From Bessie Smith's ‘Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out’ through 'Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag', to 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' and the Book of Revelation's liturgical songs - music works like prayers, and those who sing  find their hearts lifted from a world of pain to a world of hope, drawn out from the darkness of their day towards a place of light. Suffering seems beyond any form of explanation or reasoning. But the The Saints are those who keep singing on through the struggles; today’s Saints are those who keep praising through the pandemic.

A talk for All Saints Day, 1 November 2020.

Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.

From Revd John Davies, vicar of Clapham with Keasden and Austwick with Eldroth in the Diocese of Leeds. Prayers and reflections from the Churches Weekly Newsletter in a time of the coronavirus: Sunday 1 November 2020, All Saints Day.

Featuring 'For All the Saints Who From their Labours Rest' (Ralph Vaughan-Williams) performed by the Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Australian Chamber Brass Ensemble, Michael Leighton Jones & Jonathan Bradley from ’50 Best-Loved Hymns’ (2012); 'Beatitudes' arranged and performed by Peter Amidon from 'Beatitudes-Amidon Choral Arrangements', and 'How can I keep from singing?' attributed to Robert Lowry (1869), performed by Audrey Assad from  ‘Inheritance’ (2016).

Including my talk for the day, 'Singing through the struggles, praising through the pan(dem)ic: this is the way of The Saints', also available here as a stand-alone podcast.

From Revd John Davies, priest in charge of Clapham with Keasden and Austwick with Eldroth in the Diocese of Leeds. Prayers and reflections from the Churches Weekly Newsletter in a time of the coronavirus: Sunday 25 October 2020, The Last Sunday after Trinity.

Featuring 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty' (Reginald Heber) performed by The Choir of Norwich Cathedral & Neil Taylor from their collection '23 Favourite Hymns', and 'Where Charity and Love Prevail' (Ubi Caritas, tr. Omer Westendorf) performed by WLP Choir in the collection ‘Catholic Treasures III: Classic Hymns and Songs’.

Including my talk for the day, 'How do you love people?', also available here as a stand-alone podcast.

Jesus' two commandments - to love God and our neighbours - are at the heart of our Christian living. But how do we love people? In what ways can and do we express that love?

A talk for the Last Sunday after Trinity, 25 October 2020.

Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.

If you’re tired of all the troubling news in the world, weary of the posturing of pompous politicians, wound up by the rants and chants of protesters, fed up of the chatter of TV news and the dark provocations of social media memes, rejoice, for here’s some good news - Jesus really wasn’t at all interested in politics; he did all he could to avoid taking sides in those sorts of arguments. Imagine the joy of being free from letting other people’s attitudes wind us up; imagine being so full of God’s grace that we’re really not bothered by the twists and turns and posturing of those who are so keen to have our attention and our support....

A talk for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, 18 October 2020.

Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.

From Revd John Davies, priest in charge of Clapham with Keasden and Austwick with Eldroth in the Diocese of Leeds. Prayers and reflections from the Churches Weekly Newsletter in a time of the coronavirus: Sunday 18 October 2020, The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity.

Featuring two songs by the Iona Community's Wild Goose Collective from their 2020 collection, 'This is God's World': 'All People Living on the Earth' (Paraphrase of Psalm 100 and arrangement: John L. Bell, melody: Swee Hong Lim) and 'Canticle of the Turning' (A paraphrase of Luke 1, Magnificat, adapted and arranged by Rory Cooney)

Including my talk for the day, 'Red Letter Christians in a World feeling Blue', also available here as a stand-alone podcast.

Imagine holding a party which no-one wants to come to.... like the king’s wedding banquet in the parable of Jesus which the people resisted so strongly because this king is a despot whose subjects are starting to resist. He’s losing his authority. 

Following  the publication this week of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church in England and Wales, which said the church had protected its own reputation above its “explicit moral purpose”, I suggest that the church is a party which no-one wants to come to, having lost all moral authority. Is there hope? How can we rebuild trust?

A talk for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 11 October 2020.

Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.

From Revd John Davies, priest in charge of Clapham with Keasden and Austwick with Eldroth in the Diocese of Leeds. Prayers and reflections from the Churches Weekly Newsletter in a time of the coronavirus: Sunday 11 October 2020, The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity. 

Featuring 'Be still, for the presence of the Lord' (David J Evans) performed by Kathryn Crosweller from the album 'Can You Hear My Heart?', 'Psalm 23' arranged and performed by Roland Fudge with soloist Grace Guthrie, and 'Make Me a Channel of Your Peace' (St Francis; Johann Sebastian von Tempelhoff) performed by Katherine Jenkins from the album 'Guiding Light'.

Including my talk for the day, 'The Church is the party no-one wants to come to: a lament', also available here as a stand-alone podcast. 

The parable of the tenants and the vineyard owner (Matthew 21.33-46)  is a parable about a dispute over property and land. What might our world look like if we lost our desire to possess and protect our own property, how would life be if we stopped building walls to exclude and control others, and learned to live together with others peaceably? How are we, individuals and communities, using our properties to serve the purposes of our God? If the gospel of Jesus works itself out through people building a common life together, what could we do to encourage and shape that today?

A talk for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, 4 October 2020. Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.

From Revd John Davies, priest in charge of Clapham with Keasden and Austwick with Eldroth in the Diocese of Leeds. Prayers and reflections from the Churches Weekly Newsletter in a time of the coronavirus: Sunday 4 October 2020, The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.

Featuring 'There's a quiet understanding' (Tedd Smith) performed by Lisbé Visser from the album 'Uit Genade', and 'How deep the Father's love for us' (Stuart Townend) performed by Kathryn Crosweller from the album 'How deep the Father's love for us'.

Including my talk for the day, 'When we put property before providence: a parable of violence in the vineyard', also available here as a stand-alone podcast.