Ruth Greenaway-Robbins

An Anglican Priest sharing sermons, musings and thoughts

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about

I’m an Anglican priest, an Associate Vicar in Diocese of London. I’ve lived across the UK and spent nearly a decade in Vancouver, Canada — places and people who have shaped my heart for welcome, justice, and the boundless love of God. Before ordination, I was a professional musician, voice teacher, and educator — music still threads through my life, alongside liturgy, liberation theologies, and the wisdom of Lady Julian of Norwich. I believe deeply in living a self-compassionate life rooted in the love of God — where all are welcome and no one is left outside. Here you’ll find sermons, thoughts, prayers, and glimpses of my life as a priest, Mum, wife, musician, swimmer, and lover of books, fashion, and rescue animals. This is a space where imperfection is welcome — dyslexia and all — and where my hope is that you might find good news, belonging, and reminders that you, too, are God’s beloved.

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  • 18 December – O Adonai (O Lord)

    “Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm” O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bushand gave him the law on Sinai:Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm. Adonai is not a word we use lightly. Hence, my translation might appear clumsy as…

  • 17 December – O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

    Each year, in the final days of Advent, the Church slows its breathing and begins to pray differently. From 17–23 December, we sing or speak the ancient O Antiphons before and after the Magnificat at Evening Prayer, names addressed to Christ, drawn from the deep well of the Old Testament scriptures. The names are not…

  • What’s in a Name? The O Antiphons

    Every year I get to about this point in the Advent season and I feel exhausted, almost as though the “reason for the season” is slipping by. Before I was a priest, I was a professional musician, and the old adage that December pays for January and February’s rent is not really an adage at all, it…

  • Joy in the Desert Places

    A Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Advent The Third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday.Gaudete means Rejoice! A moment of rose-coloured light in the deep purples of waiting. A day when the Church invites us to loosen our shoulders just a little, to breathe, to notice joy even when the candles are still surrounded by night. Joy…

  • “A Shoot Shall Spring Up”: Advent Peace

    A Sermon for Second Sunday in Advent If you’ve ever walked the Hadrian’s Wall path in Northumberland, you’ll know the Sycamore Gap tree – an iconic, solitary sycamore tree standing in a dramatic dip in the landscape. For decades it was one of the most photographed trees in Britain. Strong, rooted, quietly majestic. Bizarrely, my…

  • The Gentle Resistance of Advent

    An Advent Sunday Reflection On the eve of Advent Sunday – our “New Year’s Eve” in the Church – I often find myself in a place of deep gratitude for the year that has been, pondering the things that have been painful or challenging, reflecting quietly, and also with a growing excitement for the year…

  • From Kingdom to Kindom 

    The liturgucal year is drawing to a close, and these last few weeks we have turned our thoughts to the season the Church calls Kingdom Season, and this final Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. This season born out of the turmoil of the last century in a time when nationalism, fascism and…

  • Safeguarding Sunday: Justice, Power, and the Kingdom of God

    Here are some reflections adapted from my sermon this week. This is the week we find ourselves in our liturgical year standing in two places at once. On the one hand, we are deep in Kingdom Season – those final Sundays before Advent when we lift our eyes and ask: What does it look like when Christ reigns?…

  • Seeing Ourselves as God Sees Us: All Saints, Self-Compassion and the Imago Dei

    This week we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, and as I prepare our all-age sermon slot, I found myself thinking about mirrors. Not the kind that help us fix our hair (though there’s always that!), but the mirrors that help us look deeper – beyond the surface – to see something sacred reflected back.…

  • The Persistence of Hope

    A sermon for Trinity 18 Readings: Luke 18:1–8 | 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5 | Genesis 32:22–31 Sometimes the most powerful stories of faith are not the ones that take place in church buildings, but in city squares, on our streets, or at kitchen tables where people decide that giving up is not an option. One of…