Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 171, Tuesday 29 October 2024

‘The kingdom of heaven … is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened’ (Luke 13: 20-21) … three trays of bread in a baker’s shop in Bologna (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Last Sunday after Trinity (27 October 2024). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today recalls James Hannington (1847-1885), Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda.

Before the day begins, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘The kingdom of heaven … is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened’ (Luke 13: 20-21) … varieties of bread on a stall in a market in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 13: 18-21 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 18 He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

20 And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

‘World’s Smallest Seed,’ 40”x30” oil/canvas, by James B Janknegt

Today’s Reflection:

Have you ever found yourself lost for words when it comes to describing a beautiful place you have visited?

If you have ever been to the Bay of Naples or Sorrento, how would you describe what you have seen to someone who has never travelled very far beyond where they live?

You might try comparing the first glimpse of Vesuvius with looking at Carrigtwohill, Croagh Patrick or the Great Sugarloaf … but that hardly describes the experience of climbing the rocky path, looking into the caldera, or the experience of the sulphuric smell.

You might want to compare the Bay of Naples with the vista in Dingle Bay or across Dublin Bay from the Dart passing through Killiney … but does that reflect the majestic scope of any one of these views?

You might want to compare the church domes of Venice or the Greek islands with the great copper dome in Rathmines … but that goes nowhere near describing the intricate artwork on those Italian domes or the impact on the Greek skyline.

You might compare the inside of the duomo in Florence with the inside of your favourite parish church … but you know you are getting nowhere near what you want to say.

And as for Capri … what other island conveys the romantic allure of Capri.

Comparisons never match the beauty of any of the places that offer us a snatch or glimpse of heaven.

And yet, we know that the photographs on our phones, no matter how good they seem to be when we are taking them, never do justice to the places we have been when we get back home.

We risk becoming bores either by trying to use inadequate words or inadequate images to describe experiences that we can never truly share with people unless they go there, unless they have been there too.

I suppose that helps to a degree to understand why Jesus keeps on trying to grasp at images that might help the Disciples and help us to understand what the Kingdom of God is like.

Christ tries to offer us a taste of the kingdom in this reading, as he continues to speak in parables. The two parables in this reading – the Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Yeast - are really similes that must have seemed incredible on the day because of Christ’s use of exaggeration and hyperbole.

A mustard seed is very small, but it grows into a large shrub, rather than a tree. Birds do not nest in it.

Bread made with three measures of flour would feed 100 people, so once again we have hyperbole. The Kingdom of God Kingdom will grow from small beginnings to something beyond our measure or imagination.

We have a romantic imagination that confuses gardens with Paradise, and Paradise with the Kingdom of Heaven. But perhaps that is a good starting point, because I have a number of places where I find myself saying constantly: ‘This is a little snatch of heaven.’ They include:

• the road from Cappoquin out to my grandmother’s farm in West Waterford.

• the train journey from outside Ferns to Wexford, along the banks of the River Slaney.

• the view from Stowe Pool across to Lichfield Cathedral at sunset.

walking along Cross in Hand Lane on the north fringe of Lichfield.

• the Backs in Cambridge.

• sunset at the Fortezza in Rethymnon on the Greek island of Crete.

• the sights and sounds on some of the many beaches I like to walk on in Ireland and in Greece.

I could go on. The Kingdom of Heaven must be so like so many of these places where I find myself constantly praising God and thanking God for creation.

But … but it’s not just that. And I start thinking that Christ does more than just paint a scene when he describes the kingdom of heaven.

Later today, you might challenge yourself to think of three places, three gifts in God’s creation, that offer glimpses of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to think of three actions that symbolise Christ’s invitation into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Give thanks for these small seeds or fistfuls of yeast, and share them with someone you love and cherish.

An evening’s walk in winter along Cross in Hand Lane in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 29 October 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘All Saints’ Day’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by the Revd Dr Duncan Dormor, General Secretary, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 29 October 2024) invites us to pray:

Lord, we pray for churches across the Anglican Communion. May they continue to flourish as they seek to praise your name.

The Collect:

Most merciful God,
who strengthened your Church by the steadfast courage
of your martyr James Hannington:
grant that we also,
thankfully remembering his victory of faith,
may overcome what is evil
and glorify your holy name;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr James Hannington:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘The kingdom of God … is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden’ (Luke 13: 18-10) … the Mustard Seed is a restaurant in a country house setting in Ballingarry, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 26, 3 June 2024

Inside the chapel in Trinity College, Oxford, facing the Altar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

The week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (2 June 2024), and the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated yesterday in the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford. Today, the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the Martyrs of Uganda (1885-1887 and 1977).

In the week after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of six churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I am continuing that theme this week with images from churches, chapels or cathedral in England that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

StonyLive!, a celebration of the cultural talent in and around Stony Stratford, began on Saturday and continues until next Sunday (9 June). There was a variety of cultural activities in venues around Stony Stratford at the weekend, with drama, music, comedy, art, dance and spoken word, and a Classic Car Show yesterday.

Later today, as part of the StonyLive! Programme, Carl Jackson, Director of Music at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace, is giving an organ recital (12:45-1:30) at Saint Mary and Saint Giles. This is the centenary year of the Irish composer, Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), and programme includes Stanford’s Celtica Sonata which ends with a movement based on Saint Patrick’s Breastplate. There is also music by Simon Preston, Florence Price and Louis Vierne’s ‘Carillon de Westminster’. Coffee and tea are being served beforehand, from 12 noon.

But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The chapel in Trinity College, Oxford … the college was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas Pope (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Mark 12: 1-12 (NRSVUE):

1 Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went away. 2 When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5 Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”

12 When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.

The tomb of Sir Thomas Pope in the chapel … Trinity College Oxford is the only college in Oxford or Cambridge to have the tomb of its founder (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Chapel, Trinity College, Oxford:

My photographs this morning are from Trinity College, Oxford. Its full or formal name is the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight). The college was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas Pope, on the site of the former Durham College, home to Benedictine monks from Durham Cathedral.

Durham College was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Saint Cuthbert, and the Trinity, and Trinity College takes its name from the last part of this dedication.

The main entrance to Trinity College is on Broad Street, between Balliol College and Blackwell’s bookshop, and opposite Turl Street. The rear of the college backs onto Saint John’s College, and has entrances on both Saint Giles’ and Parks Road. As well as its four major quadrangles, the college also has a large lawn and gardens, including a small area of woodland. Despite its large physical size, the college is relatively small, with about 400 students.

Durham Quadrangle, the oldest part of Trinity College, occupies the site of the mediaeval Durham College, founded in the late 13th century as a house of studies for Benedictine monks from Durham Cathedral. Durham College closed in 1544 and the buildings were bought by Sir Thomas Pope.

The four sides of Durham Quadrangle incorporate the Chapel, the Hall, the Library and an accommodation block. The Old Library, built in 1417, is the only surviving part of the original Durham College buildings. An effigy of Sir Thomas Pope looks down into the Quadrangle from above the Hall entrance.

Pope was a successful lawyer during the reign of Henry VIII. He amassed a fortune during the Reformation through his work as treasurer of the Court of Augmentations, which handled the revenues of the dissolved monasteries, including that at Durham. Pope was a prominent civil servant to Queen Mary I, and he founded Trinity College as a training house for Catholic priests.

Pope was married twice but had no surviving children. He intended that he, his parents, and both his wives would always be remembered in the prayers of Trinity’s members. Pope and his two wives Margaret and Elizabeth are buried in a tomb at the top left-hand corner of the chapel.

The chapel is relatively modest in size compared with its Oxford counterparts. It was built in 1691-1694 to replace the mediaeval chapel of Durham College. It was designed by Henry Aldrich, with advice from Sir Christopher Wren. It was consecrated in 1694.

The magnificent chapel interior is the product of a collaboration between the woodcarver Grinling Gibboris, the Huguenot artist Pierre Berchet, and a skilled but unknown plaster sculptor. It was the first chapel in Oxford designed on purely classical principles, and is a masterpiece of English baroque. The architectural historian Sir Niklaus Pevsner called the chapel ‘one of the most perfect ensembles of the late 17th century in the whole country.’

Five different woods are used inside the chapel: walnut, oak, pear, lime, and Bermuda Cedar. The exquisite woodcarvings by Grinling Gibbons are among his finest work. This work includes intricately carved fruits and flowers in the panels between the chapel and ante chapel and in the limewood swags behind the altar. The carved gospel writers are perched above the screen and gaze upwards taking inspiration from the figure of Christ at the centre of Pierre Berchet’s painting in the ceiling of the Ascension.

Opposite Pope’s tomb is a concealed pew where once the college president’s wife could see the services and receive Holy Communion without being seen in an otherwise all-male college.

The only changes to the chapel since 1694 have been the addition of the organ loft and the stained glass. A fine window of Munich glass was inserted in the antechapel in 1870 as a memorial to the theologian Isaac Williams, and the remaining windows were filled in 1885 with figures of northern saints associated with Durham College.

The four statues on the Tower are attributed to Caius Cibber, and represent Geometry, Astronomy, Theology and Medicine.

After a year’s closure, Trinity’s Grade I listed chapel was opened again in April 2016 and, after a great deal of painstaking work, is once again resplendent in its refurbished glory. The chapel remains at the heart of college life. Services are held regularly in term, and Evensong is celebrated with the college choir at 6 pm on Sundays. The Revd Joshua Brocklesby, the College Chaplain and Fellow, was appointed in 2022. The chapel is open to members and visitors for prayer and reflection, and is used regularly for musical events. Members of the public are welcome at Evensong.

Trinity Monday is the most important feast day in the life of Trinity College Oxford ever since the foundation of the college. As part of this there is a special service of thanksgiving for the College's benefactors. This year the event and service was last Tuesday (28 May) to avoid the Bank Holiday the day before. There is a pre-tour Choral Recital in the chapel, with choral and organ music at 4 pm next Saturday (8 June) to help raise funds for the choir’s summer tour to Lyon.

Pierre Berchet’s painting in the chapel ceiling of the Ascension (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 3 June 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Volunteers Week.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 June 2024) invites us to pray:

Lord, bring inspiration to those who take time to share your peace and mercy to others around them. Help them to use words of welcome and grace as they serve others through evangelism.

The Collect:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Inside the chapel in Trinity College, Oxford, facing the ante-chapel and the organ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

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

Front Quad in Trinity College, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 26, 3 June 2024

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was once the most important and controversial Anglo-Catholic church in Birmingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (2 June 2024) yesterday, the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated was celebrated in many parishes, including Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

In the week after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of six churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I am continuing that theme this week with images from churches, chapels or cathedral in England that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

StonyLive, a celebration of the cultural talent in and around Stony Stratford, began on Saturday and continues until next Sunday (9 June). A variety of cultural activities continues in venues around Stony Stratford this week, with drama, music, comedy, art, dance and spoken word, and a lunchtime organ recital in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church today (3 June 2024).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers The Martyrs of Uganda (1885-1887 and 1977). But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, between Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 12: 1-12 (NRSVUE):

1 Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went away. 2 When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5 Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”

12 When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was designed by Francis Goodwin and modelled on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, Birmingham:

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is a Grade II listed former Church of England parish church, about 2 km south-east of Birmingham city centre. But the church is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, isolated in a virtual traffic island between two roundabouts, Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus, on the Middleway ring road.

Holy Trinity Church was consecrated and opened in 1823, and it was once at the centre of the most important Anglo-Catholic controversies in Birmingham that led to its Irish-born vicar, the Revd Richard Enraght, being jailed and dismissed.

Historically, Bordesley was part of the parish and union of Aston, on the edges of Birmingham. The hamlet was originally small, with only a few scattered dwelling-houses, such as Stratford Place, still standing at Camp Hill, and the Old Crown in Digbeth, which claims to be the oldest pub in Birmingham.

Holy Trinity Church is an example of a Commissioners’ church. It was built between 1820 and 1822 by the architect Francis Goodwin (1784-1835) in the decorated perpendicular gothic style. Goodwin’s later works include Lissadell House, Co Sligo, designed for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, and the gatehouse at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo.

Goodwin is said to have modelled Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The church was consecrated on 23 January 1823 by the Bishop of Lichfield, James Cornwallis. A parish was assigned out of the parish of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Aston. At first, the living was in the gift of the Vicar of Aston, and was called a vicarage from 1872. The patronage was transferred to the Aston Trustees in 1884.

The church was built on a conventional rectangular plan with shallow canted apse, faced in Bath stone that is enlivened by spirelet pinnacled buttresses diving the windows and with octagonal pinnacled turrets holding the corners. A larger pair flank the effectively recessed full height entrance bay under the parapeted gable.

The soffit has a pattern of ribs over the large decorated west window, and the tracery is of cast iron. The porch proper is shallow and contained within the recess, a tripartite composition with an ogee arch to the central doorway with an ornate finial.

The east end above the apse has a cast iron tracery rose. It is said the coved ceiling still partially remains, but the interior decoration, which was of a high standard for its time, has been stripped and a floor inserted.

Holy Trinity Church played an important in the history of the High Church or Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England in the 19th century.

The Revd Samuel Crane, who was the first vicar in 1823-1841, was succeeded by the Revd Dr Joseph Oldknow, who is often regarded as Birmingham’s first Anglo-Catholic or ‘ritualist’ priest.

Oldknow was succeeded in 1874 by the Revd Richard William Enraght, whose trials and tribulations came to a head in the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ were first brought to my attention in 2016 by a friend at Lichfield Cathedral, Stephen Wright.

The Revd Richard William Enraght (1837-1898) was an Irish-born Anglican priest and one of the Anglo-Catholic priests who were prosecuted and jailed in the 19th century for their ritualism. He was born on 23 February 1837 at Moneymore, Co Derry, where his father, the Revd Matthew Enraght (1805-1882), was the Curate of Saint John’s, Desertlynn.

Matthew Enraght was born in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, where I was the priest-in-charge for five years (2017-2022). When Matthew later moved to England, Richard remained in Ireland and in 1860, at the age of 23, he graduated BA from Trinity College Dublin. He then moved to England, and in 1861 he was ordained deacon in Gloucester Cathedral by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.

Richard Enraght became Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, in 1874. He introduced weekday celebrations of the Eucharist. His practices at Holy Trinity included the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, candles on the altar, wearing a chasuble and alb, using wafers at the Eucharist, mixing water with the wine, making the sign of the Cross, bowing during the Gloria, and allowing the choir to sing the Agnus Dei.

The ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ resulted in Enraght’s conviction on 9 August 1879 on 16 counts. He spent that Christmas in prison and was released after 49 days. Bishop Philpott revoked Enraght’s licence in March 1883 and appointed the Revd Alan H Watts to the parish, against the wishes of the congregation.

The church was closed in 1968. There were plans to demolish the church in the 1970s and proposals to convert the building into an arts centre, but these never came to fruition. Instead, the church was used for some years as a shelter for homeless people until about 1999.

There were plans to retore the building for church and community use as the Birmingham Trinity Centre, a conference and wedding venue and the meeting place of All Nations’ Church, Birmingham. The church was marketed for a residential conversion in 2014, but it remains empty today.

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was at the centre of the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ in 1879 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 3 June 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Volunteers Week.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 June 2024) invites us to pray:

Lord, bring inspiration to those who take time to share your peace and mercy to others around them. Help them to use words of welcome and grace as they serve others through evangelism.

The Collect:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was closed in 1968 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

The world map in new edition of the USPG Prayer Diary ‘Pray With the World Church’ from 2 June 2024 to 30 November 2024

Daily prayer in Lent with early English saints: 4, 17 February 2024, Saint Mellitus of London

Saint Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, depicted in a stained glass window in Canterbury Cathedral

Patrick Comerford

The Season of Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and tomorrow is the First Sunday in Lent. Today (17 February 2024), the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life and witness of Janani Luwum (1977), Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr.

In previous years, my Lenten reflections have journeyed with the saints, looked at Lent in Art, read poems in Lent, reflected on the music of Vaughan Williams, selected sayings from Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the Lichfield lexicographer, and similar themes.

This year, I am taking time each morning in Lent to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated by the Church of England in the Calendar of Common Worship. I began this series on Wednesday with a reflection on Saint Alban, England’s first martyr and saint.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London … rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Early English pre-Reformation saints: 4, Saint Mellitus (624), first Bishop of London

Saint Mellitus (624), the first Bishop of London, is commemorated in Common Worship on 24 April.

Saint Mellitus was an abbot in Rome when he was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great to undergird the work of Saint Augustine, who consecrated him Bishop of the East Saxons with his see at London and his first church that of Saint Paul.

After some local setbacks that forced him to live in northern France, Saint Mellitus and his fellow bishops were recalled to England, but he was unable to return to London.

He was made Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 619 and died on 24 April 624. He was buried close to Saint Augustine in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Canterbury.

The site of Saint Paul’s Cross … once a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in the grounds of Old Saint Paul’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 5: 27-32 (NRSVA):

27 After this he went out and saw a tax-collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him.

29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 31 Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32 I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.’

Saint Mellitus Church in Tollington Park, Islington, is a grand Victorian neo-classical building (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 17 February 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Ash Wednesday Reflection.’ This theme was introduced last Sunday by the Revd Jessie Anand, Chaplain, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (17 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us give thanks for the vision that inspired USPG. May we, like Thomas Bray, seek to deepen our understanding of the Gospel, be attentive to the world and promote the common good.

The Collect:

God of truth,
whose servant Janani Luwum walked in the light,
and in his death defied the powers of darkness:
free us from fear of those who kill the body,
that we too may walk as children of light,
through him who overcame darkness by the power of the cross,
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lenten Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Janani Luwum:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the eve of Lent I:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Augustine (605), first Archbishop of Canterbury

Tomorrow: Saint Oswald (642), King of Northumbria, Martyr

Inside Saint Mellitus Church, Islington, built as the New Court Congregational Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Praying in Ordinary Time with USPG: 17 February 2023

‘Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life’ (John 12: 25) … a statue of Archbishop Luwum (right) on the façade of Westminster Abbey

Patrick Comerford

These weeks, between the end of Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, are known as Ordinary Time. We are in a time of preparation for Lent, which in turn is a preparation for Holy Week and Easter.

Before today becomes a busy day, I am taking some time for prayer and reflection early this morning.

In these days of Ordinary Time before Ash Wednesday next week (22 February), I am reflecting in these ways each morning:

1, reflecting on a saint or interesting person in the life of the Church;

2, one of the lectionary readings of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

Archbishop Janani Jakaliya Luwum (1922-1977) is recalled on this day in a lesser Festival in the Calendar of the Church of England and other Anglican churches. He was the Archbishop of the (Anglican) Church of Uganda from 1974, and was one of the most influential modern Church leaders in Africa. He was murdered in 1977 by either Idi Amin personally or by Amin’s henchmen.

The archbishop was born in a village in Uganda 1922, and trained as a primary teacher before he converted to Christianity in 1948. A year later, he went to Buwalasi Theological College, and he was ordained deacon in 1953 and priest in 1954. He was consecrated a bishop in 1961 and five years later became Archbishop of the Province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire – the second African to hold this position.

Archbishop Luwum was openly critical of the excesses of Idi Amin and his regime after he seized power in 1971. In 1977, the archbishop delivered a note of protest to Idi Amin against the policies of arbitrary killings and disappearances. Shortly after, he and other Church leaders were accused of treason.

On 16 February 1977, he was arrested and was publicly humiliated at a rally called in Kampala by Amin. He was killed the next day – supposedly in a car crash, although he had been shot through the mouth and in the chest several times. Time magazine suggested Amin himself had pulled the trigger.

The Gospel reading this morning (John 12: 24-32) is a reminder, as we remember Archbishop Janani Luwum, of meaning of self-giving and the risk martyrdom in Christian thinking.

Archbishop Janani Luwum is recognised as a martyr in the Church of England and other Anglican churches, and his statue is among those of the Martyrs of the 20th Century on the west façade of Westminster Abbey.

The ten martyrs of the 20th century above the West Door of Westminster Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 12: 24-32 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 24 ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

27 ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ 30 Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’

USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘Bray Day.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Jo Sadgrove, USPG’s Research and Learning Advisor, who shared the challenges of uncovering USPG’s archives.

The USPG Prayer Diary today invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for the work of Garfield Campbell as he explores USPG’s archives. May USPG learn from both its history and from its growing relationship with the Church of the Province of the West Indies.

The Collect:

God of truth,
whose servant Janani Luwum walked in the light,
and in his death defied the powers of darkness:
free us from fear of those who kill the body,
that we too may walk as children of light,
through him who overcame darkness by the power of the cross,
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Janani Luwum:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

A prayer for the healing of the nations at Westminster Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

New deacons and warm sunshine in Dublin

The River Liffey looked blue beneath the summer sky in Dublin yesterday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010)

Patrick Comerford

These days are like Mediterranean days in Dublin. The sun is shining brightly, the skies are clear blue, and the temperatures are in the mid-to-high 20s, and there’s a relaxed, carefree attitude in the streets and in the city centre.

The warm smiles on faces everywhere just show how much we appreciate the summer when it arrives and lingers for a little while in Ireland.

The Italian Quarter in Dublin had a Mediterranean feeling yesterday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010)

Between cathedral services, I had lunch in the Italian Quarter yesterday and the weather, the atmosphere, and the sea of Italian blue shirts were almost enough to tempt me to stay and watch the match between Italy and New Zealand.

In the morning, I subdeaconed at the Sung Cathedral Eucharist, and the preacher was the Right Revd Christopher Senyonjo, a retired bishop from West Buganda in Uganda, who is visiting Ireland as part of a six-week tour of Europe and the US. This was an opportunity to hear the personal witness of a courageous man of faith who has proclaimed God’s inclusive love and spoken truth to power in Uganda.

He has been inhibited from officiating as a priest and bishop in the Anglican Church of Uganda because of his support of Integrity Uganda and the greater LGBT community. He is one of the few voices in Uganda to speak out against homophobia and the “anti-Homosexuality” bill before the Ugandan parliament.

In the afternoon, four new deacons were ordained in the cathedral by Archbishop John Neill – the Revd Paul Arbuthnot, the Revd Terry Lilburn, the Revd Ken Rue and the Revd Martha Waller. Bishop Christopher Senyonjo was present again, as were Bishop Samuel Poyntz, and Bishop Jered Kalimba of Shyogwe. Bishop Jered has been a guest in my house during previous visits to Ireland, and some years ago he made Ken a canon of his cathedral in Rwanda.

The procession in the cathedral garth after the ordination of deacons (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010)

It was a joy-filled afternoon, and as we processed out of the cathedral into the sunshine in the cloister garth afterwards, tourists and passers-by were caught up in the liturgical drama – it was a powerful illustration of the church’s witness to the city and the mission that underpins the ministry of every deacon.

It was impossible not to want to linger out there in the sunshine, chatting with families and friends as the sun continued to shine down on us all.

Evening sun on the Camac in Kilmainham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010)

Later, after coffee in the crypt, I stopped off first in Kilmainham. There, the Camac River is not one of the most beautiful or clean rivers in Dublin; but it was shining and silvery in the sun. At Kimmage Manor, my old theological college, the old manor house looked majestic against the clear blue sky.

Kimmage Manor and an oriel window against the evening sky (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010)

By 11 in the evening, I was still sitting out in my back garden, sipping a glass of Pinot Grigio and listening to the water bubbling out of the Lion’s Mouth behind me. It was only dusky, even though midnight was approaching, and the sky was still clear.

It brought back memories of many warm, balmy summer evenings, sitting out on a terrace in a small mountain village in Crete. Oh well, I’ll back there soon.

The Lion’s Mouth bubbling on a balmy summer's evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010)