Tongues of Fire Dear friends, A few days ago the earth was bathed in glory. A (22 years) rare solar storm sent great arcs of fire in the form of solar flares far out from the surface of our sun, and the associated bursts of high energy atomic particles, after a couple of days in transit, reached the earth. These particles, funnelled…
A Head for Heights Dear friends How are you with high places? The Shard in London is not for the faint-hearted; if you dare to look down you can see the roof structures and patterns of Southwark Cathedral laid out beneath you as if returned to the 2D of an architect’s plan. However, for most, the interest and detail of the all…
Back to the Zoo Dear friends On the south side of Berlin’s famous Tiergarten park is the grand modern building that is the home base of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, a fitting cultural powerhouse for a global city. Walking around this open concourse, however, will bring you upon a memorial to one of the lesser known atrocities of the Nazi regime. “Tiergartenstrasse…
Faith found by feeling Dear friends, A chance conversation with a young adult visitor before a busy baptism service gave me one of those “window” moments on Sunday. This is when you suddenly become aware that you are looking through what is normally opaque, and something is revealed, either outside, or inside. In this case, it was how someone felt about their…
The Thief in the Daytime Dear friends, One Saturday in the hot summer of 1976, my parents took my sister and I to visit an elderly great aunt in Eastbourne. It was about an hour’s drive, and, for young teenagers, these outings were always very tedious. Aunt Gert lived out of town, which meant we never got near the “seaside” proper. However…
The end of the consensus It seems to be a feature of contemporary life that the truth has become subjective. And so, in Tolkein’s words, written during the dark days of Nazism, “what should not have been forgotten has been lost.” Arising from the carnage of the second world war the international community could agree on one thing; we can’t let that…
Something to celebrate Dear friends, The grave could not contain him. Injustice, torture, and judicial murder did not finish him. Blood, nails, and a broken body did not constrain him. Mary met him in the garden, the voice of the Lord cutting through her grief and loss. Peter met him on the beach, with the smell of fish on the fire, and…
A different kind of prayer. Dear friends, If you were asked to define prayer, what would you say? Most would centre on a reply that was something like “asking God for things” – whether that be aid in difficulties or a material improvement in life circumstances. In the New Testament, Jesus mines this vein in the Lord’s prayer, expanding our engagement with…
Comments for this article have been turned off Dear friends, I love it when the online paper publishes something guaranteed to enrage and then waits until you have read to the end to clamp the lid back on, by turning off the option for public comment on the piece. As if they don’t already know that this is not the way the…
Celebrating Motherhood Dear friends, When I was a young curate, in Yorkshire, there was only one person in the church that Ian, my training vicar, was afraid of. This was Olive, the chairwoman of the Otley branch of the Mother’s Union. Ian’s nervousness was rather puzzling to me, for Olive was the sweetest, kindest lady you ever might wish to meet, a…