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Bishop Marianne Budde on Hope
Some may recognise the name of Marianne Budde; she is the Bishop of Washington who preached at the inauguration of President Trump back in January; her sermon, on Christian values, did not go down well with the president. These are extracts from a blog she wrote in June; I would encourage you to read it
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The Faith of Benjamin Britten
A new exhibition has recently opened featuring art associated with the iconic 20th century composer, Benjamin Britten. I do not particularly like his music but he was a towering figure in the cultural life of this country in the mid-20th century. He was commissioned to write religious music, especially “War Requiem” for the consecration of
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Lord it’s Hard to be Humble
I recently received an email from a clerical colleague. It was an invitation to a meeting. Immediately there came another email from the same colleague, trying to correct the date for the meeting. Unfortunately that date was still wrong. I took some delight in replying to point this out, until I recalled that earlier in
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The Common bond
The day after the killing of two worshippers at the synogogue in Manchester, a day that will almost certainly see more civilian casualties in Gaza, it is difficult for me to find any words. But this morning, I heard the Bishop of Manchester, Dave Walker, speak out about what perhaps is the worse danger of
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Hypatia, Charlie Kirk and Martyrdom
Hypatia is not a person who is well known, but in 415 in Alexandria in Egypt, she was a celebrity. She was a leading philosopher, noted for her learning. She was also a pagan. In that year, she was attacked by a mob and killed; some attributed her death to rabble-rousing by the Bishop of
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A Little Church
I’m in the middle of harvest festivals at the various churches at which I serve and a friend recently sent me this poem by EE Cummings. It speaks to me. I am a little church (no great cathedral) far from the splendour and squalor of hurrying cities – I do not worry if briefer days
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The Chapel
This weekend is Ride and Stride, the annual fund-raising event for the Shropshire Historic Churches Trust. I offer one of my favourite poems by R.S. Thomas by way of response. The Chapel A little aside from the main road, becalmed in a last-century greyness, there is the chapel, ugly, without the appeal to the tourist
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Quietly Sneaking Up
Last month, I ticked off one more item from my bucket list; I descended Gaping Gill. Gaping Gill is one of the most spectacular underground caverns in the country. It is 300 feet from its opening to the bottom, a cavern the size of a cathedral and several water falls descending from the top. The
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Thoughts and Prayers
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church.” These are the reported words of the Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Fry, after two children were killed and 13 seriously injured in a mass shooting in a
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The Lone Biker
As I drew up to Billingsley Church yesterday, I noticed a motor bike outside. Now the Bishop of Hereford is a biker so my first reaction was panic was that he was doing an unannounced inspection of the church. But on looking closer, the bike didn’t look like his Harley Davison. On entering the churchyard,
Benefice of Highley with Billingsley, Glazeley and Deuxhill and Chelmarsh
Knowing Jesus and Making Him Known
