Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

The increasing use of contactless payments is leading young people into debt.  A recent study has found that one in five Londoners below the age of 45 are struggling to pay their debts, because of the ease of making ‘tap and go’ payments. Now more than one in 10 young people are thinking of stopping...

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.  But why ‘Ash’ Wednesday?  The reason has to do with getting things right between you and God, and the tradition goes right back to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Israelites often sinned.  When they finally came to their senses, and saw their evil ways as God saw...

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Every person who ever lived was once a sperm and an egg. Those two cells fused together, and in nine months they turned into a living, breathing, human being. Each of us emerged from this same embryonic development process, which is highly complex and organised, but variable enough to turn out...

If you have been hurt in your search for romantic love, Gabriel Possenti (1838-62) may be a good saint for you.  Because Possenti, born to the governor of Assisi, began by having it all.   He grew up doing the mid-19th century equivalent of eBay, nightclubs, cinema and online dating, only in those days it was...

The Rectory St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren While it was good to see you when you visited us last Sunday, your suggestion to our churchwardens that chairs would be far more comfortable than our pews was not well received. You must remember that significant in any congregation firmly believe that the more...

By Andrew Brunson, Authentic, £9.99 In 1993, Andrew Brunson was asked to travel to Turkey, the largest un-evangelised country in the world, to serve as a missionary. Though hesitant because of the daunting and dangerous task that lay ahead, Andrew and his wife, Norine, believed this was God’s plan for them. What followed was a...

The canticle we call the Benedicite began its life as the Song of the Three Holy Children. In the midst of their terrifying ordeal in the burning fiery furnace, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego praise God. They call on the sky above, the seasons, and all that grows and moves on the earth to join them....

Editor:  with 14th February and romantic love on the mind:  Adam and Eve Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage.  He didn’t have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn’t have to hear about the way his mother cooked. Take me out An elderly single woman died last month. ...

If we were to name someone prominent from the 17th century, we might mention Rembrandt or Shakespeare. It is unlikely we would remember George Herbert. However, he was a prolific writer, a gifted speaker and musician. His hymns are still sung today. Herbert was born into a wealthy family in Mid-Wales on 3rd April 1593....

With Lent in mind Man, in his fallen nature, is a dissatisfied and frustrated rainbow-chaser. – Anon Whatever else is or is not true, this one thing is certain – man is not what he was meant to be. – G K Chesterton The hearer of God’s Word ought to be like those animals that...

On 27th February the Church Calendar celebrates George Herbert. For those who are muttering ‘never heard of him’, just think of the hymn ‘Let all the world/ In every corner sing’, which he wrote, along with several other hymns which are still popular, even if they are well over 300 years old.  In the course...

Simeon Have Pity on Me Trumpets A Treasured Heart Love The Grace of God The Three protect thee The Leap Year ** Simeon (Luke 2:25-35) The waiting and the wondering are over, He is here, Revealed by the Spirit. By the Spirit filled and led I come, With my own arms to hold Him, With...