I walked the Via Dolorosa – the traditional walk of the faithful recalling the steps Jesus took from his condemnation by Pilate to his crucifixion and placement in the tomb and thus the site of his resurrection – when I was in Jerusalem. It…
It certainly was a fascinating time, this journey to Israel. To be in a group of mainly clergy (there were a few religious and a lawyer) with all our denominations, travelling together to see both the history of the land in terms of the…
Last week at the European Lutheran Conference in Germany the Bishop of the Kyrgyzstan Lutheran Church, Kenzhebek Botobaev, made a presentation to a number of people who were ‘friends of his church’. I was one who received a special Kyrgyz gift – an ak-kalpak…
Last week I ruminated about the Church as busi-ness and what I saw as the tension between organ-isational conformity and chaotic freedom. We need both and both can get us into trouble. This week I’m drawn to the thought of alliances, fellowship, and identity…
For whatever images one has of the Christian Church – congregation, body (of Christ), people (of God), a spiritual house (made of living stones), branches (of the vine), the household (of God), the Christian Resources Exhibition held this week at Sandown Park, Esher added…
As you know, I see things I read from time to time that seem ‘just right’ for this ‘thought for the week’. It has been an interesting thing for me this Easter season having decided to read and preach 1 Peter (the second reading…
When I wrote last week’s bulletin ‘blurb’ I didn’t expect things to keep going regarding Prime Minis-ter David Cameron’s contention that Great Britain is a Christian country. But the quote attributed to Harold Wilson ‘a week is a long time in politics’ seemed to…
‘Oh, that’s a bit young!’ I was reading the accompanying paperwork that came this week with my registration as an approved marriage celebrant in Scotland. My limited experience of solemnising weddings in different countries knows enough to check the ‘fine print’ because each country…
I know I jokingly say at times ‘Put two Lutherans in a room and you’ll get three opinions’. If you can’t have a dig at ‘family’ then life’s pretty serious. The trouble is that family squabbles can be serious. In relation to church squabbles…
I was in Scotland driving to Livingston when I saw the all the red … what? Cotton wool on legs? Sheep with big red jumpers on them? (Seems unnecessarily redundant.) As I got closer I could see that they were just sheep but sprayed…
