St Paul's Cathedral

Part 2 - Isaiah. What can the Old Testament prophets teach us? It’s easy to think of them as remote and severe, but Janet Tollington says they can continue to speak to us vividly, not always telling us what we want to hear but always bringing good news. In this study afternoon we will explore what a prophet is, how they communicate God’s word to us, and what they can teach us about how to tell true prophets from false in our own times. We will look in particular at Isaiah, a collection of writings by prophets of the 8th-5th centuries BC speaking into very specific circumstances, and Jeremiah, a book about the nature of prophecy itself. The Revd Dr Janet Tollington is an Old Testament scholar and a Minister in the United Reformed Church. She has taught Hebrew and Old Testament at Westminster College Cambridge within the Cambridge Theological Federation, an ecumenical body for lay and ordained ministry training. A much-loved teacher, she is in high demand as a speaker. Recorded 2 June 2018.

Part 1 - Jeremiah. What can the Old Testament prophets teach us? It’s easy to think of them as remote and severe, but Janet Tollington says they can continue to speak to us vividly, not always telling us what we want to hear but always bringing good news. In this study afternoon we will explore what a prophet is, how they communicate God’s word to us, and what they can teach us about how to tell true prophets from false in our own times. We will look in particular at Isaiah, a collection of writings by prophets of the 8th-5th centuries BC speaking into very specific circumstances, and Jeremiah, a book about the nature of prophecy itself. The Revd Dr Janet Tollington is an Old Testament scholar and a Minister in the United Reformed Church. She has taught Hebrew and Old Testament at Westminster College Cambridge within the Cambridge Theological Federation, an ecumenical body for lay and ordained ministry training. A much-loved teacher, she is in high demand as a speaker. Recorded Saturday 2 June 2018.

Sermon by the Reverend Dr Isabelle Hamley, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the Diocesan Mothers' Union Service on Tuesday 5 June 2018.

Sermon by Canon Mark Oakley, Chancellor, at Evensong with installation of Prebendaries, the First Sunday after Trinity, Sunday 3 June 2018.

Following her historic installation as the 133rd Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally will be in conversation with David Ison, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, about her faith, her life, what matters to her most, and how she feels about being the first female Bishop of London. A Londoner for most of her adult life, she is passionate about how people live well in the city, about health, loneliness, the call to transformed lives, and what the church can offer people in a new century and a fast-changing city. The event is free and open to everyone, and there will be plenty of time for questions from the audience. Sarah Mullally is the Bishop of London. Installed on 12 May in St Paul’s Cathedral, she was previously Bishop of Crediton, has worked at Salisbury Cathedral and been a parish priest, and before had a career as a nurse, specialising in cancer care. Her very successful career in the NHS culminated in her appointment as the government’s Chief Nursing Officer for England at the age of 37, and she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2005 in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing and midwifery. David Ison is the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. Previously Dean of Bradford in Yorkshire, he began as an inner city priest in Deptford, taught at a training college in Blackheath, worked on a housing estate in Coventry and with in-service training of clergy in Devon, and has a PhD in Early Church History. Recorded on Monday 4 June 2018.

Many of us have big questions that the Christian faith seems to leave unanswered. If God is both compassionate and all-powerful, why is the world full of suffering? Why does God seem to sanction genocide in the Bible? If God is always present, why doesn’t it feel like that? Krish Kandiah says that we need to look questions like these in the face, and that not doing so is neither healthy for us nor honouring to God. He says that the paradoxes that seem as if they ought to undermine belief are actually at the heart of a vibrant faith, and that it is only by continually wrestling with them - rather than trying to pin them down or push them away - that we can really move forward, individually and together. Dr Krish Kandiah is an award-winning author whose books include Paradoxology and God is Stranger (both Hodder Faith). He is a lecturer at Regents Park College, Oxford, honorary research fellow at the University of St Andrews and an ambassador for Tearfund. Recorded Sunday 3 June 2018.

Sermon by The Dean, the Very Reverend Dr David Ison, at Evensong on Trinity Sunday, recorded on Sunday 27th May 2018.

Sermon by The Reverend Prebendary Dr Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Priest in Charge, St Mary's-at-Hill, London, at Mattins at St Paul's Cathedral on Trinity Sunday. Recorded on Sunday 27th May 2018.

Sermon by The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, at The 364th Festival of the Sons and Friends of the Clergy on Tuesday 15th May 2018.

Please note that due to copyright, musical pieces played at this reflective day have been edited out of this podcast. Recordings referred to are Ton Koopman conducting the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with artists including Peter Kooy (Bass/Jesus) and Kai Wessel (Alto Vocals), and Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Concentus Musicus Wien with artists including Matthias Görne (Bass/Jesus), Oliver Widmer (Bass/Judas) Bernarda Fink (Alto) and Christine Schäfer (Soprano). (Some inaudible audience questions and comments have also been edited out.) Part 4: “In my beginning is my end” Aus Liebe (Harnoncourt edited out at 00.02.35.793 (with Christine Schäfer) Excerpt 9 – Final (Koopman edited out at 00.16.14.899) J.S. Bach is our greatest musical theologian. He wrote brilliant, innovative music, loved and performed as much today as ever, and also had a unique capacity to illuminate great spiritual and theological truths. His setting of St Matthew’s account of the Passion is not only an absolutely faithful telling of the whole narrative from Jesus’ anointing at the house of Simon the leper to the moment he is laid in the tomb, but also an extraordinary and expansive musical meditation on its meaning. Andrew Carwood is the Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral, an internationally regarded singer and conductor, and the Founder-Director of the award-winning early music ensemble The Cardinall’s Musick. Recorded on 17 March 2018.