Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Many dogs have struggled to adjust to the changes that Covid-19 has brought to their owners this year, according to the Dogs Trust. For one thing, coronavirus has meant greatly reduced walkies for many dogs, more people around the house all day, less quiet for rest, and little or no contact with other dogs.  No...

‘I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem.’(Psalm 122:1,2). These words from Psalm 122 inspired Hubert Parry’s great Coronation Anthem ‘I was Glad.’ As a Song of Ascent (Psalms 120-134), it was used by pilgrims going to the...

As I write this, the majority of churches (in the UK) are holding services again in their church buildings or wherever they normally worship together. But things are looking somewhat different. In my local church you need to ring a Churchwarden to book a place to come to Sunday or mid-week worship. So far, no-one’s...

How do you think of Jesus? As the Lord of lords in glory? Or as a human baby soon to be born in Bethlehem? November brings the glorious climax of the church year with the Sunday of Christ the King at the end of November – only to begin a new ‘year’ a week later,...

In the Shadow of the Shahs – Finding Unexpected Grace Where Do I Come From?  What Good is God? – Crises, faith and resilience But Where Are You Really From? – on Identity, Humanhood and Hope Closing Ranks – my Life as a Cop Frequencies of God – Walking Through Advent with R S Thomas...

Stipendiary clergy, along with some retired and self-supporting ministers, are being encouraged to take part in a confidential listening exercise designed to help inform a review of the clergy remuneration package. All stipendiary clergy have been issued with a questionnaire asking for their views on the remuneration package, as part of the Clergy Remuneration Review,...

Does this sound familiar?  An Archbishop of Canterbury tries to bring unity and calm to a Church split down the middle over seemingly irreconcilable differences, and all the while to promote the Gospel to the wider non-Christian society, in the face of widespread ignorance and even hostility towards Christianity. This isn’t Justin Welby, though. It...

Lockdown has damaged our social life, so badly that many of our friendships may not be the same for up to a year after lockdown. And although Zoom is ‘extremely good’ at slowing down the rate of a friendship’s decay, ‘nothing on earth is going to stop a relationship quietly sliding away, if you don’t...

The great preacher C.H. Spurgeon once said this of prayer: ‘God says to His own son: “Ask of Me and I will give you the nation for your inheritance.” [Psalm 2:7-8] If the royal and divine Son cannot be exempt from the rule of asking, that He may have; you and I cannot expect that...

School nativity plays will take place differently this year. So warned the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, speaking recently at a school in south London. He stressed that while he wanted to save the much-loved tradition, and “how special and important it is to go along to see your children performing in a nativity play”, safety...

Does this sound familiar?  An Archbishop of Canterbury tries to bring unity and calm to a Church split down the middle over seemingly irreconcilable differences, and all the while to promote the Gospel to the wider non-Christian society, in the face of widespread ignorance and even hostility towards Christianity. This isn’t Justin Welby, though. It...

A bakery set up in a church kitchen to train refugee women in bread-making skills is now supplying its local food bank with more than 200 loaves a week following the coronavirus lockdown. Proof Bakery in Coventry, founded two years ago in conjunction with the Church Urban Fund, is sending 250 loaves a week to...