The Bishop’s Bicentenary Dear friends Bishop Shute Barrington died in London two hundred years ago last month, at the grand old age of ninety two. He had been the Lord Bishop of Durham for thirty five years, the Bishop of Salisbury before that, the Bishop of Llandaff (that’s Cardiff) before that, and a Canon of both St Paul’s and St George’s, Windsor.…

The old sea mine Dear friends, As a child, my sister and I would sometimes be taken by our parents for a “Saturday outing”, which was invariably Gravesend. This was a twenty minute drive from our village, up the one in four Vigo Hill to the join the Wrotham Road at the top of the North Downs, and then follow this old…

The Lost Garden Dear friends, I wonder if you know where the Garden of Eden is? Whilst it might be hard to put a cross on the map, as far as the Bible goes, the garden of Eden could be anywhere between the pointy bits of the “Fertile Crescent” – comprising the currently most contested parts of the Middle East, with the…

Looking sideways Dear friends, I remember the cycling proficiency lady that came to our Primary School who impressed upon us all the life saving need to look in every single direction including behind you, when negotiating traffic on a bicycle, and especially at road junctions. “Right, left, right again, ahead and behind, then do it again!” I feel the world could do…

A greeting Dear friends “Peace be with you” we say to one another.  It is a formal liturgical greeting in our services, when we will often add “(The) peace (of the Lord) be (always) with you.” This greeting not only goes back to the earliest church, but it reflects one of the deepest human desires – in the end, we tire of…

Nelson’s Prayer Dear friends, We live in unstable times, with enemies within, and without, seen and unseen, threats abroad and threats at home. Some would build walls, others are content to bed hop in their allegiances. Yet others wonder at the hidden costs of economic vassalage. Doom mongers shout “disaster!” and still others take the Hezekiah position – go back to bed…