Eastertide Sunday 5A, 10th May 2020 And so the Church gradually organises itself, or rather, allows itself to be organised by Christ. At first directly, as here with Thomas and Philip, and later more indirectly through the Spirit, as with the choosing of ‘deacons’ to serve the Greek-speaking widows. And …
The English Martyrs, 4th May 2020 Softly this Sunday morningof sunlight and daffodilsThe thought comes to meThat with malign intent somewhereAt this particular momentPrising the sealed edges of integrityMan tortures man. I should like to pretend otherwiseBury my head in the sandof my Sunday complacency(the daffodils sing in my heart)Yet …
Eastertide Sunday 4A, 3rd May 2020 We’ve recently acquired a clock radio which, when set right, has faithfully been waking me up at 5.35 am and also faithfully taking me on a journey around the British Coast, both its inshore and offshore waters, followed by ‘Thought for the Day’, ‘Farming …
Saint Catherine of Siena, 29th April 2020 Catherine of Siena lived at a very turbulent time in a very turbulent setting among people threatened not only with the plague but with the constant warfare between the various Italian city states and with a Church divided between Avignon and Rome. Astutely, …
Eastertide Sunday 3A, 26th April 2020 Much essential goodness has been revealed in these past four weeks of ‘lock-down’. We have been checking on others to see if they are ‘all right’ and many more have been checking on us to see if we are all right. It’s been quite …
Saint George, 23rd April 2020 St George is a problematic saint for us on several counts, partly because of the lack of historical detail as to the original St George, and partly because of the legends which have since become attached, not least that of the slaying of the dragon. …
Low Sunday, 19th April 2020 John’s gospel, too, struggles with its ending. There is always more to say. Today’s passage seems to have been its original ending culminating, as it does, with Thomas’s recognition of Jesus as ‘Lord and God’ – a deliberate echo of the beginning of the gospel …
Easter Saturday, 18th April 2020 This is the beginning of the longer ending to Mark’s gospel, often seen as an addition to its true ending to ameliorate it in some way. In the shorter ending, the women run away from the tomb ‘frightened out of their wits’, in one translation, …
Easter Friday, 17th April 2020 Allowing for this gospel story, perhaps, to be from a separate tradition to other post-resurrectional stories of Jesus, could it not also be seen as a call to the wandering disciples to return once more to Jerusalem and begin their lives of witness from Jerusalem …
Easter Friday, 17th April 2020 Allowing for this gospel story, perhaps, to be from a separate tradition to other post-resurrectional stories of Jesus, could it not also be seen as a call to the wandering disciples to return once more to Jerusalem and begin their lives of witness from Jerusalem …
