Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Did you know that mince pies have been traditional English Christmas fare since the Middle Ages, when meat was a key ingredient?  The addition of spices, suet and alcohol to meat came about because it was an alternative to salting and smoking in order to preserve the food. Mince pies used to be a different...

Did you know that it is a family in Wiltshire, the Parkers, who claim to own the world’s oldest artificial Christmas tree?  It was bought in 1886, and is still put up every year.

Did you know that the word ‘mistletoe’ means dung on a tree?  The Anglo-Saxons thought that mistletoe grew in trees where birds had left their droppings.  Mistel means dung, and tan means twig.

CofE reaction to Budget Church of England and Methodist Church recommit as Covenant turns 21 Church of England delivers on its responsible investment strategy Archbishop of Canterbury warns against legalising assisted suicide Archbishop of Canterbury’s historic link to slavery Lambeth Palace makes statement on Archbishop and Living in Love and Faith Teaching the Lord’s Prayer across...

“A cold coming they had of it at this time of the year, just the worst time of the year to take a journey, and specially a long journey, in.  The way’s deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off, in solstitio brumali, the very dead of winter.” It was 1622, and...

The Bible does not give a date for the birth of Jesus. In the third century it was suggested that Jesus was conceived at the Spring equinox, 25th March, popularising the belief that He was born nine months later on 25th December.  John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople, encouraged Christians worldwide to make Christmas a holy...

All in the month of December Remembering the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 Dwight L Moody – extraordinary evangelist and peace-maker The “cheek and chic, pose and poise” of Noel Coward Sol Invictus, Emperors and how Christmas began Hedgehog extinction fears grow as population plummets The growing menace of shop-lifting Christmas near YOU Christmas Quiz...

Christmas cards have a history which may surprise you: their origins are not of the Church, but of the Post Office and railways. Of course, very early ‘Christmas cards’ had been around for hundreds of years, in the form of a simple exchange of Christmas greetings in private letters. The earliest such letter on record...

The Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, lead bishop in the House of Lords for economics and business, has given an initial comment on the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’s budget statement. Bishop Helen-Ann said: “First and foremost this budget must be viewed through the lens of how it affects the poorest and most marginalised...

Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus is brilliantly told – the angel’s visit to Mary to tell her she would be mother of the long-promised Messiah, the old priest in the Temple told by another angel that his wife would have a son to be called ‘John’, who would prepare the people of Israel...

Christmas – time to remember Christians facing persecution. DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal Millions at breaking point as “shockingly low incomes” leave them hungry Iconic Bethlehem Carol Sheet celebrates 70 years in print Caring for the donkeys of Gaza ** Editor:  Christmas is a good time to give to charities, and so the following may...

It was: 1750 years ago, on 25 Dec 274 that the Roman Emperor Aurelian founded the cult of Sol Invictus as an official religion. He erected a temple and declared 25th December a national holiday, to be known as the Feast of the Unconquered Sun. In 336, after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, 25th...