Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

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...

No Visible Scars – Healing from Domestic Abuse as a Christian The Tears of Things – Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage The Cloud, The Night, The Fire and the Song – With the Mystics in Prayer Attentive to God: Being Aware of God’s Presence in Daily Life Divine Windows: Seeing God Through the...

Many parents on low incomes are worried about how they will cope financially this winter. A recent report from CAP, Child Poverty: Insights into the real challenges families across the UK are facing, found that “the weight of responsibility and pressure to provide for children is a heavy burden” for many, and that “parents sometimes go...

Pastors in the Ukraine are continuing to minister to their beleaguered congregations, bringing comfort and hope into the most frightening and desperate war-torn situations. So says Transform Europe Network, a Christian ministry which serves alongside indigenous Christians in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In a recent report, it gives an update from one of its...

The RSPCA has warned pet owners to be ‘extra vigilant’ after a 30 per cent increase in airgun attacks against cats. One cat was shot five times in the leg and belly. Another had her spine fractured by a bullet. As one owner demanded: “How could someone do this to a poor, defenceless animal?” But...

Odran is a suitable saint to remember as Halloween approaches, for his story involves the spirit world. British by birth, Odran (died c. 563) was one of Columba’s first companions on Iona.  Sadly, he died not long after his arrival on the island.  But Columba found comfort, for in a vision he saw Odran’s soul...

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. This month we are considering what the Nicene Creed says about the Holy Spirit. ‘We believe in the...

Drivers aged 17 to 24 are twice as likely to be killed or seriously injured as those aged over 70. So says recent data from the Department for Transport. But there has also been a rise in the likelihood of serious accidents involving drivers aged 86 or over. Police data reveals that older drivers are...

Song of Songs 2:4 I like a good harvest festival. ‘Come, Ye Thankful People, Come’, ‘For the Fruits of His Creation’, ‘Now Thank We All Our God’ and my favourite, ‘We Plough the Fields and Scatter’, the last one is not everyone’s favourite but I like it. It reminds me of school assembly and teacher who...

For where two or three gather in My name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20) You can get most things whenever you want these days. We had three services recently in one day at our local church. Not much to brag about I suppose, but for us in small rural village it was encouraging....

 A church-run bereavement course is having a “profound and wide-reaching impact on adults of all ages,” according to a recent independent evaluation. The Bereavement Journey, run by the Christian charity AtaLoss, is “addressing a national need for bereavement support”, and is “ideal for the significant majority — 85-90 per cent — of bereaved people who...

Jude the apostle and martyr (1st century) warns us in his epistle that not all ‘evil’ comes in the form of obvious ghosties and ghoulies.  He writes instead to warn the Christians of the greater danger of people who infect others with heresy and moral failure.  He writes that they are nothing more than …. ...