Continuing my thoughts about Our Heavenly Father and earthly fathers, I am looking at a friend Michael’s experiences of his father. Born in Australia, Michael lived for his first 7 years happily with his mother and father, mainly in New Guinea where his father, an ordained Methodist minister, was serving as a missionary with the…

Continuing my thoughts about experiences of fathers, and the Fatherhood of God, – I have often spent time with Kate, a friend, for whom the whole subject of her father brings back very painful memories. When she was 10 her father left the family to start a new relationship, moving 250 miles away to make…

I recently heard 2 sermons about the concept of God as Father and have been inspired to think about how people are able to accept this, bearing in mind their different experiences of parenting and specifically of fathers. It is a big step to move from seeing God as Creator of the universe to accepting…

I started this series on public transport by talking about my experiences of my local bus service and moved on to various types of trains. It’s now time to write about plane travel, which is the most difficult for a variety of reasons.   In recent years many Christians have become very concerned about the way…

One of the last public duties the late Queen Elizabeth undertook was to open the new Elizabeth Line in May 2022. A new route spanning 73 miles from Shenfield in Essex to Reading in Berkshire, this huge engineering project had cost 18.8 billion pounds. Huge boring machines had moved 7 million tonnes of earth from…

The Mood of Christmas  By Howard Thurman When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the Shepherds are back with their flock. The work of Christmas begins, To find the lost. To heal the broken. To feed the hungry.…

In my village an outdoor carol event is held each year at 7pm on Christmas Eve. Carols, Bible readings and a large crib are organised by the 4 local congregations and a clergy or congregation member gives a very short address. Although laid on by the churches it is very much a village event and…

Christmas is not an easy time for people with disabilities or age related health problems.  The Alzheimers Society warn people annually that Christmas festivities may adversely affect those living with dementia. Family parties, where people gather who have not met for some time, can create confusion and even distress for the person who has cognitive…

In the Northern hemisphere the seasons fit well into the churches calendar. As we descend into a time of limited daylight hours, dark mornings and evenings and cold conditions we remember in our churches the time of darkness that the Jews went through in the two centuries before Jesus’ birth. They came through a period…

I was in the process of writing this reflection, on the subject of train travel, when I heard about the horrific stabbings on the train on Saturday November 1st. In recognition of that significant event, I will pray for the victims as I close. My love of train travel goes back to childhood. Once I…