The Bible itself is a dynamic text full of poetry, prose, history, law and myth all clashing together in a cacophony of voices. We are presented with a warrior God and a peacemaker, a God of territorial allegiance and a God who transcends all territorial divides, an uncha
Blog: Pictures-Books-Reflections
Scripture
Posted on by James Woodward
The Study of scripture is at the heart of theology.
Scripture truthfully tells the story of God's action of creating, judging and saving the world.
It is to be read and reread above all for the sake of God and God's purposes; hear it as God the Creator, Judge and Saviour cr
Living Life as it is!
Posted on by James Woodward
Every segment of life is both gift and challenge, both endowment and responsibility. It is the warp and woof of the fabric we call time. The delicate interplay between the two has the power to rock us back and forth between total confidence and abject despair. We lurch through l
What is theology?
Posted on by James Woodward
If theology comes to be understood as the place where God speaks, then we must seek, not to speak of God, but rather to be that place where God speaks. Through our words and actions we seek to be the site of revelation through which people encounter the life- giving Word of God.
Who do we listen to?
Posted on by James Woodward
Choose the company of those withdrawn in love
Listen to those who open a path to you: listen,
and don't say a word.
-Rumi
crucifix
Posted on by James Woodward
We can never be with loss too long.
Behind the warped door that sticks,
the wood thrush calls to the monks,
pausing upon the stone crucifix,
singing: "I am marvelous alone!"
Thrash, thrash goes the hayfield:
rows of marrow and bone undone.
The horizon's flashing fastens tigh
A Vision of how the church should be?
Posted on by James Woodward
Found on a welcome sheet in a remote Welsh Church - how would you describe the welcome that your Church offers?
Here we try to practise the generous Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This means that you may be mixing with
seekers, searchers, and those who have been bruised,
those w
Tree
Posted on by James Woodward
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon who
Holiday Books – A Walk on Part by Chris Mullin
Posted on by James Woodward
Yes Minister meets Alan Clark. This third and final volume of Chris Mullin's acclaimed diaries begins on the night John Smith died in May 1994, and continues until the moment of Mullin's assumption into government in July 1999.
Together with the bestselling "A View from the Foo
Holiday Books – The Life of Henry Moore
Posted on by James Woodward
Henry Moore’s rise from Yorkshire miner’s son to international acclaim as the twentieth century’s greatest sculptor is one of the most remarkable stories in British art. In this revised, updated, expanded and redesigned new edition of The Life of Henry Moore, Roger
unspoken autumn
Posted on by James Woodward
From the tawny light
from the rainy nights
from the imagination finding
itself and more than itself
alone and more than alone
at the bottom of the well where the moon lives,
can you pull me
into December?
The black moon turns away, its work done.
A tenderness, unspoken autum
unspoken autumn
Posted on by James Woodward
Joy, my love, joy in all things,
in what falls and what flourishes.
Joy in today and yesterday,
the day before and tomorrow.
Joy in bread and stone,
joy in fire and rain.
In what changes, is born, grows,
consumes itself, and becomes a kiss again.
Joy in the air we
Barmouth Bay
Posted on by James Woodward
On the west coast of Wales within the beautiful Snowdonia National Park, Barmouth Bay sits between a spectacular mountain range and the sea, close to the town of Barmouth, the bar at the mouth of the river Mawddach.
Gregynog Hall
Posted on by James Woodward
Gregynog has existed for eight hundred years. By the sixteenth century it was the home of the Blayney family, local gentry who claimed descent from the early Welsh princes and whose courage and benevolence were praised by the court poets. Their coat of arms is the cen
become the sun
Posted on by James Woodward
Love whispered to me
make yourself my fool:
leave the hunt
become the prey
live with me
be homeless
don’t cast shadows
become the sun.
Rumi
Spirituality and Personhood in Dementia
Posted on by James Woodward
‘SPIRITUALITY AND PERSONHOOD IN DEMENTIA’
Edited by Albert Jewell, Jessica Kingsley publishers 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84905-154-5
Albert Jewell is a skilled researcher and together with his knowledge of the field of ageing, a third book has been publi
letting Go!
Posted on by James Woodward
"Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we
will end up with nothing, life reveals just the opposite: that
letting go is the real path to freedom."
—Sogyal Rinpoche
9/11
Posted on by James Woodward
People draw near to God in their distress,
pleading for help and begging peace and bread,
rescue from guilt and sickness, nearly dead.
Christian or not, all come in helplessness.
People draw near to God in his distress:
find him rejec
autumnal
Posted on by James Woodward
It is an afternoon toward the end of August:
Autumnal weather, cool following on,
And riding in, after the heat of summer,
Into the empty afternoon shade and light,
The shade full of light without any thickness at all;
You can see right through and right down int
Ruthin Craft Centre
Posted on by James Woodward
The Arts Council of Wales Lottery funded transformation of Ruthin Craft Centre is now complete.
This amazing re-development designed by Sergison Bates architects is located on the existing site in its own landscape and is a dynamic zinc and cast stone building with undulati