Lent comes round very quickly this year – because (of course!) Easter is fixed on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox and this year that event happens to be early. It is one of the increasingly few Christian beliefs that still has a practical effect in our more secular […]
The Church, I think in its wisdom, has 12 days of Christmas, which means – at least if your magazine drops through your door on time – it isn’t over yet. The 12th day is called The Epiphany. Again, in its wisdom, between the celebration of the birth of Jesus and January 6th, the church […]
I am always slightly intrigued that we have made Advent and Christmas such a commercial festival of jingly tunes. The story actually is pretty grim – though, of course (and quite rightly), everyone enjoys seeing a newborn baby. Maybe it is as simple as that. But other than that, the story is a salutary one […]
I try around Remembrance Sunday to read a book about the First or Second World War. This year I picked Ardennes 1944 by Antony Beever. This morning, I read about a battle for one small village. It involved many deaths on both sides and also of Belgian civilians huddled in their cellars. One memory of […]
What helps us on bad days – that is if you have them, as I do sometimes? As I get older, I find poetry, including some of the great hymns, a help for heart and my feelings. Often both the hymn writer and the history of the hymn are interesting. A hymn whose words invariably […]
In our modern society, on what do we base our views on morality – on right and wrong? It is a question being asked in many places and has arisen again in the light of several recent stories in the media – more particularly in relation to a woman who engaged in many hundreds of […]
This autumn a series of events linked to “Faith in Life” are planned. This is not some course that has dropped into the Rector’s letterbox from on high. It is something very locally-planned for anyone living in our three villages who might be interested. There is a lot of conversation and media attention at the […]
I am always moved by the support our Parish Churches receive in our villages. So many people help in a myriad of ways – those who look after the fabric, those who keep our churchyards tidy, those who deliver the magazine, the list goes on. More particularly when the church fundraises, so many people both […]
Those who put up with my sermons will know that I often say the two poles of the cross point to the two central aspects of Christian faith: the vertical reminds us of our connection to God; the horizontal of our connectedness to one another. To put it another way, it is a waste of […]
I was browsing around another church the other day (the rector looking for ideas etc etc), when I noticed a series of pictures. They had been done by the Sunday school and were pictures of things that made them afraid. One child, rather than drawing a picture had simply written “I am afraid of nothing.” […]