I came late to the idea of the Advent wreath.  The church I went to when I was young had no wreath and very few candles over Advent.  Like Lent, everything was kept very sombre till the days immediately before Christmas.  I discovered Advent wreaths with  joy.  I  love having red candles amongst the greenery…

We have had some beautiful sunny autumn days recently. On one such day I cycled to Ipswich and came across these two murals on the walls along the Ipswich waterfront. The top mural was inspired by artist EVEWRIGHT as part of the Arts Eat Festival. It was hoped that it could be part of the…

When I was a little boy I got into trouble for writing on my bedroom wall. The writing was a record of the time I awoke each morning; I learned to tell the time at a younger age than all my peers thus buying myself the chance to read during ‘telling the time’ lessons at…

I’m  experimenting with sourdough.  Getting the “starter” going was interesting and rather messy  and took  a lot of time and a lot of patience.  At every stage there is a long wait, and I mean hours.  Because the yeast has to grow naturally you can’t rush it.  I’ve graduated to actually making sourdough bread now…

Today I nearly cried.  A television programme took my breath away.  It is rare for any programme to make be even consider becoming tearful; even ‘War Horse’ did not make me cry, (well not much). Probably if I had not walked past the DIY shop, I would not have come close to tears.  Today I…

If you start to make a list of all the things for which you want to thank God, then you will need a very large sheet of paper – a roll of backing paper used in decorating would do – for starters, anyway ! It’s almost certain that one of the items on your list…

This picture appeared on Facebook earlier this week and appeared to attract quite a bit of attention, my first reaction was one of amazement that in the knarled roots of an old tree, new life is sprouting forth and at face value, the picture is quite amazing and a wonder to behold.  Next week we…

“I fled Him down the nights and down the days..” The quote is from “The Hound of Heaven” by Francis Thompson.  Thinking of how God is always there for us and with us, if we’ll  only open ourselves to His presence, my mind wandered  to Thompson’s poem and how if fitted in with Jonah’s experience.…

The Methodist Church has a long history in responding to the needs of those suffering injustice. Much has been written about the early days of Methodism and its connection with the development of the Trade Union Movement. Fiona Taylor in her new book “The Sheltering Tree” takes up this theme once more. This book has…

When I couldn’t sleep the other night, my mind was going into overdrive!  I ended up thinking about a Thought for the Day.  I came up with the word “Presentation”.  I suppose at the back of my mind was “have I got all the presents” and Neil’s request for some more items.  But it went…