‘‘The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.” Mark 6:30 It has been disconcerting hearing children’s voices from the playgrou… Read More

“For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man” Mark 6:20 We read the Gospel passage from Mark Chapter 6 and we say, “This is the Gospel of the Lord&r… Read More

The Nineties are recalled in Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time, they are times that seem now so long ago and so different that they belong to a different age. The story descr… Read More

“So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.” Mark 6:12 Return, reject, refuse and reject are four words that capture a sense of Saint Mark Chapter 6 Verses 1-13. Jes… Read More

An overwhelming majority on the basis of less than 40% of the vote.  It would cause a shortage of soup. On 10th October 1974, the day of the general election, the second to be held in B… Read More

Having had the privilege of teaching some truly exceptional students, I was prompted to ponder whether a school of a particular religious ethos had a particular vocation for such education… Read More

Sitting in a Liverpool cafe, my companion reflected on his youth in Belfast.  From a Protestant working class family, he believed his community had been misled by the unionist politicia… Read More

There was a sadness in the commemoration of the D-Day anniversary this month.  The undeniable truth was that in a few years’ time there will be no-one left who remembers.  Th… Read More

‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Mark 5:28 What do we make of such a story? What do we make of the tale of this poor woman whose savings had been drained by doc… Read More

“Other boats were with him”. Mark 4:36 The Gospel reading is a familiar story. The calming of the storm from Saint Mark’s Gospel Chapter 4 is a story that many people will… Read More

“Other boats were with him”. Mark 4:36 The Gospel reading is a familiar story. The calming of the storm from Saint Mark’s Gospel Chapter 4 is a story that many people will… Read More

“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground” Mark 4:26 It is a little early in the year to sing hymns for harvest thanksgiving, the fields are still gre… Read More

The Barfleur, it seems it is only thirty years old, it seems older. Google says it once snapped the chain of the Sandbanks ferry, today Poole Harbour is exited without incident. Awarene… Read More

“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” Mark 3:35 Today’s Gospel reading can be though about with four questions about being lord. The first ques… Read More

ITV 3 had yet another old episode of Heartbeat. The police sergeant’s wife had developed a severe psychosis and the backing music used was Behind Blue Eyes by The Who. The song was the… Read More

A farmer I knew in rural Ulster was once challenged about haymaking on a Sunday. “Better the day, the better the deed,” he said, enigmatically, as he set off to return to the fie… Read More

There’s a story about a science teacher who was trying teach a group of fourth year boys. He stood at the front of the classroom explaining the subject when he noticed there was a boy… Read More

” . . . suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind” Acts 2:2 In Acts Chapter 2, Saint Luke describes that first day of Pentecost, that day on which… Read More

Yosser died yesterday. Well, Bernard Hill who embodied Yosser in Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff died yesterday. Yosser would have died long ago, prematurely, in poor he… Read More

‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ‘ John 15:12 I remember a morning more in the late 1990s, travelling by train from Larne on the Co Antrim… Read More

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower” John 15:1 What can we learn from Jesus when he talks about him being the vine and his followers being the branches? What ab… Read More

The Good Shepherd is imagined by each of us in a different way. Growing up in the pasturelands of the English West Country, a shepherd was a farmer who kept sheep. They grazed in fields, lam… Read More

Being 64 next birthday, there is little to be spending money on.  A rather battered thirteen year old Peugeot required €1,000 of expenditure in recent weeks, but otherwise a modest… Read More

“Jesus himself stood among them” Luke 24:36 Three words beginning with “w” capture a sense of the Gospel reading. In Saint Luke Chapter 24 Verse 41, we are told that… Read More

Popcorn by Hot Butter. I spent forty years not knowing what that piece of music was. For years I had imagined that it was something from the BBC Radiophonics workshop output in the 1970s bec… Read More

‘So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.’ Mark 16:8 With those words, the Gospe… Read More

“Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.” Mark 11:8 In the closing years of my parochial ministry, I gave u… Read More

‘Look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.’ John 4:35 Three words beginning with “f” can help us in our thoughts about Patrick and what his min… Read More

It was dipping my arms into the sink of hot water that recalled the memories. We were a blue collar family.  We lived in a semi-detached council house with an outside toilet.  Ther… Read More

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16 Mothering Sunday, a friend used to… Read More

“‘et them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ Mark 8:34 To be a follower of Jesus meant to be sent, to save one’s life meant to serve him, it mean… Read More

“He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan” Mark 1:13 With the passing years, Jesus’ experience in the wilderness seems more and more to reflect life. Isolation… Read More

“He was transfigured before them”.  Mark 9:2 Today’s Gospel reading, the story of the transfiguration of Jesus, can be thought about in four words: chosen, changed, ch… Read More

‘In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.’ Mark 1:35 The smartphone can be a curse.  Everywhere, all th… Read More

‘He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him’. Mark 1:27 We read the story of Jesus at Capernaum in 2024 and most people in most churches would tend to think of it as… Read More

‘Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.’ Mark 1:14 Teaching a classics lesson on Friday, I made a mistake. I put a medieval way of… Read More

‘Come and see.´  John 1:46 In the brief conversation between Philip and Nathanael in today’s Gospel reading there is much about what it means to be a follower of Jesus… Read More

‘US Moon Mission runs into technical hitch’ says a BBC headline this evening. To be honest, the entire space exploration enterprise seems to have hit the buffers fifty years ago… Read More

“And a voice came from heaven” Mark 1:11 The placenames Saint Mark uses in the story of the baptism of Jesus would have meant much more to the people of his time than they do to… Read More

Driving northward on the M5 motorway, the Mendip hills are passed on the right hand side.  Visible to the east, there is a deep cut in the steep ridge of the hills, Cheddar Gorge. … Read More

‘Poached.’ I assume it is Hiberno-English, or perhaps just part of the vernacular of farming life in rural Ireland. ‘Poached,’ describes the areas around gateways to… Read More

‘He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.‘ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ &lsq… Read More

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come” Mark 13… Read More

The Gospel reading for today is the familiar story of the sheep and the goats. It is one of the stories that Jesus told during his final days in Jerusalem. I never fully understood the story… Read More

“For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away” Matthew 25:29 What does… Read More

It used to be said that one could judge a man by the company he kept. If that is so then the Prime Minister of Israel is possibly delusional for there is no doubt that the extreme religious… Read More

Does one drink tea in the way that one might eat chocolate? As a comfort, as a distraction? Perhaps. Sitting drinking a mug of tea, slow, reflective music played on the radio. It seems that… Read More

“Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:13 The Gospel reading for today provides thoughts with which to reflect upon the events that led to… Read More

The month of November is a time of remembrance of loved ones. Perhaps the shortening days and the chill in the air are a reminder of the lurking shadow of mortality, a sense of how short our… Read More

‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s’. Matthew 22:21 What are the things we worship? For what or whom d… Read More

‘But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?’ Matthew 22:18 Hearing part of a conversation can be misleading, without knowi… Read More

‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you’. Saint Matthew Chapter 21 Verse 32 Jesus’ words would have outrage… Read More

‘Are you envious because I am generous?’ Matthew 20:15 ‘Call the labourers and give them their pay’, says the landowner in Saint Matthew Chapter 20 Verse 8, and each… Read More

‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Matthew 18:21 Forgiving those who have done you wrong is not easy, especially if the… Read More

‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ Matthew 18:20 Jesus will be there. Isn’t this what going to church is meant to be about? Isn’… Read More

‘Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ‘ Matthew 16:24 Reading the verse from the King Ja… Read More

Teaching religious education to secondary school students is a happy experience. There is a willingness to engage among the students, a preparedness to throw ideas into the discussion. When… Read More

‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?’ Matthew 15:12 Did you ever think about what makes bad tempered people the way they are? Did you ever… Read More

‘Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.’ Matthew 14:31 A former colleague died on Friday. Memories of him are plentiful but the one that remains strongest does no… Read More

‘He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.’  Matthew 14:19 Bein… Read More

Visiting Ypres last month, the list of places to be visited included Artillery Wood cemetery. It is a location that blends into the agricultural land around. Down a side road, it is a place… Read More

‘Have you understood all this? They answered, ‘Yes.’              Saint Matthew Chapter 13 Verse 51 It is six years ago today that I last… Read More

‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field.’ Matthew 13:24 Did you ever try to imagine what the parables meant for those to whom they were… Read More

‘You have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants’. Matthew 11:25 Teaching religious education to secondary school students has be… Read More

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Saint Matthew Chapter 10 Verse 40 I recently had the privilege of visiting a prominent J… Read More

Thirty-four years ago, tonight, an Elisha moment. In the Second Book of Kings in the Hebrew Scriptures, Elijah has been teaching Elisha and the time has come for Elisha to start out on his o… Read More

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28 Do we believe in Hell? Drawing on the bo… Read More

Sitting on a bench in the park at Auvers-sur-Oise yesterday, I pondered the face of the statue of Vincent van Gogh. Walking through Giverny this afternoon, there was a sense of how different… Read More

“He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him”. Matthew 9:9 It is odd to think that it is tw… Read More

Yesterday, it was the 106th anniversary of the Battle of Messines. Together with the former Irish army officer with whom I am tourin the Western Front, I went to the grave of Major Willie Re… Read More

‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.’ During my years of ministry in the church, today, Trinity Sunday, was the Sunday in the year when preaching a sermon was always… Read More

When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.’ John 20:22 Telling the story of Jesus many years after the events described had taken plac… Read More

‘Where are you from?’ asked the man beside me on the bus. ‘Somerset,’ I said. ‘I thought I could hear it,’ he said. ‘A great cricketing county.&rsqu… Read More

A friend told me that he had been at the Church of Ireland General Synod. I had forgotten such things even took place. I could no longer name the bishops who sit on the platform, splendid in… Read More

‘So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.’ John 17:5 Saint John’s Gospel is a favourite for peop… Read More

There is no more cheering sight in springtime than the racks filled with packets of garden seeds that appear in shops. The seedsmen know the value of colour and the seed packets are a bright… Read More

In his 1872 novel Devils Fyodor Dostoevsky describes the gathering of a group of intellectual and affluent potential revolutionaries for an evening of discussion. The meeting takes… Read More

‘It is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time.’ Acts 1:21 Matthias was an unreasonable man, that is why we remember him. When we look at the firs… Read More

It was warm today, perhaps for the first time this year. In the bright evening sunshine, he walked unsteadily towards me. A man who looked as though he would once have been fit, time and sub… Read More

BBC Somerset carried pictures of flash flooding in the county. Turning to the Flood Information Service, the area threatened seemed extensive. From Yeovil, which lies on the border with Dors… Read More

‘VE Day was not the end of the war,’ led one article today. Indeed, it was not, the war in Asia continued. It was not even the end of the violence in Europe. Across Europe, hundr… Read More

‘In my Father’s house,’ John 14:2 In one of the episodes from American writer Garrison Keillor’s News from Lake Wobegon, there is a story of a church service in which… Read More

‘Sir, you are looking very bright today.’ ‘It’s summer,’ I said, ‘I have switched to summer uniform.’ Linen jackets have been procured in various ch… Read More

The unrest in Paris reported on the evening news is nothing new, it would perhaps be more newsworthy if Paris were to be passive on May Day. It is some seven years since I was last in Paris… Read More

‘Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them’. John 10:6 The failure to understand Jesus was a matter of choice. It was not… Read More

Sitting in an empty classroom, I took out my lunch. Brown bread, tomatoes, a tin of sardines and an apple. (There is something oddly reassuring in peeling back the lid of the sardine tin and… Read More

One of the blinds in my classroom does not fully roll up, it jams about 30 centimetres from the top. It is not a problem. It is a large room with windows on two sides. There are six blinds o… Read More

The comparative study in the Fifth Year English course includes Philadelphia, Here I come! by Brian Friel. I picked up a copy that lay on a student’s desk. ‘Has your teacher… Read More

‘Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.’ It always seemed a pity that today’s Gospel reading is left until two weeks after Easter for there is a wonderful hu… Read More

On Facebook, my number of ‘friends’ numbers no more than a few dozens, most of whom are family members scattered across various parts of England. However, as well as keeping in c… Read More

Struggling with depression, there is too often a downward spiral. There is the strong temptation to cut off contact, to hide away, to justify not going out, to feel more secure in solitude w… Read More

‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ John 20:25 There is no priest in my hom… Read More

it has been unseasonably cold, hard to believe it is the Easter holidays. In the clear coldness of the spring evening, the red lights marking the transmitting station on the Mendips were sha… Read More

The April sunshine fades quickly, the shadows stretch long along the road. There are memories come of childhood games of trying stepping on the shadows of others and imagining, Peter Pan-lik… Read More

Second Lieutenant Edward Thomas of the Artists’ Rifles died at the Battle of Arras 106 years ago today. The account of his death said that on Easter Monday, 9th April 1917, a shell had… Read More

‘And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it’. Matthew 28:2 It is some six years sin… Read More

Walking to the church in the village, I found I had arrived on the wrong evening for the Holy Week service. There being no incumbent, a retired priest tries to cover miles of the area. Walki… Read More

Spy Wednesday, the day when Judas Iscariot is said to have agreed to betray Jesus of Nazareth. I remember as a child that I couldn’t quite understand this bit of the story. Last week… Read More

John McGahern’s letters speak of a different time. A present at the Christmas before last, the collection illuminates the world of his novels. There was a time when I would have doubte… Read More

Listening to The Brothers Karamazov, there seem words in Dostoevsky’s novel that capture the spirit of Palm Sunday. A story is told by Ivan Karamazov: “And behold, He deigned to… Read More