asadmin Peter Kay’s adverts for John Smith’s bitter in the early 2000s years still rank as some of my favourite ads of all time (I used to test and research ads for a living, so I’ve always had a soft spot for the ad break). One of the best starred Kay as a dad comforting his … Read more
God has not forgotten you. At the risk of sounding like a scratched record (and I have plenty of those, as Alise will tell you), I want to return to Monday’s theme, from a different angle. You are not forgotten. The world is a big and confusing place, and our current news headlines only serve … Read more
‘Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ John the Baptist’s iconic words addressed to Jesus in the first chapter of John’s gospel are rooted in today’s famous passage. Ever since the time of Exodus, the image of the sacrificial lamb had come to symbolise God’s rescue of his people. … Read more
Recently I watched the Sound of Music for the first time in many years. I’ll always remember my first viewing of the film – after Charles and Di’s wedding in July 1981. We watched the ‘wedding of the century’ then all sat and watched The Sound of Music as a family. Perfect. And it’s hard … Read more
Remember, remember, the 5th of November…. so the old nursery rhyme goes, and one that we learned at school. I imagine you may have done too! Today’s passage is another trip down memory lane: in this case prophetic memory lane. About 250 years previously, God had promised King David – son of Jesse – that … Read more
I suspect many of us at present find it hard to watch the news – you may, indeed, have given up on it altogether. There seems to be so much violence, so much instability, so many reminders that peace in this world is fragile and hard to maintain, however sophisticated we consider ourselves to be. … Read more
A few years ago, at the All-Age service for Remembrance at All Saints, I showed the congregation a paper clip, and asked them to come up with as many creative alternative uses for this simple object as possible. We had about 75 young people there, representing the uniformed organisations, and they weren’t short of ideas! … Read more
We’re blessed to have some apple trees in our back garden, and – despite my total lack of gardening skills – these trees have proved very fruitful (pardon the pun) over the years. Nowadays we turn most of them straightaway into juice (and you’ll see why in the next paragraph) – but in years gone … Read more
I wondered if you’ve tried an ‘Escape Room’. They’re all the rage at the moment – you can either do them in person or online, and the idea is that you are ‘trapped’ in a room, but by solving clues and puzzles, you find a way out. We bought one for our daughter’s birthday a … Read more
When I was a curate, I needed to gain experience of leading worship at other churches. One local church offered me a memorable such experience! The motto on their news sheet was ‘proudly using only the Book of Common Prayer since 1798’, and before I was able to take a service there, the minister met … Read more