The mystery of faith

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Andrew’s Wickford this morning:

Very shortly in the Eucharistic Prayer we will say: ‘Great is the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.’ This Eucharistic Acclamation focuses on Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection, and second coming as the essential elements in the mystery of our faith.

St Paul’s first letter to Timothy has a slightly different and expanded list of what constitutes the mystery of our faith (1 Timothy 3.14-end), so let’s look briefly at the items in Paul’s list.

He was revealed in flesh – this is the mystery of the incarnation; that Jesus becomes one of us, moving into our neighbourhood and experiencing all that we experience, meaning that God understands all that we go through and takes it into himself in order that we are united with him - being with us, so we can be with him.

Vindicated in spirit – the mystery of vindication is at least twofold. Jesus was vindicated when those things he had prophesied, such as the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem – came true. He was vindicated as a true prophet as a result. He was also vindicated when the Holy Spirit came upon his disciples at Pentecost. Again, this was a promise he had made that was later fulfilled after his Ascension. But also, and more deeply, his Spirit was seen in his disciples and his Spirit taught his disciples all about Jesus. So, his disciples receive his Spirit and learn how to live like him by his Spirit.

Seen by angels – Jesus’ birth was hymned and proclaimed by angels as they sang peace on earth, goodwill to all. Angels were involved at every stage of his birth from the angel at the Annunciation, through the angels that appeared to Joseph, as well as the angels that proclaimed his birth. Later, he was ministered to by angels as he prepared for his ministry in the wilderness.

Proclaimed among Gentiles – although his ministry prior to the events of Passiontide was primarily to the lost sheep of Israel, Jesus did meet and impact the lives of many gentiles. From Peter’s vision that took him to the house of Cornelius, where Cornelius’ whole household became converts, on through Paul’s missionary journeys, the Gospel was increasingly proclaimed among Gentiles. This caused considerable debate in the Early Church, primarily in regard to what aspects of the Mosaic Law should apply to Gentile converts. The answer, as was increasingly understood, was none, beyond the greatest commandment – to love God with all you are and love your neighbour as yourself.

Believed in throughout the world – Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic movement in the 1st century in the Roman province of Judea, from where it spread throughout and beyond the Roman Empire. Christian missionary activity spread "the Christian Way" and slowly created early centres of Christianity with Gentile adherents in the predominantly Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire, and then throughout the Hellenistic world and beyond the Roman Empire in Assyria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Georgia and Persia. Christianity is now the largest religion globally, with over 2.3 billion followers and a significant presence in nearly every country.

Taken up in glory – Jesus ascended to be with God the Father for ever but, by doing so, took his experience of humanity into the Godhead, indeed took humanity itself into the Godhead, meaning that he intercedes at God’s right hand on our behalf continually and that, as the first-fruits of the resurrection from the dead, he is the pioneer of our faith who has gone before us into the presence of God to open the way to God that we can subsequently also follow. He descended to be with us and he ascended that we might be with him.

The mystery of faith is the mystery of God with us, one with us that we might one with him. We state the mystery of faith in the acclamation we make in the Eucharist. Mysteries are not to be explained, instead they are to be experienced. That is what happens when we take bread and wine and thereby take Jesus into our lives. This how we become one with him. This is how the incarnation brings Jesus to us and the resurrection, ascension and Eucharist bring us to Jesus. Amen.

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Bruce Cockburn - Mystery.

Everyday Wonder to Revelation: an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine

I was recently honoured to be asked to write a catalogue essay for 'Everyday Wonder to Revelation', an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine to be held shortly at Clare Hall in Cambridge. Full details of the exhibition can be found below:

Everyday Wonder to Revelation: an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine
Date: Friday 10 October – Thursday 20 November 2025
Location: Clare Hall, Herschel Road, Cambridge CB3 9AL

Clare Hall is honoured to host an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine (1936–2022), running from 10th October to 20th November 2025. Visitors are welcome daily between 10am and 5pm.

“Landscape (recollections)” 2000, 122x91cm, Acrylic on plywood

Alan Caine was an innovative and quietly charismatic teacher of art in the Adult Education Department of Leicester University. He took a primary role in the conception, funding and design of the University’s Attenborough Arts Centre, which opened in 1997. He was its associate director and continued teaching there until he was almost 80 years old.

In the midst of that busy academic life he took time, in the upstairs studio of his redbrick terrace house, to paint and draw. Caine’s art grasps at the essence of the everyday natural world. Its detritus found its way into that Leicester studio: fallen leaves, dried grasses, tangled vine stalks, eggs, rugs, and string. In these humble elements, their unfolding patterns, colour and geometry, Caine discovered a profound sense of wonder. Through the familiar and ordinary, he opens our eyes to the possibilities of the beyond.

Alan Caine 2006

Caine was born in South Dakota. After graduating with degrees in art and theology, he moved to France and then to England, where he settled in the mid-1960’s. He would speak of always feeling European. What he meant by European was centrally and crucially being an inheritor to its artists. From his teaching, it was evident Caine claimed for himself a grand succession of masters: Giotto, Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Rembrandt…. of these, it was Piero who was the most important to him. Piero’s Christian Neo-Platonism and his creation of new, or at least relatively unexplored, scenes and images were a magnet to him.

'…spirituality (in art) is not a matter of being, or not being, religious or pious. It is about finding and using marks, shapes, materials; about the pursuit of ideas and visions which may be scarcely understood, but matter.' Alan Caine

Consequently, Caine’s paintings delve into the core, the Neo-Platonist idea of the one-ness of the world, the nodus mundi. We see this in his depictions of everyday objects: rugs, mopheads, carpets, and bundles of cloth. Though his subject matter is humble, the deep intricacy of his draughtsmanship reveals unity and cohesion. We see it too in his expansive and luminous landscapes. When Caine blends his perceptions of space and shimmering light in the landscape with his exploration of the core in everyday things, he presents us with a vision of worlds beyond. His images invite us to step through a veil into barely imagined possibilities. Through his exploration of the small, the infinite beckons; through his exploration of the wonder of the everyday, revelation becomes possible.

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Anna Lapwood - Make You Feel My Love.

Ordination - Revd Nik Wright

Nik Wright, our curate in the Parish of Wickford and Runwell, was ordained as a Deacon this morning in an Ordination Service held at Chelmsford Cathedral. 

Find out more about new Deacons who were ordained at services held at Chelmsford Cathedral throughout the day today at https://www.chelmsford.anglican.org/newrevs/.

Later, we enjoyed a Parish afternoon tea celebrating Nik's ordination, together with his family and friends.

Before beginning ordination training, Nik was involved in work ensuring community engagement, community empowerment and the management of services and operations designed and delivered to improve, protect and save lives, both locally and internationally.

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Here I Am, Lord (I the Lord of Sea and Sky).

The lost things at the centre and at the edge

Here's the sermon that I shared this morning at St Catherine’s Wickford:

“I’m not religious.” I wonder how many people you’ve encountered locally who use that phrase when they come into this building or learn that you go to church. Those that we encounter who use that phrase, “I’m not religious,” are among those who are on the edge of our churches. They might come to one of the groups that use our facilities or be a friend of someone who does come to our services, maybe your friend, or may just be someone in the wider community who is well disposed towards the church, but doesn’t actually attend regularly.

Jesus spent time – considerable time – with those on the edge. We learn at the beginning of today’s Gospel passage (Luke 15.1-10) that he was criticised by the Pharisees and the scribes – the religious leaders of his day, those who were at the centre of the religious community – for welcoming and eating with tax collectors and sinners. Notice the phrase that is used about this, “the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.” That means they weren’t near originally – they were on the edge – but they were coming near because they wanted to hear what Jesus had to say.

The tax collectors and sinners were those who were excluded from either the life of the community or the worship life in Israel in Jesus’ day. The tax collectors were collaborators with the hated Roman invaders and often exploited the people in order to make money for themselves, while those labelled here as ‘the sinners’ were a mixed group of people excluded from worship either because of behaviour that was considered immoral, such as prostitution, or because of disease, that because it couldn’t be cured and might be contagious, was considered a threat to the community.

That’s the context for the two parables of Jesus that we’re thinking about this morning – the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. It’s a context that is relevant to us as we think about those who are on the edge of church in Wickford and Runwell.

Jesus was criticised by the religious leaders of his day for drawing those on the edge to him but, in response, he told a story about leaving those at the centre to go to the edge. In the story of the lost sheep, the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep that are with him in order to seek out and find the one sheep that is on the edge and lost from the flock.

Jesus told several parables about sheep and shepherds and, in another of those parables, he tells us about the sheepfold. The sheepfold was the enclosure in which the sheep were gathered at night so they were all together and safe in one place. The shepherd would lie down across the entrance to the sheepfold and sleep there in order that his body acted as a gate preventing the sheep from leaving and preventing others from getting in. When the shepherd leaves the 99 behind in order to search for the lost sheep, the sheepfold is where he would have left the 99. So, it was not that they had been abandoned and were free to roam wherever they liked, but the shepherd in the story does care so much about the sheep that got lost that he is prepared to leave those at the centre in order to find the one that is on the edge.

The religious leaders were not prepared to do that and were even critical of Jesus for attracting those on the edge to the centre. By contrast, the parable tells us that God is concerned about all people everywhere – those already at the centre and those who are on the edge. That’s also what we see God doing himself, through Jesus. Jesus left the centre of the universe – being at the side of God the Father – in order to come to the edge by becoming human himself. He wasn’t content simply to become a human being, he was born into poverty, lived among ordinary people, went to those who were excluded, made himself the servant of others, and laid down his own life on the cross for the sake of every one of us.

That’s the example given to us by our Lord and Saviour and that’s the pattern of mission and ministry that he shares with us; all predicated on the basis of love for all people, especially those on the edge.

The stories don’t stop there, however, because Jesus also tells a story – the story of the lost coin – about something lost in a home. This is not a story about leaving the centre to go to the edge, this is a story about something being lost at the centre – in a home - and searching there until it is found. Those who are part of the community of faith and therefore at the centre of the church, inevitably have a wide range of different and sometimes challenging experiences. Many of us know something of that at present, having come through the pandemic only to now face a cost-of-living crisis. In such circumstances, some may find it difficult to maintain their church involvement and begin to drop off the radar. Jesus’ parables are encouraging us to notice such people and to do all we can to support and encourage and maintain them in their faith and church commitment. These parables, then, are stories encouraging care for those on the edge and those at the centre, however those two spaces are defined.

In our Parish we are using several initiatives to engage with those on the edge of our church communities. Unveiled, our Friday night arts and performance event, connects with people who enjoy the arts but don’t necessarily want to come to church. Contemplative Commuters offers reflections and mindfulness exercises to those commuting from Wickford Station during the week. For those within our church community struggling at present for whatever reason, our pastoral visitors, together with the clergy and LLMs, visit people in the congregation for prayer and often to take communion to them at home. Our Prayer Circle also provides prayer support for those in particular need.

These are initiatives which are contemporary equivalents to the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. They are ways to connect more closely with those on the edge, whilst also offering care and support to those in our congregations who are at the centre. Please do support these initiatives and those involved in them in prayer, by your continued financial giving to the church which enables us to develop such initiatives, and by joining in with these initiatives if you are able. Do let me or any of our ministry team know if you would be interested in doing so.

Jesus came for all people everywhere – those on the edge as well as those at the centre. He has a special concern for those on the edge, being prepared to sacrifice himself in order to be with those there and rejoicing when those who have been lost are found. He calls us to have a similar care and to be involved in similar action. How will you respond to that call?

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Damien Jurado - Life Away From The Garden.

Windows on the world (536)

 London, 2025

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The Fire Theft - Sinatra.

Autumn programme: Unveiled programme, exhibition, Quiet Day, and concerts

 

Unveiled is the regular Friday night arts and performance event at St Andrew’s Church, 7.00 – 9.00 pm (11 London Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 0AN). Here's details of our Autumn programme. See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for more information.

Autumn Programme 2025

• 19 September (7.00 pm) - Exhibition viewing evening. See ‘Lily and the Masters’, an exhibition by David Crawford, and hear David speak about his work and also read his poetry. David’s exhibition has a series of colour studies of the Edwardian singer and actress Miss Lily Elsie and versions of some of his favourite paintings by the Old Masters.
• 3 October (7.00 pm) – An evening with the Ladygate Scribblers. Hear poetry and prose from a long-established Wickford-based writers group.
• 17 October (7.30 pm) – David Crawford in concert. David is a singer songwriter who is Wickford born and bred. He has been writing and performing songs for over 30 years, but the last few years, in particular, have been very productive. He will be performing new and recent material in this unique acoustic space where his paintings are also on show.
• 31 October (7.00 pm) – Adam Atkinson is the Bishop of Bradwell. Hear him read a selection of his poetry which has been used in public and liturgical settings. A series of sonnets for Lent and Easter were published in ‘Who Do You Say I Am?’ in 2024.
• 14 November (7.30 pm) – Open Mic Night organised with John Rogers. Everybody is welcome to come along and play, read, sing or just spectate. See you there for a great evening of live performance!
• 5 December (7.30 pm) – Eva Romanakova and Andrew Palmer in concert. Hear Mezzo-Soprano Eva Romanakova and pianist Andrew Palmer perform a wide selection of music including musical theatre, classical, opera, pop, jazz, folk and songs from the movies.

These events do not require tickets (just turn up on the night). There will be a retiring collection to cover artist and church costs. See http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html for fuller information.

Our latest exhibition is 'Lily and the Masters', an exhibition of paintings by David Crawford from 19 September – 19 December 2025 at St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN.

View the exhibition and hear David speak about his work at ‘Unveiled’, the arts & performance evening at St Andrew’s Wickford, Friday 19 September, 7.00 pm.

David is a Wickford based artist and singer songwriter. The works in this exhibition are a selection of paintings completed in the last 3 years. He is exhibiting a series of heightened colour studies of the Edwardian singer and actress Miss Lily Elsie and versions of some of his favourite paintings from Old Masters such as Da Vinci, Vermeer and Caravaggio.

St Andrew’s is usually open: Sat 9am-12.30pm; Sun 9.30am-12 noon; Mon 2-3.45pm; Tue 1-4.30pm; Wed 10am-12 noon; Fri 10am-1pm.

Our last Quiet Day of 2025 is on Saturday 27 September and is about Lancelot Andrewes: Discover the influence and example of Lancelot Andrewes (who lived in Rawreth) who helped define Anglican doctrine, translate the Bible, and shape the liturgy. Led by Revd Jonathan Evens & Revd Steve Lissenden. 

To be held at St Nicholas Rawreth. Reflect in the beautiful and historic surrounds of St Nicholas Rawreth. St Nicholas provides times of quiet and reflection in a beautiful setting. 

Cost: £8.00 per person, including lunch (pay on the day). To book: jonathan.evens@btinternet.com / 07803 562329. Parking available: Village Hall (Rawreth). Nearest station: Battlesbridge (for Rawreth).

We also have concerts at St Andrew's including: TLC Ensemble on Satuday 4 October at 2.30 pm; and Men to Sing on Saturday 6 December at 2.30 pm.

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David Crawford - The Unwritten Story.

Using all we have for God's praise and glory

Here's the sermon that I shared at: Luke 14. 25-33 (07/09/25, 10.30 am, St Mary’s Little Burstead this morning:

“Christ Jesus had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” (Phil 2:5-8 MSG)

One thing of which Jesus could never be accused is of not practising what he preached. When he taught that, “none of you can be my disciples unless you give up everything you have,” it was not as though there was anything that he himself was holding back. He gave everything that he had and was, holding nothing back.

He calls us to do the same. That is crystal clear in today's Gospel passage: “Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples … none of you can be my disciples unless you give up everything you have.” (Luke 14. 25-33)

These statements sound as though they are a problem for us as we think today about stewardship and following Christ. Jesus’ words are a problem for us because whatever we are currently giving and have given in the past, we are clearly not giving everything. So, are we really disciples at all or are we just playing at being Christians; compromising for our own comfort?

Jesus called his disciples to leave their jobs and families in order to follow him and to take nothing with them for their journey; “no stick, no beggar’s bag, no food, no money, not even an extra shirt.” Is that what Jesus is calling us to when he says, “give up everything you have”? However, when Paul writes to Christians in the new church at Corinth, he says exactly the opposite: “Each of you should go on living according to the Lord’s gift to you, and as you were when God called you.” This is the rule, he writes, that he teaches in all the churches and makes that a rule despite having left his home and given up everything he had to bring the good news to the Gentiles.

So, we can say from this that there may be two different types of calling for Christians; the call to leave everything that we have and to go wherever God sends us, and the call to stay where we are and go on living according to the Lord’s gift to us. Whether from choice or calling, most of us would seem to be currently in the latter group, while those like the missionaries we may support would seem to be in the former group.

But isn’t being in the latter group simply a soft option; following Christ without any real sacrifice? It is not intended to be, although it is possible for us to live like that. The key to staying where we are but still giving up everything we have is in Paul’s words, “to go on living according to the Lord’s gift to us.” What he means by that, is that everything we have is a gift to us from God, given not simply for our benefit, use and enjoyment but to share with others and to use for the glory and praise of God.

You see, we can view what we have as being ours to use to suit ourselves and as we wish or we can view what we have as belonging to God and for his use. Those are two very different attitudes which have very different outcomes and if we genuinely live with the latter attitude then we are also giving up everything we have although we don’t physically leave it behind.

The way it works is like this. We look at what we have and ask ourselves how God wants us to use what we have for his praise and glory. Let’s think about that for a moment in terms of ways in which we might give what we have.

We could think, for example, of our homes; how are they being used for the praise and glory of God? Some people, for example, might open up their homes by showing hospitality to others; they might host a homegroup or a tea afternoon or invite others for a meal or to stay with them for a time. Others, for example, may make a home in which their children can grow up to experience the love and freedom of Jesus for themselves. Others may be lowering the carbon footprint made by their homes through, for example, recycling, energy efficiency initiatives and growing as much of their own food as possible.

These are just a few examples of the difference that this approach to life can make in one area of our lives. This is not to say that only those who already doing some of the things I have mentioned are doing all that they can or that they are in some way better than others. Rather than making comparisons with others, what we are each called to do is to take a detailed look at what we have - time, talents, money, possessions, investments, work, relationships – and work out how we can offer them to God and use them for his praise and glory.

Doing that is what Stewardship is all about. We become stewards when we recognise that what we have has been gifted to us by God and we become good stewards when we use all that we have for his praise and glory. When we do so then, although we have not physically given away all that we have, we hold it and use it not for ourselves, but for God.

Sometimes, you will hear people in churches talk about giving particular amounts or proportions of our income to the Church; most commonly, a tithe or tenth, which is a proportion taken from the Law of Moses in the Old Testament. Measures like that can be helpful in terms of deciding how to divide up the money we have been gifted by God and how much we might give to support local ministry through a local church.

But fundamentally, Jesus says that everything we have is a gift from God. Nothing belongs solely to us for our own sole use. Everything is to be given up and used for the praise and glory of God. That is the challenge of Jesus’ words to his disciples and that is, therefore, why it is vital that we regularly review what and how we use what we have been given by God because our giving is never as generous and cheerful and willing and sacrificial as it could become.

“Christ Jesus had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.”

As we remember and celebrate in communion all that Jesus gave for us, may we too cheerfully, generously and willingly give up everything we have for his praise and glory. Amen.

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Eric Clapton - Let It Grow.