News (Page 24)

Lectionary Reflections – Sunday 22nd February 2026

First Sunday in Lent                                     Year A                         22nd February 2026 Lectionary Readings: Genesis 2 v15-17, 3 v1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5 v12-19; Matthew 4 v1-11. We are no longer alone. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert so that the devil could test him. (Matthew 4v1). And when the test was completed, The…

He gives us the victory

If you follow football you will almost certainly be aware of a recent giant killing in the FA Cup when the holders, Crystal Palace, were knocked out by non-league Macclesfield Town who play their football six divisions below the Premier League. You may also recall a similar thing two years ago when Ipswich Town  lost…

Tailgating

Sometimes I wonder where the time has gone, I took my first driving test in March 1976 which means that it is almost fifty years since that momentous day, I had longed to learn to drive from being young and had my first lesson in my dad’s three wheeler van on my seventeenth birthday.  I…

Due process

Twenty years or more ago my father advised me to make sure I had a lasting power of attorney in place well ahead of needing it. We have recently gone through the tortuous process of creating and registering the necessary documents so that we can be supported should it become necessary. It is a long…

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Last week I found out that February 4th was the 120th anniversary of Bonhoeffer’s birth. It was too late to write about him on that date but I didn’t want the occasion to go by without paying tribute to a Christian leader whose life and death inspired me as a teenager and still inspires me…

Acts 8

Readers familiar with the Bible will recognise that the heading refers to a book and chapter, and some will immediately be aware that it records a fascinating story. A Christian man called Philip is preaching in a city called Samaria, the crowds “paid close attention to what he said” and the outcome was “there was…

Australia Part 4 – On the rocks

The Rocks is a suburb of Sydney near the famous harbour bridge. It is named such because of the sandstone outcrops that dominated the landscape. These were quarried, filled and terraced over the centuries to conform with what the European vision of civilisation. Now it is a maze of alleys and terraced housing with chic…