Love - the heart of safeguarding

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

Safeguarding has at its heart a longing for all people to be safe, protected, welcomed and cared for within our churches and in wider society. It is an integral part of the ministry and mission of our churches and a core part of how we are church. But more than this, safeguarding is about love in truth and action. As we seek to love and serve our neighbours in our communities, we are called to be places and spaces where there is a healthy culture of interactions and relationships. We need to take our call to love one another seriously. We also need to take our call to live truthfully seriously.

Over the past few years, the Church of England has been called to account for its Safeguarding failures. As an institution, we are on a journey: there is always more work to be done and more lessons to learn and there is a constant need for us to lament and repent of our failings. As a Church, we need to acknowledge our failings, learn from the past, and listen and respond to victims and survivors with humility. We need to love in truth and action.

As Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury, has said, “There is much for us to open our eyes to. For years, the merest sniff of a question or the first hint of an allegation sent church leaders hurrying to circle the wagons and defend the institution and its staff. Far too often we have reacted with – at best – ostrich-like complacency to those of our own who have posed grave threats to others.” “Terrible things have happened in the churches, as in all our best-loved institutions; we share a responsibility for ensuring that they cannot happen again.”

Those terrible things meant that the Church of England, as with other denominations, has been guilty of the kind of hypocrisy that Jesus criticises in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 23.27-32). Like those who presented as whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of all kinds of uncleanness, so the Church of England has tried to present itself as being whiter than white, while the reality has been very different, both in terms of those who abused others and those who failed to support the victims of abuse.

As a result, many people in our communities and in our churches live daily with physical, emotional, mental and spiritual scars of abuse. If this sermon prompts any safeguarding concerns or raises any safeguarding issues you would like to discuss, please contact our Parish Safeguarding Officer or get in touch with our Diocesan Safeguarding Team. You can find their contact details on the Diocesan website: www.chelmsford.anglican.org under the safeguarding tab.

As Nicholas Papadopulos has also said, “We cannot live out the great commandment to love God and love neighbour if those who would harm their neighbour find a secure hiding-place in our common life … the great commandment … [is] right there … when we do whatever we can to ensure that the vulnerable are kept safe, remembering that any of us can be vulnerable. That, surely, is the bare minimum that loving one another requires of us.”

Through Jesus, God relates to us in love and friendship. And this is how Jesus wants us to relate to others. “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Jesus’ primary action is to love: not to judge, condemn, criticise, belittle or dismiss. He loves. A love that goes beyond boundaries and that is without agenda. A love that is about equality and mutual respect. A love that refuses power and abuse; that washes tired, dirty feet. A love that lets everyone sit down to eat.

Faithful discipleship is known by love. Jesus calls upon his disciples to mirror the love that God has for him and the love that he has for the Father and for his disciples. To lay down one’s life is to put the needs of others before our own, to live for the good of others, to make time for them, to be present for them in times of trouble and crisis, to listen to them, to witness to their hurts. “Love one another as I have loved you.” Following Jesus means taking love seriously. As the first letter of John stresses: “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us… love one another just as he commanded us… all who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them.”

We are also compelled to live truthfully. This means going beyond addressing issues of harm and abuse and protecting against them. It means being willing to face hard truths, to stand with victims of injustice and - if required – to speak up and out with them and for them. We know that abuse devastates lives, that it has and does take place in the church and that its consequences are profound and long-lasting. The task of Safeguarding is to acknowledge this hard truth and to do everything possible to ensure that abuse no longer happens, now or in the future. In all that we do, particularly in balancing our responsibilities, we must continually seek to place survivors and victims at the heart of our concern.

We long to be a refuge for the hurting and vulnerable, and to do this we must listen to those who feel voiceless and empower everyone in our communities to remain safe, within their families, places of work and of worship. “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Jesus’ command to love as he loves is an invitation into relationships of profound mutuality and interdependence.

These kinds of relationships contribute to healthy communities, modelled on the example of Christ’s own humility and sacrifice. This is a way of being that says, who I am is caught up in who you are. We are members together of the same body of people. Whatever affects one of us affects all of us. We are all God’s children; Jesus calls us all friends; we are all brothers and sisters. So, if I am your sister, your brother, I have a responsibility for how I behave towards you and that has implications for the choices I make about how I live and love in the world. This is the kind of integrity that is the reverse of the hypocrisy criticised by Jesus in today’s Gospel reading.

As we reflect, we remember that the kingdom of God is not for the strong but the weak; it is not for the rich but for the poor; it is not for the powerful but for the powerless; it is not for the proud but for the meek. The Church is where the least, the lost and the broken – all God’s children - should be able to find the safest of places in a loving community that lives out its faith in truth and action. May that be true for us, here in Wickford and Runwell. Amen.

(Based on 'love in truth and action' by Venerable Ruth Patten, Archdeacon of Colchester)

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Howard Hewett - The Journey (Think About It).

friday mailing: Churches and cultural programming

The most recent friday mailing from Nick Shepherd features a case study in which I briefly review the cultural programmes set up in each of the Parishes in which I have ministered, including several with smaller congregations and available resources, and draw out key learning from each initiative.

The friday mailing is compiled by Nick Shepherd and seeks to inform and inspire the community of practitioners leading learning in the church (with a particular slant towards the Church of England). It serves a diverse constituency of educators, leadership practitioners, discipleship enablers, jobbing ministers and fancy titled coach/facilitators working across the church.

The purpose of fm is to signpost articles, resources, events and research that stimulate reflection on the breadth of learning the church engages in; within worshiping communities, pioneering & mission contexts and the public square. This includes the continuing ministerial education and formation work in dioceses, courses and colleges. fm is compiled by staff in the Archbishops’ Council’s Ministry and Evangelism & Discipleship teams, but relies on community members to send us the appropriate news and views.

Check out the archive and sign up if you’re interested at https://mailchi.mp/churchofengland/fm

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The Call - The Walls Came Down.

Seen and Unseen: Cathedrals, confessionals, and the strange allure of spiritual fiction

My latest article for Seen and Unseen is 'Cathedrals, confessionals, and the strange allure of spiritual fiction' about the return of Susan Howatch:

'These are novels that are infused with the great Christian themes of sin, repentance, forgiveness, redemption, resurrection, and renewal. They explore the Church of England and their central characters (based as these often are on actual individuals) with great rigour, energy, and creativity, both theologically and sociologically. In these novels, faith and science, mysticism and psychology, are interlinked and interwoven through the device of spiritual direction sessions. The importance to the spiritual life of having an effective spiritual director is put centre-stage in these novels as their characters crash and burn through the unexamined aspects of their life experiences before re-building lives and careers with the support of those able to accompany them with spiritual support.'

My first article for Seen and Unseen was 'Life is more important than art' which reviews the themes of recent art exhibitions that tackle life’s big questions and the roles creators take.

My second article 'Corinne Bailey Rae’s energised and anguished creative journey' explores inspirations in Detroit, Leeds and Ethiopia for Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, Black Rainbows, which is an atlas of capacious faith.

My third article was an interview with musician and priest Rev Simpkins in which we discussed how music is an expression of humanity and his faith.

My fourth article was a guide to the Christmas season’s art, past and present. Traditionally at this time of year “great art comes tumbling through your letterbox” so, in this article, I explore the historic and contemporary art of Christmas.

My fifth article was 'Finding the human amid the wreckage of migration'. In this article I interviewed Shezad Dawood about his multimedia Leviathan exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral where personal objects recovered from ocean depths tell a story of modern and ancient migrations.

My sixth article was 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explored a tradition of visionary artists whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My seventh article was 'How the incomer’s eye sees identity' in which I explain how curating an exhibition for Ben Uri Online gave me the chance to highlight synergies between ancient texts and current issues.

My eighth article was 'Infernal rebellion and the questions it asks' in which I interview the author Nicholas Papadopulos about his book The Infernal Word: Notes from a Rebel Angel.

My ninth article was 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' in which I review Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death and explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.

My 10th article was 'Theresa Lola's poetical hope' about the death-haunted yet lyrical, joyful and moving poet for a new generation.

My 11th article was 'How to look at our world: Aaron Rosen interview', exploring themes from Rosen's book 'What Would Jesus See: Ways of Looking at a Disorienting World'.

My 12th article was 'Blake, imagination and the insight of God', exploring a new exhibition - 'William Blake's Universe at the Fitzwilliam Museum - which focuses on seekers of spiritual regeneration and national revival.

My 13th article 'Matthew Krishanu: painting childhood' was an interview with Matthew Krishanu on his exhibition 'The Bough Breaks' at Camden Art Centre.

My 14th article was entitled 'Art makes life worth living' and explored why society, and churches, need the Arts.

My 15th article was entitled 'The collective effervescence of sport's congregation' and explored some of the ways in which sport and religion have been intimately entwined throughout history

My 16th article was entitled 'Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d' and reviewed the ways in which artist Richard Kenton Webb is conversing with the blind poet in his former home (Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles).

My 17th article was entitled 'Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?'. It makes suggestions of what to do when confronted with contentious culture.

My 18th article was an interview entitled 'Art, AI and apocalypse: Michael Takeo Magruder addresses our fears and questions'. In the interview the digital artist talks about the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.

My 19th article was entitled 'Dark, sweet and subtle: recovered music orientates us'. In the article I highlight alt-folk music seeking inspiration from forgotten hymns.

My 20th article was entitled 'Revisiting Amazing Grace inspires new songs'. In the article I highlight folk musicians capturing both the barbaric and the beautiful in the hymn Amazing Grace and Christianity's entanglement with the transatlantic slave trade more generally.

My 21st article was entitled 'James MacMillan’s music of tranquility and discord'. In the article I noted that the composer’s music contends both the secular and sacred.

My 22nd article was a book review on Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch. 'Nobody's Empire: A Novel is the fictionalised account of how ... Murdoch, lead singer of indie band Belle and Sebastian, transfigured his experience of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) through faith and music.'

My 23rd article was entitled 'Rock ‘n’ roll’s long dance with religion'. The article explores how popular music conjures sacred space.

My 24th article was an interview with Alastair Gordon on the artist’s attention which explores why the overlooked and everyday capture the creative gaze.

My 25th article was about Stanley Spencer’s seen and unseen world and the artist’s child-like sense of wonder as he saw heaven everywhere.

My 26th article was entitled 'The biblical undercurrent that the Bob Dylan biopics missed' and in it I argue that the best of Dylan’s work is a contemporary Pilgrim, Dante or Rimbaud on a compassionate journey.

My 27th article was entitled 'Heading Home: a pilgrimage that breaks out beauty along the way' and focuses on a film called 'Heading Home' which explores how we can learn a new language together as we travel.

My 28th article was entitled 'Annie Caldwell: “My family is my band”' and showcased a force of nature voice that comes from the soul.

My 29th article was entitled 'Why sculpt the face of Christ?' and explored how, in Nic Fiddian Green’s work, we feel pain, strength, fear and wisdom.

My 30th article was entitled 'How Mumford and friends explore life's instability' and explored how Mumford and Sons, together with similar bands, commune on fallibility, fear, grace, and love.

My 31st article was entitled 'The late Pope Francis was right – Antoni Gaudi truly was God’s architect' and explored how sanctity can indeed be found amongst scaffolding, as Gaudi’s Barcelona beauties amply demonstrate.

My 32nd article was entitled 'This gallery refresh adds drama to the story of art' and explored how rehanging the Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery revives the emotion of great art.

My 33rd article was an interview with Jonathan A. Anderson about the themes of his latest book 'The Invisibility of Religion in Contemporary Art'.

My 34th article was an interview with 'Emily Young: the sculptor listening as the still stones speak'.

My 35th article was a profile of New York's expressionist devotional artist, 'Genesis Tramaine: the painter whose faces catch the spirit'.

My 36th article was a concert review of Natalie Bergman at Union Chapel - a soul-soaked set turned personal tragedy into communal celebration.

My 37th article was based on the exhibition series 'Can We Stop Killing Each Other?' at the Sainsbury Centre. In it I explore how art, theology, and moral imagination confront our oldest instinct.

My 38th article article was 'The dot and the dash: modern art’s quiet search for deeper meaning' in which I argue that Neo-Impressionism meets mysticism in a quietly radical exhibition at the National Gallery.

My 39th article was 'From Klee to Klein, Wenders to Botticelli: angels unveiled' in which I explore how, across war, wonder and nativity, artists show angels bridging earth and heaven.

My 40th article was 'When Henry Moore’s Madonna shocked Northampton' in which I explore how a modernist mother and child stirred outrage, then lasting wonder.

My 41st article was 'Turner and Constable: storms, salvation and the sublime' in which I discussed how Tate Britain reveals how rival visions shaped art and spirit.

My 42nd article was 'When converts cracked open the culture’s polished surface' in which I explored how faith’s outsiders disrupted the scene with unexpected force.

My 43rd article 'The Magdalene we rarely see' was about the painting 'Magdalene at the Base of the Cross' by Chris Gollon.

My 44th article was 'U2’s music shows surrender can still sound like joy' which explores the spirituality of U2

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The Choir of Salisbury Cathedral - How Shall I Sing That Majesty.

Bring me to life

Here's the sermon that I shared at St Peter's Nevendon this afternoon:

Imagine a bed surrounded by the debris of a week’s illness, soiled sheets and slashed pillows, pills and vodka bottles, used condoms and tissues. This is ‘My Bed’ an installation by Tracy Emin was first exhibited in 1999. You’ll probably remember reading about it in the press at the time as it prompted the usual “call that art, my two-year old could have done better” kind of articles. A bed is a powerful symbol of birth and death, sex and intimacy but this controversial installation was perhaps an image of our culture’s sickness and dis-ease surrounded by the remnants of those things through which we seek a cure; sex, alcohol, drugs, tears, aggression. And the bed, like many lives, was empty. The morning after the cure that never came.

Sometimes our lives feel like that installation. Our relationships may have broken down, we may have been abused, we may be anxious, stressed or worried, our work might be under threat or have ended. For all these reasons and many others we can feel as though our lives have closed down becoming barren or dry or dead. Our communities and culture can feel like that too. Many years ago now, at the end of the 1970’s, The Sex Pistols sang about there being no future in England’s dreaming. And many people still think that our society is changing for the worse. When I had a holiday in Spain a few years ago I stayed on a street that was mainly occupied by British people who had left because they didn’t like the changes that they saw in British society. Such people think of Britain as being diseased and dead with no future for them. Being in the Church it is also easy to feel the same. We are regularly told in the press that the Church is in decline and the Church of England continues to deal with major conflicts that threaten to pull it apart. Again, it is easy to feel as though the Church is washed up, dried out and dying.

Whatever we think of those issues and views, the God that we worship is in the resurrection business. And that is where we need to be too. In our Gospel reading (John 11: 1-45) Jesus said that he is the resurrection and the life and demonstrated this by bringing Lazarus back to life. Through his ministry, Jesus resurrected a society and culture transforming the entire world as he did so. He calls us to follow in his footsteps by looking for the places where our society and culture is dried up or dying and working for its transformation and resurrection. Each of us can do the same as Jesus through our work and community involvements and we need to be asking ourselves how God wants to use us, through those involvements, to transform parts of our society and culture.

Raising Lazarus from death was a sign of what would happen after Jesus’ own death on the cross. By rising from death himself, Jesus conquered death for all people enabling us to enter in to eternal life after our physical death. This is good news for us to share with other people around us wherever we are - in our families and among our friends, neighbours and work colleagues.

Jesus also resurrected lives before physical death came. Look for a moment at John 11 with me. In the first section of that chapter from verses 1 to 16 we see the disciples struggling to understand what Jesus was saying and doing. He wanted them to see how God was at work in Lazarus’ illness and death. They kept looking only at their physical and material circumstances - if Jesus went back to Judea then he would be killed, if Lazarus was asleep then he would get better, and so on. Jesus wanted them to see that God can work even through death and in verse 16 he drew out of them the commitment to go with him even though they might die with him.

Then in verses 17 to 27, Jesus helped Martha move beyond her theoretical belief in the resurrection to a belief that Jesus himself is the promised Messiah. Finally, in verses 38 to 45, he helped all those present to move beyond their focus on physical realities to believe in God’s ability to do the supernatural. Throughout, Jesus was challenging all the people he encountered to move beyond their comfort zones, to step out in faith, to encounter and trust God in new ways. He wants to do the same with each one of us. Wherever our lives have got stuck, have become dried up or closed down or have died he wants to challenge and encourage us to move out of our comfort zones and to encounter him and other people in new and risky ways. He wants us to come alive to God, to the world, to other people and to life itself in new ways.

Jesus is in the resurrection business. Whether it is transforming society, sharing the good news of eternal life or encouraging us to step out in faith, Jesus wants to bring us to life. How will you respond to Jesus this afternoon? Is there an area of your life that he can bring back to life? Will you commit yourself to join in sharing the good news of eternal life with others and transforming society where you are?

As you think about that challenge let us pray together briefly, using the words of a song by Evanescence: Lord Jesus, we are frozen inside without your touch, without your love. You are the life among the dead, so wake us up inside. Call our names and save us from the dark. Bid our blood to run before we come undone, save us from the nothing we’ve become. Bring us to life. Amen.

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Evanescence - Bring Me To Life.

The sin of counting and trusting our own material resources

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

Our Old Testament story from 2 Samuel 24: 9-17 seems a rather strange one. David has the number of fighting men is Israel numbered but then realises that he has sinned in doing so and the punishment for this sin is a pestilence that kills 70,000. In our day and time when census’ and statistics are commonplace, we see no sin in counting people and certainly struggle to comprehend why doing so should result in punishment.

The issue would seem to be that becoming aware of the size of one’s army is likely to reduce trust in God and increase trust in one’s own resources. David’s early career was entirely based on trust in God as he went up alone against the most powerful of the Philistine soldiers wearing no armour and carrying only a slingshot yet, through trust in God, triumphed against the odds. Now, though, he feels the need of the reassurance that 800,000 men are available to form his army.

Like David, the Church of England has become obsessed about numbers. In the past, when the Church of England trusted in Parish ministry and Parish priests, there was no need to count the numbers attending church services because Parish ministry meant that everyone in the Parish was a Parishioner regardless of whether they attended Church or not. At that time, the Church of England trusted that God was at work within the lives of Parishioners whether they were to be found in Church of not.

Now, the Church of England has lost that sense of trust in God and in the parish system, becoming instead obsessed with numbers in Church services on a Sunday and pouring vast amounts of money into initiatives that try, generally unsuccessfully, to significantly increase the numbers to be found in churches on a Sunday.

As a result, a Parish like ours which impacts people in the community seven days a week through Schools ministry, Care Home ministry, pastoral visiting, social action, wellbeing and cultural initiatives is overlooked and underfunded by the central Church, while money is instead poured into initiatives that set up new churches in existing Parishes.

One of the key factors in this change of practice and emphasis was the decision, like that made by David, to begin counting our people. Not only did this run the risk, which has now clearly come about, of focusing on our own resources or their perceived lack, rather than focusing on God and his provision, but it also had the effect of undermining our understanding of parishioners as everyone within the Parish by focusing our statistical attention on those in church on a Sunday. The latter is a congregational focus, rather than a Parish focus, and ignores or overlooks or obscures all the ongoing ministry with which a Parish like ours in engaged.

Trust in God is not engendered, as many within the Church of England currently seem to believe, by large numbers of people attending services or supposedly being converted – as is the focus of many mission conferences and agencies. Instead, trust in God is most clearly found in initiatives, where like David facing Goliath, the resources we have seem pitiful and meagre – inadequate to the task – and yet achieve impact because God is with us.

God is not only with us when material resources are poured out in abundance or when large numbers are to be found in services. God is with us in every situation and circumstance within our Parish because God’s Spirit is at work within every part of and person in our Parish. As we engage with our community, we see that truth realised in each place to which we go and each person we meet. That is what true Parish ministry involves and it is undermined when, like David and the Church of England centrally, we begin numbering our resources in order to trust in what we have, rather than trust in God alone.

The challenge of this strange story is to place our trust when it should always be – in God – rather than in the human resources available to us. May it be so for each one of us. Amen.

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MercyMe - Even If.

Church Times - Art review: Jean Lamb: An Urban Passion (St Marylebone Parish Church and then St Peter’s, Nottingham)

My latest exhibition review for Church Times is on 'Jean Lamb: An Urban Passion' (St Marylebone Parish Church and then St Peter’s, Nottingham):

'JEAN LAMB has a track record for reimagining the Stations of the Cross in new and challenging forms.

Her carved sculptural Stations of the Holocaust, besides illustrating the Passion narrative, included images from the Holocaust showing the Jewish people as they were forced into ghettos, humiliated, tortured, and executed. This thought-provoking set of Stations was described as being a brave work that offered fraught and disturbing links between Christianity and Judaism.

Her latest set of Stations — An Urban Passion — is essentially an act of protest.'

Other of my pieces for Church Times can be found here. My writing for ArtWay can be found here. My pieces for Artlyst are here, those for Seen & Unseen are here, and those for Art+Christianity are here.

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Josh Caterer - Hallelujah! He Is Risen. 

Vacancy – Deanery Mission Support Administrator

The Basildon Deanery is advertising for a Deanery Mission Support Administrator

The Deanery Mission Support Administrator will work for three days per week to relieve parishes of administration burdens in order to free up others in the parish (clergy and lay people) for mission and ministry.

S/he will identify parishes which have key roles unfilled or where the same people are undertaking multiple tasks and parishes which through pluralities and/or other forms of joint working have an increased administration load for clergy. Tasks involve: identification of parishes; visits to parishes and resulting support plans; and delivery of succession planning/ training.

• Salary: £15,192 per annum
• Work schedule: 3 days per week
• Time-limited: One year

Click DMSA Job Description to see the DMSA Job Description.

Person specification

This role would ideally be filled by a person currently actively engaged with an Anglican Church, but with an emphasis on and experience of organisational skills and practical project management experience.

Applications

To apply please send a CV and covering letter to Revd Jonathan Evens, Area Dean, at jonathan.evens@btinternet.com by 05/09/25. To discuss the role, please phone Elizabeth Murdoch Atkinson on 07880258262. Interviews to be held in w/c 15/09/25.

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Damien Jurado - Jericho Road.

Travelling Light: A Service for the Third Sunday after Trinity | The Church of England

Here's the reflection that I shared in today's national online service for the Church of England:

Cliff Richard once sang that he had no bags of baggage to slow him down, no comb and no toothbrush, nothing at all to haul. He was travelling light because he just couldn’t wait to be with his baby that night. I wonder whether Eugene Peterson had that song in mind when he translated this reading in ‘The Message’, his version of the Bible in contemporary language. His version of Jesus’ charge to his disciples starts like this: “Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.”

Travel light. Jesus was calling the 70 to an itinerant ministry (Luke 10.1-11, 16-20). Their focus was on going ahead of Jesus to prepare people for his coming and his message. So, they took nothing unnecessary with them, they weren’t distracted by small talk along the way, they welcomed hospitality when they received it but they simply moved on to the next place and the next person whenever they were not made welcome. No distractions, just a clear focus on their task and their message.

We also need to travel light in our individual lives and our corporate Church life in order that we are focused on our core task of sharing the good news about Jesus in actions and words. But there is also a second reason for travelling light which is to do with the footprint that we leave on the world. By sitting light to possessions and by accepting hospitality as it was offered to them, the 70 imposed as little as possible on the people, villages and areas through which they travelled. In our society, since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, we have done anything but. Our footprint has been heavy on our world as we have exploited its resources for our own gain and we are still struggling to realise the consequences.

John V. Taylor's book, ‘Enough is Enough’, kickstarted the simple lifestyle movement. ‘Live more simply that others might simply live’ was their slogan and it is one that Eugene Peterson sees as coming out of the instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples before he sent them out on their mission: “Don’t load yourselves up with equipment,” he writes, “Keep it simple; you are the equipment. And no luxury inns – get a modest place and be content there until you leave.” Keep it simple. Travel light. These are the key messages of Jesus’ instructions.

Why? To keep us focused on our message and mission and to tread lightly on the earth as we do so.

Travelling light / without / a purse / without / a bag / without / shoes / without / equipment / you are / the equipment / you are / all you need

Travelling light / no / special appeals / no / luxury hotels / no / looking / for the best / cooks / keep it / simple / keep it / modest / be / content

Travelling light / don’t stop / to make / small talk / with those / on the road / move on / reach / your destination / the harvest / is great / but the / workers / few

Travelling light / do stop / to bless / the homes / in which / you rest / for all / you receive / give thanks / and peace / don’t create / when made / unwelcome / shrug / your shoulders, / wipe / your feet / move on

Travelling light / don’t / fill your barns / simply / to eat, / drink / and / be merry / don’t / store up / riches / simply / to rust / and decay / don’t / store up / riches / simply / for others / to steal / your heart / will be / where / your riches / are

Travelling light / do / store up / acts / of love, / hope / and faith / do / store up / the things / that remain / do / store up / treasures / in heaven / your heart / will be / where / your riches /are

Here's the earlier service that we recorded at St Andrew's Wickford in January:

My recorded sermons for the Diocese of Chelmsford's Weekly Sermon series can also be viewed below.

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St Martin-in-the-Fields - Morning Song.

A Service for the Third Sunday after Trinity | The Church of England |

This Sunday, the national Church of England online service comes from St Mary's Church, Runwell. Check out the trailer above. An earlier service recorded in the Parish can be viewed below.

My recorded sermons for the Diocese of Chelmsford's Weekly Sermon series can also be viewed below.

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St Martin-in-the-Fields - Morning Song.

Meditations

My reflection for the online Church of England service included a meditation I wrote on transformation. Over the years I have written a considerable number of meditations alongside my poetry. Some have been posted here; some in sermons and some in their own right. Others are available to download from other sites.

This post provides links to the majority of these meditations:

• 'Transformation';  
• 'Come to the feast of life';
• 'Jesus and Pilate';
• 'Unregarded';
• 'Where is Jesus now?'
• 'The Mark of the Cross';
• 'Travelling Light';
• 'Alternative Nine Lessons';
• 'Station 14 - Jesus is laid in the tomb';
• 'In Between';
• 'The Passion';
• 'I come alive';
• 'Prayer is attention paid';
• 'Borne to be born';
• 'Wonder of wonders';
• 'Love is ...';
• 'Until I see';
• 'Where God likes it best';
• 'Touch me not';
• 'Love is all we need';
• 'Baptism';
• 'Praise the Lord';
• 'Waiting'.

'Come, Lord Jesus, Come' is an Advent devotional (booklet & slideshow) by Victoria Emily Jones based on an Advent meditation written by myself.

Mark of the Cross and The Passion are collections of images, meditations and prayers by Henry Shelton and myself on The Stations of the Cross. They provide helpful reflections and resources for Lent and Holy Week. These collections can both be found as downloads from theworshipcloud.

'Five Trios' is a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in the Diocese of Chelmsford. The five poems in the series are:

• 'Barking';
• 'Bradwell';
• 'Broomfield';
• 'Pleshey'; and
• 'Runwell'.

These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times. IT have also published a poem, The ABC of creativity, which covers attention, beginning and creation.

Other of my poems have appeared in Amethyst Review. They are: 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'. To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, and here.

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Kelly Joe Phelps - Down To The Praying Ground.

Transformation and change

Here's the reflection that I shared in the Church of England's online service and at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

The story of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana is a highly symbolic story of transformation (John 2: 1 – 11). It is a story that happens on the third day; the day which will become the day of resurrection. The third day is the day when what was dead comes back to life and here, we have a story of a wedding feast which is about to descend into disaster as the wine fails but which is then saved when water is turned into wine.

The water which becomes wine is that which was used for ritual washing. There were many reasons in Jewish law why cleansing from ritual impurities was required, so this was water which was in regular use. Jesus turns this water into wine which, at the Last Supper, was to become the symbol of his death. This wine of his death, unlike the water, is a once-for-all sacrifice for sin, just as the miraculous wine created at this wedding was a never-to-be repeated wine.

The wine saves the wedding feast and reminds us of the wedding which is still come between the bridegroom Jesus and his bride, the Church. That marriage is a symbol of God’s coming kingdom in which the governing principle is, “love one another.” Through this symbolic action Jesus is also seen to have moved from being the carpenter’s son to being God’s Son, the Messiah.

So, we have a story which is rich in symbolism and one where the symbolism speaks of sacrifice and transformation. Each transformation involves something ordinary – water, a wedding, and a carpenter’s son. Throughout his ministry Jesus is constantly taking ordinary, everyday things and transforming them so that they express something of God and his kingdom:

Jesus takes water and transforms it into the very best wine.
Jesus takes a child’s lunch and feeds 5,000, with 12 baskets left over.
Jesus takes bread and wine saying this is my body and my blood.
Jesus takes human life and makes it reveal God.
Jesus takes the ordinary and transforms it.

Jesus tells stories of lost coins, lost sheep, lost people, of seeds and weeds, of yeast and mustard and figs, of shepherds and farmers, workers and tenants, masters and servants, widows and judges, the proud and the penitent, the beaten up and the foreigner, the wealthy and the starving.

Jesus says,
He is the bread of life, we will not hunger.
He is the water of life, we will not thirst.
He is the light of the world, we will see.
Jesus takes the ordinary and draws out revelation.

Jesus says,
We are the salt of the world, the taste bringers.
We are the light of the world, the clear sight bringers.
Jesus takes the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,
the weak things of the world to shame the strong,
the lowly things, despised things and the things that are not
to nullify the things that are.
Jesus called the 12 and the 72,
Those who were not wise, not influential, not of noble birth
to change the world.
Jesus calls you.

Jesus calls us to transformation. A transformation that is, as in the symbolism of this story, from constant impurity to purity through Jesus’ actions. This transformation occurs as we take into ourselves Christ’s sacrifice – as we drink the wine that represents his blood shed for us – and, when we do so, we become part of the best wedding feast possible – the wedding of Jesus and his bride the Church – which is the Kingdom of God, where the governing principle is, “love one another.”

Christianity is a religion of transformation and change because we are to grow into the likeness of Christ by being conformed to the pattern of his death and resurrection. We act out this story of transformation leading to celebration each time we celebrate communion. The bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ for us and we receive Christ into our lives being changed into his likeness in the process. We may arrive at communion as ordinary human beings but we leave as those who are being transformed into the very image and body of Christ himself.

Are we receiving Christ’s body and blood in order that we become like him? Is that why we come? Is that our prayer? Is that the one thing that we desire above all else?

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St Martin's Voices - I Am Changed.

The kingdom of heaven is like this …

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

“The kingdom of heaven is like this …” That is how many of Jesus’ parables begin and his introduction makes clear that the parables are told not to impart general spiritual truths but to help us recognise the kingdom of heaven when we see it. Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a seed, a portion of yeast, a hidden treasure, a fine pearl, a fishing net, and a storeroom containing both new and old items.

The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast are both to do with small things that have a big impact. Jesus describes the mustard seed as being the smallest of seeds but it grows to become the biggest of plants; a tree in which birds can make their nests. The phrase a ‘mustard seed’ has entered our language as a little idea that grows into something bigger and that is of course literally what happened with the Jesus movement itself. It was a relatively small grouping of obscure people that died when its founder, Jesus died, but which, following his resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost grew to become the largest religion in history and also within the world currently.

The story of the yeast gives us a different way of understanding the kingdom of God through a growth that is not just in terms of size but also in terms of influence. The yeast does not become large but its effect in the dough is to cause it to rise. In this story the kingdom of God, although small, is the catalyst for change and development.

Today we have read parables in which the kingdom of God needed to be searched out and in which to gain the kingdom of God involved giving everything we have (Matthew 13. 44-46). In these parables the kingdom of God is like a treasure and a fine pearl; both precious and beautiful. How can we understand this aspect of the kingdom? We could say that the kingdom is both precious and beautiful because it is the place where people live as God intended us to live. It is a place of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control” (Galatians 5. 22-23). It is a place where there will be “no more death, no more grief or crying or pain” (Revelation 21. 4).

Such a place is indeed worth searching for and giving everything for. In fact, it can only be gained by giving up everything we have. As Jesus said on a number of occasions, “whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17. 33). We only find and enter the kingdom of God when we give up our selfish grasping after life for ourselves and what we can get out of it.

Finally, Jesus told two parables that show the inclusivity of the kingdom of God. In the parable of the fishing net, the kingdom includes both the good and the bad; while in the parable of the storeroom the kingdom of God contains both the old and the new. You might say, “that’s all well and good but the parable of the fishing net is about the good being kept and the bad thrown away.” You would be right, but it is important to note that that judgement is God’s judgement and is carried out at “the end of the age.” In the meantime good and bad are both in the net together and we don’t know which is which. So, we have to trust God’s future judgement and not attempt to pre-judge people now.

In this parable, and the parable of the weeds, Jesus is commending here the aspect of Anglicanism that, it seems to me, has always been its great strength and glory; its holding together from its inception of ‘catholics’ (with a small ‘c’) and protestants and in more recent centuries its holding together of the diverse streams that have developed within those traditions – anglo-catholicism, evangelicalism, liberalism, the charismatic movement and so on. By holding these things together now we show our humility (in that we know we can’t judge rightly ourselves) and trust in God’s ability to judge rightly (and perhaps surprisingly) in future.

These parables suggest that the kingdom of God has small beginnings but major influence and effects. They suggest that the kingdom of God reveals how human life should be lived here and now but requires us to give up our selfish ways of life in order to find it. And they suggest the kingdom of God is found in communities that are inclusive, humble and trusting. The Christian Church has, at its best, been a sign of the kingdom of God in the world and in this community. The challenge for us this morning is to learn from these parables and continue to do what Jesus did by creating signs of the kingdom of God in our own day and time.

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Taize - The Kingdom Of God.

Special HeartEdge workshop - Developing community online with congregations

A special one-off HeartEdge workshop has been organised for Friday 17 April at 4.30 pm on the HeartEdge facebook page.

This workshop will explore ways to develop community online with congregations. Sally Hitchiner, Adrian Harris and Lorenzo Lebrija will discuss this topic and share examples of interesting and innovative practices from their congregational and national church perspectives.

Sally Hitchiner is the Associate Vicar for Ministry at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Her responsibilities include leading the Sunday morning congregation alongside the pastoral care, liturgical and organisational aspects of the church. She is currently leading ministry to the dispersed congregation of St Martin's through a confidential online community space and pastoral care groups. Sally cut her teeth in setting up and leading online christian community as a university chaplain and in founding and leading the highly successful Diverse Church initiative. This set up online communities for over 1000 participants across the uk, many of whom had left physical gatherings of church and through DC rediscovered christian community which led them back to local churches. Diverse Church grew from one community to being a community planting organisation, launching a new community of 60-100 Christians across the UK and Ireland each year.

Adrian Harris is Head of Digital at the Church of England which supports dioceses and local churches to engage in digital for the opportunities it brings to become a growing Church for all people and for all places. In the last month the team has been developing and sharing services, training churches to use digital platforms to reach their communities during social distancing, and developing new content and resources.

Fr. Lorenzo Lebrija is the founding director of the TryTank, the experimental Lab for church growth and innovation. He is responsible for the entire process of development and implementation of experiments for innovation in the church. (It's a staff of 1, so don't be that impressed!) Prior to launching TryTank, Lorenzo was the Chief Development Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. He also served as the Pastor on behalf of the Bishop at St. John's Episcopal Church in San Bernardino, CA, and as priest associate at St. Athanasius Episcopal Church at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles.

As with our sermon preparation workshops, this workshop will be a conversation for about 30 minutes between Lorenzo, Sally and Adrian about the topic, including the sharing of examples of interesting or innovative examples. The second half of the workshop will involve them in responding to questions or comments from those viewing their discussion on facebook.

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Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir (featuring Liz Swain) - Hold Onto Your Faith.

Beyond Words: A response to the apology at General Synod

Azariah France-Williams, who is currently on placement at St Martin-in-the-Fields preparing for a new mission initiative with HeartEdge, has offered his thoughts on the Church of England General Synod's apology for racism in the church.

In his post for the SCM blog he asks:

'What are the thoughts of the church and its senior members in regard to race and ethnicity - that of themselves, as well as that of others? We are used to words, and I now want to know what the deeds of the church might be?'

Read his post here. His book Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism in the Church of England is published this summer.

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Eric Bibb - Migration Blues. 

The gifts that those with autism are bringing to the Church

Read the Church Times' article "Once we connect on to something, that’s it" on autism and Church, which features the Disability Advisory Group at St Martin-in-the-Fields with words from Fiona MacMillan.

The article says:

"There are estimated to be nearly a million people with a form of autism in the UK. It is likely that there are 80 in the average parish. Not all will be in church, but, like everyone else, they will be attending weddings, funerals, and other offices. Autism is not a mental-health condition, but a physical brain-wiring difference that, in the context of church worship, means, “Our brain wiring can literally overheat as it tries to handle too much input at once. We try very hard to avoid an overload of sensory or social situations.”

That explanation comes from the words of the C of E’s guidelines on autism, “Welcoming Those on the Autistic Spectrum”, which were created for Oxford diocese and formed part of the report Opening Doors, affirmed by the Synod in February.

[...]

Good practice can address all these things with what the guidelines say requires “nothing other than a bit of time and thought” — always in partnership with the people concerned. Fiona MacMillan chairs the Disability Advisory Group that works at St Martin-in-the-Fields, in London, which, in partnership with Inclusive Church, puts on an annual conference on disability and church. It is an opportunity to share learning and resources more widely, particularly evident in the booklet Calling From the Edge, launched at the General Synod in February.

“St Martin’s is a learning organisation,” she emphasises. “All our work is centred on lived experience: the experts are people who know, who encounter barriers and discrimination in daily life and in this place. We create change by understanding our different perspectives and working together to make things better.”

Whether characteristics associated with people with autism are perceived as positive or negative depends on context. “Understanding language literally is a challenge for those who don’t, but may encourage a clarity of thought which benefits all,” she reflects. “Wanting to know how things work doesn’t necessarily mean not appreciating mystery, or not being transfixed with wonder and delight at how things are.”

She lists among the characteristics of people with autism: “Honesty, integrity, directness, openness, creativity, different ways of perceiving, not being part of hierarchy and bureaucracy, not able to manipulate or discriminate. . . Loyalty, trust. Many autistic people have an inbuilt faith, unquestioning knowledge of the existence or presence of God.

“Having a passion for justice, spotting patterns, and noticing gaps or anomalies — including those who are left out or facing barriers to participation — are gospel values. Every church will have autistic people: some will have found their niche; others may not be open. It’s about acceptance of each other, openness to difference, acknowledging that one size doesn’t fit all, but we are all fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God.”

Book a place to attend 'Something Worth Sharing', the 2018 conference on Disability and Church organised in partnership by Inclusive Church and St Martin-in-the-Field's, in October.

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Gungor - Beautiful Things.

@OurCofE

I have been asked to tweet for @OurCofE from Monday 19 - Sunday 25 December. @OurCofE is an opportunity to give people an idea of how vast, diverse and interesting the Church of England is.

It is an opportunity to reflect and expound on the best of parish and local life in the Church of England – the things that rarely get in the media. Follow my tweets @OurCofE from 10.00am on Monday 19 December and retweet to share the news of what is going on at St Martin-in-the-Field’s and at St Stephen Walbrook.

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St Martin's Voices - I Stood On The River Of Jordan.

#Joytotheworld

Today the Church of England launches its #JoyToTheWorld Christmas campaign with www.AChristmasNearYou.org and four special videos.

Over 27,000 services and events, ranging from the contemporary to traditional carols and nativity stories, have been added to a new website that enables the public to enter their postcode and find Christmas services and events happening near them.

Smartphone users will also be able to geo-locate the nearest services and add a reminder to their calendar. So far more than 2,300 congregations are providing mulled wine and 3,500 sharing mince pies after services.

In addition to the www.AChristmasNearYou.org website, there are four videos being released throughout December, each one sharing a moment of true Christmas joy. The short films star Gogglebox vicar Revd Kate Bottley, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Becoming Revered author Revd Matt Woodcock and comedian Paul Kerensa.

Underpinning the launch of the campaign will be a targeted nationwide social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter to encourage the public to share Christmas #JoyToTheWorld.

Speaking about her moment of Christmas joy from her former church in East London, Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin said:

"Mine has got to be at the very end of the Midnight Mass then we hear the words 'Yea, Lord we greet thee' - our first acknowledgment that Christmas has now arrived.

"Most Sundays people rush home to their rice and peas and dinner but we mingle, we stop and we greet each other and it's a wonderful moment. The Christmas Mass has got people attending who you wouldn't normally see and we get to pass on this Christmas joy."

Watch Rose's film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFjyw_njzvg

Commenting on the launch of the new website, Revd Arun Arora, Director of Communications at the Church of England, said:

"We think a perfect Christmas includes a Church Christmas. No matter how good the dinner or how expensive the present, a deeper joy is to be found in Church at Christmas.

"Whether it's midnight mass, a nativity play, a carol service of the joy of welcoming the Christ child on Christmas day, the best kind of Christmas involves a visit to Church."

Visit www.AChristmasNearYou.org to find out more.

Church of England parishes across the country can get still involved by uploading their services to www.AChristmasNearYou.org/upload and also by sharing their moments of joy on social media using the hashtag #JoyToTheWorld.

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Pentatonix - Joy To The World.

‘I am the Vine and You are the Branch Managers': Organising the Kingdom or Stifling the Spirit?

Those concerned about managerialism in the Church of England may wish to make their way to St Martin-in-the-Fields this Sunday at 5.00pm to hear The Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martins, address the issue of whether management is a helpful tool that can help Christians and the church flourish and fulfil their potential, or whether it is an insidious ideology that impoverishes true relationship and diminishes the life of faith?

Sam will preach on this topic in our 'Issues of our Time' series and as part of Lighten Our Darkness, our service of contemporary Choral Evening Prayer. The title of his sermon is ‘I am the Vine and You are the Branch Managers': Organising the Kingdom or Stifling the Spirit?

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Eternal Father, strong to save.

@OurCofeE

The Church of England in 140 Characters is an exciting year long project on Twitter to tell the story of the Church of England through the eyes of its people, providing a daily insight into modern faith in action.

Each week, followers of the account will be given an insight into all the work that goes on into the day to day running of a church community from schools to chaplaincies to cathedrals. Followers will be able to peek behind the curtain of church life and see behind the scenes as they get a feel for daily life in parishes. In addition to daily life there will be a glimpse of the inevitable unusual and unexpected events that come with being part of the Church of England. Through it all the account will seek to show through thousands of tweets how God is at work in His Church each day.

From 21-27 December Katherine Hedderly from St Martin-in-the-Fields will be the host for the Church of England’s Twitter project, that tells the story of the church through the eyes of its communities around the country. She will be tweeting about the St Martin’s community each day. Do follow @OurCofE and re-tweet to share the life of St Martin’s at Christmas far and wide.

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John Telfer and Clive Hayward - I See You.

Insisting on the primacy of a public realm that serves the common good

Peter Wilby provides some apposite comment in his review of Will Hutton's How Good We Can Be:

'The trouble ... is that leaders of the corporate sector, particularly those providing “financial services” (services to whom?), are doing so well out of short-termist capitalism that they resist even modest attempts to ameliorate its negative long-term effects and portray such policies as “anti-business” ...

Increasingly, however, it is capitalism that needs structural reform, particularly in persuading private companies that, if they accept the state’s legal protection – in the form of limited liability, for example – they must accept reciprocal obligations to the wider community, not least the obligation to pay tax in full and on time. But reasonable as this sounds, the rich elite – who, as Hutton says, now regard avoiding taxes as a duty and evading them as morally understandable – will resist every inch of the way. Why wouldn’t they? They are sitting comfortably and will not risk their good fortune. Short-termist capitalism breeds short-term thinkers and they flourish in politics, industry and finance at the commanding heights of our society.'

Hutton himself makes a similar point in commenting with real understanding of and appreciation for the letter, Who is my neighbour?, from the Church of England’s bishops which was directed to the people and parishes of the Church of England:

'The bishops are a last redoubt of moral authority that insists on the primacy of a public realm that serves the common good – for all the pushback from Tory MPs and ministers mocking their emptying churches, accusing them of being left sympathisers or reminding them, as the prime minister did, that growth is bringing the jobs and job security they crave. None of these responses spoke the language of common good, or even accepted it as a premise for political action. We live in a world where the utterances of a Stuart Rose, former-chair of Marks and Spencers, or even private-equity magnate and tax exile Stefano Pessina, about what is good for business – good for mammon – have become the new moral authority.'

Hutton notes that the 'Church of England is one of the last few institutions in touch, through its parishes, with the entire country' and that what has moved 'Anglican leaders to write is the distressing condition of so many of the people that the church encounters in its daily ministry – living, increasingly, in a society of strangers, as the leaders would say, often lonely, uncertain about the prospects of a career or to what extent the social bargain will help them out.'

Hutton summarises the argument made by David Marquand in his important new book, Mammon’s Kingdom and concludes:

'Mammon now rules, declares Marquand. But he thinks that the rediscovery of a richer discourse of the common good will necessarily be drawn from religious traditions, even writing as he does as an unbeliever. The bishops have not let him down. They cite Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians as an inspiration that should bind believers and non-believers. “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” They long, they say, for a more humane society that reflects Saint Paul’s injunction – a better politics for a better nation. Amen, you might say, to that.'

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Delirious? - Kingdom Of Comfort.