The English Martyrs, 4th May 2021 It’s no accident, perhaps, that today has been chosen to commemorate both the martyrs who gave their lives in penal times in England, the first on this date in 1535, and those very many victims of abuse, sexual and otherwise, by priests and religious, …
Saints Philip and James, 3rd May 2021 We know relatively little about Philip and even less about James the Less. In today’s gospel reading Philip’s long apprenticeship with Jesus is, however, made clear and also Jesus’ exasperation with his lack, still, of full understanding: Have I been with you all …
Eastertide Sunday 5B, 2nd May 2021 Jo. Did you ever know a prayer?Never know nothink, Sir.Not so much as one short prayer?No, Sir. Nothink at all. Mr Chalbands he wos a-prayin wunst at Mr.Sangsby’s and I heerd him, but he sounded as if he wos a-speakin’ to hisself, and not …
Saint Catherine of Siena, 29th April 2021 As the Church’s liturgical cycle rolls on and presents each of us, and especially each person summoned to preach, with the challenge of making something new or worthwhile for others to hear and for oneself to understand, one can feel at a loss …
Eastertide Sunday 4B, 25th April 2021 A powerful surge passed through Olney on Thursday morning: two powerfully built dark grey limousines with darkened windows accompanied by eight or so police outriders, several in front clearing the way, as the cortege swept through. It was impressive to suddenly see this power …
Feast of Saint George, 23rd April 2021 The headlines are not good: Putin massing his forces on the borders of Ukraine (under cover of Covid, one might say); China determined to suppress any dissidents in Hong Kong and to take Taiwan, and wars and insurgencies pretty well everywhere else – …
Eastertide Sunday 3B, 18th April 2021 It takes time to emerge from ‘lockdown’, and courage too. The disciples are hearing stories now that something momentous has, indeed, taken place in Jerusalem. That the empty tomb signals not further loss but a fulfilment which changes everything. It’s as if the pandemic …
Eastertide Sunday 2B, 11th April 2021 Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe. That’s quite a graphic statement and very black …
Easter Monday, 5th April 2021 We have been acting the last few days ‘as if’ Christ were dead and ‘as if’ Christ is risen and ‘as if’ God exists – and that ‘as if’ is very important. Here it is in the words of the naturalist and natural history writer …
Pentecost, 31st May, 2020 Perhaps the deepest irony, or mystery, of our faith is that when it is fulfilled God disappears from sight. The danger then becomes that we fill this ‘space’ with the imagery of faith rather than the fact of it, with the things of God, rather than …
