Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Techie trouble The vicar at our local church experienced some technical problems with the sound system one Sunday. Instead of starting the service as usual with ‘The Lord be with you’, he said: “There’s something wrong with the microphone.” Not hearing this, the congregation responded: “And also with you.” ** With Petertide ordinations in mind…...

 Do you ever look at other Christians and wonder: “Do they REALLY believe this Christian stuff?  That Jesus really was the Son of God who rose again, and is alive today?” Doubt is an honest place to be, and it is not the opposite of Christian faith. To believe is to be in one mind. To disbelieve is...

Some 125 years ago, on 19th June 1899, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was established. It was granted independence in 1956 as the Republic of Sudan, and South Sudan gained its independence in 2011. On 15th April 2023, violent clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, resulting in...

Cardiff Baptist College and Regent’s Park College are among four theological colleges in the UK and Republic of Ireland to have been awarded funding to develop teaching resources incorporating science, ethics, and theology. The funding is part of the Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science (ECLAS) project, based at St John’s College, Durham University....

The two most famous apostles are remembered this month, for they share a feast day. St Peter, ‘the Rock’ St Peter (d. c. 64AD), originally called Simon, was a married fisherman from Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee. He met Jesus through his brother, Andrew. Jesus gave him the name of Cephas (Peter) which means...

The Truth of the Ascension From the Vicar Reflecting Faith: the church as a building What’s the Big Idea? – an Introduction to the Books of the Old Testament:Judges The story behind the Hymn – ‘Praise my Soul the King of Heaven’ The Bible in 50 words Why your television is like the Trinity The...

Sundays of the Month 5th            Sixth Sunday of Easter 12th         Seventh Sunday of Easter 19th         Day of Pentecost / Whit Sunday 26th         Trinity Sunday Editor:  As the Church’s year does not change, much of this material has appeared before.  The item on Corpus Christi is new. 1                                 May Day 1                                ...

May is the month when the ancient pagans used to get up to ‘all sorts’! The Romans held their festival to honour the mother-goddess Maia, goddess of nature and growth. (May is named after her.) The early Celts celebrated the feast of Beltane, in honour of the sun god, Beli. For centuries in ‘Olde England’...

Is there someone in church whom you respect for their spirituality and common sense combined? Someone you feel easy about approaching to ask questions? That person’s patron saint should be Philip. Philip came from Bethsaida and was a disciple of Jesus from early on. He knew how to lead others to Jesus; he brought Nathanael...

One thing for sure:  the apostles were not self-obsessed. In fact, many a church historian has wished that they had left us just a few more personal details about themselves in the New Testament. James the Less is an excellent example. This is the name we give to James the son of Alphaeus, but beyond...

This is the name behind the Athanasian Creed. Athanasius (296-373) was born into a prosperous family in Alexandria in Egypt, studied in the Christian school there and entered the ministry. He was twenty-nine years old when he accompanied Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, to the Church’s first ecumenical Council, at Nicaea in 325. Although Athanasius...

In the Anglican Church, Rogation is celebrated on the fifth Sunday after Easter. Rogation means an asking of God – for blessing on the seed and land for the year ahead. It is appropriate in any emergency, war, plague, drought or foul weather. The practice began with the Romans, who invoked the help of the...