Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Happy New Year! January is, of course, the time to take down the decorations and put them away for next year. In many churches however, the Crib scene is left up until the beginning of February – the Feast of Candlemas.  That celebrates the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. It’s yet another moment of ‘illumination,’...

If you have nothing much going for you, Antony Pucci (1819-92) should be your patron saint. He came from nowhere – a peasant family in Tuscany. He went nowhere – he spent his life as a parish priest in the Tuscan city of Viareggio. He was unattractive to look at.  He wasn’t good with words...

More than half of adults (51 per cent) who are aged under 35 pray at least once a month, while almost as many (49 per cent) make a monthly visit to some place of worship. In contrast, of adults aged over 55, only a quarter (24 per cent) pray, and only one fifth (16 per...

Heroes are not always men or women of action. Sometimes the fight for right over wrong can be even more powerful when done through words and argument. Hilary was such a champion of the Christian faith. Born into a wealthy pagan family in Poitiers in 315, he first became an orator of Neo-Platonism. Here he...

One in 14 Church of England churches are now reporting ‘net zero’ carbon emissions, according to the latest data from the Energy Footprint Toolkit (EFT). The number of churches edged upwards from four per cent to seven per cent between 2019 and 2020. General Synod has committed the Church to achieving net zero carbon emissions by...

A New Year’s Resolution from Micah Don’t cover over your garden First time buyers You are never more than 166 metres from a stray cat How to hug somebody Open your window Help your garden, help your planet Money and children The music you love best – and when you love it ** Editor: David...

What do you do when you find a large spider web in your house? If you ever feel some sympathy for the spider who went to all that trouble, then Felix is a good patron saint for you. He was saved by such a spider, spinning such a web. Felix had been born to a...

All in the month of January Remembering Sir Ernest Shackleton Remembering Ralph Vaughan Williams 80 years of Desert Island Discs David Bowie and God Animals vanishing from literature as well as nature Covid hits life expectancy levels Name a heatwave No more dog poo at the National Trust What is happening to our public loos?...

Iranian Christians who are serving prison sentences have made video appeals to the Iranian government. They want the government to tell them where they can worship after their release. Their efforts are part of a new campaign, Place2Worship. It has been launched by a coalition of charities, which include Open Doors, Article 18, Christian Solidarity...

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression…? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you: To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God....

We begin the New Year with a Bible event from 2 Kings and an anecdote from Birmingham. For a number of years, the king of Syria had tried to capture the prophet Elisha. (The story is found in 2 Kings 6:11-19). Elisha always knew what the Syrians were planning, and revealed their plans before they...

The General Synod has recently called for the Government to reduce the gap between rich and poor after members heard of the ‘scandal’ of inequality. The Church of England’s national assembly approved a Leeds Diocesan Motion calling on all political parties to adopt an ‘explicit policy’ of reducing the gap between rich and poor. Synod...