Reflections

Our Bishop, Bishop Rachel, wrote this week about Ash Wednesday. She began by noticing the way that in the argument in the Oval Office last week between President Trump, Vice President Vance and President Zelensky, there was a lot of…

On Sunday we attended the baptism of our great nephew Arlo in a village church in Somerset. The setting was quite traditional, but the vicar gave a lovely welcome to the families who had come for the baptism, and was…

I wonder what you notice about the two main characters in our reading? In Jerusalem was a man by the name of Simeon. He was an upright man, devoted to the service of God, living in expectation of the “salvation…

I believe that one fine day, that the power of love will rise above the love of power. We learnt this together at this year’s Carol Service – and did pretty well!  The words feel so relevant for this past…

I wonder what the heart of Christmas is for you? Call the Midwife, obviously… But not just the day itself – the meaning? In an email that Jo and I got this week, Simon Parke says this: Whatever our personal…

Last Sunday evening we had a service in our church called Quiet Christmas – a chance to get away from all the noise and business, and to listen. To listen more deeply to the troubles of the world. To listen…

Our reading is a great story which is very appropriate to Advent and connects to a very famous icon… The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He…

Last week many churches celebrated All Saints Day. It’s good to remember that saints are not perfect people who float about doing good, with shining halos like in stained glass windows. Saints are people struggling to follow the way of…