Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

 The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, was diagnosed with aggressive and untreatable cancer of the pancreas on 10th February this year. After he was told that he had less than a month to live, Bishop Andrew wrote a letter to his diocese, to say goodbye and to reassure them.  He wrote: “Only...

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of …both of having abundance and suffering need. I...

Pentecost. The word means ’50 days after Easter’. It’s the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts chapter 2, and it’s the birthday of the Church. So far so good; but beyond this, things get a bit hazy for some of us. We are familiar with the idea of God...

Aldhelm is the saint for you if you are intelligent but unconventional. Aldhelm was born in 640, into a family closely related to Ine, the King of Wessex. Educated at the monastic community in Malmesbury in Wiltshire, he went for further study in Canterbury. He proved a brilliant student and was sent back to Malmesbury...

At Pentecost, we think back to that morning in Jerusalem when the Church was born. So this month, as we celebrate Pentecost, it is good to know that many Christian agencies are working hard out there in the Middle East now, to help the suffering people of Gaza, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank…. Not to...

“Good morning, sir, madam. You’re interested in a cross and chain I believe? Very wise, sir, if I might say so. So modern, so chic. Never out of fashion. Will you be interested in one with the little man on it, or without?” “Let us see both, please.” “Very wise sir. Now here we have...

Augustine, a 6th century Italian prior, holds a unique place in British history. He became the ‘apostle to the English,’ although it was with great reluctance. In 596 Augustine was chosen by Pope Gregory to head a mission of monks whom he wanted to send to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine was not a bold man,...

A senior cleric in the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Kirill (Pokrovsky) of Stavropol, has recently called for Russia to move in and occupy even more Ukrainian territory. His call came as the war entered its fifth year. Metropolitan Kirill is the Church’s director for relations with the armed forces. He said: “If the Western satanists...

How large are your dinner plates?  If you replace 12” plates with 10” plates you could end up eating between 16 and 22 per cent less food. That could mean a loss of two stone over a year. The study at Cambridge University concluded: “Helping people to avoid ‘over-serving’ themselves or others with larger portions...

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest, to be held 12th to 16th May in Vienna, will look a bit different as it marks its 70thbirthday. That is because Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have opted out, as a protest to the inclusion of Israel in the contest, following the war in Gaza. That is...

 Ezekiel was a prophet who proclaimed judgment to God’s people in the 6th century BC. He was among the group of Jews exiled in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel received his call when he was 30 years old through a vision of the glory of God. His ministry finished 22 years later with a vision of...

John Calvin was a towering figure in the Reformation. His influence on Protestant theology is still felt today. Calvin was born in Picardy, north-east France in 1509, and went on to study law in Orleans, Bourges and Paris, where he absorbed the great humanistic and reforming movements of the time. Then, in his mid-20s, Calvin...