Thought for the Week

  • Christ and Asylum Seekers

    As I write this, the town of Thetford in Norwich has experienced its third night of violence originating from anti-immigrations protests. There are of course a range of views on migration; I suspect most people would accept there is a need for regulation of who comes into the country. It is certainly not for me…

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  • The Heaven’s are Telling

    The author of Psalm 19 must have enjoyed looking at the night sky, for (s)he wrote “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge”. Similar ideas existed in Ancient Greece as philosophers reasoned that there was a form…

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  • Lasting Treasure

    So the World Cup is over but soon the new football season will start! Sport never ends, as soon as one tournament is decided, the preparation begins for the next. And very quickly past achievements fade away and are replaced by the struggle of the new challenge. This of course is not just restricted to…

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  • Building Bridges

    This is adapted from a piece written by Maggie Ritchie, our benefice secretary. Today, our world is full of scattering: families uprooted by war,  communities displaced by conflict or climate events, people forced to move for work, safety, or survival, social fragmentation that leaves many feeling spiritually scattered. However, God’s mission is not tied to…

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  • Folk Tale

    Vicars are meant to be people of prayer. I offer to pray for people; it can seem very inadequate but it is often all I can do. The problem is that I am not very good at it. I take some comfort from the poet RS Thomas (who I recently wrote about). Thomas found his…

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  • Emptying

    Another week, another holiday… This time it was a couple of days between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, with a splendid walk on Monday over Wild Boar Fell, using the Settle to Carlisle Railway. I would like to say that I spent the day in prayer and praise, thanking God for the majesty…

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  • The Two Monks

    The Lord Crewe Arms is a pub in the village of Blanchland, in Northumberland. I have friends there, so I visit the pub from time to time. There was an abbey at Blanchland; one of the bars of the pub is in a crypt from one of the monastery buildings. Every time I go in…

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  • The Waves

    I have just come back from a short break to Aberdaron, on the Llyn Peninsula in Wales. It was the parish of R.S. Thomas, a priest but also a poet whose work I love. The door of the church on the sea front was open and the only sound was of the waves. In front…

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  • VAR

    Video assisted refereeing, or VAR, is a topic the provokes strong opinions amongst followers of football. It uses video and computers in an effort to eliminate refereeing errors. Many people in this country started to call for it after a World Cup game in 201o against Germany when England were denied a goal because the…

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  • The Green Man

    High in the roof of Highley Church is a wooden carving of a face of a bearded man, his mouth open. He is the nearest we have in any of our local churches to a representation of the “Green Man”, a symbol that was very popular in Medieval times and who has recently undergone something…

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