Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Why should St Joseph’s day be in March?  Surely, he belongs to Advent and Christmas, at Mary’s side in millions of nativity scenes around the world. In any case, as foster-father of Christ and husband of Mary, Joseph played a major part in the story of the coming of Jesus Christ.  All that we know...

Eco-warriors who lead protest marches may have good intent, but what are they doing at home?  Are they block-paving their gardens or eating avocados, for example? Alan Titchmarsh, writing in his recent column in Gardeners’ World, points out: “We cannot berate members of the Royal family and global superstars for flying hither and yon in...

A new website has been launched which claims it is “going to make the easiest evangelism even easier.” It is also completely free to link to from church websites and materials. The website, www.christianity.org.uk, is the result of a complete rewrite and redesign of an older website, and is still owned by the Christian Enquiry...

This psalm is appropriate to think about during Lent, as it was used by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. It speaks of the journey to find the presence of God in our lives. Where is our heart with God?  A Heart for God’s Presence: ‘How lovely is your dwelling-place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even...

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (c 634-87) has long been northern England’s favourite saint.  It is easy to see why:  Cuthbert was holy, humble, peaceable, prayerful, faithful in friendship, winsome, and really kind. Cuthbert was born into a fairly well-off Anglo-Saxon family, and became a monk at Melrose in 651.  He and another monk, Eata, were sent...

Are you crossing life’s milestones later than your grandparents and even parents did?  Not to worry – you are not alone. The office for National Statistics has recently revealed that for many of us, life’s milestones are happening later. We are marrying, buying our first homes, becoming parents, divorcing, becoming grandparents, and retiring later than...

The Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, has set out to change the law on inquests to help reveal the full extent of the link between gambling and suicide for the first time. Bishop Alan, who has played a leading role in a series of high-profile efforts to limit gambling-related harms, wants coroners to...

By David Runcorn, BRF, £7.99 Lent is one of the three 40-day ‘seasons’ in the Church’s year, besides Advent and the period from Easter to Pentecost. The name itself, Lent, derives from an ancient word meaning ‘Spring’ or ‘long’, referring to the time of year when days are beginning to lengthen and the world is...

The Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, has welcomed an announcement from the Gambling Commission that consumers will no longer be able to use credit cards to gamble from April 2020. “This marks a significant step in progressive policy-making, reducing the risks to gamblers,” he said.  For too long people have been vulnerable through...

If you have ever been caught up in a great event at work, which has gone on to change your own life, then Thomas Cranmer is the saint for you.  He was the first ever Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, following King Henry VIII’s decision to pull away from Rome, and set up the Church of...

Most women who are over 50 would be wise to lose some weight, and thereby reduce their chance of developing breast cancer. So says some recent Harvard research, which found that those who lost the most weight also cut their risk of breast cancer by up to a quarter. Two in three women in Britain...

Have you noticed the spate of celebrity baptisms recently? Former football star David Beckham’s two youngest children were baptised at a church near their Cotswold home last December. Showbiz celebrity Kim Kardashian West and her youngest children Saint, three, Chicago, 20 months, and baby Psalm, were baptised last October in Armenia’s main cathedral. Liverpool Football...