Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

J R Miller (1840-1912) was considered by many to be the most gifted devotional writer of his generation. His book ‘In Green Pastures’ was much loved. Here is J R Miller’s paraphrase of the famous ‘love’ passage in 1 Corinthians 13: Love thinks no evil. It does not suspect unkindness in kindly deeds. It does...

– a legend The Roman Emperor Claudius II needed soldiers. He suspected that marriage made men want to stay at home with their wives, instead of fighting wars, so he outlawed marriage. A kind-hearted young priest named Valentine felt sorry for all the couples who wanted to marry, but who couldn’t. So secretly he married...

The Revised Standard Version of the New Testament was published 75 years ago, on 11th February 1946. It was the first major English-language update of the Bible since the King James version published in 1611. The RSV Old Testament followed in 1952 and the Apocrypha in 1957. The translation was a revision of the American Standard...

I just had an email from a clergyman, saying, “Hi” and asking me to do him “a favor”. I replied to say yes, of course. I then began to wonder why he had not said what sort of favour it was, and why he was asking me. I decided to telephone him and find why...

The Archbishop-elect of Hong Kong, the Rt Revd Andrew Chan, has promised to work for reconciliation between China, “the motherland” and Hong Kong and Macao. He said that under his leadership, the Anglican Church would hope to establish “a harmonious and coalescing relationship” between the two sides, “so all may flourish amidst mutual respect and...

– a poem St Valentine’s Day, many believe, was named after one or more Christian martyrs and was established by Pope Gelasius 1 in 496 AD. Valentine of Rome was martyred about 269, and this day usually ‘belongs’ to him. The first recorded association of Valentine Day with romantic love (1382) is from Geoffrey Chaucer....

Have you ever stopped to think that your mobile phone and emails have not given you more time? Just more things to do in the same amount of time. We leave our messages in one place while we take our bodies elsewhere. Instead of doing one thing after another, we shoot out a variety of...

– founder of SPCK Thomas Bray was once called a ‘Great Small Man’, with good reason. This diminutive 18th century English clergyman (1658 – 1730) not only helped to establish the Church of England in Maryland, but he was also founder of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) in 1698 and the...

Sometimes we can be inclined to give and give and give to others – without asking anything in return. We may think that this is a sign of generosity – of great strength. But it can also be one of pride – we want to be seen as the one who does not need help....

That is the forecast of Release International, which has recently published its annual Persecution Trends survey. “Our partners tell us that attacks are on the rise under Communism in China, Islam in Iran and Malaysia, and under militant Hinduism in India,” says Release CEO Paul Robinson. “Yet despite persecution and pandemic, we see clear evidence...

If you are already struggling to keep it, here is something that might help you. Psychologists advise that it is useless to say you are going to quit anything. Instead, make your resolution to change into something positive. For example, instead of “I will give up sweets,” say “I will eat fruit twice a day.”...

– who’s for pancakes?     by David Winter Why do we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, as we call it today? And what is Shrove Tuesday? And why do thousands of people feel it rewarding to race along a street somewhere tossing pancakes from their frying pans as they go? Well, the answer...