News (Page 284)

God, knows us.

Continuing my thoughts on the works of the Italian renaissance artist, Piero della Francesca brings me today to a small painting displayed in the tiny Tuscan village of Monterci ,close to the artist’s home of Sansepocro  For many years the fresco painting, Madonna del Parto was to be viewed in the small chapel of the…

Lectionary reflections for Sunday 4th October 2020

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time         Year A                                    4th October 2020. Lectionary Readings Isaiah 5 v1-7.                         A song about a vineyard. Philippians 3 v4b-14. Being acceptable to God. Matthew 21 v33-46.              Tenants of a vineyard. “Are you receiving me? Over” Like a radio operator, Jesus is asking his listeners, (Chief Priests, Temple Leaders, Teachers…

October Circuit Plan

This is a copy of the Circuit Plan for October 2020 – We are slowly trying to open more Churches due to the Coronavirus situation. Not all the Churches will be open every week – Please check on Facebook / Websites etc for up to date information. We are continuing to provide online services every…

Gold and Jewels ?

When the great ocean liner Titanic sank in 1912 it was rumoured to have gone down with a fortune in jewels and gold. That longstanding myth was dispelled, however, by the discovery of the ship’s manifest, which showed that the ship was carrying raw feathers, linen, straw, hatter’s fur, tissue, auto parts, leather, rabbit hair,…

Masking out the emotion

We had a lovely open air service during August and I learned that I needed to acquire yet another new skill thanks to the Covid experience, that of identifying members of the congregation, while wearing face masks.  The task was particularly difficult that particular day with some of our lady’s who were wearing big hats,…

God, close to us

The Italian renaissance artist, Piero della Francesca, was a civic councillor in Sansepolcro, Tuscany. His first commission for the town as an artist was his Baptism of Christ, which has found a home in the National Gallery, London. This is one of my all, time favourite paintings. It shows Christ being baptised by John with…

The joy of painting

What TV programmes in the height of Lockdown did you find helpful? One of the most popular was a 1970’s programme “The Joy of Painting” presentedby Bob Ross, a well-loved and inspirational presenter. Bob is an artist and his particular passion is landscapes. It was truly amazing towatch him take a blank canvas and turn…

The power of personal testimony

Police Inspector Barry Wright was not just a policeman at Scotland Yard, he was also an ordained priest in the church of England.. The odd thing, looking back to his early life, is that, even as a child, he wanted to be both a policeman and a priest but he didn’t know what to do…