Good Friday: the sufferings of Christ are the sufferings of the age
God died today. He hung on cross, in misery and agony, and died eventually. Today is a day to remember the day God died; the passion, the weeping, the wailing,…
Good Friday
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…
Martyn Percy empathises with Holocaust victims, and a conspiracy emerges
We are supposed to believe that a Christ Church undergraduate was casually surveying the website of the Very Rev'd Professor Martyn Percy, as students at the University of Oxford regularly…
When the police enter a church, storm the altar and shut down worship, a line has been crossed
How hard is it to remain socially-distanced in a large church building? How hard is it to sit in pews in 'support bubbles' and leave enough space in front and…
Good Friday: God is dead
God died today. He hung on cross, in misery and agony, and died eventually. Today is a day to remember the day God died; the passion, the weeping, the wailing,…
Good Friday is good enough
The crucifixion of Christ remains the event of salvation-history: it is the defining pivotal moment of creation, redemption and reconciliation. It is the nexus of the realm of eschatology, without…
The end of freedom?
Last night the Prime Minister placed the UK in lockdown to help abate the spread of coronavirus. You should be staying at home unless you must travel for essential work,…
‘If the Cross of Christ is anything to the mind, it is surely everything’
"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…
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…
Four-day week: mandatory indolence or an interfaith ‘sacred weekend’?
When Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell mooted imposing a four-day week on the British economy (that is, a four-day working week; Labour has no plans to re-calibrate or 'modernise' the solar…
The Lamentation: a reflection for Good Friday
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…
Good Friday: the death of the Messiah
'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ' (Acts 2:36). 'Jesus died the death…
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…
Good Friday: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"
Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple…