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Bet you didn’t notice this, but dinner plates have got bigger. In the 1950s, a dinner plate measured 25cm across; now the usual is 28cm. And take a look at those very old wine glasses in the charity shops: our grandparents served wine in what looks like liqueur glasses to us now. These days, many...

Here is a sobering thought: it is not just your car’s exhaust fumes that damage the environment. It is also your car’s tyres. It seems that as rubber tyres wear down, they shed tiny particles that together with other car tyres, form vast clouds of toxic particles along the roads. These pollutants may be invisible,...

This autumn, do you feel overwhelmed with all the things that you need to get done? Then think of your life as an hourglass. There are thousands of grains of sand in the top of the hourglass; and they all pass slowly and evenly through the narrow neck in the middle. We are like that...

By Canon David Winter  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...

On Wednesday 26th July, the army in Niger announced a coup and removed the country’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, from power. The West African country’s borders were closed, a nationwide curfew imposed, and all government institutions were suspended. General Abdourahmane Tchiani has since declared himself the new leader of Niger. This military takeover marks the ninth...

The General Synod has backed a call for churches to join partnerships working to help resettle and rehabilitate people leaving prison. The Probation Service is already working with churches, bishops and Diocesan Safeguarding Panels to help support people leaving prison. Yet even so, many ex-prisoners are currently unable to find a welcoming faith community in which...

Sundays of the Month 6th August        The Transfiguration of our Lord 13th August     Tenth Sunday after Trinity 20st August      Eleventh Sunday after Trinity 27th August     Twelfth 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 Wessex...

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...

The story is told in Matthew (17:1-9), Mark (9:1-9) and Luke (9:28-36). It was a time when Jesus’ ministry was popular, when people were seeking Him out.  But on this day, He made time to take Peter, James and John, His closest disciples, up a high mountain.  In the fourth century, Cyrillic of Jerusalem identified...