Church of England releases its first ever Christmas single
The Church of England is making a foray into the pop charts, releasing its first ever Christmas single, a new version of that glorious carol 'In the Bleak Midwinter'. It…
Advent
Believe in a Marks & Spencer Christmas jumper
Many consumers of social media will have noticed a growing number of women clergy posting photographs of themselves wearing a plain black Marks & Spencer Christmas jumper bearing the simple word 'BELIEVE' in multi-coloured lettering. They are calling themselves 'Team…
Durham Cathedral demands Covid passports for Christmas worship
Durham Cathedral is dividing its flock into sheep and goats for Christmas. The Dean is setting the Covid-vaccinated sheep on his right hand, but the goats who lack an NHS…
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…
Ding-Dong Merrily Online: what can the bust-up over Greggs vegan sausage roll tell us about the Nativity?
In Gilbert and Sullivan's (probably mercifully) under-performed final collaboration The Grand Duke, a group of political degenerates try and bring down the government of a second-rate European power by means…
‘Light in the Darkness’ – Rev’d Jonathan Aitken preaches Christmas sermon to the Foreign Office
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…
Sentamu: ‘pure’ (‘real’/ ‘hard’) Brexit is “a childish dream”
On the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, the Archbishop of Canterbury was asked about the disparity (/gulf) between the laity and clergy in the Church of England regarding the…
Advent Sunday: people don’t know Jesus, and that’s our fault
There's a lot of confusion about Jesus: there are so many ideas about who he was or is that it almost seems as though there are lots of Jesuses. He…
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…
Sainsbury’s refuses to sell the Real Easter Egg – what’s their problem with Jesus?
The Real Easter Egg, which explains the real meaning of Easter (yes, it mentions Jesus), is on sale in Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons and dozens of independent retail outlets. But Sainsbury's…
Fourth Sunday of Advent: the searing loneliness of Christmas
If you believe the festive ads, loneliness at Christmas seems to be a preserve of the elderly. John Lewis isolates an old man on the moon, and the German…
Third Sunday of Advent: rejoice in the recognition of Jesus
Today is Gaudete Sunday: into the season of waiting, preparing and expecting, we inject a note of delight and good cheer: 'Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I…
Second Sunday of Advent: the gift of a child
It is this Second Sunday of Advent, and the trees are going up. It's beginning to feel a bit more like Christmas. Children all over the world are eagerly…
Black Friday demonstrates that greed is now the god of Christmas
There's that classic moment in Monty Python's Life of Brian when the People's Front of Judea, during their meeting to discuss the overthrow of the accursed Romans, end up getting into…