That wedding sermon: Bishop Michael Curry’s critics would have carped at St Paul
St Paul in Athens (Acts 17:16-34 NIV): Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are…
Mission
Iftar in the Cathedral is exactly what the Queen (and Jesus) would want
If it had been called 'Tea & Chapatis' no-one would have batted an eyelid. But the meal had an upper-case Islamic name – Iftar – and it involved Arabic food: dates, samosas and stuff. Southwark Cathedral went a step further…
Bishop Michael Curry brought with him the Spirit of Pentecost
The reaction to the Royal Wedding address/sermon delivered by Bishop Michael Curry has resulted in post-match analysis akin to that of 'Match of the Day'. Dull it wasn’t – everyone…
Don’t slam the Royal Wedding sermon: Bishop Michael Curry reached two billion souls with the love of Christ
Bishop Michael Curry's wedding address – or the US preacher's Royal Wedding sermon (as he and it shall henceforth be known) in the marriage service of Prince Harry to Meghan…
How does a crucified stormtrooper glorify God?
There is a crucified stormtrooper hanging on the wall of St Stephen Walbrook church in the City of London, forming part of a 'Stations of the Cross' exhibition. The parish…
Advertising Standards Authority probes billboards declaring ‘The Messiah has come’
Billboards have been popping up around London declaring 'The Messiah has come'. According to Harry Farley in Christian Today, these have attracted a number of objections, and the Advertising Standards…
Priest to chain herself to a tree in protest against HS2
The Rev'd Anne Stevens, Vicar of St Pancras, is to chain herself to a tree near Euston Station in protest against HS2. Or, rather, she is going to allow herself…
Bishop of Liverpool slams ‘so-called Evangelicals’, and so condemns himself
The term 'Evangelical' as applied to Christians has a long and well-chronicled heritage. In 1525, William Tyndale explained in his Doctrinal Treatises (p8): "Evangelion (that which we call the gospel)…
Advent-cum-Mawlid: church holds joint birthday celebration for Mohammed and Jesus
Mawlid (or Milad) is the Islamic festival commemorating the birthday of Mohammed. The only thing it has in common with Christmas is that it isn't actually the day the celebrated…
Hurricane Harvey and the $50m mega-church pastor who wouldn’t shelter flood victims
Texan mega-church pastor Joel Osteen is reputedly worth $50million. That's his personal wealth. He leads a church of some 16,000 (ie a 'mega-church') which gathers in the Lakewood Church, Houston,…
The Musicians’ Church hasn’t banned non-Christian music, but it has sown confusion
"Absurd and obscene to see a church in London banning classical groups that want to perform non-religious music", bleated the Humanists on Twitter, knowing full well that the secularist hordes…
The black Christian who converts white supremacists by loving them
Whenever white supremacists march to proclaim their Europid purity and superior cranial virtue, they are usually met with an equal and opposite force of scorn and condemnation: protest meets counter-protest;…
Bishop Philip North is good news for the poor – what a shame he’s sidelined
It is #GoodNewsFriday – space and time to tell of God's love, miracles, joy, hope and peace – and Bishop Philip North provides today's subject matter. Here are a few…
Prison chaplains may no longer convict offenders of sin: preaching must be ‘sensitive’
Remember the case of the Rev'd Barry Trayhorn, the 'tent-maker' (gardener) volunteer prison chaplain at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire? Being an ordained minister in the Pentecostal Church, he quoted Scripture…
BlessU-2: a robot priest and the parable of technological emptiness
"Bless me, Robot, for I have sinned." "Do you want to receive absolution in a male voice or a female voice?" The penitent presses a button on a touchscreen torso,…
Church in Wales being hounded to appoint Jeffrey John the next Bishop of Llandaff
The Church in Wales is the Anglican Church in Wales, and it is disestablished. It's appointments procedure is therefore an entirely internal matter, at some arms' length from the kingdom…
Shared conversations: some came to seek truth; others to conquer. Why can’t we just be kind?
Commenting on the Bishops' statement Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations ("a gamma minus piece of drafting if ever there was one"), Canon Professor Mark Chapman prophesies…
Daniel McArthur leads the UK’s Top 100 most inspirational Christians 2016
By popular democratic consensus (which some may term 'populism') Daniel McArthur has been chosen as the most inspirational Christian of 2016. The swell of nominations received for him eclipsed those…
Understanding the Ministry of the Church Today: a lecture in honour of the late Rev’d Canon Dr Ian Tomlinson
The Rev'd Canon Dr Ian Tomlinson died peacefully at his home on Monday 31st October. He had asked the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, to…
Bishop of Liverpool slams Trump/Brexit voters who “bow the knee to hate”
Amazon have produced a warm, cuddly, interfaith Christmas ad. And it's authentic: there are no actors. A real-life vicar and a real-life imam exchange gifts (knee-pads) to help make praying…