Christmas EveDecember 24, 2025 The ancient world’s epics start with a dramatic appeal to a transcendent authority – as if the story to be told is too huge to be told by a human voice alone. Homer’s Iliad begins with the words: ‘Sing, goddess, the rage of Achilles’. Virgil’s Aeneid begins with the words: ‘I…
Advent IIDecember 7, 2025Isaiah 11 :1-11 Romans 15 :4-13 Matthew 3 :1-12 Joris mentioned last week that one of the major themes of Advent is watchfulness – a sort of heightened awareness of the circumstances and events that are around us, with the expectation that if we look carefully, we will see signs both of God…
Christ the KingNovember 23, 2025Jeremiah 23 :1-6 Colossians 1 :11-20 Luke 23 :33-43 Having spent the majority of my life as a British ‘subject’ of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II, it felt very strange to sing God save the King for the first time, and to see His Majesty’s name on my English tax forms. There…
Pentecost XXIIINovember 16, 2025Isaiah 65:17-25 ; II Thessalonians 3, 6-13 ; Luke 21:5-19 The French and American social security and welfare systems were created in the wake of enormous crises: situations that were nothing short of apocalyptic. The family, social, political, and economic devastation of the Great Depression prompted President Roosevelt to sign the Social…
Pentecôte XXII9 novembre 2025Aggée 1, 15-2, 9 II Thessaloniciens 2, 1-17 Luc 20, 27-38 Avant de devenir prêtre, je ne me souviens pas avoir assisté à beaucoup de funérailles. Il y avait parfois un décès dans la famille ou parmi les voisins. Mais à 26 ans, je ne connaissais pas autant de personnes décédées qu’aujourd’hui.…
All Saints SundayNovember 2, 2025Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 Ephesians 1:11-23 Luke 6:20-31 About twenty years ago, the first filmed documentary on the life and work of Dorothy Day appeared. It is famously titled, ‘Don’t call me a saint’. The title is part of a longer quotation attributed to her: “Don’t call me a saint. When they…
Pentecost XIXOctober 19, 2025Jeremiah 31:27-34 II Timothy 3:14- 4:5 Luke 18:1-8 I think that for many people, it is far easier to pray prayers of thanks or in distress than it is to pray persistently in times of prolonged and wearisome oppression; let alone to make prayer something that is as natural and regular to…
English OktoberfestOctober 5, 2025Lamentations1:1-6 II Timothy 1:1-14 Luke 17:5-10 This year marks the eightieth anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in the Second World War. The members of the generation that saw that most traumatic upheaval in Europe are diminishing year by year. Many of them showed enormous courage in the face of the inhumanity…
Français Pentecôte XV 21 septembre 2025 Jérémie 8:18-9:1 1 Timothée 2:1-7 Luc 16:1-13 Lorsque j’ai été ordonné prêtre en Angleterre il y a plus de trente ans, l’une des critiques les plus courantes à l’égard des prêtres était que nous étions « tellement tournés vers le ciel que nous n’étions d’aucune utilité sur terre…
Pentecost XIVSeptember 14, 2025Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-10 Our two little parables from Luke’s gospel are very appropriate for Rentrée Sunday today. Not only do they talk about finding something that was lost or gone astray. More specifically in the case of the lost sheep, we hear a story about coming home.…