Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

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...

‘See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.’ Song of Songs 2:11-12 March is the month that I associate with the coming of Spring, my favourite time of the year, and such...

Never mind Cockerpoos and French bulldogs – the latest ‘must have’ dog is rapidly becoming the dachshund. The number of dachshund puppies registered in the UK has risen by 112 per cent in just the last five years.  In 2013, 4,887 dachshund puppies were registered with the Kennel Club.  By 2018, this had risen to...

The Church is absolutely amazing! What started with a youth group of 12 is now the largest religion in the world and is still growing rapidly. Here in the UK we are making a huge impact through ministries such as Christians Against Poverty, Food Banks, Street Pastors and Street Angels. The Church runs the majority...

‘Our days may come to 70 years, or 80, if our strength endures.’ Psalm 90:10 I have known this verse most of my life, but only this month has it become reality for me. Yes, I have transitioned into my 70s and am now a septuagenarian. It is a strange feeling as I realise that...