I have no knowledge of penguins, let alone keeping one, and I’m never really quite sure which ‘arctic’ they come from. For me they had always been the stuff of
Author: blog
Heavy Snow
A couple of weeks ago the country heard alarming news: ‘The snow is on its way!’ Apocalyptic visions, whipped up by the mainstream media triggered a great panic, despite the
Let us stand together
It cannot have escaped your notice during the last few months that Donald Trump is a figure that divides opinion. It cannot also have escaped your notice that we are
A new broom for 2017
As one year ends and another begins, many of us will spend moments contemplating the time that has past and that which is to come. Much of this shared over
God’s Child
I have two abiding images of this last week. One of the experience of my ordination as Bishop in Canterbury Cathedral, surrounded by the love and the prayers of so
Eternal Champions
I love football! Since the age of about 6 it has been my favourite sport, and has had the ability to occupy my attention for hours on end – playing,
Welcome to the new Archdeacon of Cheltenham
Bishop Rachel has announced the appointment of a new Archdeacon
A ship called dignity
For me, the last word on the extraordinary American election season was a tweet from Irish author Damien Owens. It has the now infamous image of Donald Trump at a
Credo
When it comes to matters around systems of belief, Prof Kwame Appiah, cultural theorist, in his Reith lectures argues that changing practices change belief overtime. His additional talks on Country and
Suffering
I thought I’d explain why God allows suffering in the world, knock that one on the head because, let’s face it, the question’s been rumbling on for a while now.
The Great British Bake Off – our mission field?
Watching contestants checking for soggy bottoms and sitting on the floor peering anxiously into ovens is not everyone’s idea of gripping television entertainment – but in our house it is.
Romantic Meetings
I’m retiring soon, so I’m in reflective mode. And I had a thought. How much of my life in business and the church have I spent in meetings? Weeks, months,
What impact does wildlife tourism have?
The drama around the gorilla that escaped from its enclosure at London Zoo left visitors shocked this week. And it is one of a number of recent close encounters with
What Libraries can do for Churches
In this season of conferences, I thought I would share a key message from a conference I went to last week. This was the triennial conference of the Cathedral Libraries
What if…?
It’s hard to imagine how much has changed for those living through the unrest in Syria. Not so long ago families went shopping, lived in houses with all mod-cons and
War, what is it good for?
The images of Aleppo are almost too painful to look at. How did Syria’s largest and once most prosperous city, a UNESCO world heritage site, end up like a version
Keeping church moving
One Sunday morning, at the 8 o’clock Eucharist, I stood before a bleary-eyed churchwarden who had stayed up until 5am watching the Olympics! And I was reminded of the words
God gets under my skin
We were tucking into our pasties next to a ridiculously Cornish-cream beach and blue-green sea when the conversation turned to tattoos. The Beloved fancies something discrete and pretty but hasn’t
‘Olympic-less-ness’
I heard this phrase on the radio this week and like many others I do feel the loss of watching this amazing sporting event on TV over the last nineteen
Rio brings out the best in humanity
I freely admit that I am obsessed with the Olympic Games – it’s the same every four years. I find new sports each time to become engrossed in and I
Focus like an Olympian…
I take my hat off to Adam Peaty, winner of the first Team GB Olympic Gold Medal in Rio this week. It was an astonishing victory in the 50m breaststroke
Droning on…
I’m sure many people saw the news item last week about drones being used to deliver packages and thought they were living in an episode of Tomorrow’s World. The prospect
Love is the answer
As a Christian and someone who also predominantly works within the realms of Sharia law, I am always in wonder at the relevance of faith in the world today. It
Dual citizenship
The blog has been dominated by politics for the last few weeks. It is our nation’s preoccupation, and as Christians we have dual citizenship, in our nation and in the
