Give me an undivided heart to revere your name

Here's the reflection that I shared during tonight's Healing Eucharist at St Andrew's Wickford:

‘Psalm 86 is by someone who identified himself as poor and needy. The Psalm could be for an individual who is suffering, a king who feels especially vulnerable to domestic enemies, or the nation of Israel, which was the victim of foreign empires before, during, and after the exile.’ (https://jamesbradfordpate.blogspot.com/2012/07/psalm-86.html)

The Psalmist speaks of God saying: ‘you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.’ What we see in God is abundance, an abundance of mercy, graciousness, steadfastness, love and faithfulness. In God, there is an abundance of all we need when we are poor and needy.

As a result, we should come to him to ask for help. As the Psalmist prays: ‘Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.’ We can call out, cry out to God because we will be heard. We can express our pain, even anger, knowing that he will give ear, will hear and will respond.

What he wants for us is the healing of our internal divisions. St Paul described these well when he says in Romans 7:15-20: ‘I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.’

The Psalmist knows this reality and so prays: ‘Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.’ He then says, ‘I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart.’ It is that reality that God wishes us to find - love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind – as this is true healing. When we are genuinely able to do that, then we know real integration and harmony and healing within our currently divided body, mind and spirit. Therefore, it is for this that we need to pray.

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Gungor - Beautiful Things.

Approaching leave taking

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

Our two readings today (Acts 20.28-end and John 17.11-19) are both about leave taking. Jesus prays for his disciples as he will soon be leaving them when he ascends to be with God the Father, while St Paul gives his final messages to the Ephesian Elders before leaving them. They kneel, pray and embrace together with tears being shed. Leave taking is always hard, as we will experience at the end of June when we say goodbye to Revd Sue Wise and Simon and thank them for all they have done and been in this Parish. Let us use these passages to reflect on how we should approach that leave taking and what, under God, Sue and Simon will be praying for us.

Jesus prayed that his disciples would know God’s protection, be sanctified and be united. Paul asked the Ephesian Elders to keep watch over the congregation in Ephesus and commended them to God and to the message of his grace, a message that was able to build them up and to give them the inheritance among all who are sanctified. Both were aware that there would be difficult challenges ahead for those they were leaving but trusted that, in God’s hands, they would endure.

In his farewell discourses to his disciples, Jesus said something amazing because he said that those who follow him would do greater things than him and would be led into all truth. When you think how amazing Jesus’ own actions were, it is hard to imagine how people like us could do greater things than that, and, when you think how profound his teaching was, how could we be led into deeper or greater truth than that?

But Jesus was articulating something that all good teachers think and feel; the sense that all the time he had spent with them and invested in them was not so they would be clones of him, simply repeating the things he did and said, but instead he had equipped, empowered and enabled his followers to follow him by using their own gifts and abilities and initiative which would inevitably mean that they would do and say different things from him but still with his Spirit and based on all they had learnt from him.

He was saying that each one of us is a unique combination of personality, abilities and potential and, therefore, each of us can make a unique mark on the world. His followers can do greater things than Jesus because they will do different things from him in his name and Spirit – things that only they can do for him because they are that unique package of personality, ability and potential.

That is also what we, the ministry team here, wish for you. That you will use what you have learnt here and the abilities you have developed here to make your own mark on the world and to continue learning, particularly about the meaning of life itself.

What that mark will be we can’t predict, but please don’t make the mistake of thinking that making your mark on the world and doing great things means becoming famous or making pots of money. Many of the most significant things that people do in the course of their lives don’t make the headlines and don’t build our bank balances! For example, forming faithful, committed relationships is one of the most challenging but meaningful things we can do in life but that won’t feature in the press and media or usually impact on our bank balance. Some of us have become parents (others have brought many children into the world) and know the joys and struggles of supporting children in their development and growth. That is one of the most significant things we can do over the course of our lives; something that is both extraordinary and profoundly ordinary at one and the same time.

Our prayer for you is what Jesus prayed for his disciples that you will know God’s protection, be sanctified, be united, be built up, be given the inheritance among all who are sanctified, and go on to do greater things than us by making your unique mark on the world and go ever deeper into truth by continuing to learn throughout your life.

Let us pray for God’s blessing on our experiences of leave taking, our doing, and our learning:

We thank you, Lord, for each one of these your people - for their unique combination of personality, abilities and potential, for all they have learnt here and for all the friendships they have formed. We pray for your blessing on us and pray for your guidance as we continue to seek to make our mark on the world by using all we have learnt here together with our unique combination of personality, abilities and potential. We pray that we might do great things, things that we cannot do alone and cannot yet predict. We pray the blessing of committed, sustained friendships and relationships and the blessing of ongoing, lifelong learning. Most of all we pray that the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit will rest upon and remain with each one of us now and forever. Amen.

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Low - One Special Gift.

Meditations on the Stations of the Cross

 

Tonight, we prayed the Stations of the Cross by Valerie Dean, which are temporarily at St Andrew's Wickford during Lent and Holy Week, using a new set of meditations that I have written specially for Valerie's images.

Valerie's Stations of the Cross have a very clear and intense focus on details which are evocative of the whole. They have previously been shown at St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Diocesan Offices of the Diocese of Chelmsford.

Valerie Dean returned to England in the summer of 2007 after living for 27 years in Belgium. There, she studied art for six years and had various exhibitions, in and around Brussels. On returning to England, she became involved in the Kent arts scene and exhibited, regularly, in the Francis Iles gallery, in Rochester. She also took part in the Canterbury Arts Festival and exhibitions in Whitstable.

She worked in acrylics and her technique was usually to put materials and colours on canvas or board, to see what emerged. It was a dialogue between the artist and her materials. Because of her background, this often consisted of figures around a religious theme. They just appeared! Very often, people seemed to want to appear in her paintings, a little like the pictures in the fire that she used to see in her childhood. At other times, she found that buildings and places she knew inspired her.

Valerie's Stations show us hands that heal and hands that harm. As we looked and thought and prayed together, we reflected on the many ways that our hands can be used to heal or to harm.

 

Station 1 - Jesus is condemned

The accusatory finger
Finger pointing
Pointing condemnation
From a washed hand
Seeking to avoid blame
While unaware there
Are four fingers
Pointing back
At the one
Condemning Jesus


Station 2 - Jesus takes up his cross

Hands that embrace
Embrace the rough wood
Embrace the weight of the cross
Embrace the purpose of suffering
Embrace the sin that is carried
Embrace the isolation that is entered
Embrace the death that awaits


Station 3 - Jesus falls for the first time

Hands grip tight
Wood held
Grip slipped
Feet stumble
Body crumples
And tumbles
Pinioned and winded
Under cruel cross
Fallen for the first time


Station 4 - Jesus meets his mother

Around your face and
in your eyes, we see
the accumulated aura
Of wisdom gained
Through contemplation,
Pondering in your heart,
The nativity, Incarnation,
and now, this crucifixion.
Questions also accumulate.
What has happened to
The child I once bore?
How will the promises
Prophesied about him
Be fulfilled?
You trust and follow.


Station 5 – Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross

A handy helpmeet,
Whether prevailed upon
or not, chosen.
Chosen to be with Jesus
Walking in his footsteps
Handling his cross.
Simon, you are
All that we should become.


Station 6 - Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

What can one give
The suffering one?
How can one
Relieve pain,
Show care or love?
A simple cloth
Is handed over.
Sweat wiped from
Face and brow.
Relief, momentary
But meaningful.
A journey transformed.
A cloth transformed.


Station 7 - Jesus falls for the second time

Weak knees,
Weary legs,
An exhausted body
Flags and falls.
Hands outstretched
To break the fall
Are pounded,
Scratched and bruised
In seeking to protect
The body’s dive
Into hard unforgiving
Land, not
embracing Water.


Station 8 – Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

Hands cradle faces
Faces convulse and sigh
Tears flood and flow
The Passion of these
Women of Jerusalem
Approaches, encroaches,
draws nigh


Station 9 - Jesus falls for the third time

Your fall is as
The second Adam.
Not falling into sin
But bearing all sin –
An unimaginable burden –
An unbearable weight
Bearing down
Upon your shoulders

And God laid on himself
the guilt,
the guilt and the sin
of
every
one
of
us.

If God forsakes himself
to be
for
us,
then who
can be
against us.


Station 10 - Jesus is stripped of his garments

Stripped of equality with God.
Stripped of glory.
Stripped of power.
Stripped of family.
Stripped of occupation.
Stripped of possessions.
Stripped of followers.
Stripped of respect.
Stripped of clothing.
Stripped naked.
Stripped raw.
Stripped to the bone.
Becoming nothing,
no one,
everyone.


Station 11 – Jesus is nailed to the cross

Nails driven through
The flesh, sinews, muscles
And bone of wrists
And ankles.
Hands, fingers, toes
Contort from the
Searing pain
Inflicted by
Unforgiving hammers.
Harmful hands
Hammer hurtful nails
Into hands
That heal.


Station 12 – Jesus dies on the cross

Death has been knocking on the door
Death has entered
Death is here
It is finished

Forgiveness achieved
Salvation complete
Mission accomplished
It is finished

Forgiveness for betrayal
Forgiveness for wrongful arrest
Forgiveness for abandonment
Forgiveness for denial
Forgiveness for a corrupt trial
Forgiveness for false witness
Forgiveness for mob rule
Forgiveness for legal capitulation
Forgiveness for condemnation of the innocent
Forgiveness for imprisonment
Forgiveness for beating
Forgiveness for mockery
Forgiveness for violence
Forgiveness for torture
Forgiveness for murder

All sin
All humanity
All held
All covered
All embraced
All forgiven


Station 13 – Jesus is taken down from the cross

The limp hand
Of a lifeless body
Is held by
The live hand
Of a disciple
Helping support
And carry
The dead Christ
Down from
The death
Instrument
To be held
And cradled
In the arms
Of his grieving
Mother.

Manhandled when
beaten, whipped,
nailed and pierced,
the body of God
is handled with care
as Jesus is taken
in the arms of those
who loved him.


Station 14 – Jesus is buried in the tomb

Buried, entombed
In a cave -
In your end
As in your
Beginning.

Sealed behind stone.
A barrier
Preventing entry.

From the gaps
Around its edges
The faint glimmer
And glimpse
Of resurrection light
Pertains, extends,
To be seen,
To be perceived,
Received.
You cannot be
Contained.

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

Mark of the Cross is a book of 20 poetic meditations on Christ’s journey to the cross and reactions to his resurrection and ascension. The meditations are complemented by a set of semi-abstract watercolours of the Stations of the Cross and the Resurrection created by Henry Shelton.

The Passion: Reflections and Prayers features minimal images with haiku-like poems and prayers that enable us to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross reflecting both on the significance and the pain of that journey as we do so. Henry and I have aimed in these reflections to pare down the images and words to their emotional and theological core. The mark making and imagery is minimal but, we hope, in a way that makes maximum impact.

Jesus dies on the cross

The sun is eclipsed, early nightfall,
darkness covers the surface of the deep,
the Spirit grieves over the waters.
On the formless, empty earth, God is dead.

Through the death of all we hold most dear, may we find life. Amen.

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Lizz Wright - Presence Of The Lord. 

Praying the Stations of the Cross

Today, the Basildon Chapter prayed the Stations of the Cross by Valerie Dean, which are temporarily at St Andrew's Wickford during Lent and Holy Week, using a set of meditations and prayers that I wrote and which are entitled The Passion.

Valerie's Stations of the Cross have a very clear and intense focus on details which are evocative of the whole. They have previously been shown at St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Diocesan Offices of the Diocese of Chelmsford.

Valerie Dean returned to England in the summer of 2007 after living for 27 years in Belgium. There, she studied art for six years and had various exhibitions, in and around Brussels. On returning to England, she became involved in the Kent arts scene and exhibited, regularly, in the Francis Iles gallery, in Rochester. She also took part in the Canterbury Arts Festival and exhibitions in Whitstable.

She worked in acrylics and her technique was usually to put materials and colours on canvas or board, to see what emerged. It was a dialogue between the artist and her materials. Because of her background, this often consisted of figures around a religious theme. They just appeared! Very often, people seemed to want to appear in her paintings, a little like the pictures in the fire that she used to see in her childhood. At other times, she found that buildings and places she knew inspired her.

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.

Mark of the Cross is a book of 20 poetic meditations on Christ’s journey to the cross and reactions to his resurrection and ascension. The meditations are complemented by a set of semi-abstract watercolours of the Stations of the Cross and the Resurrection created by Henry Shelton.

The Passion: Reflections and Prayers features minimal images with haiku-like poems and prayers that enable us to follow Jesus on his journey to the cross reflecting both on the significance and the pain of that journey as we do so. Henry and I have aimed in these reflections to pare down the images and words to their emotional and theological core. The mark making and imagery is minimal but, we hope, in a way that makes maximum impact.

Jesus dies on the cross

The sun is eclipsed, early nightfall,
darkness covers the surface of the deep,
the Spirit grieves over the waters.
On the formless, empty earth, God is dead.

Through the death of all we hold most dear, may we find life. Amen.

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Mr Mister - Kyrie.

You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand

Here's the Mothering Sunday reflection that I shared at St Mary's Langdon Hills, St Andrew's Wickford and St Gabriel's Pitsea this morning:

Mothering Sunday was traditionally a day in the middle of Lent when people who worked were able to have time off to visit their mothers and their ‘mother’ church, where they might have been baptised.

One of the readings regularly used on this day is John 19: 25- 27, in which Jesus creates a new community of support for his grieving mother when he connects her with the disciple John, who takes her into his home as his mother. Just as John became a support for Mary and vice versa, in life it’s not necessarily just our mothers who give us ‘motherly’ or parental care. There are so many people, especially in church families, who form a community around us to help support us and give us strength.

Just as Jesus remembered his mother while on the cross, today we remember those who, for good or ill, are foundational to our lives, experiences and memories. We are reminded that the simplest things we see and do can often be the most profound and those that touch us in the deepest places.

By way of example, I want to tell you about a mother, not from the Bible, but one who lives in Guyana today. Her name is Lena and she needed help to look after her family but is now a Parenting Group Facilitator with The Mothers’ Union. She says:

The Mothers' Union parenting programme is a special ministry and has touched over 200 lives through the six groups I have facilitated. One woman who was recently been deported back to Guyana heard about the programme and joined my group. Before in the other country she stole, shoplifted, prostituted and used drugs. She even went to jail and her first daughter was born in prison. She felt so low that she wanted to commit suicide and kill her daughter when she was deported back to Guyana once she was released from prison.

When she joined the parenting group she felt so supported by all the other parents and carers there. She started to sell snacks, her local priest assisted her with a house and this led her to start assisting others in greater need. In this parenting group all the members provide emotional and practical support and also financial if it is needed. This support has enabled her to develop her little business and it is now very successful. She also works with the local youth to clean up their local environment. Her daughter is now in high school and doing well. This is just one story of many where the programme has provided a supportive and nurturing environment where people are encouraged to reach their full potential.

Sometimes mothers need people to help them as well as them helping us. Mothers’ Union helps many mothers to care for their family by sharing with them useful ways of being a good parent and encouraging the parents to support and help each other.

To help celebrate and give thanks for mothers and other caring figures in our lives, we can pray using an item that is always with us. Touch a button that is on your clothing as you listen to this reflection.

Buttons hold things together:

Who do you look to to help you when things are busy and stressful? Who can help you to figure out what to do when you are confused about how to keep going? Who helps when it feels as if your world is falling apart? Think of them and say thank you to God for them.

Buttons are strong:

Think about the times when you have felt sad, upset or afraid. Who has helped you to be strong. Who is the strongest person you know? Thank God for those people.

Buttons come in different shapes and sizes:

Those who care for us and keep us safe might be mothers, but they also might be other people in our lives. Try and count in your head how many different people have helped you during the past week. Thank God for each one of them.

When buttons are missing, we notice and things don’t hold together as well as they did before.

Some of the caring figures in our lives may have died and we miss the fact that they are no longer here. Take a moment to remember them and the love they shared with you. Thank God for them.

As we close, let’s remember a verse reminding us of what God says about helping people: “You obey the law of Christ when you offer each other a helping hand.” Galatians 6:2 (Contemporary English Version)

We come here today to thank God for mothers and carers around the world who obey the law of Christ by offering others a helping hand. It takes a very special love to care for a family. Today we celebrate that love and thank God for his own perfect love for us all.

We’re not all mothers ourselves but we all have a mother, whether or not they are still with us, and we are all children of God. He is our loving Father but is also the one who remembers and comforts us as a mother comforts her child, and draws us close as a hen protects her chicks.

Let us pray: Thank you, Jesus, for a mother’s unfailing love, for her unstinting devotion and steadfastness, for her wisdom and support, and for always ‘being there’ in times of happiness and stress. Thank you for love and forbearance, for laughter enjoyed and sorrow shared. Thank you, Jesus, for the comfort of a close friend; for the sharing of life and our deepest selves along the Way. Thank you for peace given to each other sincerely, and received beautifully; for open arms in which the love of God shone. Help us remember your gifts and be glad to give you praise; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Sing We Of the Blessed Mother.

Stations of the Cross

A set of Stations of the Cross by the late Valerie Dean have been installed at St Andrew's Wickford for Lent and Holy Week. We will pray these Stations during Holy Week.

Valerie's Stations of the Cross have a very clear and intense focus on details which are evocative of the whole. They have previously been shown at St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Diocesan Offices of the Diocese of Chelmsford.

Valerie Dean returned to England in the summer of 2007 after living for 27 years in Belgium. There, she studied art for six years and had various exhibitions, in and around Brussels. On returning to England, she became involved in the Kent arts scene and exhibited, regularly, in the Francis Iles gallery, in Rochester. She also took part in the Canterbury Arts Festival and exhibitions in Whitstable.

She worked in acrylics and her technique was usually to put materials and colours on canvas or board, to see what emerged. It was a dialogue between the artist and her materials. Because of her background, this often consisted of figures around a religious theme. They just appeared! Very often, people seemed to want to appear in her paintings, a little like the pictures in the fire that she used to see in her childhood. At other times, she found that buildings and places she knew inspired her.

See also 'Fear not, for I am with you: An exhibition of religious paintings by David Sowerby'
9 January – 3 April 2026
St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford SS12 0AN

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. https://wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/whats-on.html

David Sowerby

Born 24th October 1954
Studied Foundation at Middlesbrough Art College
BA (hons) Art and Design at The Central School of Art (London)

I worked as a freelance illustrator and teacher throughout my life and eventually retired as a Principal Lecturer at The University of the Arts London.

I now support a range of charities, both local and national, via my mutual interest and fascination with art and creativity.

An earlier exhibition was just prior to the first lockdown which was held at The Transition, Chelmsford, with proceeds going towards The British Heart Foundation raised just over £6,000.

I continue to support local and national charities, contributing a large percentage of any sales to such charitable organisations and causes.

My work can be viewed on my Facebook pages, search for David Sowerby with more available to view at Sowerbycreations (Facebook again).

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Adrian Snell - Golgotha.