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Empathy in Action?
A few weeks ago, I had a couple of uneasy encounters with people who were disillusioned with church. The incidents were nothing to do with the local church and nothing I had any influence over. I simply had to listen as they vented their frustration. I tried to explain where I could, but mainly I…
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A Trip to Bardsey Island
Earlier this week, I had a couple of days in North Wales, just outside Aberdaron on the Lleyn Peninsula. There I achieved a long-standing ambition; I took a boat to spend a day on Bardsey Island, off the tip of the peninsula. Bardsey has long been known as a Holy Island; tradition has it that…
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Ground Zero
I am writing this on the 25th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, when terrorists hijacked two planes and flew them into the twin towers of the building, causing them to collapse and kill over 3000 people. That afternoon I had to meet a solicitor; he compared it to the…
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The Long Game
A couple of years ago, I heard Rowan Williams, the last-but-one Archbishop of Canterbury, give a talk. He is a deep thinker and someone who I greatly respect. After the talk, he was asked about the current state of the Church of England. He was tactful but said that he had never known the church…
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The Silence of Eternity
A few weeks ago, I shared a poem by R.S. Thomas in which he spoke of the apparent emptiness that can accompany prayer; the most he ever saw was “the flickering of the curtains” as he imagined he was praying to God in a house. I said that this is an experience I know well.…
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Defender of the Faith
King Charles is “Defender of the Faith”. This one of the historic titles of the monarch. It was originally granted to King Henry VIII by the Pope when Henry wrote a book defending the Roman Catholic faith against the charges brought by the Protestant reformers. A few years later, when Henry fell out with the…
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Brother Sun
How was the eclipse for you? My pin-hole camera was not a great success; I saw a disc, I persuaded myself it did get smaller but it was hardly spectacular. The birds probably did go silent; not so some of the nearby parties. But I did notice how it seemed that dusk had arrived; it…
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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…
Benefice of Highley with Billingsley, Glazeley and Deuxhill and Chelmarsh
Knowing Jesus and Making Him Known
