(Part of the fresco cycle inside the church at Nohant-Vic (France) represents the sixth chapter of Isaiah) The first time I encountered Isaiah 6:1-8 I was captivated by the contrast between the small man and the great big God. Previously my youthful picture of Isaiah was of a great prophet some of whose words I…

We all deal differently with major life changing events, especially bereavement; some of us cope by keeping busy while others withdraw from busy life. Some of us like to talk about our loss and others cannot bear to hear the name of a loved one who has died. There are no rules and no right…

Today we are in the midst of the week of prayer for Christian Unity. This coming Sunday is World Leprosy Day. There is a sense in which both are about recognising and including those whom we may often exclude. We are comfortable in our disjointed church; we worship with those with similar tastes in music,…

Some people radiate the presence of God when we are with them but a few can do it, even from a picture on a newspaper page. I was struck by this when looking at photographs of the late, The Right Reverend Desmond Tutu. Although an Archbishop and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu faced…

Just after sunrise on the shortest day I went out for a walk, wondering what to ‘think’ and to share on 6th January. This day is known as Epiphany and on this coming Sunday we reflect on The Baptism of The Lord. And then it was there – a setting moon in a clear blue…

One of Dame Vera Lynn’s wartime songs was ‘when the lights go on again all over the world’. The lyrics go on to talk about the permanence of love and marriage and ships sailing again after the dark years of the semi-stultified existence of war, or so I read it. Sunset can be a very…

Inevitably, I am writing this thought for 2022 before Christmas when it is difficult to second guess what the next fortnight will hold. When I was a child, I remember being warned not to wish for the end of things I did not like for that was to wish away life. I take the point.…

The impromptu and unofficial breaks in the conflict for a short time at Christmas in 1914 are a matter of history. For a short time, along the Western Front, English, French and German troops paused in their attempts at slaughter and exchanged greetings instead. There are reports of football being played in ‘no-man’s land’ between…

This coming Sunday will see many churches enjoying their carol services. Everywhere, notwithstanding COVID worries, people will be looking forward to what Christmas means to them. For Christians there is the bonus of the celebration of the wondrous event of God incarnate, the arrival of the Christ-child. I wonder how the cousins Mary and Elizabeth…

I have not forgotten the phrase that I first heard at school, ‘don’t do what I do – do what I tell you’. The implication of that is that it is possible to steer people one way while actually travelling another way. Those who try to operate like that underestimate the effect of lives lived…