglo-Catholicism, and the use of Cornish as a liturgical language was revived.

In recent decades, Methodism in particular has declined numerically. But there has also been a renewed interest in the older, Celtic forms of Christianity in Cornwall. Cowethas Peran Sans, the Fellowship of Saint Piran, was founded in 2006 and Fry an Spyrys (Free the Spirit) was formed in 2003 to call for the disestablishment of the Church of England in Cornwall.

The former Congregationalist Chapel in Truro … now an art shop and café (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

This feature was first published in the ‘Church Review’ (Dublin and Glendalough) in January 2020

A former convent in Truro is now an hotel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Reading Saint Luke’s Gospel in Advent 2019: Luke 11

‘Give us each day our daily bread’ (Luke 11: 3) … bread in the rectory kitchen in Askeaton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During the Season of Advent this year, I am joining many people in reading a chapter from Saint Luke’s Gospel each morning. In all, there are 24 chapters in Saint Luke’s Gospel, so this means being able to read through the full Gospel, reaching the last chapter on Christmas Eve [24 December 2019].

Why not join me as I read through Saint Luke’s Gospel each morning this Advent?

Luke 11 (NRSVA):

1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ 2 He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.’

5 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” 7 And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit[f] to those who ask him!’

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.’ 16 Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? – for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists[g] cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. 22 But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

24 ‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but not finding any, it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” 25 When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.’

27 While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ 28 But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’

29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! 32 The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!

33 ‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.’

37 While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38 The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

42 ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’

45 One of the lawyers answered him, ‘Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.’ 46 And he said, ‘Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48 So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute”, 50 so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.’

53 When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

A prayer for today:

A prayer today (International Mountain Day) from the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG, United Society Partners in the Gospel:

Let us give thanks to God for the gift of natural resources such as the mountainous regions of our world that play critical roles for food, water, ecosystems and recreation.

Tomorrow: Luke 12.

Yesterday: Luke 10.

‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread’ … (Luke 11: 5) … bread in a shop in St Ives, Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise’

Eric Gill’s last work is the Crucifixion in the Chapel of Saint George and the English Martyrs in Westminster Cathedral, showing he Crucified Christ as Christ the King (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday, 24 November 2019

The Kingship of Christ (Christ the King),

The Sunday before Advent (Mission Sunday)

11.30 a.m.: The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2), Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick

Readings: Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Canticle: Benedictus (Luke 1: 68-79); Colossians 1: 11–20; Luke 23: 33-43. There is a link to the Readings HERE.

Christ the King depicted in the reredos in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit

This morning is the feast of the Kingship of Christ, or the Feast of Christ the King, and Mission Sunday in this diocese.

Our readings bring us to the end of the Church Year. The Gospel reading also marks the last Sunday at the end of our journey in the Lectionary with Christ on his journey to Jerusalem. We will begin it all again next Sunday, with a new cycle of readings, beginning with Advent Sunday [1 December 2019], and reading through Saint Matthew’s Gospel.

But this morning’s Gospel reading (Luke 23: 33-43) gives us time to pause and reflect on the fact that we have followed Christ for seven months or so through Saint Luke’s Gospel. We have seen Saint Luke’s distinctive emphases on the poor and their inclusion in the Kingdom, the inclusion of those not normally invited as guests to the great feasts.

In the Gospel reading, we are at the moment when Christ is crucified. The crucifixion is truly emphasised on Good Friday, but this morning the emphasis is on Christ the King and the request by one of the criminals to ‘remember me’ in the kingdom.

Our Epistle reading (Colossians 1: 11-20) includes a hymn praising Christ as the king of this kingdom, listing his royal attributes in poetic form (verse 15-20):

‘In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.’

The Gospel reading may seem out of sequence as we approach Advent and prepare for Christmas. However, the Crucifixion is one of the ways in which we see Christ revealed to the world as King. The Crucifixion is his triumph rather than his defeat, and it leads not to our death but to his Resurrection and our promise of life in all its fullness, personalised in the way Christ assures the second criminal of the immediate promise of a place with him in Paradise.

This reading challenges to accept that today, this day (σήμερον, símeron), this very day, is the time to respond to the claims the kingdom makes on us (verse 43).

This reading may seem to be a little out of sequence on Sunday morning. We are preparing for Christmas, you may think, not for Good Friday and Easter. But we forget that so easily. I hear on all the radio chat shows people already talking about this being the Christmas Season … before Advent has even started. In Britain, people are even talking about a Christmas election, rather than an Advent election.

But Advent is the season of preparation for Christmas, with the Lectionary readings telling us about the Coming of Christ.

We have made Christmas a far-too comfortable story. Christmas is a story about poverty and about people who are homeless and rejected and who can find no place to stay.

It is a messy story about a child born surrounded by the filth of animals and the dirt of squalor.

It is a story of shepherds who are involved in dangerous work, staying up all night, out in the winter cold, watching out for wolves and sheep stealers.

It is a story of trickery, deceit and the corruption of political power that eventually leads to a cruel dictator stooping to murder, even the murder of innocent children, to secure his own grip on power.

That is why in the weeks before Advent we have readings that remind us about what the coming of Christ into the world means, what the Kingdom of God is like, and how we should prepare for the coming of Christ and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Marking the Sunday before Advent by crowning Christ as King helps us to focus on Advent from next Sunday, and Advent is supposed to be a time and a season of preparing for the coming of Christ.

Kingship may not be a good role model in this part of Ireland or for people living in modern democratic societies where the heads of state are elected. Nor are the models of kingship in history or in contemporary society so good. Let me share some examples:

● We are familiar with a model of monarchy that paradoxically appears to be benign on the one hand and appears aloof and remote on the other hand, at the very apex of a class system defined by birth, title and inherited privilege.

● In other northern European countries, the model of monarchy is portrayed in the media by figureheads who are slightly daft do-gooders, riding around on bicycles in parks and by canals in ways that threaten to rob kingship of majesty, dignity and grace.

● Or, take recently deposed emperors: Halie Selassie sat back in luxury as his people starved to death; Emperor Bokassa, was a tyrant accused of eating his people and having them butchered at whim.

● The present election in Britain is more like a contest between two Alpha males who want to be king rather than Prime Minister – and remember that the word minister, whether we use it for government ministers or church ministers, is supposed to convey the idea of service, serving the people and serving God.

This morning, the Sunday before Advent gives us time to pause and reflect on why, as we were reading our way through Saint Luke’s Gospel, we have been following Christ on his journey to Jerusalem. For it is there that he will be revealed in glory as the Son of Man and the King.

Discussing how the Lectionary can at times seem to provide readings that are incongruous or out of season, Canon Giles Fraser – who resigned as Canon Chancellor of Saint Paul’s because of the cathedral’s response to the Occupy protests – wrote in the Church Times some years ago [4 November 2011]:

‘For too long the Church has been obsessed with its own internal workings and with silly arguments about sex. Now is the time for a new debate and a new emphasis. For if we are not fully involved with complex discussions about the relationship between financial justice and the way our financial institutions work, then we might as well give up on being a proper Church and admit that we are the spiritual arm of the heritage industry.’

He recalls that the Evensong readings set for his last sermon in Saint Paul’s Cathedral included: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God… But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation’ (Luke 6: 20, 25).

This morning’s Gospel reading challenges us in a way that is uncomfortable, but with things that must stay on the agenda of the Church.

The genius of power is revealed in those who have it and can use it but only do so sparingly. Christ’s choice is not to gratify those who want a worldly king, whether he is benign or barmy. Instead, he displays supreme majesty in his priorities for those who are counted out when it comes to other kingdoms.

Christ rejects all the dysfunctional models of majesty and kingship. He is not coming again as a king who is haughty and aloof, daft and barmy, or despotic and tyrannical. Instead he shows a model of kingship that emphasises what majesty and graciousness should mean for us today – giving priority in the kingdom to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner.

As we prepare for Christmas we should be preparing to enjoy time with our families and friends, time for a good winter’s holiday. But we should also remember the reason we have Christmas, the reason Christ came into the world, and the reason he is coming again.

We can look forward to seeing the Christ child in the crib and to singing about him in the carols. But let us also look forward to seeing him in glory.

So let us be prepared, on this Mission Sunday and this Feast of Christ the King, to see him in the hungry, the thirsty, the unwelcome stranger, those who are naked and vulnerable, those who have no provisions for health care, those who are prisoners, those who have no visitors and those who are lonely and marginalised.

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Christ Crucified and in Majesty … a Crucifix in the Emmaus Retreat Centre, Swords, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 23: 33-43:

33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [34 Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ 38 There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ 42 Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Christ the King … a stained glass window in Saint Ia’s Church in St Ives, Cornwall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Liturgical Colour: White.

The Collect of the Day:

Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
Keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Collect for Mission:

Almighty God,
who called your Church to witness
that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:
Help us to proclaim the good news of your love,
that all who hear it may be drawn to you;
through him who was lifted up on the cross,
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Stir up, O Lord,
the wills of your faithful people;
that plenteously bearing the fruit of good works
they may by you be plenteously rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post-Communion Prayer (Mission):

Eternal Giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom.
Confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Three royal crowns for Christ the King … a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Hymns:

20, The King of Love my shepherd is (CD 1)
431, Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour (CD 26)
429, Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us (CD 25)

Christ in Majesty … John Piper’s window in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.