"ASECLUDEDPLACE"

The week after Easter Sunday is one of the strangest weeks in the church's year. We've sung the alleluias. We've told the story. The tomb is empty, the stone rolled away, the grave clothes folded neatly as if someone had all the time in the world. And now — what? The Easter eggs are eaten. The lilies start to droop. People go back to work, and the world carries on as if nothing has happened. But something has happened. The biggest thing that has ever happened. And somehow we

It is not easy to find a hymn appropriate to Holy Saturday, but I persevered and eventually discovered this lament by Marty Haugen. According to Hymnary.Org, “Haugen is a prolific composer with many songs included in hymnals across the liturgical spectrum. He was raised in the American Lutheran Church yet found his first position as a church musician in a Roman Catholic parish at a time when the Church was undergoing profound liturgical and musical changes after Vatican II.

In a break from tradition, on hymn Saturday, I would like to talk about a different sort of music, one that is very close to my heart, and that has been formative in my development since I was 15 years old. The wonderful, loud, rocking world of Iron Maiden, the best band in the world - as far as I’m concerned anyway (I’m happy to discuss this assertion with any and all responders over a pint of beer at any time!!). In 2025, Maiden (as they are referred to by their friends) ce

According to my SPCK Diary, (useful because it contains the Lectionary and important because the first day of the week is Sunday and not Monday) today we remember Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and Reformation Martyr. My interest in Cranmer for the purposes of today`s reflection, is not his archepiscopy or even his martyrdom but rather his gift to the Universal Church in the Book of Common Prayer. The Act of Uniformity passed by the House of Lords on January 15th, 1

I love this hymn!! I will explain why it is a suitable Lenten hymn later but first an ecclesiastical story. During a period of ministerial vacancy, an Anglican vicar was invited to lead worship at our church. He came highly recommended but was only willing to preach, so my husband was tasked with meeting up with him and working out the rest of the Lenten service. At the time we had several young people within the congregation and my husband chose: Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, h

Lent is a challenging season for those choosing hymns for public worship. Most of our congregations are not very familiar with tunes in a minor key, as is the case with some Lenten hymnody. Also, Lenten hymns tend to focus on Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, or Holy Week, so finding hymns for other Sundays is not easy. One place where Lenten hymns in a minor key is not unusual, is a cathedral. Today`s hymn, Lord Jesus, think on me , is one I think I have ever only sung in Liverpoo

Outside St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral on Leith Walk in Edinburgh lies a figure on a bench. It is all too easy to walk past, seeing this as yet another homeless person sleeping on the street. But wait. The figure, wrapped in a blanket and with its face covered, is a life-size bronze statue. “Sleeping Jesus” by the sculptor Timothy Schmaltz, was installed in 2024 and was inspired by the words in Matthew 25: 40: “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mi

Lent is a time to reflect and be honest with ourselves. The worship song “Lord, I’m not OK, but I’m still here” may be the most honest confession any of us ever make. It’s a prayer that doesn’t pretend, doesn’t perform, and doesn’t hide. The song simply invites us to come before God as we are. In Scripture, Jesus spends forty days in the desert, stripped of comfort, certainty, and distraction. He doesn’t enter the wilderness triumphantly; he enters it vulnerable. And yet he