A day down on the farm, with the bees and the trees on the Urban Farm and its volunteers in Wolverton

A day at the Urb Farm off Windsor Road in Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I spent time earlier this week with clerical colleagues from the Milton Keynes area at the Urb Farm, a three-acre market garden in Wolverton that produces and sells its own seasonal vegetables, fruit and honey.

The Urb Farm can be found between 196-198 Windsor Street in Wolverton. This is a horticultural social enterprise that nurtures the soil and grows organic produce for the local community all year round. With its trainees and volunteers, the farm maintains 25 large growing beds, five polytunnels, greenhouses, beehives and an orchard throughout the year. They grow a wide range of vegetables and fruit using environmentally sensitive techniques, working with the seasons and local climate.

The farm works with young people not in education, employment or training, and offers work experience while developing work skills within a framework that understands their individual needs.

The farm welcomes volunteers as part of the Urb Farm team, to enjoy the site and use their gifts, time and enthusiasm to learn more about growing vegetables and fruit and helping the Urb Farm to flourish and grow. Seasonal produce is grown at the Urb Farm market garden in the heart of Wolverton.

Milton Keynes Christian Foundation is an innovative local charity growing people and community through social enterprise. Our eight exciting enterprises work to ‘co-produce’ solutions to locally identified issues that have a global importance.

The enterprises are staffed by teams of young people who have struggled with mainstream education. Their enterprise work experience is supported by accredited training enabling trainees to build confidence and make good choices for the next steps in life.

The Urb Farm in Wolverton is part of the Milton Keynes Christian Foundation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Urb Farm has its roots in the Christian community, but we were told how it works with people of all faiths and none, celebrating diversity and welcoming people from all parts of the community. Milton Keynes Christian Foundation runs a number of social enterprises and services from and Foundation House. As well as the urban farm in Wolverton, these include: the Learning Foundation, offering an alternative to school or college; Childcare Pathways, a nursery social enterprise in the heart of Wolverton; Think Food, a small café with a big vision; Cycle Saviours, saving, refurbishing, repairing, servicing and selling bikes and making cycling accessible to all; Urban Bee-lievers’, making Milton Keynes a bee-friendly city.

I was interested in particular in Urban Beelievers, an exciting social enterprise that finds ways to encourage, educate and inspire people to make Milton Keynes a bee-friendly city. The farm looks after thousands of honey bees across the city in company gardens, roof tops and school grounds as well as at the Urban Farm.

The farm helps create homes for bumble bees and solitary bees as well as plants, flowers and trees that provide food for bees, it runs workshops on all things honey and bee related and produces useful and beautiful products using wax and honey.

The UK has already lost 11 species of bee with 35 species of the 250 left being under threat. Bees pollinate 75% of our food crops like apples and tomatoes, and the farm invited people to help them to look after bees and to stop their decline.

The farm invites people to learn more about bees, helping to create a city full of bee food flowers and places for them to live and thrive. People are welcome to join an Urban Bee-lievers beekeeper experience and to learn about becoming beekeepers. During the three-hour Beekeeping Experience course, which costs £60, participants learn about the honeybee colony, how to care for the bees, get hands-on experience and taste the honey.

The Urb Farm helps create homes for bumble bees and solitary bees as well as plants, flowers and trees that provide food for bees (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

We heard how Milton Keynes Christian Foundation and Sector Ministry was established by the local Christian community and continues to be part of. It emerged from the Church’s ecumenical adventures in the growing new town of Milton Keynes. As churches found new ways to work with each other, they also sought to develop innovative patterns of working with the emerging communities, exploring new meanings of ‘being church’ and new patterns of ministry.

From humble beginnings in a Methodist church hall in Wolverton, the Christian Foundation was born, inspired by the values of the Christian faith. The foundation is committed to learning from communities and with others about how to challenge disadvantage, exclusion, injustice and the abuse of the environment. With its faith perspective, it sees these activities as signs of God’s activity in the community.

One strand of these explorations was developed by a team of ‘Sector Ministers’ who came together in the early 1980s, and the Christian Foundation was one of these ventures. The focus has been on the everyday sectors of life, such as work, education, business, health, family, community and environment.

The Urb Farm runs workshops on all things honey and bee related and produces products using wax and honey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Over the years, the foundation has engaged with many local issues, including waste and recycling; unemployment and training; teenage pregnancy and period poverty; childcare and play; education and school exclusion; food security and healthy eating; affordable housing and homelessness; regeneration and community cohesion; transport and cycling; renewable energy and climate change.

It continues to be involved with many of these issues, but more recently it has found social enterprise offers a new and creative way to work with them. The enterprises offer opportunities for working on demanding common tasks, enabling young people and others to co-create their futures, ‘learning, changing and growing’.

The Urb Farm also works in partnership with companies across Milton Keynes and welcomes teams to enjoy the farm site for team-building experiences or to make the most of their volunteer days. Others sponsor or host a beehive, enjoy pop-up shops for staff events and office-based Christmas fairs and workshops in growing veg or honey tasting.

As Milton Keynes Christian Foundation marks its 40th year, it is celebrating all it has been achieved and is looking ahead with hope. It sees this milestone as an opportunity to renew bonds with the local churches. A thanksgiving celebration takes place at the Urb Farm at 4 pm next Friday (17 July 2026). It is planned as a joyful occasion to meet young people, staff, and volunteers, to celebrate together, and to explore how this shared mission can continue in the years ahead.

• All produce at Urb Farm is cultivated on site with zero food miles from field to market. Veg Bags can be bought on the shop section on the website, and collected from the farm. The weekly market is open every Tuesday from 10 am to 4 pm and the second and fourth Saturdays of the month from 10 am to 1 pm.

The weekly market is open every Tuesday from 10 am to 4 pm and the second and fourth Saturdays of the month from 10 am to 1 pm (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 62, Wednesday 8 July 2026

The Twelve Apostles … an icon in the church in Panormos, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V, 5 July 2025). I hope to take part in a meeting of local clergy in the Milton Keynes area later today at the Urban Farm in Wolverton. Later, this evening, I hope to take part in the choir rehearsals 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.

The Twelve Apostles depicted in the East Window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Matthew 10: 1-7 (NRSVA):

1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near”.’

The Synaxis of the Apostles … an icon in the Cathedral in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflections:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 10: 1-7) reminds us of the commission and mission of the Twelve. We read yesterday of Christ in ordinary, everyday situations, going ‘about all the cities and villages’ (Matthew 9: 35), mixing with ordinary people. These are people who need hope, people who are sick, sore and sorry, people who are distressed, marginalised and suffering, and Christ has compassion for them, because they are harassed and helpless, ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ (Matthew 9: 36).

They are ordinary people, indeed, in ordinary places, in ordinary time, but suffering and often isolated and marginalised in their everyday lives.

We read this morning how, in answer to their plight, to carry out his mission, Christ chooses 12 disciples, 12 ordinary people, with ordinary backgrounds and careers: Peter, who denies him three times; Andrew his brother, a fisherman; James and John, ‘Mammy’s boys’ who jockey for position, unsure of what the Kingdom of God is about; Philip, who could easily turn away Greek-speaking Gentiles; Matthew, despised as a tax collector; Thomas who doubts him; Judas who betrays him … (see Matthew 10: 2-4).

In our ordinary everyday lives, Christ calls us to follow him, not for our own self-satisfying feeling of being good, but to proclaim the Good News; not for our own advantage and enrichment, but because that is what the suffering world needs.

We are called as ordinary people to do that; our Baptism is our commission to do that; our Confirmation is our ‘Amen’ to that.

Christ sends the 12 out in mission to the marginalised and the outcast. They are to gather to the lost sheep proclaim the ‘good news,’ as Saint John the Baptist announced, that ‘the kingdom of heaven has come near’, is at hand.

We might also ask whether our churches are open enough to gather in the lost sheep, whether we delight in meeting strangers in our midst and bringing them in, sharing God’s welcome and hospitality found, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

As we prepare to welcome a new rector, the Revd Dr David Jarratt, to Stony Stratford next week (13 June 2026), I find myself thinking once again about the well-known prayer of welcome by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711):

O God, make the door of this house
wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship,
and a heavenly Father’s care;
and narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and hate.
Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children,
nor to straying feet,
but rugged enough to turn back the tempter’s power:
make it a gateway to thine eternal kingdom.

The 12 Apostles depicted in the smaller rows of icons in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 8 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 5 to 11 July 2026 (pp 16-17), is ‘Faith in the Midst of Fractures’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Revd Godfrey Owino Adera, Anglican priest, theologian, and lecturer at Saint Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya.

The USPG prayer diary today (Wednesday 8 July 2026) invites us to pray:

Loving God, renew the Church as a welcoming home where women, young people, and other minorities find dignity and belonging. Break down exclusion and form communities of love and grace.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
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:

Grant, O Lord, we beseech you,
that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered
by your governance,
that your Church may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Figures of the 12 Apostles surround the 16th century tomb of a knight and lady in the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Church, Thurles, Co Tipperary (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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 58, Saturday 4 July 2026

‘Neither is new wine put into old wineskins’ (Matthew 9: 17) … old wine in old barrels in a winery in Vryses in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V, 5 July 2026).

Usually, the Greek community in Stony Stratford opens its pop-up café at Swinfen Harris Church Hall, London Road. Το Στεκι Μας, Our Place, on the first Saturday of the month. This weekend, instead, the annual Greek Festival, Paniyiri, takes place tomorrow (5 July 2026), from 12:30 to 5, with live music, dance, barbeque food, traditional Greek cakes, and stalls with Greek products.

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.

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak’ (Matthew 9: 16) … an exhibit in the Patch Work Collective exhibition in Liberty, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 9: 14-17 (NRSVA):

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ 15 And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’

‘Neither is new wine put into old wineskins’ (Matthew 9: 17) … an old wine at sunset at the Sunset Taverna in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading in the Lectionary for the celebration of the Eucharist today (Matthew 9: 14-17) follows the account of the calling of Saint Matthew, and is set at the banquet in Matthew’s house, to which Jesus goes, despite the criticism of local religious leaders (see Matthew 9: 9-13).

Quite often in the Gospels we find Jesus facing criticism from the Pharisees, the Scribes or both groups working together. But we seldom find Jesus facing criticism from the disciples of John the Baptist, still less from the disciples of John seemingly on the same side of the Pharisees.

The critics in the preceding verses (Matthew 9: 9-13) asked why Jesus was eating with sinners and outcasts. Today they go one step further and ask why he is eating at all. They point to the example of John the Baptist and his disciples who fasted regularly.

In Jewish practice, the only day of the year when fasting is expected is Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. However, John’s disciples, and perhaps also some Pharisees, may have observed additional fasts that were not prescribed by the Law in the hope that their extra piety would help hasten an early coming of the Kingdom.

Jesus answers their question in two ways. First, he says that people do not fast when they are in the company of the bridegroom. That is a time for celebration. By implication, of course, Jesus is the groom. As long as he is around, it would be inappropriate for his disciples to fast. However, he says a time will come when the groom is no longer with them, and then there will be reason enough then to fast.

His second answer is more profound and it takes the form of two examples.

In the first example, Jesus says It does not make sense to repair an old piece of clothing with a patch of new cloth. The new cloth, being much tougher, will, under stress, only cause the older cloth to tear.

In the second example, Jesus says it is not wise to put new wine into old wineskins. Wine was kept in containers made of leather. Because new wine was still fermenting and expanding, it was put in new leather bags that could expand with the wine. The old bags would be stretched already, and new wine would only cause them to burst. Then both the wine would be lost and the bags ruined.

What does Jesus mean by these images?

What message is Jesus giving to his critics?

Are his ideas like new wine or new cloth to you?

People like the Pharisees tried to fit Jesus’ teaching and his ideas into their ways of thinking, but that did not seem to work.

The new cloth and the new wine, then, are the spirit of the Kingdom as proclaimed by Jesus, a radically new understanding of how God is to be loved, and how God loves us.

Jesus does not measure religion by external actions like fasting or other demands and expectation such as washing hands before eating. Instead, religion is a matter of the inner spirit and how we reflect that in the way we live our lives, as he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount.

How do I try to squeeze new wine into old wineskins?

What prejudices and hang-ups that were external and extraneous expressions of Church life in the past am I still clinging onto in my interior life, and that hinder my acceptance of other people today?

Who are today’s equivalent of Matthew, an outsider called to be part of the inner circle with Jesus yet I am uncomfortable to find beside me in Church and at the Eucharist?

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak’ (Matthew 9: 16) … a patchwork hanging in Wade Street Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 4 July 2026):

In my prayers this morning, I am remembering all those who are being in the Diocese of Oxford at this time, including the Revd Virginia Kagunda, who will be ordained in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, this morning. Her first services in Wolverton are tomorrow, when she will preach in both Saint George’s Church, Wolverton, and Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton.

In my prayers today, on the Fourth of July, I must, of course, also include the United State and its people, not just today, but remembering its past and praying too for the future the US and its people now face. 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), has been ‘Living Stones’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection by the Very Revd Lydia Kelsey Bucklin, President and Dean of Episcopal Divinity School, inspired by the 250th anniversary being marked in the US.

The USPG prayer diary today (Saturday 4 July 2026) invites us to pray:

God of mercy, as the United States marks 250 years, lead your Church to repent of its complicity in colonisation and enslavement. Help us build a future that values human dignity over war, and mercy over borders, with Christ as our cornerstone.

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 Collect on the Eve of Trinity V:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
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.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘Neither is new wine put into old wineskins’ (Matthew 9: 17) … new wine at lunchtime in the Captain’s House in Panormos, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 24, Sunday 31 May 2026, Trinity Sunday

An icon of the Trinity in Saint Nektarios Church in Tsesmes, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Since the 50-day season of Easter came to an end last Sunday with the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday (24 May 2026), we are in Ordinary Time once again. Today is Trinity Sunday (31 June 2026), and on Trinity Sunday the liturgical colour returns from the Green of Ordinary Time to the white or gold of a festival.

Later this morning, I hope to sing with the choir at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford (9:30). Holy Trinity Church in Old Wolverton is celebrating its Patronal Festival at the Eucharist this morning (11 am), when the preacher is the Archdeacon of Buckingham, the Ven Cassa Messervey. 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.

The symbol of the Holy Trinity in the outer circle of the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 28: 16-20 (NRSVA):

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

The mediaeval fresco of the Holy Trinity in the south choir aisle in Lichfield Cathedral was severely damaged by 17th century Puritans (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This is Trinity Sunday, and many clergy tell me they are afraid of preaching on Trinity Sunday, wondering how they can talk about the Trinity as a doctrine or dogmas, and yet relate it to the needs of today’s world, in its joys and its sufferings, in its beauty and with all its injustice.

Yet, the Orthodox theologian Thomas Hopko argues that if God were not Trinity, God could not have loved prior to creating other beings on whom to bestow God’s love. This love or communion of God as Trinity, extended to us in the communion of the Church, is the climax to Saint Paul’s message to the Church in Corinth in today’s Epistle reading (II Corinthians 13: 13). It is not just the Trinitarian faith into which we are baptised, but the love or fellowship of the Trinity (Matthew 28: 19-20).

I have preached often on Trinity Sunday, and I have prepared extensive preaching and liturgical resources for priests and readers in the Diocese of Limerick. But I still tried to avoid saying something that is ‘reheated’ and to say something that challenges me as well as challenging for people who may be thinking seriously about the meaning and significance of the Trinity on this morning.

As well as prayer and reading, I find it is helpful in preparing sermons to look at images that focus my attention on my sermon topic.

Some years ago, I took a photograph on the wall of the south choir aisle in Lichfield Cathedral depicting the Holy Trinity. This scene, showing the Trinity flanked by two censing angels, was probably painted in the mid-15th century, although it may even date earlier to the 14th century.

Although the painting has been damaged severely in the religious strife of later centuries, it is still possible to look closely and to see how it originally depicted the Holy Trinity. Look at it closely, it is possible to make out the representation of God the Father sitting on a yellow or golden throne, his knees clad in a red robe.

God the Father is holding his crucified Son, God the Son, Jesus Christ, before him. Originally, this mediaeval fresco would have shown a full depiction of the Crucifixion. However, all that can be seen today are the legs of Christ, with his feet nailed to the Cross.

The representation of God the Holy Spirit, traditionally depicted as a white dove, is now missing from this work. But comparisons with similar paintings from this period suggest that this representation was placed in this painting in Lichfield Cathedral between the head of God the Father and the head of Jesus Christ.

On either side of the Holy Trinity stands an angel, each holding and swinging a censer or incense burner, offering large amounts of incense before the throne of God.

The notice accompanying this mediaeval work in Lichfield Cathedral quotes a passage in the Book of Revelation: ‘Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel’ (Revelation 8: 3-4).

In Christian thinking over the centuries there has always been an element of uneasiness about representing God pictorially. Sometimes this was completely forbidden in Judaism and Islam, because of fears that the images might become objects of worship instead of God.

In Christianity, a theologically unhealthy exaggeration of these reservations lead to the iconoclast heresy. This resurfaced among the English Puritans in the 16th and 17th century, and this fresco depicting the Holy Trinity was severely damaged when it was painted over by Puritans during the English Civil War.

Traces of this mediaeval wall painting were restored in 1979. Today, its condition remains a reminder not only of the cultural dangers of theological extremism and the aesthetic vandalism it encourages, but also that we can never see fully the mystical truth behind the truth of the Trinity – we cannot work it out ourselves, but we need to spend time in contemplation and prayer.

A second New Testament quotation on the accompanying notice in the south choir aisle in Lichfield Cathedral reminds me of the essential truths I need to keep before me on Trinity Sunday: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you’ (II Corinthians 13: 13).

A ‘Father-only’ image of God is in danger of reflecting power-lust and a need to dominate on the right, reducing God to an idol or mere totem; or, on the left, of reducing God to a mere metaphor for goodness, however one decides to define ‘goodness.’

Similarly, ‘Jesus-only’ images lead to moralistic action by Christians on the theological left or individualistic pietism on the theological right.

A ‘Spirit-only’ emphasis brings real dangers of introspective escapism, charismatic excesses, or narcissist claims by manipulative leaders in evangelical and charismatic church groups.

Yet these images are real throughout the Church, because the concept of the Trinity often appears irrelevant, due to poor teaching in our churches and a prevailing anti-intellectual climate.

Those who do preach on the Trinity on Trinity Sunday are often reduced to explaining away the Trinity as a ‘mystery’ that they expect ‘mere’ lay people not to grapple with. Worship then becomes a transaction between an external deity and an autonomous worshipper. And it is not possible for a collection of separated and disconnected individuals to become the community of faith, to enter into the life of the Trinity.

We can only be human through our relationships. We can only have self-respect when we know what it is to respect others.

The Church is primarily communion, a set of relationships, exactly as we find in the Trinitarian God. Christianity is not a private religion for individuals; personal piety is only truly pious and personal when it relates to others and to creation.

In today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 28: 16-20), we are with Christ before the Ascension, when he sends out the disciples in mission, when he sends them out in the name of the Trinity, to baptise in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But he sends them out to all nations – the words used here for all nations (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, panta ta ethne, verse 19) means all ethnic groups.

In the love of the Holy Trinity, there can be no ethnic distinctions or differences. All are called, without discrimination, to obey everything that Christ has commanded. And what he commanded was to love God to love one another.

When we are created in the image of God, it is not just individually in the image of one God, but we are created collectively and communally in the image and likeness of God, who is one God in community as God in Trinity.

When we accept the old barriers of ethnic distinctions and discrimination, we are not only going against Christ’s great commission and commandments, but we become least like God, we deny being in God’s image and likeness.

When we remain silent in the face of one man’s death, when his breath is squeezed out of his life in an act of violence and racism as he cries out, ‘I can’t breathe,’ we deny God as Trinity:

• We deny the Father who has entrusted us with responsibility for justice throughout all this good creation

• We deny the Son who has commanded us in equal measure to love God and to love one another

• We deny the Spirit, the breath of God, which is the life and breath of all this good creation, and the breath and life of each individual person

Any President, any Governor, any politician, any human who tries to wriggle out of this is abdicating authority, and needs to be reminded of Christ’s words in this morning’s Gospel reading that ultimately ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given’ to Christ.

The Trinity means that as humanity is created in the image and likeness of God, then it is not just as individuals that we reflect God’s image, but that when we are a community we are most human and most God-like,

In the true community, each is valued, each takes account of the other, each has an equal place, contribution and voice. True community cannot concentrate sole authority, privilege and infallibility in one ethnic group, one gender alone, let alone one member.

All have received the breath of God, and all must be free to breathe.

An icon of the Holy Trinity in the style of Andrei Rublev’s icon of the Hospitality of Abraham by Hanna-Leena Ward in her recent exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 31 May 2026, Trinity Sunday):

A new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), was published last week, in time for the USPG conference in the High Leigh, Hertfordshire, from Tuesday to Thursday, 2-4 June.

The theme this week, from 31 May to 6 June 2026 (pp 6-7) is ‘Peacebuilding in the Gulf’. This theme is introduced today with a reflection from Saint Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain:

‘At Saint George's Church, Baghdad, Iraq’s only Anglican church, the Revd Canon Faiz Jerjes, sees the courage of his congregation every day. It includes native Baghdadis alongside Christians displaced from northern Iraq in recent years. Despite the risks, they continue to gather faithfully.

‘Asked why they come, parishioners speak simply and powerfully: “When I attend church, I feel at peace.” Another says, “We feel rest and peace when we come into the church. God is with us.” In a city marked by instability, the church remains a place of refuge, prayer, and hope.

‘These challenges are echoed across the wider Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, where conflict affects communities across the region. Bishop Sean Semple notes that the impact is felt from Iraq to the Gulf states, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar. Sirens, missile interceptions, and explosions bring fear, disrupt sleep, and heighten anxiety for many. Reflecting on the Diocese’s mission, Bishop Sean says, “We wait in hope and pray for dialogue and diplomatic solutions to bring this war to a swift and just end. As we wait, we carry on as best as we can with love.”
‘Whether meeting in person or online, congregations remain steadfast. Even in times of danger, the Church’s presence, prayer, and witness offer peace and hope.’

Join Saint Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain online for daily Evening Prayer at 16:00 BST, to pray for all affected by conflict in the Middle East. For the Zoom link, contact communications@uspg.org.uk.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 31 May 2026, Trinity Sunday) invites us to pray this way:

Read and meditate on Matthew 28: 16-20

We give thanks for the mystery of the Holy Trinity, one God in three Persons. May we live in the love and unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Platanias, east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
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:

Almighty and eternal God,
you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:
hold us firm in this faith,
that we may know you in all your ways
and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory,
who are three Persons yet one God,
now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Holy God,
faithful and unchanging:
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
that we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow

An image of the Trinity presiding over Creation in Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece

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

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 22, Sunday 26 April 2026

Christ as the Good Shepherd … a window in Saint Ailbe’s Church in Emly, Co Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (5 April 2026) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (24 May 2026), or Whit Sunday. Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Easter IV, 26 April 2026), sometimes known as ‘Good Shepherd 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.

Christ the Good Shepherd, with the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist on each side … a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield. The words below Christ read ‘Pastor Bonus’ … ‘The Good Shepherd’; the words on Saint John's scroll read ‘Ecce Agnus Dei’ … ‘This is the Lamb of God’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 10: 1-10 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’

Sheep at the Balancing Lakes in Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading today (John 10: 1-10) on the theme of the Good Shepherd, is opening part-of the ‘Good Shepherd Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel (John 10: 1-42).

When I was a child on my grandmother’s farm at Cappoquin in West Waterford, all the summer days, it seems, were filled with sunshine, and there was endless time to go fishing in the brooks, and walking through the meadows.

But there were two tasks I hated. One was trying to milk the cows: inevitably, I ended up covered in something more odious than milk – and I never even liked the smell of milk, anyway.

The other task was one that came around, it seemed, every time I was around – the great sheep dip. My city friends and cousins joked at the time about television ads about liver fluke and sheep dipping. But I knew all about it – and it was no joking matter.

Sheep are easy to call together – that was not the problem – and no, I did not have to milk them. But the smell of the sheep dip was only surpassed by the smells I associate with milking the cows. It was pungent … and there was always some fresh-faced younger uncle who thought it funny, seeing my face, to ensure that I ended up in the dipping area too.

So, when Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd and the Gate for the sheep, he has no romantic city delusions.

I imagine that the Good Shepherd is one of the most popular images for stained glass windows in churches. But we portray him dressed in dry-cleaned or freshly-laundered and pressed red and white clothes, when everyone knows that it is impractical for any shepherd to dress like that.

He has a cuddly, white lamb draped around his shoulders, when any shepherd knows that a lamb that needs to be rescued is only that is likely to be covered in briars and brambles, cut and dirty, lost and bewildered and frightened.

At this time of the year, we have moved beyond lambing time, and the little ones are beginning to grow although still suckling.

I remember hearing many year ago on Achill Island about a man who died when he climbed down a cliff face in search of sheep that had strayed. He lost his footing and fell to the sea below. It was a risky undertaking, and he paid the price. And someone commented on the low price sheep were fetching marts at the time. The lost sheep worked their way back up the cliff face, in any case, but they were not worth it.

Shepherding has seldom been a good career move. It is not on the list of most guidance teachers or careers advisers.

That is why the Christmas story is so shocking to those who first heard about it.

Sheep were cheap meat, and the shepherds were easy prey – to wolves, to hyenas, to thieves and to sheep rustlers. Sheep provided wool, meat, milk, cheese and yoghurt. Yet, shepherds were cheap to hire, and they did a lowly job. They were exposed to unprotected heat in the day, and to the bitter cold at night.

Christ is humbling himself when he calls himself the Good Shepherd.

The Prophet Ezekiel compared the well-off politicians and rulers of his day with negligent, impoverished shepherds: ‘My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them’ (Ezekiel 34: 6).

And Ezekiel, of course, is reminding the people that they too were once like lost sheep. They had wandered like lost sheep in the wilderness.

Everyone expected the Messiah to be a king, but kings were not good role models. No-one expected the Messiah to be a shepherd, and so it is shocking when the shepherd boy David is chosen to be king, and shocking when Jesus compares himself not with kings but with shepherds.

This is costly leadership. This is leadership that allows itself to be vulnerable, to be a potentially victimised.

When Christ becomes the good shepherd, he becomes vulnerable and compassionate, and he expresses his compassion for the lost sheep in going to meet them where they are, in their towns and villages, teaching them, bringing them the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Yes, the one who is hailed by Saint John the Baptist as the Lamb of God (John 1: 35), becomes the Good Shepherd. And the God Shepherd becomes the Lamb of God.

Christ calls us to turn our values upside down, not for the fun of it, but out of compassion for the vulnerable and the lost, those who have fallen by the wayside, those everyone else thinks are not worth the risk of going after.

Who are the lost sheep for you this morning?

Who do you think Christ is foolhardy in going after?

Will we follow him to find them?

Will they be welcome back in through the gate?

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Sheep on a small holding near the beach in Platanias, east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 26 April 2026, Easter IV):

‘Prayer and Action in Pakistan’ provides the theme this week (26 April to 2 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 50-51. This theme is introduced today with Reflections from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East:

The Church of Pakistan, founded in 1970 through the merger of Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, unites worship, service, and faith. Comprising eight dioceses and governed by a synod of bishops and clergy, the Church focuses on evangelism, education, healthcare, social development, youth and women’s empowerment, and climate action. It provides disaster relief and champions human rights, a mission made urgent by the recent devastating floods.

Since the start of the monsoon in June 2025, severe flooding has torn through multiple provinces, with Punjab particularly hard hit. The Ravi, Sutlej, and Chenab Rivers have burst their banks, marking the largest flood in Punjab’s history and the first time all three rivers have carried such high-water levels simultaneously. Evacuations in Punjab alone exceeded 1.2 million people, and more than 3.3 million are affected across the east, with over 3,300 villages and towns inundated.

Within the Church, dioceses including Raiwind, Lahore, Sialkot, Faisalabad, and Multan have suffered significant damage. Many people have lost homes, crops, and livelihoods, and rural churches require urgent repair. Christians have been particularly affected, raising concerns that their plight may be overlooked in broader relief efforts.

In response, the Church continues to call on the faithful to offer ‘prayer and action’ for those most vulnerable. The Diocese of Raiwind is mobilising parish networks to provide food, clean water, and other essential support, helping communities cope with the immediate impact of the floods and prevent disease. Working alongside USPG and other partners, these efforts aim not only to assist Christians but also to support Muslim neighbours, building solidarity and demonstrating Christ’s love in action.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 26 April 2026, Easter IV) invites us to pray by reading and meditating on today’s Gospel reading: John 10:1-10.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Father,
you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd,
and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again:
keep us always under his protection,
and give us grace to follow in his steps;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep:
teach us to hear your voice
and to follow your command,
that all your people may be gathered into one flock,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Good Shepherd … the Hewson Memorial Window in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick (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

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 15, Sunday 19 April 2026, Third Sunday of Easter

The Supper at Emmaus … a window by Daniel Bell of Bell and Almond in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and today is Third Sunday of Easter. Later this morning, I hope to take part in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

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

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘The Road to Emmaus’, an icon by Sister Marie Paul Farran OSB (1930-2019) of the Mount of Olives Monastery, Jerusalem (1990)

Luke 24: 13-35 (NRSVA):

13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ 19 He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ 25 Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Supper at Emmaus … a mosaic in the Church of the Holy Name, Beechwood Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Luke 24: 13-35) is the reading we had 11 days ago (8 April 2026), the Wednesday in Easter week.

This is the much-loved Easter story of the Risen Christ travelling on the road to Emmaus with two disciples, who return to Jerusalem and proclaim ‘how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread’ (verse 35). This is a story that is a rich one and one that offers a model for Christian life and mission.

After seeing all their hopes shattered on Good Friday, two disciples – Cleopas and another unnamed disciple – head out of Jerusalem, and are walking and talking on the road as their make their way together.

Emmaus was about 11 km (seven miles) from Jerusalem, so it would have taken them two hours, perhaps, to get there, maybe more if they were my age.

Somewhere along the way, they are joined by a third person, ‘but their eyes were kept from recognising him’ (verse 16, NRSV), or to be more precise, as the Greek text says, ‘but their eyes were being held so that they did not recognise him.’

They cannot make sense of what has happened over the last few days, and they cannot make sense of the questions their new companion puts to them. When Jesus asks them a straight question, they look sad and downcast.

I get the feeling that Cleopas is a bit cynical, treating Jesus as one of the visitors to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover, and asking him if he really does not know what has happened in the city. In his cynicism, Cleopas almost sounds like Simon the Pharisee asking his visitor Jesus whether he really knows who the woman with the alabaster jar is.

Like Simon, Cleopas and his friend – perhaps one of the many unnamed women in the Gospels – thought that Jesus was a Prophet. But now they doubt it. And the sort of Messiah they hoped for was not the sort of Messiah Jesus had been preparing them for, was he?

And they have heard the report of the women visiting the tomb, and finding it empty. Hearing is not believing. Seeing is not believing. And believing is not the same as faith.

When I find myself disagreeing fundamentally with people, I wonder do I listen to them even half as patiently as Jesus did with these two.

There are no interruptions, no corrections, no upbraiding. Jesus listens passively and patiently, like all good counsellors should, and only speaks when they have finished speaking.

And then, despite their cynicism, despite their failure to understand, despite their lack of faith, these two disciples do something extraordinary. They press the stranger in their company not to continue on his journey. It is late in the evening, and they invite him to join them.

On re-reading this story I found myself comparing their action and their hospitality with the Good Samaritan who comes across the bruised and battered stranger on the side of the road, and offers him healing hospitality, offering to pay for his meals and his accommodation in the inn.

These two have also come across a bruised and battered stranger on the road, which provides some parallels with the story of the Good Samaritan. They see the marks and wounds inflicted on his body and like the Good Samaritan they offer him healing hospitality, offering him a meal and accommodation in the inn.

Jesus had once imposed himself on Zacchaeus and presumes on his hospitality. Now Cleopas and his friend insist on imposing their hospitality on Jesus. The guest becomes the host and the host becomes the guest, once again.

He goes in to stay with them. And it is not just a matter of finding him a room for the night. They dine together. And so, in a manner that is typical of the way Saint Luke tells his stories, the story of the road to Emmaus ends with a meal with Jesus.

And at the meal – as he did with the multitude on the hillside, and with the disciples in the Upper Room – Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to those at the table with him (verse 30).

Their time in the wilderness is over, the Lenten preparation has been completed, the one who has received their hospitality now invites them to receive the hospitality of God, and to join him at the Heavenly Banquet.

Their journey continues. Our journey continues. Christ is not physically present with us on the road. But we recognise him in the breaking of the bread. And we, being many, become one body, for we all share in the one bread.

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Christ is Risen!

He was made ‘known to them in the breaking of the bread’ (Luke 24: 35) … bread baked for the Easter Eucharist at Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 19 April 2026, Third Sunday of Easter, Easter III):

‘Turning Waste into Wonder’ provides the theme this week (19-25 April 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 48-49. This theme is introduced today with a Programme Update from Linet Musasa, team member of the Partners in the Gospel Comprehensive Climate Change initiative of the Anglican Council of Zimbabwe:

In a time when climate change poses an increasingly significant threat to our planet, innovative solutions are emerging from the unexpected places.

One remarkable story of creativity and possibility comes from Angela Manomana, a 62-year-old widow in the Diocese of Central Zimbabwe, Gweru. Angela has turned what most see as waste into treasure.

With vision and determination, she transforms discarded plastic waste into handbags, mats, hats, and household containers. What begins as discarded bottles and packaging becomes beautiful, functional products which are especially popular at church fairs.

For the past 15 years, Angela has been breathing new life into waste while simultaneously cleaning the environment. But she isn’t stopping there – she’s mentoring five young advocates in Gweru, to pass on her skills and show them how to see potential in what others throw away. Her innovative work does not only address environmental concerns but also empowers communities, particularly women to take charge of issues they face.

USPG supports the Waste Smart, We Care campaign, uniting churches across 47 dioceses in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, and Tanzania. It empowers communities to tackle climate change through practical action and sustainable living. Find out more at uspg.org.uk

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 19 April 2026, the Third Sunday of Easter, Easter III, Earth Day) invites us to pray:

Merciful God, we lament the harm caused to your creation, especially through our actions. Forgive our neglect and greed, and help us take responsibility. Guide us to care for the earth, act justly, and protect your creation for all people and creatures.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
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:

Living God,
your Son made himself known to his disciples
in the breaking of bread:
open the eyes of our faith,
that we may see him in all his redeeming work;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Emmaus window by Catherine O’Brien in Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge, Dublin, commemorates a former vicar, Bishop Harry Vere White (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

Searching in Wolverton for a former hayloft on Green Lane that was once a Primitive Methodist chapel

The Primitive Methodist Chapel in Wolverton was housed in a former hayloft on Green Lane that has been converted into apartments in recent years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Wolverton once had two Methodist Churches, a Congregational Church, and Emmanuel Hall, which later developed into Wolverton Evangelical Church. The two Methodist churches in Wolverton were the Methodist Church at the east end of Church Street, which opened n 1870, and West End Primitive Methodist chapel, which opened in 1907.

But before the Primitive Methodist chapel opened in 1907, that branch of Methodism had an earlier makeshift chapel in a former hayloft on Green Lane.

Until recently, I had searched in vain in Wolverton the former scout cabin on Green Lane, originally a hayloft, that was used by the Primitive Methodists until they opened the West End chapel at the corner of Church Street and Anson Road in 1907.

But, then last week, when we were on a family visit to Wolverton, looking for a former family home where one family member had lived many decades ago, I came across the one-time Primitive Methodist premises on the other side of the street.

The founders of the Methodism, the brothers John and Charles Wesley, had some early successes when they were preaching in North Buckinghamshire, and the Wesleyans built a large number of new buildings in the area in the 19th century.

The Methodists in Wolverton at first went to the chapel Stony Stratford, founded in 1844, or met in one another’s homes. But within a few years, a reading room in Wolverton was converted for their use on Sundays and in 1870 a new Methodist church opened at the east end of Church Street.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Wolverton was rebuilt in 1892, to designs by the architect Ewan Harper of Birmingham. Ewan and J Alfred Harper also designed the former Methodist Central Hall in Birmingham (1900-1903). The former Methodist Church in the heart of Wolverton once had a large Sunday School and it is one of the four major Grade II listed buildings in Wolverton.

The former church was built in red brick with a three-stage square tower with a belfry, but the planned steeple was never built, although it is possible to imagine how tall it would have been what it might have looked like by careful attention to its hexagonal stone base.

Since it closed, the former Methodist Church on Church Street has suffered decades of neglect. The King’s Centre decided around 2010 or 2011 to buy and restore the building, and to use the building as the King’s Church. But the project is still waiting completion.

The Green Lane facade of the early Primitive Methodist chapel in Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Meanwhile, the Primitive Methodist Church had a late start in Wolverton. The Buckingham circuit held services for a time in a photographer’s studio, but the venture soon came to an end. The Revd RW Burnett eventually bought a site on Green Lane and a hay-loft on the land became the venue for the first Primitive Methodist chapel in Wolverton.

Leading supporters of the Primitive Methodists in Wolverton included Joseph Yates of Deanshanger, who was the Buckingham circuit steward, and later the steward of the Wolverton and Stantonbury circuit; Charles T King, the senior circuit steward and a Sunday school teacher and organist in Wolverton; and JH Taylor, the circuit secretary and choirmaster.

The Primitive Methodists in Wolverton continued to worship in their chapel on Green Lane until 1907, when West End Primitive Methodist Chapel, a purpose-built chapel, was built at the corner of Church Street and Anson Road at a cost of £1,700, when the Revd Charles Herbert Spivey (1873-1954) was the superintendent minister (1903-1909). The project was supported generously by Sir William Pickles Hartley (1846-1922), founder of the Hartley’s jam company.

When the Primitive Methodists moved out of Green Lane, their former chapel on Green Lane then became a scout cabin. The upstairs room was known as ‘The Cabin’ and served as the headquarters of the Wolverton scout troop from 1916 until 1939.

It is still possible to imagine how the former Primitive Methodist chapel had once been a hayloft (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists and the United Methodists came together in 1932 to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain. The former Primitive Methodist Church at the corner of Church Street and Anson Road is now West End United Church, a Local Ecumenical Partnership formed in 2005 by the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, using the former Primitive Methodist building.

As for the former hayloft, Primitive Methodist chapel and scout cabin on Green Lane, it has been converted into apartments, and its previous functions are recalled in a commemorative plaque on the gable wall facing Green Lane.

The minister of West End United Church is the Revd Edson Dube, Superintendent Minister in the Milton Keynes Methodist Circuit. Last December, he was given a Lifetime Award for Contributions to Religion at the 2025 Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire Black Excellence Awards.

West End United Church describes itself as ‘a friendly church aiming to serve the local community and encompassing all ages. Sunday services are at 10:30 am, with junior church. The service on the second Sunday of the month is usually Holy Communion.

A commemorative plaque on the gable wall facing Green Lane recalls the former hayloft, Primitive Methodist chapel and scout cabin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)