Fr Luke Miller

I preached this afternoon at Westminster Abbey. I never quite say what I have in the text in front of me, for a sermon is a living thing, open one prays to the Spirit even in the process of delivery. So, though  this was not quite what I said, this is the text I took with me.  The readings were: Job 13:13-14:6 and Hebrews 2:5-end A few months ago one of my sons was walking down the corridor in his regional university when a couple of lads and will up to him and asked him in the patois of the London gangs, “what is your Ns mate?” Having been brought up in North London he gave the right postcode and a sticky moment passed off safely. Part of the terrible attraction of the gangs which are causing so much grief and fear in so many parts of London is the search which is summed up in our text this evening: what is man that there are mindful of him? Young people search to know who they are and in a perverse way membership of the gang gives the security, structure and fami...

At the General Synod I wore my Sea Cadet Uniform for one day to draw attention to the great work done by lots of clergy and licensed lay ministers in uniformed youth organizations, especially the Cadets. The Church Times printed a picture of me speaking. Many Cadet Organizations seek Chaplains and it is a rewarding and enjoyable ministry which touches the lives of many young people in amazingly positive ways. In the Sea Cadets we say that we are #NeverOrdinary and that is certainly true. I was speaking on the new Church Representation Rules and welcoming the provision being made for  congregations of church plants to have representation in Synodical structures. You can see my speech here  starting at 22:42, and the text I spoke from is below. Of course what one wrote down is never quite what one says! It fell to me with the support of our indefatigable synodical secretary to steer through the London Diocesan Synod synodical representation for those worshi...

At General Synod earlier in the month I had hoped to be called in the debate on the Miscellaneous Provisions Measure (No2) - which all seems very dry but is quite important. Miscellaneous Provisions Measures gather up matters that are important enough to need legislation but not important enough to warrant a Measure on their own.  I wanted to speak about Clause 6 on the appointment of Quinquennial Inspectors. Had I been called this is what I was going to say: Quinquennial inspections of churches are of crucial importance. They help churchwardens, PCCs and all those in the parish who bear the responsibility for care of churches. They also support archdeacons in our support of the people at the sharp end to whom we must all be enormously grateful. The Quinquennial Inspector is ideally someone who has a deep knowledge of the of building they are inspecting. A person who knows how to nurse a concrete structure into its 80th year as the reinforcement corrodes...