Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Rogation means an asking of God – for blessing on the seed and land for the year ahead. It is appropriate in any emergency, war, plague, drought or foul weather. The practice began with the Romans, who invoked the help of the gods Terminus and Ambarvalia.  In those days a crowd moved in procession around...

This fortnight is the Fostering network’s annual big push to raise the profile of fostering, and to show how foster care can transform children’s lives.  It also serves as the UK’s biggest foster carer recruitment campaign. The need is huge:  thousands of new foster families are needed every year to care for children in need. ...

40 days after Easter comes Ascension Day. These are the 40 days during which the Risen Christ appeared again and again to His disciples, following His death and resurrection.  (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; and John 20.) The Gospels give us little of Christ’s teachings and deeds during those 40 days.  Jesus was seen...

If you can’t make an appointment, do you warn your surgery?  Too many of us forget to do so:  missed appointments with our GPs cost £216million a year – the equivalent of 2,325 full-time family doctors.  No wonder that NHS England is urging people to cancel rather than simply not show up. Sadly, more than...

How far would you go to respond to God’s call on your life?  When as the daughter of a peasant family in Champagne in 1426, 14 year-old Joan heard heavenly voices calling her to ‘save France’ from the English, she decided to obey the call, no matter what the consequences. Teenage girls who want to...

Mary – the virgin mother of Jesus.  For centuries the eastern and western churches have considered her pre-eminent among all the saints. In the gospels, Mary makes her first appearance as a teenager.  Nothing is known of her childhood, and what we do know of her is found mostly in Matthew 1 – 2 and...

Do you know the story of little nutbrown hare? His father cared for him so much that the only thing big enough to describe his love was the enormous distance between the Earth and the Moon – and back again. It’s a wonderful story, but it pales into insignificance compared to the love that the...

When you drive, are you often swerving to avoid potholes?  You are not alone.  And the outlook is not good:  more than 40,000 miles of Britain’s road are at risk of crumbling within five years, a major potholes survey has found.  Council figures show that a fifth of the country’s roads are in ‘poor condition’. ...

Following publication by the Committee of Advertising Practice of new standards protecting children from irresponsible gambling advertisements, The Bishop of St Albans, The Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith, said: “While I welcome the proposals, these new standards are, in fact, another lost opportunity in the fight against problem gambling. “With little consequences for companies flouting...

Editor:  As the church year does not change, much of this material has appeared before.  The articles on ‘Fooling Around’ and ‘Mary Magdalene’ are new this year. NEW*1  Fooling around 1          April Fool’s Day 2          Hugh of Grenoble – the saint who fought corruption 3          Richard of Chichester – wanting God more clearly, dearly and...

With Easter in mind… With our Christian faith in mind…  Miscellaneous observations on daily life   With Easter in mind… Who delivered up Jesus to die?  Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy; but the Father, for love! – Octavious Winslow The world cannot bury Christ.  The earth is...

by Canon David Winter I was about six when I began to enjoy April Fool’s Day. My older brother was very clever at appropriate hoaxes, not only deceiving me but also mum and dad. On the whole my childish efforts were encouraged. The day was full of laughs, even at school, where the teachers would...