'Twas the old road -- through pain --
That unfrequented one --
With many a turn -- and thorn --
That stops -- at Heaven.
From Emily Dickinson, 'Twas the old road
Leading the Church of England
Posted on by James Woodward
I thought this profile worth sharing - as we continue to pray for all our Church leaders.....
The last time the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spoke to the New Statesman, it was at the end of 2008, a year that our writer, James Macintyre, described as "one of the
Courage?
Posted on by James Woodward
In his Christian England (Volume 1), David L Edwards writes:
“The two most famous lines in their (the Anglo-Saxons) poetry are spoken by a warrior who is about to lay down his life when his lord (‘the man so dear’) has already been killed. Byrthwold cries out towards th
The skill of Piper
Posted on by James Woodward
This is a wonderful book - the first comprehensive account of the life and work of John Piper, including many of the overlooked tributaries into which his creativity overflowed. It contains in-depth research into all the major commissions within John Piper's lengthy career, plus
Meaning? Purpose? Living?
Posted on by James Woodward
Here we are, thrown into a world in which we have to live. We did not choose to exist, we did not create ourselves nor did anyone consult us as to whether we wanted to live. It has just happened to us that we have, so to speak, wakened up in a world and grown up in a world, wher
Local Imagination?
Posted on by James Woodward
As the Summer fair season begins I found this reflection helpful.....
Jesus often compared the Kingdom to a very small thing that has universal effect - yeast working through a batch of dough, for instance. As such, the quantity serves the quality - you need enough yeast t
Robert Butler
Posted on by James Woodward
I salute the work of this very remarkable man - who I met while on sabbatical in 2008 in Washington DC.
His influence on our thinking about old age has been pioneering.
Before passing away from acute leukemia on July 4, 2010, at the age of 83, Robert N. Butler, MD, served as pre
The Mask
Posted on by James Woodward
"PUT off that mask of burning gold
With emerald eyes."
"O no, my dear, you make so bold
To find if hearts be wild and wise,
And yet not cold."
"I would but find what's there to find,
Love or deceit."
"It was the mask engaged your mind,
And after set your heart to beat,
Not wha
The Lords Prayer
Posted on by James Woodward
I thought this much worth pondering shared with me by Gill Henwood
The Lord’s Prayer
(traditional English)
Our Father
who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done;
on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forg
Durham Miners Gala
Posted on by James Woodward
Last weekend I travelled north to Durham for the Miners Gala ( or better known in those parts as the Big Meeting) - here is my sermon for the day and some pictures taken by Trevor Smith - for which many thanks!
The Davy Lamp Kelloe and the Banner being processed down the Villag
glass
Posted on by James Woodward
Words of a poem should be glass
But glass so simple-subtle its shape
Is nothing but the shape of what it holds.
A glass spun for itself is empty,
Brittle, at best Venetian trinket.
Embossed glass hides the poem or its absence.
Words should be looked through, should be wind
Touched?
Posted on by James Woodward
All that we do
Is touched with ocean, yet we remain
On the shore of what we know.
A revolution in the most unlikely of places?
Posted on by James Woodward
I was very glad that my old friend and parishioner Cliff Morrey continues to wage war against the forces of bureaucracy!
17 households from one street challenge council tax bands and share £50,000 refund
Residents from a street in Solihull have been refunded £49,000 after 17
Thomas
Posted on by James Woodward
Almighty and eternal God,
who, for the firmer foundation of our faith,
allowed your holy apostle Thomas
to doubt the resurrection of your Son
till word and sight convinced him:
grant to us, who have not seen, that we also may believe
and so confess Christ as our Lord
What are the limits of Government?
Posted on by James Woodward
An assumption has grown that 'the government' carries the responsibility for making our world a better place, and then blaming 'the government' when it fails to deliver. This is one of the decadent habits in our society because the public domain is everyone's responsibility: tha
St Peter and Paul
Posted on by James Woodward
This feast day commemorates the martyrdom of the two great Apostles, assigned by tradition to the same day of June in the year 67. They had been imprisoned in the famous Mamertine Prison of Rome and both had foreseen their approaching death. Saint Peter was crucified; Saint Paul
What will make you complete?
Posted on by James Woodward
A Sermon preached in St Georges Chapel Windsor Castle 27 June 2010 at Mattins
‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’
(Luke 9. 51-62)
A glimpse of the nature of discipleship is offered to us this morning in the demanding
Collage
Posted on by James Woodward
Faith is not a proud self-consistent f philosophy. It involves maintaining oneself between contradictions that can't be solved by analysis. It is therefore a living response to the grace of God as revealed in fragile lives. It resembles a collage. Collages are slowly pieced toge
to express the sky
Posted on by James Woodward
One of the sheer joys of my home in Windsor is the sense of the vast open space of the sky .....
This is the grass your feet are planted on.
You paint it orange or you sing it green,
But you have never found
A way to make the grass mean what you mean.
A cloud can be whatev
make peace
Posted on by James Woodward
'Only when you make your peace with death,' said Hamlet,
'will you understand that everything under the sun is really new…'
From Vladimir Holan, A night with Hamlet