Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu, the former Archbishop of York, will be the next Chair of the board of international development agency Christian Aid. Dr Sentamu – who has been outspoken on issues of poverty and justice in the UK and globally for many years – served as the Archbishop of...

The Rectory St James the Least of All My dear Nephew Darren It has all been excitement and activity here this last week, with a period drama being filmed using our church. It was remarkable how many people felt the need to drop in to church to collect magazines, check the reading rota or arrange...

Our teenage years are those in which we grow, discovering who we are through our new-found independence. Imagine then, pushing through these years with your independence stolen by a global pandemic. In a survey by Young Minds (2020) it was found that 80% of young people (those aged 13-25) agreed that their mental health had...

A church in North Yorkshire has been trying to convince eager tourists that the vampire’s grave is NOT in their churchyard. Recently the church leaders at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Whitby, even put up a poster in the entrance door which reads: “Please do not ask staff where Dracula’s grave is as...

Sometimes a law of nature is very similar to a law of the spirit. Take the whole business of harvest, or ‘sowing and reaping’. The Bible tells us: “A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much.” (2 Cor 9:6) The...

Every time you eat a hot dog, you have shortened your life by 36 minutes. But if you eat a portion of nuts, or even better a peanut butter and jam sandwich, you will have added 30 minutes to your life. These are just some of the findings in a recent study at the University...

If you have done your best to live ‘right’, and still had nothing but trouble and heartache in your life, Alphonsus is the saint for you.   He was born in 1533, the son of a wool merchant in Segovia.  He followed his father into the profession, married, and had two children.   He was a responsible...

Twenty years ago, on 7th October 2001, the first US and British forces arrived in Afghanistan to launch a massive military offensive following the 9/11 terrorist attack on the United States. The aim of the offensive was to find and neutralise the al-Qaeda militants under Osama bin Laden who had planned the aerial terror attack with...

Modern Halloween celebrations have their roots with the Celtic peoples of pre-Christian times. In those long-ago days, on the last night of October, the Celts celebrated the Festival of Samhain, or ‘Summer’s End’.  The priests, or Druids, performed ceremonies to thank and honour the sun.  For there was a very dark side to all this:...

The Methodist Church in Britain and All We Can have launched a joint appeal in response to the powerful earthquake that recently struck Haiti’s Southern Peninsula. More than 2,000 people were crushed to death in the terrible quake.  Thousands more are destitute, their homes destroyed. “As the Methodist Church in Britain and All We Can...

Most yoghurt made for children contains at least a third of a youngster’s maximum daily sugar intake. So says a recent study by Queen Mary University of London. Researchers also found that just one in 20 of the children’s yoghurts were low in sugar, while two thirds of them were rated as being medium to...

Following the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in August, Christian Aid has launched an emergency appeal to help people that have been affected. The nation – which is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake that killed 300,000 people and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and more recently dealing with Covid and the aftermath of the assassination...