Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

The Primate of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko) has praised the dignity and “self-sacrificing love” shown by Ukrainian soldiers. He said that God would help the country to “destroy evil”. He said: “We are fighting for fully understandable fundamental values: for our independence and territorial integrity, which the whole world has...

“Don’t grow old,” a parishioner of advanced years warned me some while back. “You won’t like it.” Sadly, that dear woman is no longer with us, and I’m a whole lot older than when she offered me that kind advice. But was there wisdom in her words? It’s true that generally people are living longer...

At the recent coronation the King was given a Bible with the words ‘the most valuable thing that this world affords’. As Bible Sunday is celebrated this month, let’s ask why we should read the Bible? The Bible isn’t a single book, but a library of 66 books, composed by some 44 writers over 1500...

Can you think of a politician who deserves to be called a saint?  If no one currently living politician comes to mind, never mind – there is always King Alfred of Wessex (871-899). This remarkable and best known of all the Anglo-Saxon rulers may have dozed off and let some cakes burn while a peasant...

Prisoners and their families need help, if they are to really repair and rebuild their lives. And so it is that Prisons Week has been growing steadily, year by year. It currently has 25 Christian denominations and organisations working together to use “all our skills and gifts to see God’s kingdom come and His peace...

Sixty years ago, on 15th October 1963, the term ‘Beatlemania’ first appeared in the Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK. It described the intense, frenzied reaction of fans of the Beatles and their music. The group – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr – had been attracting wild adulation in the north...

The war in Ukraine has led to a dramatic rise in the demand for Bibles, as people ask existential questions about life and death. The Ukrainian Bible Society reports that, in the last 15 months, some 700,000 Bibles have been distributed across the war-torn country. This is a five-fold increase on numbers handed out before the...

If you have more than half a teaspoon of olive oil a day, it may cut your risk of dying from dementia by 28 per cent, a recent study by Harvard University suggests. But nobody knows quite why. Some experts say it may be that the antioxidants in olive oil can pass through the blood-brain...

The Church of England is going to spend more money on curates. Funding to the tune of £9.4 million has been approved to support dioceses with the costs of nearly 70 additional stipendiary curacy posts across the Church of England. The grant, approved by the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB), will support 68.5...

It was 65 years ago, on 14th October 1958, that Michael Bond’s children’s book, A Bear Called Paddington, was published. It marked the debut of the lovable Paddington Bear, who is now a household name after appearing in two irresistible films. Paddington starred in more than 20 books written by Bond, who died aged 91...

Seventy years ago, on 30th October 1953, former US Secretary of State George Marshall was awarded the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for engineering the Marshall Plan – a massive economic aid programme for Europe in the aftermath of World War Two. Marshall was widely admired at the highest levels, although he had not always been...

In Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, stands Greyfriars Graveyard. In 1858 a faithful dog called Bobby followed the remains of his beloved master to this cemetery. Here the dog stayed on or near the graveside until his death, 14 years later. This is a story about loyalty. More poignantly, many people have devoted themselves...