Despair at the Church of England’s General Election prayer
Who writes these things? Honestly, since when was it a sin to despair? Don't the brokenhearted, poor and homeless despair? What about the starving and dying? Or the persecuted or…
Salvation
Man who burned Bible fined £666 for “racially aggravated assault”
A Devon man who burned his wife's Bible in a row over Christmas has been fined £666 by Exeter magistrates. According to Devonlive.com, Jason Mortimore "was upset with his wife Rachael because he feared her strict religious principles were going…
He is risen! Hallelujah! Let us speak more about the Resurrection of Christ
Could it be true? He is risen? Who moved the stone? Evil has been overcome? Death has lost its sting? Creation is restored? The Messianic promise has been fulfilled? Fairy…
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…
Palm Sunday – Christians cry ‘Hosanna!’, but the world seeks another messiah
Christians find their voice today: 'Hosanna!' they cry; Zion's king is coming. 'Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he…
As Gavin Ashenden leaves the Church of England, the Ordinariate circles like a vulture
"I thought you'd already gone through the exit door a long time ago. Unless you actually want to stay and fight?" tweeted the Rt Rev'd Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden,…
Safespacing the Church: revising doctrine to suit mental health
Mental health matters, right? Yes, of course it does. And the Church of England is right to focus on this often-neglected area of human flourishing and wellbeing, with speeches in…
As Theresa May preaches freedom to proclaim faith in Christ, street preachers are convicted of a public order offence
"How refreshing to hear a Prime Minister talk about their Christian faith, and sound like they mean it," writes Tim Stanley in the Telegraph. He continues: At a Downing Street…
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…
House of Bishops upholds canon law: marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman
After a seemingly interminable period of 'shared conversations' on the nature of marriage and the relational experiences of some LGBT Christians, the House of Bishops of the Church of England…
Archbishops call on Queen to repent of being Supreme Governor of the Church of England
In this 500th anniversary year of an obscure monk called Martin Luther banging his 95 Theses onto the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg, the event which history marks as…
Qur’an in the Eucharist? The Provost of Glasgow Cathedral subverts Christian revelation
This is a guest post by the Rev’d Dr Gavin Ashenden, Chaplain to the Queen. __________________________ I have just returned from Paris where I was invited to be part of…
Church of England funerals plummet 30% in a decade
Are people living longer? Are fewer dying? In the decade 2005-2015, the general population increased from 60,210,000 to 64,716,000, so why has the number of Church of England funerals plummeted…
Is our worship really “diminished” by the lack of Christian unity?
"I was dismayed, but not surprised, to hear so many calls for 'unity' after Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election," writes political historian Dr Robert Crowcroft of Edinburgh University. He expounds: ..."unity" is…
Don’t bash the Archbishop of Canterbury – pray for him
Funny. Defend Nigel Farage against Justin Welby, you're "racist" or a "bigot"; defend Justin Welby against Nigel Farage, you're a "feminist-humanist-pro-Marxist" (amongst other things). There is no apparent via media…
Do we really need a faith minister for “fairies, goblins and imaginary friends”?
We live in an age of ever-increasing secularity, in which religious practice must be half-hidden and religious conviction often-denied. You have to excavate quite deep to discover the moral sources…
Thy Kingdom Come: “prayer must always be the first action of evangelism and witness”
When the archbishops of Canterbury and York inaugurated a week of prayer last year under the banner 'Thy Kingdom Come', they could have had no idea that the Holy Spirit…
Good Disagreement: report fellow Christians to the police for daring to disagree
It isn't entirely clear what happened to 1 Corinthians 6 in the Christian pursuit of Good Disagreement. It appears that if certain liberal/progressive Christians disagree with conservative/traditionalist ones, they think…
Spiritual influence: bullying voters with threats of hell is no different from threats of physical violence
Following the 2015 Tower Hamlets election court judgment which saw the disqualification of the elected mayor Lutfur Rahman for a number of corrupt and illegal practices, Sir Eric Pickles…
Forget the Holy Spirit: the key to Church revival is Pokemon Go
According to the Daily Mail (please don't stop reading at that), something called Pokemon Go (or Pokémon GO for the accentually pedantic and orthographically precise) is set to bring…