Coffee, Carols, and the Christmas List Dear friends, Checkendon church is hosting a community coffee (and mince pie) morning this coming Saturday from 10.30am in Checkendon Village Hall. Do pop in for a free coffee and mince pie. Its a great chance to catch up with your neighbours, and take a few moments in the maelstrom. There’ll be a model railway, a…

Not far to the North…. Dear friends I am constantly impressed by how Iceland handles the fact it is living on top of a volcano. Or, rather, a whole heap of volcanoes. They have a vast web of detectors and instruments, measuring things like earthquakes, and crustal deformation. Satellites, lasers and many teams of scientists are keeping an eye on all the…

Wholly War Dear friends, At the other end of the village two neighbours hate each other. One has grown a high hedge, and lives comfortably. He manages his resources and businesses well, and turns a good profit from his farm and small enterprises. The other neighbour has little money and his house is too small for his very large family, which he…

Hey Alexa ! Dear friends Whether we like it or not, AI (“Artificial Intelligence”) is already all around us and here to stay. It is on your phone, making suggestions for the next word you might need as you type a text or message. It is on your computer, underneath the “voice to text” function that learns not only how you speak…

Moments of Wonder Dear friends, It could be the glory of a sunset, filling the horizon across warm seas, that compels you to stop, and for once just look. It could be the surprise of a new song, or piece of music, that invokes a tear, a memory, or reminds you of a special person. It could be something very small that…

Congratulations Dear friends, It is a season for celebration. In a time when our news media delights to share nothing but bad news, there is yet much to rejoice in, and thank God for. For example, how about Nigel Dunstan and Alison Mitchell, who are getting married this coming Saturday at Checkendon Church? Or Geoff and Debi Hornsby who on Sunday celebrated…

A rolling stream Dear friends Many journeys are made in the course of our lives. Some we plan, carefully, methodically – tours, holidays, and the like. Some are part of the routine of our being – to our workplace, to the shops, to the garage or to a family member. Some journeys are made in hope, others in anticipation, expectation or even…

The earth shook Dear friends, …but it was not for the Lord’s return, rather the sound check for the PA system ahead of the CheckFest on Saturday. A small event this time last year, with one band, a bar and some food, grew to two bands, and more stalls, a larger bar and an almost exponential increase in the numbers attending, much…

Unsteady State Dear Friends The bubblings over of the inner tensions in Russian government should warn us not to assume that the war in Ukraine is something contained, or bounded. Our lives continue to be profoundly affected by the economic aftershocks of the conflict; fuel prices rises threw petrol on inflationary fires already started by the pandemic; hurried re-armament by western nations…