Tutufication is not the solution to division and oppression
Canon Mark Oakley wrote to the Times over the weekend with a plea for the Church of England to adopt Tutufication: It is an interesting thesis, not least because quite…
Disciples
Martyn Percy leaves the Church of England
In the glorious Chapel of Exeter College, Oxford, on the Feast Day of St. Matthias the Apostle on Saturday 14th May, the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy preached his final sermon as a priest in the Church of England. The…
The Pope, the Patriarch and the Archbishop unite for Earth’s sake
Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Canterbury have united for the first time in history to issue an urgent appeal for the future of the planet. Never before…
Flood, fire, famine and pestilence: the end is nigh (maybe)
Wildfires blaze across the western states: California and Oregon burn day and night. Death Valley hit a blistering 54.4°C, which might be the highest recorded ambient temperature on Earth. Across…
The Supper at Emmaus
Today’s Gospel reading gives me the opportunity to share with you one of my favourite paintings, that of The Supper at Emmaus, by the Italian Renaissance genius Caravaggio. It hangs…
Maundy Thursday: the invisible and the distant
This 13th contribution comes courtesy of Alison Bailey Castellina MA (Oxon), who founded the forerunner of The Tymes Trust national charity for children with ME, and led the national Christian…
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,…
Holy Week: dealing with deep sin is horrible, messy, prolonged, humiliating and painful
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…
Anglican Ambassador to Rome denies the Resurrection of Christ
The Anglican Centre in Rome is the Embassy of the Worldwide Anglican Communion to the Roman Catholic Church. Its Director is effectively the Archbishop of Canterbury's Ambassador to the Vatican;…
Jeffrey Archer: “I’m what I call an agnostic moving towards believer”
Jesus Christ is "the best known person on earth", says Jeffrey Archer in a recent interview on Premier Christian Radio. "If the name Jesus Christ has survived for 2,000 plus…
Brexit impasse: democracy can be messy – but the alternative is terrifying
'And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee' (1Sam 8:7). It might not end well, but never let…
Pope Francis wants to change the Lord’s Prayer (but doesn’t apparently understand it)
It is reported (all over the place) that Pope Francis wants to change the wording of a line in the Lord's Prayer because it is potentially misleading. The troublesome phrase…
Holy Saturday: marginalisation, persecution, martyrdom
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus…
Good Friday: love so amazing, so divine
Good Friday The Collects Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up…
Maundy Thursday foot-washing reminds power of its purpose
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his…
The Kingdom of God is within you, but it is also a future promise
Where is the Kingdom of God? Does it matter? How can it be both within you and yet still to come? Or has it already come? And if it…
Church of England continues its decline – but is revival stirring?
The Church of England has published its attendance stats ('Statistics for Mission') for 2014. Don't yawn. Yes, the interesting Anglican stuff is leavening this week in a Canterbury crypt,…
ISIS destroys the the ancient Monastery of Mar Elian
"The Monastery of St. Elian was a Christian monastery near the town of Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs Governorate," says Wikipedia. "Was"? Yes, the tense is accurate. It had stood…
Was St Paul wrong about the timing of the Second Coming?
If Jesus, being fully and infallibly God, was not wrong about the time of his Second Coming, what about St Paul, being fully and fallibly man? The whole thrust…
Was Jesus wrong about the timing of his Second Coming?
The imminence of the long-prophesied kingdom of God and the end of time has occupied Christians and Jews more than any other subject of theological conjecture. Certainly, at the…