As Easter approaches Karen and I are starting the process of packing up our home ready for our move to Dereham during the summer. I always find packing the most difficult of tasks, chiefly because no two houses are exactly the same size and shape, and apart from simply packing our entire life into boxes,…
Tomorrow, the 17th March is Saint Patrick’s Day. There are no definite dates for him but it is generally thought that he was a 5th-century Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland. When he was 16, he was captured by Irish pirates and taken from his home in Britain to be a slave. During this time,…
Last time I visited the grandchildren, I used a colourful shopping bag printed on the outside with pictures of flying bees. This caught the attention of my son’s partner who had recently been teaching the children about British wildlife and she called the youngest granddaughter over. Pointing to a particular flying bee, she said to…
It takes courage to speak in public. Some people become nervous, even in small gatherings, even among friends. This nervousness is often driven by a lack of certainty in what we are saying, to develop an opinion by thinking aloud makes us vulnerable. I am writing this on the day of the funeral, in a…
Today’s contributor, Kathy Galloway is a practical theologian and former co-leader of the Iona Community. www.christianaid.org.uk/resources/pray The Lord will have compassion. Something to read The Lord will not reject for ever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone. –…
This week, our 10 minute service reflects on 1 Peter 2:24.
In two of the smaller rooms in our home, we have heat/light bulbs that prove beneficial at colder parts of the day. On one occasion, a visitor was using the facilities and, because he was tall, soon became aware of the heat on his head! We would not have known of this if he had…
Fifth Sunday in Lent Year B 17th March 2024 Lectionary Readings: Jeremiah 31 v31-34; Psalm 51 v1,2; Hebrews 5 v5-10; John 12 v20-33. ‘Freedom from bondage’ and ‘Daring to think differently’. John, writing at the end of the first century, was mindful of the everyday persecution suffered by Christian communities spread across the…
I recently joined with a group of us from Elmsett to visit one of our church members who has been in hospital following a severe stroke. He had suggested that we could meet in the chapel at All Hallows, Ditchingham and share in worship together. It was wonderful to have a full church with voices…
Thankfully, my Mum was one of those people who wrote on the back of photographs, and the narrative on the reverse of this one reads “October 27th 1963, Derek’s birthday party” that means that I was five at the time and this is possibly the last time that my Dad sat me on knee, I…