🕊️ The Feast of Saint Francis: Beyond the Fluff and the Fur Every year on October 4th, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi comes around with wagging tails and flapping wings. Churches fill with Labradors and lorikeets, poodles and parrots, all queued up for their annual blessing. It’s a delightful sight — a moment when even the most hardened church-shy neighbour will wander in, dog leash in hand, for a photo-worthy moment with the local vicar. And yes, The Vicar of Dibley captured it perfectly: chaos and holiness mingled in equal measure — goats bleating, cats hissing, and Geraldine Granger standing there with that divine mix of amusement and exasperation. It’s a scene that could happen in any parish hall, really. But beneath the comedy lies a deeper question: have we turned the blessing of animals into a feel-good marketing event — or are we genuinely hearing the call of Saint Francis to honour creation itself? Saint Francis: The Radical, Not the Romantic Saint Francis wasn’t ...
This Sunday’s readings for mass/holy communion from the Revised Common Lectionary are anything but comfortable. I have already written about them but I find myself going back and re-engaging with them I have also written a hymn that can be sung to the tune Tallis’ Canon (443 in togeather in song). Amos thunders against those who lie at ease while the poor go unnoticed at their gates. The psalmist reminds us that God raises up the lowly and calls His people to justice. Paul urges Timothy to fight the good fight of faith with perseverance. And then comes the parable: a rich man feasting, blind to the misery of Lazarus lying right outside his door. It is a hard mirror to look into. These passages don’t allow us to hide behind a purely private faith. They make it plain: to follow Christ is to notice the neighbour at the gate, to let compassion disturb our ease, and to act. And yet, despite their sharpness, there’s something hopeful in them too. The scriptures never expose our fa...