Tag: Word

Thou Visitest the Earth

October 26, 2024

This article was first published in the September 2021 issue of our parish magazine.
About a year ago, in the autumn of 2020 we had endured a full national lockdown, a summer of somewhat eased restrictions, and were entering a time of less-than-clear tiered restrictions. If memory serves, that meant that worshippers could attend services in person, but had to remain seated throughout, keep a mask on at all times, and absolutely no singing whatsoever … More Thou Visitest the Earth

Harvest 2024

October 13, 2024

I’ll be honest harvest is a festival that I have always struggled with especially as a child. I think it is very much a case of the festival has, at times, gotten behind what’s really happening in the world … More Harvest 2024

Because it’s there

September 24, 2024

I need mountains. I realised this first when, as a student, I lived in Cambridge. When I went out for a walk the land was completely flat and featureless, the paths straight. I remember a similar feeling later visiting my brother in Ontario, and finding the roads in the agricultural area where he lived all went either north-south or east-west, on a grid like the streets in New York. There were no hills to get in the way. It made navigation easy, but it was so boring … More Because it’s there

We played for you, and you would not dance.

September 23, 2024

We know even less about John the Baptist’s early life than we do about Jesus’. He was just a few months older than Jesus, but the first time we meet him since his birth he’s out in the wilderness preaching. It’s a little hard for us to imagine, as in our crowded country we are never far from civilisation. The Judean wilderness near the river Jordan is not huge – it’s 60 miles long, but only 13 miles wide, so you are always going to be able to walk out of it, if necessary. It’s warm in the winter, and hot in the summer and dry all year so there’s very little vegetation … More We played for you, and you would not dance.

The Beatitudes

September 15, 2024

Matthew’s Beatitudes, which are all blessings, are spoken by Jesus on a hill or mount and we can be fairly certain that Matthew was directing this at mainly a Jewish audience making Jesus a bit more elite.  Whilst Luke’s Beatitudes are given on a plain and Jesus has gone down to be with the crowd and it is directed more at a Gentile audience, making Jesus more inclusive to everyone, but specifically for the disciples who needed reassurance … More The Beatitudes