Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

The traditional marks on an altar are five crosses representing either the five wounds of Christ or perhaps more matter-of-factly, Christ at the centre of what holds up the table – and indeed what holds our lives. .This month let’s consider the work of the person responsible for preparing the altar for worship. So often...

Five hundred years ago, on 6th April 1520, Italian Renaissance artist and architect Raphael died in Rome of an unknown illness. He was 37. Born Raffaello Sanzio at Urbino, he was orphaned at the age of 11 and led something of a nomadic life. He was immersed in neoplatonic philosophy, as was the pre-Reformation Church of...

Tertullian was born in Carthage, North Africa, about 155 AD. He had pagan parents and his father may have been a centurion. Carthage was a prestigious Roman colony and Tertullian was given a good education in Greek, Latin, literature, history and philosophy. On arrival in Rome, Tertullian probably worked as a lawyer. In Rome, he...

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35). This unique saying of Jesus, not recorded in the gospels, is quoted by the apostle Paul in the book of Acts. These few words contain a powerful truth about giving and receiving love. Stage 1 – receiving love. As children we love to receive...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren Your decision to place a notice board outside your church seems a good one – and its design in blue plastic with luminous red detachable letters seems entirely in keeping with the aesthetics of your building. Make sure that it is lockable, however, as an...

Palm waving It was Palm Sunday, but five-year-old Jamie stayed at home with mum because of a bad cold. When his father and sisters returned, they were carrying several palm fronds. His sister explained:  “People held them over Jesus’ head as He walked by.” “That’s not fair!” Jamie protested. “The one Sunday I don’t go,...

I used to ask this question as a student. I wondered, who could make it in the world of science and still hold onto their faith? Soon enough I met a good number of successful scientists who were sincere Christians, some of whom were at my own university. So what do people like this make...

The nursery rhymes we learnt as children often focused on lambs: Mary had a little lamb, Baa baa black sheep, Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue. They come to mind in springtime when we see lambs in the field jumping for joy or bleating as they run to the ewes for warmth and safety. Murillo,...

William Wordsworth, the Romantic poet always associated with the Lake District, was born 250 years ago, on 7th April 1770. He was Poet Laureate from 1843 to 1850, though he produced no new poetry during that period. In his youth Wordsworth travelled in France and came to share the radical politics of the French Revolution. He also...

Asia Bibi was released in 2019, after eight years on death row on blasphemy charges and currently lives with her family in Canada. But speaking recently on French radio station RTL, Bibi said: “My great desire is to live in France. “France is the country from where I received my new life… Anne-Isabelle is an...

The Changing The Mirror Easter Story Intercession God’s Word is Nourishment! Easter, our Marriage Ceremony ** The Changing Reflections of Mary (Mark 16:1-8) Our eyes seeing the same mountains, The gentle touching of our hands, Simply breathing the same air, Pleasures unrecognised till now, Gone…. In the changing. In the certainty of our grieving, You...

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched 30 years ago, on 24th April 1990. It was named after Edwin Hubble, an outstanding expert on extragalactic astronomy in the 1920s and 1930s. The launch, originally scheduled for 1983, had been delayed by technical and budget problems and by the Challenger disaster. Ironically the NASA error that caused the...