Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

What is an angel? Easy, people think: a shining figure with glorious wings, who appears from time to time to do some mighty work for God or bring a very special message from him. Well, that’s right in one sense (apart from the wings, which owe more to stained glass windows than the Bible). But...

The General Synod has backed moves to introduce a statutory entitlement to 36 hours rest a week for clergy office holders, in an effort to encourage Church of England priests to take sufficient time off work. Members of the Synod meeting in York voted in favour of plans to amend church regulations to introduce a...

Anglicans are more likely to say that they are satisfied with their lives, and many older churchgoers say that they never feel lonely. A recent survey for the Belonging Forum, which supports dialogue between faiths, has found that there is a strong association between belonging to a faith group and having greater well-being and health....

Reading is an “invisible privilege,” according to Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the new Children’s Laureate. He was responding to studies which found that children who have not been read to when they were young face “massive barriers” as they go through life. Cottrell-Boyce stresses: “For too long, the life-changing benefits of children’s reading have not been taken...

Harvest Field Prayer for September 2024 When He Returns Presence Lord of the Winds Don’t be Cross with God! Happy as Larry? ** Harvest Field All around, confusion, All around, helplessness, People lost in the bad news of every day. Longing for purpose, Searching for security and significance Here in the white field of our...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren I am surprised you are considering buying a new set of hymn books for your church. I had assumed everything you sang would be projected on to one of those screens which are invariably placed to obscure the altar. In my – fortunately limited –...

This month more than 10.7 million children will be going back to school. That means that millions of households across the country are now busy preparing for the big day. Regular bedtime routines are back, packed lunches are planned, uniforms are washed and ready to go. Some parents find it helpful to take children to...

Sundays of the Month 4th August       Tenth Sunday after Trinity 11th August     Eleventh Sunday after Trinity 18th August     Twelfth Sunday after Trinity 25th August     Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity **   Editor:   Kings and mystics, writers and martyrs – August does well with its feast days that remember outstanding Christians. 1          Ethelwold, Saint of...

St Ethelwold (c.912 – 84) did great things for the church at Winchester, which in those days was the principle town of Wessex.   He began as a simple monk, eager to restore the Rule of Benedictine in England, a major reform for the church of the time.  So, after serving at the abbey in Glastonbury,...

You know how some men find some women’s interest in romance and clothes hard to cope with?   Well, Sithney (or Sezni) should be the patron saint of all such men. According to a Breton folk legend, Sithney was a hermit of long ago, minding his own business, when one day God told him that he...

Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the saint for those whose passion is to help people find peace with God. Vianney was born near Lyons in 1786, the son of a peasant farmer. With no money for schooling, he first became a shepherd. But, like David in the Bible, his deep personal faith and zeal soon drew him...

Many Christians have dreamed of doing something spectacular for God, which would be remembered for centuries afterwards. Oswald, who lived from 605 to 642AD, was in a position to do so. He was a King, whose father, Aethelfrith, was a great warrior who laid the foundations of the great kingdom of Northumbria. But Aethelfrith was...