Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

“A cold coming they had of it at this time of the year, just the worst time of the year to take a journey, and specially a long journey, in.  The way’s deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off, in solstitio brumali, the very dead of winter.” It was 1622, and...

 Lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding…(Psalm 148:8) We are promised a hard Winter this year. The abundance of nuts and berries is supposed to be a sign of bad weather. Whether that is true or not is another question. Supposing we do get ice, snow and more frost. Early one cold...

Ever wonder where many of our Christmas traditions come from?   A surprising amount of our modern Christmas celebrations can be traced back to the well-loved story of ‘A Christmas Carol’, by Charles Dickens. When you read ‘A Christmas Carol’, you discover almost a template of the ‘ideal Christmas’ which we still hold dear today.  Dickens...

Plan your budget – don’t let Christmas ‘fever’ make you reckless. Be careful you don’t go over any overdraft with your bank – the penalties are expensive! Also, really and truly, beware using credit cards if you can’t pay them off quickly Practical details: Make sure you have in a good stock of coal and...

It was: 250 years ago, on 16th Dec 1775 that Jane Austen, novelist (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion) was born. Over 30 million copies of her books have been sold, 7,000 of them in her lifetime. 175 years ago, on 4th Dec 1850 that William Sturgeon, physicist, electrical...

Here you can download ALL of the editorial for this month in one document.

All of us have received unwanted gifts at Christmas. For Joseph the gift of a child, as recorded in Matthew chapter 1, was not something he really wanted. Although he was engaged to Mary, her pregnancy would be grounds for divorce. Not surprisingly, with the associated social disgrace, Joseph wanted to divorce Mary quietly (Matthew...

A group of bishops with a close interest in the Holy Land have welcomed the recent Gaza peace deal, praying that it will “bring immediate relief and comfort”. The Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun, the Church of England’s lead bishop for the Middle East, together with the Bishops of Chelmsford, Gloucester and Norwich, said that...

We send an estimated 900 million to 1 billion Christmas cards in the UK each year. Royal Mail delivers around 150 million. On average, each person in the UK sends and receives about 17 cards. This year the final Royal Mail Christmas posting dates are as follows: Wednesday, December 17th:  2nd Class and 2nd Class...

It is to St Luke’s wonderful gospel that many Christians turn as the year draws to a close and Christmas approaches, for it is to St Luke that we owe the fullest account of the nativity. Luke alone tells us the story of Mary and the angel’s visit to her, and has thus given the...

It was 250 years ago, on 16th December 1775, that novelist Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion) was born. Over 30 million copies of her books have since been sold – 7000 in her lifetime. She was the second daughter and seventh child of the Revd George...

All of us have received unwanted gifts at Christmas. For Joseph the gift of a child, as recorded in Matthew chapter 1, was not something he really wanted. Although he was engaged to Mary, her pregnancy would be grounds for divorce. Not surprisingly, with the associated social disgrace, Joseph wanted to divorce Mary quietly (Matthew...