Meditation and Reflection

We need to make more space for silence

High School student Jack Higgins has a severe form of autism which makes him hypersensitive to noise. His graduation rite of passage was looking to be an impossible occasion, with vast crowds of students all clapping, cheering and whistling in…

The Resurrection is the ultimate revelation: only in Jesus has God appeared

April 21, 2019
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Today we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ; the fulfilment of human destiny. There is a hope beyond death which answers man's eternal question about himself and the end of the…

‘If the Cross of Christ is anything to the mind, it is surely everything’

April 19, 2019
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"If the Cross of Christ is anything to the mind, it is surely everything – the most profound reality and the sublimest mystery", wrote John Stott in his book The…

Notre Dame de Paris – the soul of France consumed by unholy smoke

April 16, 2019
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The air is full of mourning and crying. The hearts of Christians are bereft; another tribulation of Christendom defiles God's acre on the Seine. They sang ancient Elysian hymns as…

Holy Week: dealing with deep sin is horrible, messy, prolonged, humiliating and painful

April 15, 2019
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As we enter Holy Week, the most sombre time of the Church calendar, I am sure I'm not the only one left reflecting that my Lenten observance has not been…

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Defections, divisions, tribalism and schisms

February 21, 2019
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'What causes fights and quarrels among you?' asked James the brother of Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. And then he proceeds to answer his own question: Don’t…

Holocaust Memorial Day Auschwitz children

The Holocaust should not be syncretised: it was a unique glimpse of hell

January 27, 2019
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"I am sure that Members across the House will wish to join me in marking Holocaust Memorial Day this Sunday," proclaimed the Prime Minister in PMQs on Wednesday. "It is…

Follow that star tonight, Bethlehem, Bethlehem…

December 24, 2018
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Thousands upon thousands of people will go to church tonight, and that'll be it for another year. They'll hear about Mary and a donkey, a star and three kings, shepherds…

‘Light in the Darkness’ – Rev’d Jonathan Aitken preaches Christmas sermon to the Foreign Office

December 20, 2018
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Here is the sermon preached by the Rev'd Jonathan Aitken at the Foreign Office Carol Service, Grand Locarno Room, King Charles St, Westminster, on Tuesday 18th December 2018: It is a…

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Rev’d Jonathan Aitken calls the nation to pray for Parliament

December 9, 2018
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From The Times' 'Credo' column yesterday, by the Rev'd Jonathan Aitken, reproduced here with permission: After a seismic week of political and constitutional upheavals at Westminster, might this be a…

Armistice 100: They shall not grow old…

November 11, 2018
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Black and white is another world: they do not feel because there are no tears; where blood is grey, there is no pain. The grainy ghosts are trapped in trenches…

Scrupulous for Christ: saving the Church from the doctrine of the infallibles

November 1, 2018
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Ever since Jesus cried 'Woe' to the scribes and Pharisees, his disciples have been calling out the two-faced hypocrites and judiciously discerning whitewashed tombs – those who look all meek…

No, Ruth Davidson: the burqa is a world away from a crucifix

August 10, 2018
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Scottish Tory Leader Ruth Davidson is of the view that a Muslim wearing a burqa is no different from a Christian who wears a crucifix. She said: "If you use…

Justin Welby tweets the sermon of the year

April 19, 2018
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Sometimes Twitter is like trying to bound infinite space in a nutshell. You can fiddle with words, abbreviate and cut commas, but still it lacks art, and if not art,…

He rose again the third day according to the scriptures – Hallelujah!

April 1, 2018
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Jesus suffered on the cross and died. On the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. Nothing else matters. Absolutely nothing comes anywhere near the significance of this…

The Lamentation: a reflection for Good Friday

March 30, 2018
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The Lamentation is one of the limited number of subjects permitted to an icon writer within the Orthodox tradition. It renders the observer present at one of the low points…

RIP Billy Graham – evangelical fundamentalist and ecumenical universalist

February 22, 2018
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The Rev'd Dr Billy Graham is dead. The evangelist to the world is now more alive to God then he has ever been, and tributes are pouring forth from the…

And so the Christ Child comes, as we look for his appearing

December 24, 2017
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The birth of the Christ Child, the Son of God, was heralded by the Angel of the Lord, accompanied by the Shekinah, the Glory of God, followed by a multitude…

Remembrance Sunday: ‘Goodbye, Old Man’

November 12, 2017
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'Goodbye, Old Man', watercolour, by Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), depicts a British soldier saying farewell to his dying horse. It was commissioned in 1916 by the Blue Cross animal welfare charity,…

Las Vegas shooting: Anglican Primates complain about having to pray together

October 4, 2017
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As news of the appalling Las Vegas shooting reached the cloisters of Canterbury Cathedral, where gathered the eminent Primates of the Worldwide Anglican Communion (well, most of them) to continue…