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Palm Sunday
The church’s calendar builds to its climax over this coming week; as I write I am putting the last touches to the service for tomorrow, Palm Sunday. It is a bit rushed; I am just back from 5 days in Venice, largely spent in glorious churches. Most have representations of Palm Sunday; all have numerous
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Passion Sunday
I have recently been doing a lot of funerals. I am a vicar, this is what we do. Each time I do a funeral I am aware that this is something poignant; a life has come to an end and there is usually grief associated with that. Sometimes it is possible to draw comfort from
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Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday is a festival that has many guises. It is the 4th Sunday in Lent, also known as Refreshment Sunday. Refreshment Sunday originated as a kind of bank holiday to give some relief from the rigours of the Lent; a day off from fasting and horsehair shirts. As part of the break in Lent, it
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What is a Just War?
Most (but not all) Christian churches recognise that there is a time when war can be justified. There are strict criteria that need to be met. We have to use our judgement in any given conflict as to how far they may be met. Before going to war, the following criteria must be met: Once
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The BAFTA’s
It must have seemed such a good idea. One of the winners at the recent BAFTA ceremonies was a film about a Tourette’s sufferer, John Davidson. Tourette’s Syndrome takes different forms, but in some cases in can cause sufferers to shout out obscenities and profanities. Unfortunately, a microphone was put in front of Mr Davidson
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The Lenten Fast
Yesterday (Thursday 20th) I marked the second day of Lent by having a cooked breakfast at Ditton Priors, a meal at the Pheasant at Neenton then tea and biscuits with friends. Tomorrow I will have a (large) cooked breakfast at the Down. Some people give up chocolate or alcohol for Lent; I am giving up
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St Valentine
I have just had to check whether or not the Church of England does officially celebrate St Valentine’s Day. We do; hooray! However, it is to commemorate Valentine as a martyr from Roman times, not the patron saints of lovers. The church website offers the following as to how that came about: “The present-day ‘retail
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Belfast
Shortly before Christmas I took a break from carol services to go to Belfast in Northern Ireland; it was hosting a meeting of the British Pharmacological Society and I was going to present some new findings from our research. I grew up in the 1970s, when the news was all of “the troubles”, the feuds
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Charles 1, King and Martyr?
Many years ago, whilst discretely looking through on old Book of Common Prayer during a boring sermon, I discovered that King Charles 1, the one in the Civil War and who was executed by Parliament, was listed as a martyr of the church. I assumed the church had long since discretely laid this aside. It
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Anxiety and Serenity
I think I have written before on the “serenity” prayer, attributed to the 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr but originally popularised by his colleague Winnifred Wyman; “Oh, God, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what can not be helped, and insight to know the one from the other”. I find
Benefice of Highley with Billingsley, Glazeley and Deuxhill and Chelmarsh
Knowing Jesus and Making Him Known
