Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

A Fifth Column is ‘any group of people who undermine a larger group from within, usually in favour of an enemy group or nation’.  You can hardly accuse Christians of being Fifth Columnists, for we are urged to respect and pray for those in authority and St Paul claimed: “we give no offence in anything,...

Living in chaos? Perhaps this summer you have temporarily escaped from a bad situation in your daily life, and are dreading going back…   There is no situation so chaotic that God cannot, from that situation, create something that is surpassingly good.  He did it at creation.  He did it at the cross.  He is doing...

Accident Going to Uni this autumn?  Or not? iPads and toddlers Gain a baby, but don’t lose a friend When you are stressed, so is your dog! Have you ever lost a close friend to death? Look out for this at family gatherings Where do children feel most lonely? How much did you spend online...

All in the month of AUGUST Napoleon – one of the greatest military leaders Louis Mountbatten – 40th anniversary of his death 25 years of legal Sunday trading Growing crisis in social care Roadworks and more roadworks… Meditation retreats Beer of biblical proportions Plastic, plastic everywhere Our favourite (and least favourite) traditional foods ** Editor: ...

In June of this year we commemorated the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in the knowledge that many of the veterans would not see another major celebration of that remarkable event. That brought an added poignancy to the proceedings. I’m sure that, like me, you were touched by what many of the veterans had...

It is the day of the annual village fete. The weather is nice, there is a good turnout, you won a cake at the guess the vicar’s weight competition, but something awful happens. Someone is injured near a ride and an ambulance attends. You were assured the ride had its own insurance. It is suggested...

HOPE Together is a catalyst bringing churches together to make Jesus known with words and actions in Britain’s villages, towns and cities. The dream is that every church will have a Mission Champion who will inspire and equip fellow church members to reach out. Imagine if every church in the UK had such a person,...

Forty years after they were rescued in the South China Sea, a group of Vietnamese boat people met up earlier this year with the Captain of the ship who saved them. When conflict erupted in Vietnam in 1979, hundreds of people fled in boats with no idea where they were going. Linh Thi Thuy was...

This month thousands of school leavers will be anticipating with excitement the prospect of going on in October to what they insist on calling ‘Uni’.  School is over, exams have been taken, required grades achieved, courses chosen and now the promised land of fun and freedom and a bit of study lies ahead. But among...

Some people are pushy and a bit grasping.  They get on your nerves.  Pray that they go on to find God’s will for their lives, for then all that pushiness is put to good use. Take Jeanne Delanoue.  She was born at Saumur in 1666, and grew up small, authoritarian, and quite frankly, a bit...

The Church responds with a resounding ‘Yes’ to that question, as we celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary on 15th August. An ancient name for this day is the transition of Mary – her crossing over to eternal life – or the assumption of Mary. But her story begins in the Gospels, in Nazareth and Bethlehem....

It was: 250 years ago, on 15th August 1769 that Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France (1804-14, 1815) was born. 200 years ago, on 16th August 1819 that the Peterloo Massacre took place in Manchester.  Up to 80,000 people gathered to demand a reform of parliamentary representation.  Local magistrates called in the military to break up...