Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Lent is supposed to prepare us for Easter, but making time for spiritual reflection in our busy lives can be hard. One solution is to take a short retreat, at one of the many retreat houses or centres around the country. It has been said that “Retreats are for ordinary people at any time in...

Your mental health is the biggest single predictor of your personal happiness. So, suffering from depression or anxiety disorders can devastate your life. Finding love is also a vital ingredient for happiness. “People need to be needed, and to be in meaningful relationships”, says a recent study by the London School of Economics. It goes...

Twenty years ago, on 1st February 2003, the US space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry, killing all seven astronauts. It was the second space shuttle disaster after Challenger, which saw a catastrophic failure during launch in 1986. In both cases the “organisational culture” at NASA was blamed, because engineers’ advice was ignored. This...

Deforestation sits at the heart of climate, biodiversity and food and water security challenges, all of which many parts of the world are currently struggling to address. The Church of England has therefore said: “We recognise the need to support a transition to sustainable policies and practices in a way that conserves and restores forests...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Winter certainly exposes the difference between those of you who live in cities and us rural folk. While you bask in your centrally heated flat, with every modern convenience that could be imagined and complain about the half an inch of slush that makes your...

For God so loV ed the world, That He gA ve His onL y BegottE n SoN T hat whosever Believes  I n Him Should N ot perish, But have E verlasting life.” John 3:16

Now here’s a trick that you probably haven’t tried before: next time you forget something, try taking some deep breaths. It seems that inhaling stimulates our brain, creating electrical activity where emotions, memory and smells are processed. In a recent American study, individuals were able to identify a face two seconds more quickly if they...

The Church Commissioners for England is to begin to vote against companies that fail to meet its expectations on human rights. A leading responsible investor, the Church Commissioners will use its vote as a shareholder to ensure international human rights norms are respected by the companies in which it invests. The Church Commissioners will also...

** Six songs of the lukewarm church Blest Be the Tie that Doesn’t Cramp my Style Pillow of Ages, Fluffed for Me I Surrender … Some I’m Fairly Certain that My Redeemer Lives Sit up, Sit up for Jesus Take My Life – and Let Me Be ** A Bible quiz – of sorts! What...

Sundays of the Month Editor:  We thought you might find it helpful to know what the Sundays of each month are called… 1st Jan              Second Sunday of Christmas – naming & circumcision of Jesus 8th Jan             First Sunday of Epiphany – baptism of Jesus 15th Jan           Second Sunday of Epiphany 22nd Jan           Third Sunday of...

Matthew and Luke tell how the angel instructed that Mary’s baby was to be named Jesus – a common name meaning ‘saviour’. The Church recalls the naming of Jesus on 1st January – eight days after 25th December (by the Jewish way of reckoning days).  In Jewish tradition, the male babies were circumcised and named...

The name Jesus is a transliteration of a name that occurs in several languages. It is of Hebrew origin, ‘Yehosua’, or Joshua. There is also the Hebrew-Aramaic form, ‘Yesua’. In Greek, it became ‘ Ἰησοῦς’ (Iēsoûs), and in Latin it became ‘Iesus’. The meaning of the name is ‘Yahweh delivers’ or ‘Yahweh rescues’, or ‘Yahweh...