Podcast
Westminster Abbey
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Sermons, services and reflections from Westminster Abbey and lectures on issues of faith, ethics, politics and public policy-making from the Westminster Abbey Institute.
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An Easter Day Reflection
Apr 400:04:59Tap to summarize'Turn to the back of the book, read the last sentence too soon, and you spoil the story. It is a mistake we can make at Easter. ‘The day of resurrection, earth tell it out abroad’. That’s a marvellous beginning. Easter Day is a great proclamation, but then we’re tempted to rush headlong, up from earth into the sky. It’s Easter and we are all going to heaven. ‘from earth unto the sky, our Christ has brought us over’ we sing in that famous Easter hymn. We have turned to the last page. Our telling of the story ends too soon.'Listen to a reflection for Easter Sunday by the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster. After spending Lent exploring the life and work of Jesus through the 'I Am' statements in John's gospel, we now move to the events of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Easter Day, our reflections now focus on the meaning behind each significant day of Holy Week. Thank you for joining us as we've followed the story of Jesus – from triumph to tragedy, from the cross to the empty tomb. We wish you a very Happy Easter.
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A Holy Saturday Reflection
Apr 300:04:41Tap to summarize'To talk of ‘descent’ is, of course, a metaphor – the closest we can get to understanding what is going on. But Holy Saturday is when this metaphor must yield to another; of rising, of being raised. The descent into the human condition; into suffering and death and into the furthest alienation from love and life, reaches its limit today.'Listen to a reflection for Holy Saturday by the Reverend Mark Birch, Canon Rector at the Abbey. After spending Lent exploring the life and work of Jesus through the 'I Am' statements in John's gospel, we now move to the events of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Easter Day, our reflections now focus on the meaning behind each significant day of Holy Week. Join us as we follow the story of Jesus – from triumph to tragedy, from the cross to the empty tomb.
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A Good Friday Reflection
Apr 200:04:32Tap to summarize'Throughout Lent we have considered Jesus through his own statements of who he is: the I Am statements that fill us with metaphor and meaning as we contemplate Christ. But here, on Good Friday, we seem to gaze upon a frightening emptiness made more excruciatingly obvious by Pilate’s perhaps-ironic inscription: the King of the Jews. There are no loaves nor fishes here, no vine nor sheep, just a broken body nailed to a cross.'Listen to a reflection for Good Friday by the Reverend Helena Bickley-Percival, Sacrist at the Abbey. After spending Lent exploring the life and work of Jesus through the 'I Am' statements in John's gospel, we now move to the events of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Easter Day, our reflections now focus on the meaning behind each significant day of Holy Week. Join us as we follow the story of Jesus – from triumph to tragedy, from the cross to the empty tomb.
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A Maundy Thursday Reflection
Apr 100:05:14Tap to summarize'Jesus kneels in front of them. This is the posture of an incarnate God; Jesus does not seek to control or coerce, there is no manipulation here. Simply the demonstration of loving, tender service, and a command to do as he does. That is the heart of the new commandment – the mandatum from which we get our word Maundy – to love one another, as Christ has loved us.'Listen to a reflection for Maundy Thursday by the Reverend Dr James Hawkey, Canon Theologian and Almoner at the Abbey. After spending Lent exploring the life and work of Jesus through the 'I Am' statements in John's gospel, we now move to the events of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Easter Day, our reflections now focus on the meaning behind each significant day of Holy Week. Join us as we follow the story of Jesus – from triumph to tragedy, from the cross to the empty tomb.
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A Palm Sunday Reflection
Mar 2900:03:47Tap to summarize'It is often said, but if we just skip from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, we will have missed all the important bits. We might be more inclined to think that this is some magical happily-ever-after story, rather than the deep Divine engagement in rejection and suffering and death that we discover through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. These are the days that explore why the resurrection of Jesus might be good news for all of us, not just good news for him.'Listen to a reflection for Palm Sunday by the Reverend Mark Birch, Canon Rector at the Abbey. After spending Lent exploring the life and work of Jesus through the 'I Am' statements in John's gospel, we now move to the events of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Easter Day, our reflections now focus on the meaning behind each significant day of Holy Week. Join us as we follow the story of Jesus – from triumph to tragedy, from the cross to the empty tomb.
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Lent V: I Am the Resurrection and the Life
Mar 2200:04:06Tap to summarize'The keeping of passiontide, which we begin today, is a kind of spiritual marathon. And as with any marathon, we need to hold the end in our mind’s eye. It is not just that we will remember the events of Jesus’s passion, death and resurrection, over these next weeks. It is also that we will be re-membered by them. Our fragile humanity has been put back together by the death and resurrection of Jesus, so that we need no longer fear death.'Listen to a reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Lent by the Reverend Dr Jamie Hawkey, Canon Theologian and Almoner at the Abbey. Each week during Lent, the lectionary explores the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth from the perspective of the Gospel of John. One of the ways that John’s gospel identifies what Jesus is like is through his ‘I Am’ statements. From ‘I am the bread of life’ to ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, these seven statements help us learn who Jesus is, and what it means to follow Him as disciples. Our reflections will explore these statements throughout the forty days of this season.
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Lent IV: I Am the Light of the World
Mar 1700:03:32Tap to summarize'Jesus said: “I am the light of the world.” Sometimes, that light is pretty literal. At the Transfiguration, Jesus shone so brightly that the disciples had to look away. But Jesus is never just something to look at - to observe. Jesus is also the light by which we see. The light that shines in the darkness, so that we might see all that he has made. And that light is not always as flattering as we might want it to be...'Listen to a reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent by the Reverend Helena Bickley-Percival, Sacrist at the Abbey. Each week during Lent, the lectionary explores the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth from the perspective of the Gospel of John. One of the ways that John’s gospel identifies what Jesus is like is through his ‘I Am’ statements. From ‘I am the bread of life’ to ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, these seven statements help us learn who Jesus is, and what it means to follow Him as disciples. Our reflections will explore these statements throughout the forty days of this season.
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Lent III: I Am the True Vine
Mar 1000:03:35Tap to summarize'Of course, ‘body ‘and ‘vine’ are both metaphors, used to help us imagine a truth, the depth of dependency on each other in Christ, that we would otherwise find impossible to grasp. Precisely how we are one body, branches of the one true vine, is deeply mysterious to us, but it is like this; like a body, like a vine. Baptism and Holy Communion enact this spiritual truth, not just as an idea, but as something practical, physical; to do with bodies and not just our minds.'Listen to a reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent by the Reverend Mark Birch, Canon Rector at the Abbey. Each week during Lent, the lectionary explores the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth from the perspective of the Gospel of John. One of the ways that John’s gospel identifies what Jesus is like is through his ‘I Am’ statements. From ‘I am the bread of life’ to ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, these seven statements help us learn who Jesus is, and what it means to follow Him as disciples. Our reflections will explore these statements throughout the forty days of this season.
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Lent II: I Am the Good Shepherd
Mar 100:04:30Tap to summarize'In John’s Gospel, we are reminded again and again that this Good Shepherd is not only a pastoral figure working with those in his immediate orbit around Galilee and Jerusalem – he is also the Eternal Word of the Father, the One through whom all creation came to be, whose life is the light of all people, and who shall come to be their judge. This shepherd reaches right into the heart of things, gathering us together. 'Listen to a reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent by the Reverend Dr James Hawkey, Canon Theologian and Almoner at the Abbey. Each week during Lent, the lectionary explores the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth from the perspective of the Gospel of John. One of the ways that John’s gospel identifies what Jesus is like is through his ‘I Am’ statements. From ‘I am the bread of life’ to ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, these seven statements help us learn who Jesus is, and what it means to follow Him as disciples. Our reflections will explore these statements throughout the forty days of this season
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Lent I: The Bread of Life
Feb 2400:03:39Tap to summarize'Every Eucharist, we are brought face to face with this abundance that does not operate on our own terms. At the altar, we are not given what we want or a vision of God which conforms to our own devices and desires, but instead we are given the bread of life.'Listen to a reflection for the First Sunday of Lent by the The Reverend Helena Bickley-Percival, Sacrist and Minor Canon at Westminster Abbey. Each week during Lent, the lectionary explores the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth from the perspective of the Gospel of John. One of the ways that John’s gospel identifies what Jesus is like is through his ‘I Am’ statements. From ‘I am the bread of life’ to ‘I am the Good Shepherd’, these seven statements help us learn who Jesus is, and what it means to follow Him as disciples. Our reflections will explore these statements throughout the forty days of this season
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