"In the midst of death, life persists. In the midst of untruth, truth persists. In the midst of darkness, light persists.” - Mahatma Gandhi
In my last blog, I shared some thoughts about a recent retreat at Fairacres in Oxford.
https://www.jameswoodward.online/blog/not
Nothing is Secure, Except God : visiting the Community of the Sisters of the Love of God
Posted on by James Woodward
I was first introduced to the Sisters of the Love of God by Geoffrey Connor, the Vocations advisor in the diocese of Durham in the late 1970s. I visited first the Convent during my first year as an undergraduate at Kings College London. These months of study were both exh
Lessons from a day of celebration at Sarum College
Posted on by James Woodward
Yesterday was the Sarum College 2024 Ceremony for the Presentation of Academic Awards. The days running up to this event, make many demands on a range of people working across the college. The choreography of our movement from College to St Thomas's Church
Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave
Posted on by James Woodward
Our lives are fragile, unpredictable and always deeply bound up with the unpredictable shapes of pain and grief. Even at our most complete and contented we live with the roars of fear, insecurity, regrets and limitations. Making sense of this and embracing the shapes an
Reading Such a Long Journey : A biography of Gilbert Shaw, Priest
Posted on by James Woodward
I believe that I may have had at least two copies of this book written by Rod Hacking ( now a neighbour in Salisbury but then an incumbent in rural Ely) and published by Mowbray in 1988. What happened to them I know not - beware of lending books out - they have a habit of
Saving Time by Jenny Odell
Posted on by James Woodward
I doubt very much, indeed, if anybody who has the time to read this book about time, would confidently be able to say that they had enough time! I have occasionally come across people who feel that they have too much time on their hands, particularly in older age. I hav
Awe explored by Dacher Keltner
Posted on by James Woodward
When was the last time that you were simply lost for words? A moment that took hold of you by surprise ? The glorious blue light that marks the beginning of a new day with the stars and moon beginning to shift? The majesty of a tree, rooted and standing tall? The smell
Try Softer ? In praise of grounded advice from Kolber.
Posted on by James Woodward
Where do you pick up recommendations for books these days? Half an hour on Waterloo station yesterday yielded a couple of books from Foyles, tempted of course by their buy one get the other half price offer! A trusted source is the Marginalian ( take a look-
On Digging Deep – a cluster of Books from Sacristy Press
Posted on by James Woodward
Perhaps you have some awareness of both the problems and possibilities that emerge from the way we articulate the shape and meaning of our religious convictions. What do you understand by God? How do we convey the presence, rationality and engagement of God amidst the com
Home Sweet Home?
Posted on by James Woodward
This is a very good book! We know our homes and make choices in relation to them but this book will change how you think about almost every aspect of your home!
“Our houses and homes,” Heathcote writes, “no matter what style they are realised in, no m
On interrogating the self – May on Politics and Power
Posted on by James Woodward
I guess that most of us wonder what this one life is about and particularly how we are living it.
They are questions perhaps for those of us firmly in third age but shared by other generations too. If I had one regret ( or to name one here ) it might simp
In Praise of Quakerism in the uncertain terrain for Religion
Posted on by James Woodward
John Hunt Publishing 2023
Many of the readers here will have experienced Quakerism in and through their presence of meeting houses and their active engagement in communities. Quakers are people living integrity with a single minded, focus on the tradition and dis
Advice in Time ? Inter-generational Wisdom.
Posted on by James Woodward
Now here is a confession! Not all of the books on my shelves either at home or here in my study at Sarum College have been read from cover to cover. You might be familiar with the dilemma. You buy a book on a recommendation. You hear the author at a writers festiv
Sermons in time and place?
Posted on by James Woodward
I am writing this on a rainy Sunday afternoon somewhat typical of November. Some of you may have been to Church this morning and experienced listening to a sermon. I wonder how it took hold of you ( if at all) and what you heard? At what point did your attention str
Handling our disappointments : Rory Stewart reflects on politics
Posted on by James Woodward
Over the years I have absorbed myself in the world of political biography and autobiography. It is a strange and intriguing world. When I moved to Salisbury I was glad to offload many of these volumes. It wasn't difficult to choose which writers or politicians to hang o
Patience
Posted on by James Woodward
patience
An absolute
patience.
Trees stand
up to their knees in
fog. The fog
slowly flows
uphill.
White
cobwebs, the grass
leaning where deer
have looked for apples.
The woods
from brook to where
the top of the hill looks
over the fog, sen
of grief …. and getting past it
Posted on by James Woodward
Starlings in Winter
by Mary Oliver
Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly
they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,
dipping and
In Memoriam – Colin Woodward : Dad
Posted on by James Woodward
Colin Campbell Woodward
10th December 1937 - 24th July 2023
Funeral Address 16th August 2023 given by James Woodward
Durham Crematorium 11.30am
As we gather today to make our farewells to Colin - a much-loved father, grandfather, colleague, neighbour, an
Re-reading – Transitions and the Life-course :Challenging the Constructions of ‘Growing Old’ by Amanda Grenier
Posted on by James Woodward
Transitions and the Lifecourse Challenging the Constructions of ‘Growing Old’
Amanda Greener
256 pages, pbk £26.99,
Policy Press 2012, ISBN 978 1 84742 691 8.
I have been glad to revisit this book that explores the way we narrate age. I
Patience
Posted on by James Woodward
An absolute
patience.
Trees stand
up to their knees in
fog. The fog
slowly flows
uphill.
White
cobwebs, the grass
leaning where deer
have looked for apples.
The woods
from brook to where
the top of the hill looks
over the fog, send up
not one bird.
So ab