John Davies: Notes from a small vicar

"It feels like the last days of Herod over again. Even down to the greatest threat to the kingdom coming in the form of the smallest, most vulnerable child. Greta Thunberg, who turns 18 years old today, once said of her diagnosis with Asperger's syndrome, OCD and selective mutism, 'That basically means I only speak when I think it's necessary. Now is one of those moments.’ I am so grateful to her...

It’s not just we humans who are made to praise. In God’s great Universe it’s never just about us . Truth is that all Creation is made for praise . From the heavens with their angels, the sun, moon and shining stars, to all the creatures of land, sea and sky, and people of all classes and all ages. Praising the Creator: this is the common task of all Creation, the vocation of every living being tog...

Christmas is God Unmasked. A talk for Christmas 2020. Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.

Those voices who cry in the wilderness, by definition often don’t get heard. But in this hard year which our whole world has been enduring, one redeeming thing is that there were moments when we paid attention to the voices crying in the wilderness of our times.  A talk for The Second Sunday of Advent, 6 December 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 29 November 2020, Advent Sunday. Featuring 'Spirit of God, Unseen as the Wind' (A.D. Miller, Richard M.S. Irwin & Traditional) performed by A.D. Miller, Commotio Chamber Choir & Griselda Sher...

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 22 November 2020, Christ the King. Featuring 'Spirit of the Living God' (Daniel Iveson) performed by The Arundel & Brighton Diocesan & Anne Ward from the collection 'Turn to Me / Kindle a Fla...

In the trenches of the Western Front, at dawn each day everyone was put on high alert, in total vigilance, in a daily ritual called ‘Stand To’. As the sun was rising, every man had to turn out and stand on the ‘firestep' of the trench with guns and grenades at the ready, in case the Germans, masked by the rising sun in the east, should choose that moment to launch an attack. It was the most nerve-...

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...

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 co...

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...

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 Livin...

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 sa...

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...

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...

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 27 September 2020, The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. This is a Harvest Festival service on the theme of 'Jubilee'. Featuring the Laestadian Lutheran Church performing 'Praise to the Lord...

Thank you for joining in the Austwick Harvest Takeaway Supper - I hope you enjoy it! This is a short 'grace' to start the meal.

Ours is a society which judges some people as being undeserving: these homeless ones, they must have brought it on themselves, why should we house them? These unemployed, how much tax have they paid, and do they deserve to benefit? But in God’s economy where there is absolute gain for all.  We must reflect on these things in the knowledge of this week’s news reports that if coronavirus job an...

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 20 September 2020, The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. Featuring 'How Great Thou Art' (Traditional) performed by Aled Jones, Russell Watson, Iain Brandram-Adams, Tomas Hurnik, John Robinso...

The parables of Jesus are practical tales drawn from everyday experiences. But we 'spiritualise' them. What if Jesus meant us to take his parables at face value so we can take direct lessons from them about our everyday behaviour towards others? What if Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant is a morality tale about debt forgiveness, how we deal with those who owe us? A talk for the Fourteenth...

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 13 September 2020, The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. Featuring 'Spirit of the Living God' (Daniel Iveson) performed by The Arundel & Brighton Diocesan & Anne Ward from the album...

The key element in Jesus’ attitude towards wrongdoers is this formula: first of all you are unconditionally forgiven, so that then , you may be moved to repent. A talk for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, 6 September 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 6 September 2020, The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. Featuring 'Spirit of God, unseen as the wind' (A.D. Miller, Richard M.S. Irwin & Traditional) performed by A.D. Miller, Commotio...

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 30 August 2020, The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, and a special Service of Thanksgiving for the NHS and Carers.  Featuring 'In the morning, I will sing', written and performed by Mart...

“Look to the rock from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you were dug.” - reflections on those places, people, pieces of music or artworks which give us our solid ground; and the rock of faith. A talk for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, 23 August 2020. Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.