The real presence of Christ in the community of the virtual Church
This morning I want to depart from our Lectionary readings to offer a text which inspired a first-class sermon which I once heard at Rochester Cathedral. A few years ago,…
Jesus
The Human Touch
This is the eighth contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. The author is a Christian and key-worker, who has had a busy week. Were it not for lockdown, then next week I would be…
The Tower of Babel
This is the sixth contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence. It comes from the Rev'd Robert Jackson, a sector chaplain. Over 3,000 years ago,…
“Death is a natural part of life” (Yoda)
The fourth contribution to His Grace’s emergency team ministry during the coronavirus pestilence comes from the Rev'd Ian Chidlow, Curate at St Mary’s Parish Church, Cheadle. Since Adam brought…
CofE to be carbon-neutral by 2030 – but at what cost?
No-one disputes the Christian imperative to care for the environment: the stewardship of creation is a matter of generational justice and moral responsibility. In the vast web of nature and…
Kruger: we should not throw away the inheritance of our Christian culture
In his maiden speech on 29th January, a Conservative MP said something which even the Bishops in the House of Lords aren't saying. Danny Kruger, the Member for Devizes, made…
Candlemas: from the Presentation of Christ to ‘Radical Inclusion’
Today we mark a Church Feast which is known as either Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. I doubt if any of us will…
2020: Forgiveness is the key to a Happy New Year
As we turn the page of time once again, and the teens of this millennium turn to the 20s – roaring or restrained – it is a good opportunity to…
Manners maketh Man/Woman/Other
At the State Opening of Parliament yesterday, television footage showed the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition leading a long line of their parliamentary colleagues into the Upper Chamber…
Waiting expectantly for the wrong messiah
We must never again have a general election during Advent: everyone is waiting expectantly for the wrong messiah. By the end of this week either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn…
Archbishops intervene in General Election challenging Labour Antisemitism
The first General Election debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn was a fractious, unedifying and deeply unpleasant affair. It wasn't so much a political debate as a terse slanging…
Politics is too important to leave to politicians
"The Archbishop's platitudes do far more to divide the country than unite it" wrote the Telegraph's Charlotte Gill in a piece headed: 'Justin Welby has no business using his sacred…
Which gospel shall be preached this Harvest? And which will the congregation hear?
We are now well into the season when our priests planning their services and delivering sermons in churches and schools to celebrate and give thanks for Harvest time, and in…
BBC censors Sikh history in case it offends Muslims
Lord (Indarjit) Singh has been almost as permanent a fixture on BBC Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day' as the Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines. The BBC likes a certain…
Welby in Amritsar — damned if he does; damned if he doesn’t
The Archbishop of Canterbury visited the site of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in the Punjabi city of Amritsar. He didn't merely visit it, he prostrated himself very publicly before…
Brexit: open letter reveals Bishops split 60:40 on Government’s approach
The open letter on Brexit published yesterday by a group of Diocesan Bishops is interesting on a number of levels, not least of which is the fact that it is…
Boris, feet, table… Do not judge by appearances
A photograph of Boris Johnson putting his feet on a table in the Elysée Palace has circled the world. How crass, boorish, discourteous and bullish, they all cried. Thing is...…
Theologian John Milbank advocates violence to stop Brexit
The founder of Radical Orthodoxy has imparted his most radically unorthodox revelation yet. Professor John Milbank of Nottingham University is of the view that Brexit must be stopped "by almost…
When did traditional morality become ‘fundamentalist’?
It was a question posed by Professor John Milbank on Twitter a few days ago. Or, rather, it wasn't posed as a question, such as the 'when' inquiry into conceptual…
CofE Social Media Charter neuters the prophetic and subsumes truth to ‘respect’
"I just signed up to #CofECharter," tweeted the former Times religious affairs correspondent (and quite delightful) Ruth Gledhill, precisely 48 seconds after the Archbishop of Canterbury had announced his initiative…