When we think about slavery we tend to think of the relatively recent past and the dilemmas thrown up by wealth derived from slavery, or we think about modern slavery. All this is about abuse and the curtailment of the lifestyle of one person or group by another person or group. Yes, that is simplistic…

Christine O’Neil’s recent Thought about William Blake’s ‘Jerusalem’ concluded, ‘Jerusalem is very popular, but is it a hymn?’. I have been thinking about that question ever since, having almost never chosen Jerusalem in over forty years leading worship. Indeed, it is absent from many hymn books. Like many people, I like the rousing tune and…

I am not usually forthcoming in conversations with taxi drivers. When at work I am inclined to be preoccupied with thoughts of the day ahead. Often, in foreign countries, the language barrier precludes discussion. My driver in Helsinki recently was different. It turned out that this man had given up his business because cancer forced…

I have a weakness for overusing the exclamation mark in written exchanges, especially in those short replies that are a feature of social media ‘correspondence’. Punctuation is important, and to over use is to devalue the impact of something that should be more than a throw-away symbol. The same is true of the careless deployment…

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin, a significant figure in early American history, coined a phrase that is still quoted today. He said, ‘Nothing is certain except death and taxes’. Sunday 12th June is Tax Justice Sunday; an opportunity for churches simultaneously to address the two certainties that Benjamin Franklin spoke of. We have a gospel that…

Her Majesty The Queen was born the year before my late father. For a couple of years before he died, Father was constantly speculating about whether this weekend would ever come. Whoever you are and whatever your views on royalty generally and the British Royal Family particularly, today no one can deny the human achievement…

A few years ago, I remember, I tentatively suggested that a Church I was working with may like to consider having a service on Ascension Day. We agreed to go ahead and for a year or two a faithful few gathered to remember this remarkable moment in our liturgical year. Now many of us let…

I have always been fascinated by old clocks; the intricacy of a mechanism is astounding but so is the precision of time keeping that is possible when all is well. We have inherited several clocks which tick away happily and require almost no attention apart from their weekly wind. The cogs in a clock movement…

When I was about 19 one of our farm hedgerows was cut down because it need to be rejuvenated. I walked past is recently and 40+ years later it is healthy and strong. All those years ago, a kindly man cut me a thumb stick from a fine piece of hawthorn as reminder of the…

A family member attended a funeral recently at which a hymn was sung that none of us had ever come across before. It has vanished from use and seems not to be in any of the resources I have access to, both printed hymn books or online. Thinking about old hymns reminded me of one…