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Wednesday, 22 July 2026

The apostle of the resurrection

Here's the reflection I shared during today's midweek Eucharist for St Andrew's Wickford:

Mary Magdalene by Malcolm Guite.

Today is the Feast of St Mary Magdalene. ‘Mary Magdalene is a woman who has been largely defined by the church fathers… as a repentant sinner, and it was assumed those sins were sexual,’ says former New York Poet Laureate Marie Howe, who was raised Catholic. In her book of poems called Magdalene, Howe seeks to re-envision Mary Magdalene for the modern age. ‘Magdalene imagines the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene as a woman who embodies the spiritual and sensual, alive in a contemporary landscape— hailing a cab, raising a child, listening to the news on the radio. Between facing the traumas of her past and navigating daily life, the narrator of Magdalene yearns for the guidance of her spiritual teacher, a Christ figure, whose death she continues to grieve.'

'Just as many women today sit down to practice meditation or to pray, Mary Magdalene sought meaning and understanding by following Jesus as teacher. “She wanted to find metaphysical meaning,” Howe said.'

In one of the poems she has an encounter that takes her to a third place she’ not yet been.

then I was looking at my old friend John—
suddenly I was in and I saw him,
and he (and this was almost unbearable)
he saw me see him,
and I saw him see me.

He said something like, You’re going to be ok now,
Or, It’s been difficult hasn’t it,
but what he said mattered only a little.

We met -- in our mutual gaze --in between
a third place I’d not yet been.

(The Affliction)

Erotic, spirited, and searching for meaning, she becomes a woman striving to be the subject of her own life, fully human and alive to the sacred in the mortal world.

‘The world that would have gone on without me bargained and cluttered and I walked where I wanted, free of the pretense of family now, belonging to no one, back to the place where he’d bent and written in the dust.’

Jim Friedman notes that it was when the sixth-century Pope Gregory the Great conflated Mary Magdalene with the anonymous woman taken in adultery and the weeping sinner whose tears bathed the feet of her Lord, that Mary Magdalene became a compelling archetype for the forgiven sinner.’ ‘Through the long centuries of male-dominated biblical storytelling, the conflated Magdalene figure was typecast as a fallen women tainted by her erotic past’.

Howe says that by being juxtaposed against Mary the mother of Jesus, ‘Magdalene was set up as the repentant sinner (often a prostitute), creating a split that has affected women for generations. This split between the virgin and the whore, the mother and the single woman, the sacred and the sensual, the body and the spirit – established by the patriarchy – has caused so much suffering in women,’ How can this split begin to be healed? Howe has said, perhaps by talking about it – telling stories – stories such as those in Magdalene.

Andrew Nunn, Dean of Southwark Cathedral says that: ‘More has been said about Mary than is probably true. Her story has been mixed up with other stories – of fallen women, of disturbed women, of faithful women, of passionate women, of accused women, of scandalous women – and all rolled into one story. But Jesus met all those women who challenged convention, who dared to speak, who dared to act and he welcomed them, as he welcomes us, with all our contradictions. But what we do know is that of all the people he could have met in the garden by the tomb in the first dawn of Easter Day, it was Mary, and he asked her to be the apostle of his resurrection.

Jim Friedman notes that these days Mary Magdalene ‘is more accurately understood as an important disciple and primary witness to the Resurrection.’ Malcolm Guite writes: ‘Mary, a woman, despised and condemned by the self righteous, but loved by Jesus was chosen by him to be the first witness of the good news of his resurrection, and in her meeting with the love of Christ a graveyard once more became a garden.’

Easter Dawn by Malcolm Guite.

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Malcolm Guite - Easter Dawn.

Thursday, 16 July 2026

Amethyst Review: Connections and contemplation in poetry and prayer

'Connections and contemplation in poetry and prayer', a brief survey of the connections between poetry and prayer has been published by Amethyst Review today. It looks at the connections between the two and highlights both poems about prayer and poems that are prayers. This piece was originally written as the introduction to a Quiet Day I ran recently on Poetry and Prayer. On the same day, I also wrote a new poem entitled 'Prayer' which was published recently by Amethyst Review.

The references for the article are:

[1] D. Yezzi, ‘“Power of some sort or other”: on poems and prayers’ in The New Criterion, April 2012 - https://newcriterion.com/article/power-of-some-sort-or-other-on-poems-and-prayers/ [accessed 27 April 2026]
[2] D. Rotty, ‘Poetry as Prayer’ in Catholic Exchange, 10 October 2022 - https://catholicexchange.com/poetry-as-prayer/ [accessed 27 April 2026]
[3] J. Kranz, ‘Poetry and Wisdom Books of the Bible: The Beginner’s Guide’ in overviewbible.com, 4 March 2020 - https://overviewbible.com/poetry/ [accessed 27 April 2026]
[4] G. Heugh, ‘How poetry can help us pray’, tear fund, 19 March 2021 - https://www.tearfund.org/stories/2021/03/how-poetry-can-help-us-pray [accessed 27 April 2026]
[5] D. Yezzi, ‘“Power of some sort or other”: on poems and prayers’ in The New Criterion, April 2012 - https://newcriterion.com/article/power-of-some-sort-or-other-on-poems-and-prayers/ [accessed 27 April 2026]
[6] J. Ramazani, ‘Poetry and Prayer’ in Poetry and Its Others: News, Prayer, Song, and the Dialogue of Genres, University of Chicago Press, 5 November 2013 - https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scholarship-online/book/15853/chapter-abstract/170723284?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false [Abstract accessed 27 April 2026]
[7] ‘Poetry and Prayer: Continuities and Discontinuities’, An international conference organized jointly by the Institute of English Studies and Heythrop College, University of London, 29–30 June 2012 - https://academic.oup.com/litthe/article-abstract/26/2/242/1028143?redirectedFrom=PDF [Abstract accessed on 27 April 2026]
[8] E. McGrath Smith, ‘Poetry as Prayer’ in talking writing, January 27, 2014 - https://talkingwriting.com/poetry-prayer [accessed 27 April 2026]
[9] S. Weil, Gravity and Grace, Routledge, 12 September 2002.
[10] A. Carroll, ‘Vocabulary of the Heart – What Poetry Taught Me About Prayer’ in Chronic Joy - https://chronic-joy.org/vocabulary-heart-poetry-taught-prayer/ [accessed 27 April 2026]
[11] A. Baker, ‘A Conversation with Gregory Orr’, Image, Issue 66 - https://imagejournal.org/article/conversation-gregory-orr/ [accessed 27 April 2026]
[12] M. Guite, Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination, Routledge, 28 March 2012
[13] G. Heugh, ‘How poetry can help us pray’, tear fund, 19 March 2021 - https://www.tearfund.org/stories/2021/03/how-poetry-can-help-us-pray [accessed 27 April 2026]
[14] G. Heugh, ‘How poetry can help us pray’, tear fund, 19 March 2021 - https://www.tearfund.org/stories/2021/03/how-poetry-can-help-us-pray [accessed 27 April 2026
[15] ‘Oasis: Poetry’ in explorefaith.org - http://www.explorefaith.org/oasis/poetry/otherwise.html [accessed 27 April 2026]

Amethyst Review is a publication for readers and writers who are interested in creative exploration of spirituality and the sacred. Readers and writers of all religions and none are most welcome. All work published engages in some way with spirituality or the sacred in a spirit of thoughtful and respectful inquiry, rather than proselytizing.

The Editor-in-chief is Sarah Law – poet (mainly), tutor, occasional critic, sometime fiction writer. She has published five poetry collections, the latest of which is 'Thérèse: Poems'. Her novel, Sketches from a Sunlit Heaven is a 2023 Illumination Book Award silver medal winner. She set up Amethyst Review feeling the lack of a UK-based platform for the sharing and readership of new literary writing that engages in some way with spirituality and the sacred.

My poems to have been published in Amethyst Review are: 'Prayer', 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'.

I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.

'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:

These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.

To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. International Times have also published other of my poems, including 'Spencer Reece at Bemerton' which is based on the visit that I made to Bemerton in 2026 with Spencer Reece, 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.

Several of my short stories have also been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

For more of my poems, see here, and for my poetic meditations, see here.

My first review of poetry for Tears in the Fence was of 'Mode rn Fog' by Chris Emery. My second review was of 'The Salvation Engine' by Rupert Loydell and my third was of 'For All That’s Lost' by David Miller. My poetry reviews for Stride include a review of two poetry collections, one by Mario Petrucci and the other by David Miller, a revie w of Temporary Archive: Poems by Women of Latin America, a review of Fukushima Dreams by Andrea Moorhead, a review of Endangered Sky by Kelly Grovier and Sean Scully, a review of Jo hn F. Deane's Selected & New Poems, a review of God's Little Angel by Sue Hubbard and a review of Spencer Reece's 'Acts'.

My poetry-related pieces for IT are: an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece, an interview with the poet Chris Emery, plus reviews of: 'Collected Poems' by Kevin Crossley-Holland; 'Breaking Lines' at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, albums by Deacon Blue, Mumford and Sons, and Andrew Rumsey, and 'What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise' by David Miller. I have also published pieces on poetry at Seen and Unseen - a profile of the poet Theresa Lola - and the Journal of Theological Studies - a review of Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination by Malcolm Guite. For more on poetry, read my ArtWay interview with David Miller here and my interview with Rupert Loydell here. See also Rupert Loydell's interview with poet and musician Steve Scott. My own dialogues with Steve can be read here, here, here, here, and here. For thoughts on the links between poetry and prayer see here and here.

My key literature posts (including poetry) are:

See also 'Art and Faith: Decades of Engagement: Introduction, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

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Gideon Heugh - Love - An Easter Poem.

Monday, 15 June 2026

Amethyst Review: Prayer

My latest poem to be published by Amethyst Review is entitled 'Prayer' and was written during a Quiet day I ran recently on Poetry and Prayer.

For the same day, I also wrote 'Connections and contemplation in poetry and prayer', a brief survey of the connection between poetry and prayer that will be published by Amethyst Review on 16 July. This piece was originally written as the introduction to the Quiet Day.

Amethyst Review is a publication for readers and writers who are interested in creative exploration of spirituality and the sacred. Readers and writers of all religions and none are most welcome. All work published engages in some way with spirituality or the sacred in a spirit of thoughtful and respectful inquiry, rather than proselytizing.

The Editor-in-chief is Sarah Law – poet (mainly), tutor, occasional critic, sometime fiction writer. She has published five poetry collections, the latest of which is 'Thérèse: Poems'. Her novel, Sketches from a Sunlit Heaven is a 2023 Illumination Book Award silver medal winner. She set up Amethyst Review feeling the lack of a UK-based platform for the sharing and readership of new literary writing that engages in some way with spirituality and the sacred.

My other poems to have been published in Amethyst Review are: 'Runwell', 'Are/Are Not', 'Attend, attend' and 'Maritain, Green, Beckett and Anderson in conversation down through the ages'.

I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.

'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:

These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.

To read my poems published by Stride, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. International Times have also published other of my poems, including 'Spencer Reece at Bemerton' which is based on the visit that I made to Bemerton in 2026 with Spencer Reece, 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations.

Several of my short stories have also been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

For more of my poems, see here, and for my poetic meditations, see here.

My poetry-related pieces for IT are: an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece, an interview with the poet Chris Emery, plus reviews of: 'Collected Poems' by Kevin Crossley-Holland; 'Breaking Lines' at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, albums by Deacon Blue, Mumford and Sons, and Andrew Rumsey, and 'What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise' by David Miller. I have also published pieces on poetry at Seen and Unseen - a profile of the poet Theresa Lola - and the Journal of Theological Studies - a review of Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination by Malcolm Guite. For more on poetry, read my ArtWay interview with David Miller here and my interview with Rupert Loydell here. See also Rupert Loydell's interview with poet and musician Steve Scott. My own dialogues with Steve can be read here, here, here, here, and here. For thoughts on the links between poetry and prayer see here and here.

My key literature posts (including poetry) are:

George Herbert - Prayer I.

Monday, 11 May 2026

An imaginary poetry anthology

Here's an imagined poetry anthology for which I would pay good money:

A, a, a, Domine Deus – David Jones
A Glass Full – Sarah Law
A Prayer in Spring - Robert Frost
A Song of Derivations – Alice Meynell
A Spell For Creation – Kathleen Raine
A Theological Treatise - Czeslaw Milosz
Advent – Brian Coffey
Advent - Patrick Kavanagh
Advent Calendar – Rowan Williams
Advice to a Young Prophet - Thomas Merton
The Altar at Isenheim - Steve Scott
An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow - Les Murray
And death shall have no dominion – Dylan Thomas
The Annunciation – Elizabeth Jennings
At St Helen's, Ranworth - Chris Emery
Baptism – Franz Wright
Believe Me - Irina Ratushinskaya
The bright field – RS Thomas
Cain Reverses Time - Luke Kennard
Christ in the Clay-pit – Jack Clemo
Christmas and the Common Birth - Anne Ridler
The City of Man – Charles Williams
Conversations - Tasos Leivaditis
Creed – Gabriela Mistral
Creed – Steve Turner
Crón Tráth na nDéithe - Thomas MacGreevy
The Dark Path – David Miller
The Duino Elegies – Rainer Maria Rilke
Easter Monday - Eleanor Farjeon
Eleven Addresses to the Lord – John Berryman
Epiphany – Martin Wroe
For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing - John O’Donohue
Gloria in Profundis – GK Chesterton
The Hastily Assembled Angel Considers What It Means to Be Made in the Image Of - Shane McCrae
The Heart’s Desire is Full of Sleep - Ruth Pitter
Holy the Firm – Annie Dillard
Horae Canonicae – WH Auden
Idiot Psalms – Scott Cairns
In a Corner of Eden – Peter Levi
Indifference - Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy
Instructions for Angels – Rupert Loydell
Jairus – Michael Symmons Roberts
Journey – Kathleen Norris
Kalymnos: November 29, 1968 - Robert Lax
Kenosis – Luci Shaw
Lachrimae Amantis – Geoffrey Hill
Little Gidding – TS Eliot
Look at the Revival – Theresa Lola
Lough Derg – Denis Devlin
The Maori Jesus – James K Baxter
Miserere – David Gascoyne
The Monk and Her Seaside Dreams - Fanny Howe
Morning Worship – Mark Van Doren
Not the Millennium – UA Fanthorpe
On hold – Tim Cunningham
On Religion – Khalil Gibran
O Sapientia – Malcolm Guite
Out Of The Blue - Michael O'Siadhail
Peace in the Welsh Hills – Vernon Watkins
The Peace of Wild Things – Wendell Berry
Poem 133: The Summer Day – Mary Oliver
The Portal of the Mystery of Hope - Charles Péguy
Praying Drunk – Andrew Hudgins
Prophecy – Dana Gioia
The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket – Robert Lowell
The Redeemer - Siegfried Sassoon
Resurrection – Noel Rowe
The Road to Emmaus – Spencer Reece
Sacramental - Kevin Crossley Holland
The Sacraments - Louise Erdrich
Shepherds' Carol - Norman Nicholson
Still Falls the Rain – Edith Sitwell
This Living Earth – Ernesto Cardenal
To Live in the Mercy of God - Denise Levertov
The Transfiguration – Edwin Muir
Vanished Fire – James Matthew Wilson
The Virgin at Noon - Paul Claudel
Words of the Unknown Soldier - John F Deane
Zen Poem – Daniel Berrigan

My first review of poetry for Tears in the Fence was of 'Mode rn Fog' by Chris Emery. My second review was of 'The Salvation Engine' by Rupert Loydell and my third was of 'For All That’s Lost' by David Miller. My poetry reviews for Stride include a review of two poetry collections, one by Mario Petrucci and the other by David Miller, a revie w of Temporary Archive: Poems by Women of Latin America, a review of Fukushima Dreams by Andrea Moorhead, a review of Endangered Sky by Kelly Grovier and Sean Scully, a review of Jo hn F. Deane's Selected & New Poems, a review of God's Little Angel by Sue Hubbard and a review of Spencer Reece's 'Acts'.

My other poetry pieces for IT are: an interview with artist, poet, priest Spencer Reece; an interview with the poet Chris Emery; plus reviews of': Collected Poems' by Kevin Crossley-Holland; 'Breaking Lines' at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art and 'What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise' by David Miller. I have also published pieces on poetry at Seen and Unseen - a profile of the poet Theresa Lola - and the Journal of Theological Studies - a review of Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination by Malcolm Guite. For more on poetry, read my ArtWay interview with David Miller here and my interview with Rupert Loydell here. See also Rupert Loydell's interview with poet and musician Steve Scott. My own dialogues with Steve can be read here, here, here, here, and here. For thoughts on the links between poetry and prayer see here and here.

IT have also published several of my poems, including 'The ABC of creativity', which covers attention, beginning and creation, and 'The Edge of Chaos', a state of current existence poem. Also published have been three poems from my 'Five Trios' series. 'Barking' is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey and draws on my time as a curate at St Margaret's. 'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations. 'Deflated Ego 18: Jonathan Evens on Jonathan Evens' is an article I wrote for Stride Magazine about the 'Five Trios' series of poems.

'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:

These poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.

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

I am among those whose poetry has been included in Thin Places & Sacred Spaces, a recent anthology from Amethyst Press. I also had a poem included in All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the first Amethyst Press anthology of new poems.

Several of my short stories have been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

For more of my poems, see here, and for my poetic meditations, see here.

My key literature posts (including poetry) are:

Elizabeth Jennings - Answers.

Friday, 1 May 2026

US Episcopalian priest Spencer Reece: ‘Poetry saved my life’

Church Times has published an interview with Fr Spencer Reece following his recent visit to the Parish of Wickford and Runwell.

As he explained during his visit, he says in the interview that: 'Both his poetry and now his ministry have also helped him to survive personally. “Poetry saved my life,” he says; and the Church saves it now, though in a different way. As Rector of St Paul’s, Wickford, in Rhode Island, and after the recent deaths of his parents, the church has become not just a place of ministry, but a community that sustains him.'

Fr Spencer is Rector of St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wickford, Rhode Island, and an internationally acclaimed poet. His dream, prayer, and ultimate goal for his time with St. Paul’s Church is to continue the ongoing work of the parish in spreading Jesus’ radical love. “Let kindness be our legacy,” he has said.

It was wonderful to welcome Fr Spencer to our parish and to reanimate the links between our two parishes. We look forward to time in Rhode Island ourselves and to welcoming Spencer and others from the parish to Wickford and Runwell next year. To find out more about the historic links between our parishes and towns, see Wickford Community Archive.

For more on Fr Spencer's visit, see here and here. To read my interview with Fr Spencer for International Times see here and, for my review of Fr Spencer's more recent poetry collection, see here. Fr Spencer spoke at St Martin-in-the-Fields during his visit, see below for that service and click here for one of the services in our parish at which he preached:

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Spencer Reece - Poetry Holds Us Together.

Friday, 10 April 2026

Spencer Reece visit: Poetry, talks, and a Quiet Day

Fr Spencer Reece, Rector of St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wickford, Rhode Island, and an internationally acclaimed poet, is visiting the Parish of Wickford and Runwell. His dream, prayer, and ultimate goal for his time with St. Paul’s Church is to continue the ongoing work of the parish in spreading Jesus’ radical love. “Let kindness be our legacy,” he has said.

To date, in his vist, Spencer has attended the Midweek Eucharist at St Andrew’s Wickford (see https://www.facebook.com/WickfordandRunwellCofE/videos/1515721926738775), spoken in the Bread for the World Service at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London where he shared a reflection on the Road to Emmaus (see https://www.facebook.com/stmartininthefields/videos/1493930282252761), and giving a talk, 'The Broken Altar’, on George Herbert at St Andrew’s Lower Bemerton. This talk was given at the invitation of the George Herbert in Bemerton group (https://www.georgeherbert.org.uk/about/ghb_group.html).

Upcoming events include:

10 April – Unveiled: Poetry Reading, 7.00 pm, St Andrew’s Wickford. Hear this internationally acclaimed poet read poems from his future collection Farewell Symphony.

11 April – Quiet Day: Poetry & Prayer, 10.30 am - 3.30 pm, St Mary’s Runwell (Fr Spencer will share poems and reflections on George Herbert)

12 April – Eucharist, 9.30 am, St Mary’s Runwell and Eucharist, 11.00 am, St Catherine’s Wickford (Fr Spencer will preach at both of these services); 4.00 pm, Showing of Voices Beyond the Wall, St Andrew’s Wickford (Specer's project teaching poetry to abandoned girls at the Our Little Roses orphanage in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was made into an award-winning film, Voices Beyond the Wall: 12 Love Poems from the Murder Capital of the World).

SPENCER REECE, 36th rector of St. Paul's Wickford, Rhode Island, is a Guggenheim Fellow and Whiting Fellow. Reece’s first book, The Clerk’s Tale, was selected for the Bakeless Prize by Nobel Laureate Louise Glück. Reece was ordained in Madrid, Spain, in 2011. Awarded a Fulbright, he taught poetry at Our Little Roses in San Pedro, Honduras, where he lived with the rescued girls at the home. The work was made into an award-winning film, Voices Beyond the Wall: 12 Love Poems from the Murder Capital of the World. The poems by the girls were made into an anthology edited by Reece, entitled Counting Time Like People Count Stars. In 2014 he published The Road to Emmaus which was a longlist nominee for the National Book Award and short-listed for the Griffin Prize. He moved to Madrid and assisted the Episcopal Bishop of Spain for a decade. During this time, he created The Unamuno Author Series, culminating in the first-ever anglophone literary festival in Madrid in 2019. In 2022, he published The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Poet’s Memoir and All The Beauty Still Left: A Poets’ Painted Book of Hours. Acts, a third book of poems, appeared in 2024. At St. Paul’s, he created the 14 Gold Street Author Series. In 2025, he was awarded the John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for the “elegant standards” of his contribution to the literary arts. Farewell Symphony his fourth collection of poems will be published in 2028. In 2034, Love IV: Collected Poems is scheduled to appear.

http://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/

https://www.stpaulswickford.org/

https://www.spencerreece.org/

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Joseph Archer - There But For The Grace Of God.