Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

As a little boy growing up during World War II, I spent night after night in a bomb shelter. Why were those wicked Germans strafing us? Why was everything rationed (especially sweets)? After the war I began to understand that many other countries had suffered too, and unspeakable atrocities had been inflicted on Jews and...

Have you ever considered the furniture that we have in our churches? Close your eyes and think what your own sitting room looks like and the furniture you have chosen to go in there. Most of us will have chairs, a sofa, one or more tables of different sizes, a fireplace and a television. Which...

Coronation Prayer 2023 Signs and Promises Pentecost Prayer Acts 2 Blind Bartimaeus United St John the Swift ** Coronation Prayer 2023 Almighty God, On the occasion of the crowning of King Charles 111, we, the people, pray for him. We thank you for him and for the calling on his life and we recognise the weight...

Some 250 years ago, on 10th May 1773, Britain passed the Tea Act, which favoured the British East India Company over the American colonies. This led to the Boston Tea Party in December, which escalated into the American Revolution and the establishment of the USA. The idea of the Tea Act was to help the...

An important spiritual discipline is prayer, where we can both listen and talk to God. However, it’s not always easy, and as Pentecost tells us, we have the Holy Spirit to help us to pray. ‘In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray...

We used to call it Whitsun – ‘White Sunday’ because long ago children marched to church in white on that day. There are no processions nowadays, and we’ve even changed its name. It’s now ‘Pentecost’, which is more accurate but needs explaining. Pentecost marks a vital event in Christian history. It is celebrated 50 days...

If you are contacted by a clergyman asking you for money, beware! It is a scammer. Scammers have been impersonating various clergy, including even the Archbishop of York, to ask priests and other church people to buy them Amazon vouchers and online gift cards. The scammers use either emails or texts, and their message is...

Josephine Butler is the ‘saint’ for anyone who believes in social justice. This remarkable 19th century clergyman’s wife became a renowned campaigner for women’s rights and for putting a halt to human trafficking. Josephine was born in Northumberland in 1828, the daughter of a wealthy family of liberal politics and committed Christian faith. They had...

 A number of apps which offer to keep an eye on your pet are also recording the login details and locations of YOU. Such is the finding of a recent study. It seems that many tech companies which offer smart collars, GPS trackers, and wearable cameras for pets, may also be creating cyber security risks...

We still enjoy ‘going to church’ online.  In fact, recent viewing figures for the CofE’s national online services reveal that they continue to receive about 150,000 views a week. Overall, in 2022, they attracted more than eight million views. It was in March this year that the C of E marked three years since the...

Parishes across England and Wales are registered to participate in Churches Count on Nature, an annual scheme where people visit churchyards and record the plant and animal species they encounter. The biodiversity survey, supported by environmental charities A Rocha UK and Caring for God’s Acre, as well as the Church of England and the Church in Wales, will...

With Pentecost coming this month..: Before Pentecost the disciples found it hard to do easy things; after Pentecost, they found it easy to do hard things. – AJ Gordon The fruit of the Spirit is not excitement or orthodoxy: it is character. – GB Duncan ** With the Local Elections in mind this month: If...