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Why Do We Pray?
Some people find prayer easy; I am not one of those. Sometimes there are situations or people I can focus on, but without these, I struggle. At least, I struggle with prayer as a shopping list, but there are other ways and reasons to pray. One of my inspirations is the poet and priest R.S.
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Leaders
In many different spheres, leaders have recently been in the news. Let’s start with the most important; Gareth Southgate has stood down from being manager of England; after 8 years at the helm, he wants a change. Then we have the changing of the guard in Government; I have been struck by the gracious exchanges
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Just One Thing
I don’t think I ever watched Dr Michael Mosley on the TV. I did note the circumstances of his death, which seem to have been due to a tragic miscalculation on his part whilst walking. As a hill walker now in his 60s, that had an uncomfortable resonance with me. What I did not expect
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Simon Boas
I had not heard of Simon Boas until a few days ago. He is an aid worker, living (as I write) with terminal cancer; he has written a book “A beginners guide to dying”, which will be published in October, although by then he expects to be dead. He was interviewed on the radio very
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How Mother Theresa Prayed
Despite being a vicar, I still feel a little stab of panic if I am asked to stand up on the spur of the moment and pray. I am not a good conversationalist and I struggle for words. A monk once joked, “never ask a monk to pray; we can’t do that without a book”
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Not Business as Usual
Recently, I was talking with a group of friends. We all were university teachers, but also of a certain age, with retirement fast approaching. So, as people of a certain age are prone to do, we looked back. We discussed what advice we might give to our younger selves; if we were forty years younger,
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Manifestos
We are now at the mid-point of the general election campaign. All candidates have now been declared; leaflets are starting to appear through doors, the manifestos have been published. The Church of England has responded by publishing a short booklet, “Pray your part”, with reflections and prayers for each of the last 21 days of
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When the Drums Begin to Roll
I write this just after coming back from Billingsley Church, where 13 of us from all parishes in the benefice gathered for a short service to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. It would have been the right thing to do if I had said prayers alone to an empty church, but it was good
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The Candidates
Another 5 weeks of party political broadcasts, leaflets through the door plus goodness what via “social media” which, mercifully, passes me by unaware. And at the end, as one vicar commented a century ago, we will have one bunch of sinners replaced by another bunch of sinners. Or the same sinners if they are re-elected.
Benefice of Highley with Billingsley, Glazeley and Deuxhill and Chelmarsh
Knowing Jesus and Making Him Known
