Fr Luke Miller

Some thoughts  on the Church of England's Vision We live in an age of visionaries. Organisations have their mission statements and plans, carefully measured against key performance indicators, and all based on values and visions. No institution is without its vision. The Church of England has just launched its own vision . Something I often say is that Vision begets Provision. It is good therefore to grapple with what a vision for our profoundly devolved organization. We must get this right, for proper vision will lead us to the provision that we need. That will mean taking our parishes seriously. At the heart of what has been presented lies a recommitment to the Five Marks of Mission which have long characterised the Anglican understanding of what the church is about, alongside a reaffirmation of the “mixed ecology” of the church. The presentation helpfully recognises that a church which proclaims Good News, makes disciples and nurtures them, serves neighbour and has a hea...

How shall society be healed? In the midst of lock down protest erupts as the coronavirus searingly exposes the dis-ease of our society. At the first meeting of the London Recovery Board last week voice after voice called for us to 'rebuild better' and to seek at last to address the inequalities which have been made more manifest then ever. What then does the church have to say about all of this? Many now squirm on a hook about what and how to say anything. For on the one hand we are reminded the very ability and platform to speak is itself the product of privilege, but on the other hand we are told not to use one's voice is, like the unfaithful servant of the Lord's parable , to bury the talent in the ground. Hagia Sophia Nicea (Iznik) - Synthronon of the church where the Council of Nicea met 325;  The 4c building was replaced in the 5c after a fire and then extensively rebuilt in the 10c after an earthquake. It is now a Mosque and a museum. The Trinity was defined he...

A Message as London Area Chaplain of the Sea Cadets on Ascension Day The lockdown has been long and difficult, especially for those whose homes are uncomfortable or unsafe or full of people of three generations squeezed into a flat or small house. We are all missing the ability to mix together. There is a sense of time flying past and opportunities being missed. The usual patterns of life are being disrupted. We all hope there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, but it is hard, and perhaps especially for young people. Thank you for bearing with it. It is making a difference. Fewer people have died because of the lockdown and others have been protected from becoming ill in the first place. Thank you for the sacrifices you are making. Now is possibly the most difficult time to stick with it, but do keep it up. It takes courage but it is helping. None of those brave words mean that it is easy. School has been disrupted and many people have lost their jobs...

A church is not a pub. That might seem like an obvious statement but it is really important to understand that for people of faith and belief places of worship are not generally seen as places of entertainment. Though it involves sublime performance, my attendance at church is not a leisure activity like going to the theatre; though I am exhilarated by it, my worship is not recreational like going to a party or a club; instead it is part of my identity and my life. This season of restriction has been extraordinarily hard. It has brought devastating loss, fear, anxiety and sorrow for many and, sadly, it is not over yet. But as I write, there is now a sense that we are looking forward, albeit with justifiable trepidation, to a gradual (and potentially very longwinded) return to some kind of normality. That brings hope, but also a realisation that this process may not be as simple as it might look. There has been a great deal of discussion about shops, theatres, cinemas, footba...

The parish boundary of S Andrew by the Wardrobe where I am the Rector runs along the south side of S Paul's. High up on the pediment of the transept   is the figure S Andrew looking over towards the parish church.  The Apostle stands above the famous carving  saved from Old Saint Paul's   the single word: RESURGAM . It is a message of resurrection, and the Phoenix added to it is Greek mythology re-purposed as Christian iconography. After the plague in London of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666 Sir Christopher Wren 's great vision was for a new cathedral at the centre of a renewed City, risen from the ashes of the old. All London was to be as it were a symbol of resurrection: RESURGAM.   The place of the familiar dome in the skyline of London reminds us that in addition to wealth creation symbolised by the skyscrapers and recreation shown by the Millennium Wheel, our city is a place of resilience and selflessness. If that was true for preceding generat...

Many of us will have looked longingly at the beautiful weather and wished that we could have been out and about on the water, in the sunshine and enjoying it all with our friends and neighbours. Instead we cannot go out, our Units are closed and we observe social distancing and keep apart from one another. There is a straight forward reason for this: by staying at home and giving up our usual activities we save lives. Many of us would like to do something heroic to save a life, and we train for it: first aid to get a heart going again or swimming skills to rescue someone from the water. Maybe when we do that training we dream a little about being a hero and doing the right thing in the moment and perhaps receiving a reward for it afterwards. It's much more difficult to be heroic in a quiet way and for a long time. Simply staying in, observing the rules of social distancing, getting on with people with whom we might be cooped up in a small home. These do not seem to be heroic ...

Today I helped launch the Funeral Standards for London. In support of recently published Government guidance , London’s Strategic Coordination Group ( SCG ) has today [19 April] released a set of Funeral Standards to provide clarity and reassurance to families facing the burial or cremation of a loved one during the current pandemic. The Standards, which were developed by the Faith and Belief Cell of the SCG for Londoners of all faiths, beliefs and none, respond to the need for families to not delay funerals after someone has died whilst being able to shape some aspects of how they say goodbye. They offer a set of criteria to apply in all circumstances wherever public safety and operational capacity allow. Funerals in London will remain as normal as possible for as long as possible while observing social distancing regulations and the Standards may evolve according to need as the pandemic continues. Launching the Funeral Standards for London The Funeral Standard...

In London the response to Covid-19 is being managed by a  Strategic Coordination Group  set up by the  London Resilience Forum  under the  Civil Contingencies Act . As the Chair of the Faith Sector of  London Resilience  I attend the SCG (by exception when there are issues for which I am required). I am a full member of the Mortality Management Group. To ensure that the concerns and needs of people of all faiths & beliefs from the beginning  the MMG was set up  with a Faith & Belief Cell which I chair.  I have made these reflections  on our work  as Chair of the Faith & Belief Cell to assure all Londoners that families are at the centre in the care of the departed. When a loved one dies it is very important to know that they are being treated with dignity and respect. All those involved in the death management process are aware of this and, in particular,  of the need in some faiths...

This year the Triduum - the great Three Days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday - is unwontedly quiet. Having been brought up in a Vicarage it has always been for me about the busiest time of year - much more so than Christmas - with almost wall to wall church, all the time not spent worshipping given to sorting out all the kit for washing feet, watching at the altar of repose, heading out to walks of witness, praying the Stations of the Cross, preparing for the Liturgy of the Passion, and getting ready for the Vigil. Narthex doorway Hagia Sophia Trabzon (Trebizond) Although for some there has been a scramble to get things done in new ways, for most this year, all that is gone. For me the experience has been truncated liturgies with hardly any preparation,and the quietest Triduum of my life. It's sorrowful and disconcerting; we yearn for it to be over. While I and many others find that prayer through activity is at the heart of our spirituality, the enforced re...

We all know by now what the plan is. We are trying to flatten the curve . By extending the period during which Covid-19 is epidemic such that at any one time a smaller number of people is sick, we decrease the pressure on the NHS and other medical services and lower the death rate. We know that the Coronavirus is disproportionately dangerous for those who are older and who have underlying health problems. This will save our old people and our sick. Why are we not just leaving the weak to die? TomHolland has recently  pointed out that our assumptions about what is good and right which we make in western society are profoundly Christian ones. Getting it all over and done with quickly, with those of us who are younger and fitter simply having a heavy cold or a dose of flu and being left with a stronger economy and fewer dependants looks like a good offer for the survivors. That it fills most of us with horror and that we are prepared to push up with the terrible disruption which i...