Sermon for St Luke

Byartsyhonker October 18, 2015 0 Comments
Sunday 18 October 2015 St Andrew's Leytonstone Isaiah 35:3-6 2 Timothy 4:5-17 Luke 10:1-9 Today we celebrate the life and ministry of St Luke. Tradition has it that he was an artist, writer and doctor – perhaps today he would be called a polymath, someone with remarkable skill in a number of areas. He is best known as the writer of the Gospel according to St Luke, of course; but he also gets...

Harringey, now with recording.

Byartsyhonker October 13, 2015 2 Comments
Back in 2012 I set these words by Doug Chaplin: From the Jordan to the desert, from the crowd to barren place, Spirit-driven, Satan-tempted, Lord, you sought the Father’s grace: show us now your pow’r, in weakness, presence in the empty space. Out of Egypt with God’s people, freedom brings its testing stress: what is right and what is truthful, how the name of God confess? Jesus, be our...

Song of Easter

Byartsyhonker October 7, 2015 0 Comments
Here's one I wrote earlier, but haven't yet posted. It has more instrumentation than my music usually does! The sheet music is available from the Choral Public Domain Library, and is under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license, as usual. Words by T Thurman: When I was young I feared my growing old lest, being old, I should want youth again, or lest the growing old should cause me...

Sermon: life by love, not by numbers

Byartsyhonker October 4, 2015 0 Comments
St Paul's Woldingham 4th October 2015 Evensong Deuteronomy 28:1-14 Luke 17:11-19 Have you ever wished life could be simple? I certainly have. Sometimes there are so many options it's hard to know which is best. What will bring abundance? What will bring blessing and fruitfulness and success? The reading from Deuteronomy this evening seems to offer an answer: worship God and no other gods, follow...

Sermon: Refugees

Byartsyhonker September 6, 2015 0 Comments
St Paul's Woldingham Sunday 6th Septmeber Evensong Exodus 14:5-end Matthew 6:1-18 Over the last few weeks something remarkable has happened in the media in Britain. There has been a change from talking about “migrants” to talking about “refugees”. That, alongside pictures of a drowned boy washed up onto a beach, have led to a sort of tipping point... suddenly the newspapers which only...

#notGB15: #GinAndChant tonight 9.30pm BST in the #henswings

Byartsyhonker August 30, 2015 2 Comments
Over on Twitter, some of us are having great fun with #notGB15: it's for people who, for a number of reasons, aren't at Greenbelt. Some of us can't camp. Some of us didn't want to leave home. Some of us have commitments that prevent us going. One of the traditions of Greenbelt is "Beer and Hymns". But I feel a bit silly singing hymns on my own, at home. So tonight, in the Hen's Wings, there will...

Reforming Arts Funding

Byartsyhonker August 26, 2015 0 Comments
Saying this won't make me very popular, but I'm growing tired of rants about arts funding, or the lack of same. Don't get me wrong. I think that in a just world the state and/or other large funding bodies would spend real money on the arts: from educating, nurturing and supporting emerging artists to making sure people of all backgrounds have affordable access to the arts. The arts are not just...

Continuum (a vilanelle for a lost one)

Byartsyhonker July 27, 2015 0 Comments
My grandmother, Mildred Rose, was a poet; when I was a child she published a book of poetry. Here is one of the poems: I miss you when roots waken to spring rain and more when summer penetrates the land though friends still tell me time will ease my pain. When grave earth flares to lively green again and star-eyed lovers walk, quick hand in hand, I miss you when roots waken to spring rain. As...

Sermon: The Good Way

Byartsyhonker June 7, 2015 0 Comments
Evensong Sunday 7th June 6pm St Paul's Woldingham Jeremiah 6:16-21 Psalm 37:1-11 Romans 9:1-13 Jeremiah is sometimes called the “weeping prophet”, and it isn't difficult to understand why. In the books attributed to him there is, not to put too fine a point on it, rather a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. This evening's reading is no exception: this is a prophet in full rant mode. Why?...

Magnificat

Byartsyhonker May 31, 2015 0 Comments
The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth is transferred from 31st May to 1st June this year, because Trinity Sunday is more important; but we did get some words to Mary by Athelstan Riley in one of our hymns this morning: "Thou Bearer of the eternal Word, Most gracious, magnify the Lord." I note that Athelstan Riley died in 1945, which means his words become public domain this year (or next? I get...