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After the Bible, John Bunyan’s wonderful Christian allegory, the Pilgrim’s Progress, is one of the most celebrated and widely-read books in the English language.  It has been translated into more than one hundred languages around the world and keeps its place as a Christian classic. Names of people and places from its pages have been...

At this time of year we enjoy the fruits of our gardens, fields and hedgerows: vegetables ripen, crops are harvested, and berries begin to show bright among the leaves. Much of this growth started with a few seeds in spring: the miracle of life coming from small dead-looking things. There is a league table of...

A number of aid agencies have reacted with anger to the recent government decision to merge the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office in September. The new government department will be called: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It will be led by the Foreign Secretary. The Government remains committed to the target...

I recall when I was 14 years old going to stay on my own with my French cousins in the South of France, for three weeks during the summer holidays.  It was a brilliant time which I thoroughly enjoyed.  There was a sense of ‘freedom’ being away from close family and the ability to ride...

Ironically, lockdown actually saved a number of lives. Recent five-year averages have revealed that the death rates for young men aged 20 to 24 plummeted by more than 30 percent this spring. Of course, mortality rates across the population rise steadily with age, but there is normally a significant spike for younger men. But it...

31st August is the feast of St Aidan, who brought Christianity to northern England.  He is a strong contender for the title of the first English bishop. Not that honours meant a great deal to this austere but captivating character. In 635 he came to Northumbria at the invitation of the local ruler, Oswald.  Oswald...

Women made up the majority of deacons ordained in the Church of England last year for the first time, according to the latest statistics. A total of 570 deacons were ordained in 2019, with women making up just over a half, or 51% of the new intake. Deacons are the first of three orders of...

** Keep your distance! I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch you with a six-foot pole” would become national policy, but here we are! ** Body parts  A doctor in our village surgery often plays a game with his younger patients to put them at ease, and to test their knowledge of body parts....

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The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren When the churches reopen for public worship (whenever that is!) I hope you will come and take Evensong one Sunday. But, thinking of your visit last August, I would prefer you used the pulpit when preaching. How could Colonel Brockle complete ‘The Times’ crossword and...

‘I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.’ (Psalm 40:1). ‘Dear God, I pray for patience, and I want it now!’ Most of us can identify with this prayer, especially as we face an uncertain future. Psalm 40:1-3 describes how David waited patiently on God (lit: ‘I waited, waited...

Raymond Nonnatus (1204 – 40) is a good patron saint for anyone who does not take life for granted. The account of his own life begins with the story of how his mother died just before his birth, and of how Raymond was somehow extracted from her dead body just in time to save him.(‘Nonnatus’...