tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238746772008-03-30T20:30:14.382ZChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-64204566834484268722008-03-24T10:30:00.002Z2008-03-24T10:57:21.246Z

The Good Friday sermon used some ideas taken from Steve Chalke's article in the book Consuming Passion, edited by Simon Barrow and Jonathan Bartley. This was one of those sermons, which when you are half way through it, you realise you only have a partial understanding - I suppose inevitable when you consider the topic. But the idea of the Cross as the essential element in salvation has always

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-26074726652849909772007-12-19T11:08:00.000Z2007-12-19T11:39:06.043Z

The January issue of The Clock (our parish magazine) often tends to be short of copy, so when Caroline rang me a day after the deadline to say that we didn't have a Dear Friends (the introductory letter) I decided that one had to be produced pronto. My mind was full of Michael Mayne's book The enduring melody at the time, so the article was all about not defining people by the illness they are

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-15542563791607789472007-12-05T15:17:00.000Z2007-12-05T15:27:15.103Z

Amid all the turmoil just lately, I have been busy setting up web sites for the village, including one for the Colwall Greener group. We won't let up on environmental activity in the church, but this is where the activity of the village will be centred, so I shall delete our own environmental blog, having transferred all the posts to the village one. The new blog is run using WordPress which

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-32065309976382092922007-10-30T21:03:00.000Z2007-10-30T21:27:03.161Z

Following on from his column in the Church Times, I followed up Andrew Brown's blog at tinyurl.com/2orrr6 He was evidently a bit taken aback by the response. The original article was about Richard Dawkins being somewhat less than objective in his remarks on Mary Midgley's review of The Selfish Gene. This sparked off an inordinate number of comments in the Guardian's Comment is Free blog of an

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-72107718999445740012007-09-03T16:51:00.000Z2007-09-03T17:12:53.343Z

The aim of this would be to make web space available for people to commemorate their loved ones who have died. It would be one web page on the web site, directly accessible from the navigation buttons, with a nice banner and a list of all those commemorated, each one linked to a web page. There would also be instructions on how to add to the list (mainly get in touch with us first). Each web

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-78822824478748554792007-04-25T09:47:00.000Z2007-04-25T10:05:56.469Z

What a lot of depressing news there is, these days! Iraq is a problem of course, but the whole of the political situation which led up to it is even more depressing. Politicians are more concerned to listen to big business than ordinary people; they pay lip service to ethical principles but do nothing substantial about them; the television is full of violence; newspapers of triviality;

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-88273505634825652002007-03-08T10:50:00.000Z2007-03-08T11:18:31.855Z

Following on from our awayday, I have been thinking about what we ought to do to be inclusive. I had a look at the Inclusive Church website – very worthy certainly, but lacking something. And that something seems to me to be a programme, a plan, a positive something to present to the world, not just an acceptance of what the world presents to us. ‘Come unto me’ says Jesus to all the world, but

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-43631768687031853102007-02-24T18:42:00.000Z2007-02-24T18:48:12.983Z

I was impressed by this website - worth a click.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-64921630504099113092007-02-09T11:34:00.000Z2007-02-08T18:08:28.899Z

Wow! It's two months since I did a blog - that's what Christmas does for you! Following on from the last MinTeam meeting, it occurred to me that we ought to do something on ageing. We're all getting older, but I have reached the age when I start to notice it. We also have quite a few elderly people in the village and also people caring for them, who all need looking after. Here's a few

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1163692761659903162006-11-16T15:31:00.000Z2006-11-16T18:43:45.106Z

I had an e-mail from friend, containing a forward from the USA quoting a Dutch newspaper to the effect that Europe was turning Muslim. (The paper incidentally was De Volkskrant, which I, in ignorance of Dutch, would translate People's Rant, a title which I am sure would sell well over here! Well, Babelfish tells me it actually means People's Newspaper, so there you are.) Anyway, the point

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1162319408349850492006-10-31T18:21:00.000Z2006-10-31T18:30:10.150Z

By way of gently expanding the scope of the web site, I have added another blog, for the environment group and a link to my own web site (look in the list of links at the right). The latter is rudimentary in the extreme, but it contains some essays on science and religion which people might find interesting -- or not! The environment blog is simply there to give experience on the actions we can

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1159219930674426862006-09-25T21:32:00.000Z2006-09-25T21:32:14.766Z

St James Ministry Team Children at Communion My brother suggested that I read John Pridmore's column on the Sunday readings in the Church Times of 22 September. I've never looked at it before, but I'm glad I did this time. This week's Gospel (Mark9, 30-37) tells how Jesus stands a child in the middle of his disciples and says that to welcome such a child is to welcome him, and indeed to

kenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09310063263881988584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1156075369803905572006-08-20T11:45:00.000Z2006-08-22T08:54:20.433Z

I watched a recent Channel 4 programme giving the results of a survey on the attitudes of Muslims in this country, the tone of the programme being that they were worried that Muslims, instead of integrating, were wanting to keep themselves separate. I ended up sympathising with the Muslims and agreeing with them. First of all was the attitude of the presenter, Jon Snow: it reminded me of the

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1154108260872055062006-07-28T17:05:00.000Z2006-07-29T16:06:33.996Z

I've been reading John Searle on The Mind while away and I must say I had not thought before what a challenge consciouness studies were to traditional theology. By contrast, evolution is no problem at all - it disproves religion only for those who have a primitive understanding of religion, like Richard Dawkins or, it has to be said, creationists. Consciousness involves our identity, the "I" we

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1151688440063605352006-06-30T17:26:00.000Z2006-07-01T11:38:05.123Z

The more I think about it, the less I like the idea of replacing Trident, our nuclear deterrent. The thought that we might wish to obliterate 100,000 people or more is something I personally would abhor, and I think the church should too. But there are practical reasons why one should oppose this move. Can we think of any situation within the lifetime of the replacement when we would actually use

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1150749851873117102006-06-19T20:07:00.000Z2006-06-19T20:55:33.366Z

Well, we have had a bit of an interruption on the blog as a result of moving house and holidays. And the trouble with holidays is that all the work you didn't do on holiday is there when you get back. In my case, that is cleaning the house and weeding the garden, tasks which tend to give rise to the comment, 'Surely we were not meant to do this'. But, oh yes, we are. Ordinary things are what life

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1147119857053177952006-05-08T19:56:00.000Z2006-05-08T20:24:17.066Z

Did anyone see this at the Malvern Theatre last week? I did and thought it wonderful. I have made several attempts to read Paradise Lost, but always gave up after a few pages. Having it dramatised made all the difference, particularly when the acting is so good. I was taken with a remark by Ben Power, who adapted the poem, that Hell was democratic (the conference of the fallen angels etc)

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1145045099922033852006-04-14T19:29:00.000Z2006-04-14T20:16:07.733Z

Quite appropriately, last Friday I was in front of this picture: http://www.khm.at/data/page435/page435/Bruegel_Kreuztragung600.jpg, The Procession to Calvary The first problem you have is to find Jesus. He's there in the middle, but surrounded by a crowd on the way to a football match - or maybe He is the football match. But part of the message, I am sure, is to pose the question, would we

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1144435057461796452006-04-07T18:36:00.000Z2006-04-10T13:51:18.946Z

I came across a quotation the other day that has been at the back of my mind ever since: "When words dies on the lipsa song begins in the heart."(Rabindranath Tagore) I may not have got it entirely right (of course I can't find it again now!) but the essence is there. For me, at the moment, this speaks very strongly of the need to lay aside your expectations, your hopes and even your skills -

Anne Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00834009712087171227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1142545478764480992006-03-16T21:17:00.000Z2006-03-16T21:45:44.106Z

About this time of year, I always begin to long for the desert - and not just because it would be warmer (after all, I like our lively weather!). No, the desert is the place where the really stunning encounters with the living God took place. I've been doing some meditations at school on the experiences of Moses and Elijah (more of these on the website soon I hope) and again and again I am struck

Anne Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00834009712087171227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1142503922395181642006-03-16T10:06:00.000Z2006-03-16T10:12:02.406Z

Here is a good place to discuss the AV system. You remember I sent out an e-mail about it, but of course people will not have seen the replies, so I have summarised them here. My original e-mail: John Stock is doing some splendid work in getting the AV system sorted out, but I think the Min Team ought to have a collective worry about it before we do anything irrevocable. I have no problem

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23874677.post-1142283695025669782006-03-13T20:41:00.000Z2006-03-16T10:14:27.516Z

I went to see this play on Wednesday and it was very good - full of Jewish humour and argument. What struck me was that one theme in it was the reaction of the secular Jewish parents to their son suddenly taking up religion seriously. You could see they regarded it rather as though he had suddenly taken leave of his senses. What struck me was that the reaction was more or less independent of

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17452802089496804581noreply@blogger.com