On my recent visit to Ickworth House I was very taken by the beautiful old olive tree. It is over 100 years old and is very impressive with a bounty of green leaves. Olive trees have been growing for millennia and used for their oil and fruit. Olive trees in the Bible are rich in symbolism, representing peace, blessing and…
I’m sure that you, like me, were horrified to hear of a recent court case in which grandparents were found guilty of the death of their grandson through ‘casual cruelty’. Any violence to anyone as a one-off crime of anger or passion is bad enough, but the idea of it being casual or habitual towards…
Last night (as I write this) was the occasion of the annual school production by older children in the Primary School where I am a Governor. As I watched I thought about the privilege of supporting an event that encourages children but with whom I have no directly vested interest. All around in the auditorium…
Today’s thought for the day is brought to us by Laura Kerr www.christianaid.org.uk Beauty and wonder of creation. Something to read O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! Psalm 95:6. Something to think about I wonder where you feel God’s presence most tangibly? Maybe it’s in…
This week, our 10 minute service reflects on Luke 7:38.
For the first 28 years of my working life, I was employed by one of the major banks. At my first branch, most of the business was transacted face to face, by telephone or by handwritten letters. I am not sure if a copy was retained, and it was before photocopiers. On my transfer to…
John Wesley’s theology of Christian Perfection by William M Greathouse MA, DDWesley Fellowship, 1989 (Occasional Paper No. 4) 24 pages £2 This is a paper presented to the Wesley Fellowship in October 1988 by Dr William Greathouse of the Church of the Nazarenes. So much has been published on John Wesley’s doctrine of Christian Perfection…
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 27th July 2025 Lectionary readings: Genesis 18 v20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2 v6-15; Luke 11 v1-13. Gifts to help us with Prayer, Intercession and Petition. In today’s gospel reading, Luke groups together some of Jesus’ teaching on the subject of prayer. In response to the disciples…
As we move from July into August my garden looks drier and drier, the lawn looks more brown than green, and the beautiful flowers have dropped their colourful display, and frankly everything looks a bit of a mess. The field that last year was bedecked with a marquee to hold 140 is now a field…
Jill and I love going to Garden Centres; but even after many visits to places as big as The Botanical Gardens in Wales and the Eden project in Cornwall and the less ambitious but just as interesting Garden Centres such as Thetford I am still hopeless at recognising flowers – weeds I seem to have…