Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

A recent study by the Universities of London and Sydney has found that brisk walking for 150 minutes a week may reduce the risk of an early death caused by poor sleep. Lack of sleep has links to an increased risk of stroke, heart disease and cancer. But according to the study, published in the...

Our winter barley ripened quickly this year, and soon the combine harvesters were rolling here on the Northumberland / Scottish Border. As the first trailer load of grain came into the shed, I ran my hands through the golden grains, offering a short prayer of thankfulness as I savoured the smell of fresh cut barley....

In 1992 the Church of England voted to allow the ordination of women.  Since 2014 they have also been able to become Bishops. The percentage of female clergy across all denominations in the UK in 1992, the first year it was counted, was 7% (of which 5% was Church of England). By the year 2000 it...

Editor:   with Back to Church Sunday this month… Local churches are to be thought of not as churches of individuals, but, primarily, churches of families. – Paul Helm There is no place for any loose stone in God’s edifice. – Joseph Hall The Lord God hath given us three principal signs and marks by which...

St Michael is an archangel, whose name means ‘who is like unto God?’  He makes various appearances throughout the Bible, from the book of Daniel to the Book of Revelation.  In Daniel, he is ‘one of the princes’ of the heavenly host, and the special guardian of Israel.  In Revelation, he is the principal fighter...

One hundred years ago, on 8th September 1921, Sir Harry Secombe was born in Swansea. The comedian, actor, writer, singer and TV presenter was one of the stars of the anarchic 1950s radio series, The Goon Show. His family belonged to St Thomas Church, and his elder brother, Fred, became a Church of Wales priest....

By Canon David Winter One of those surveys which some newspapers love to publish claimed recently that a large number of British people believe in angels – almost as many, in fact, as claimed to believe in God. They didn’t tell us what people meant by ‘angels’. I suspect quite a few were thinking of...

** Bifocals A preacher went into the pulpit one Sunday morning wearing a pair of new bifocals.  The reading portion of the glasses improved his vision considerably, but the top portion of the glasses didn’t work so well. In fact, he was experiencing dizziness every time he looked through them. Finally, he apologised to the...

Thirty years ago, on 22nd September 1991, photographs and transcripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls were made available to scholars generally for the first time. The Scrolls – ancient, mostly Hebrew or Aramaic manuscripts of leather, papyrus, and copper – were first found in 1947 near the shore of the Dead Sea. They come from...

What will keep us safer in the office as we return to work? Better ventilation. And in many cases that is best achieved by more open windows, all winter. And that could mean wearing something warmer to work – such as a woolly jumper or hoodie. Such is the conclusion of a report from the...

Ten people, including an infant, were recently killed overnight as armed Fulani militants continued their attacks on Atyap communities in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Christian-majority southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. Around 84% of the Atyap people are Christians. Two men, aged 70 and 62, died in Magamiya village when gunmen attacked at around 11 pm....

Alister McGrath is well-known as a theologian, but he started out as a scientist. After becoming a Christian as a student, he wanted to learn about his new faith so he studied theology at the same time as completing his PhD in molecular biophysics. He has not lost touch with science, but has continued to...