

Martin Luther once said that a Christian is simultaneously and paradoxically both a saint and a sinner. A Christian is at the same time holy and corrupt, righteous and wicked, blameless and defiled. They are sinners who have been declared holy, righteous, and blameless through faith in Jesus Christ.
November sees us celebrating the festival of All Saints. A passage often used on the day is part of ...

Arrival – burdened, questioning, hurting.
Who am I? Where am I? Why did I?
Have I been faithful to God’s calling all those years ago?
What have I lost about and within myself?
What comes next?
Retreat.
Not to escape, but to face the challenge
To listen, to respond.
Whether the voice is still and small and calm
or crashes like a thunderstorm.
The skies ...

I still miss my friend and I remember when I heard the news how guilty I felt: when he had been ...

It’s a fun programme. There’s the nervous cooks, the naughty presenters and the tough judges with a twinkle in their eyes. And it’s great to hear ...

That’s how our stories begin.
The tales we tell are of dragons and maidens and heroes,
of princes and princesses, of slippers, wolves and beanstalks.
These serve us well: grim tales to thrill the young, epic tales to enchant the old,
in which witches bewitch, elves fight battles (or mend small shoes)
and rings are uncovered and wonderlands discovered.
Journeys begin and end, wardrobe doors open and close,
treasure is lost and found, fellowships are forged ...


I rather like the idea of turning the expected ‘want list’ on its head and using the milestone in his life as a way of saying thanks to people who have been an encouragement, an inspiration, or a shoulder ...

There have been remarks nationally that this is not a time for remembering (which we do around November 11th each year) and it is hardly right to “commemorate” ...

Not drowning, not waving,
not floating, not falling,
not sinking, not swimming…
Just treading water.
Going nowhere in particular, but getting life done.
Sometimes it’s calm – and I am relaxed, not worried,
at peace and unhurried.
Sometimes it’s rough – the waves carry me to new parts of the same waters,
and life gets stormy.
But still I go nowhere in particular
and all there is for me
is being all at sea… Making an occasional splash,

I like to take a Bible verse or passage with me to chew over, reflect on and pray about, and this time I chose a verse from the prophet Jeremiah, which has been challenging and inspiring me: This is what the Lord says; stand at the crossroads and look; Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way ...

It was the bleeping dustcart
that awoke me from my retreat reverie.
Up till then, silence –
Apart from bleating sheep and chapel coughs, buzzing insects,
tweeting swifts and chirruping needleworkers.
Thoughts of coloured bins and waste
were something of a rude awakening!
As thoughts had not been on refuse,
but on rediscovery, reinterpretation, refreshment, renewal and reconnection.
How apt the Shepherd Psalm did seem:
“He leads me beside still waters, ...

I got back home just before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, and my break really did seem like a preparation for the 40 days of self-examination and turning to God, which continues through all this month as ...

Needless to say there were plenty of flying cars, communities on the Moon, and other developments such as robot servants that even now remain firmly embedded in an episode of Star Trek.
As the New Year begins I can say with some ...