Oliver Popplewell is annoyed. Why? At 75 he is obliged to retire from his post as a High Court Judge. He then embarks upon an adventure and ther eis the result!
Sir Oliver Popplewell became, in his own words, officially "judicially senile" after a distinguished career at the Bar
Blog: Pictures-Books-Reflections
Joy
Posted on by James Woodward
Let a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by,
As the Apache dancer
Clutches his woman.
I have seen them
Live long and laugh loud,
Sent on singing, singing,
Smashed to the heart
Under the ribs
With a terrible love.
Joy always,
Joy everywhere--
Let joy
William Wilberforce
Posted on by James Woodward
Today the Church gives thanks for the life and work of Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began
Mary, Martha and Lazarus
Posted on by James Woodward
John 11:1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you lo
Pensioner Poverty
Posted on by James Woodward
This shocking news report should move us all into some action:
Reform of the pensions and benefits system is urgently needed to tackle pensioner poverty in the UK, which is among the worst in Europe, campaigners said today.
The call for action came after European commissio
Brooke Foss Westcott
Posted on by James Woodward
Today the Church commemorates Westcott. Here is a summary of some of the hihglights of his remarkably high achieving life and ministry. His work covers many of my own interests and places of significance ( The Delhi Brotherhood, Westcott House Cambridge where I was trained and,
Its not what you know but who??
Posted on by James Woodward
When John Rae became headmaster of Westminster School in the early Seventies the IRA was regularly setting off devices around Parliament, 200 yards from the school. Neither he nor his 479 pupils seemed unduly concerned: “A housemaster tells me that a boarder returned to hi
Seeing?
Posted on by James Woodward
amazement is the thing
The point is the seeing, the grace
beyond recognition, the ways
of the bird rising, unnamed, unknown,
beyond the range of language, beyond its noun.
Eyes open on growing, flying, happening,
and go on opening. Manifold, the world
dawns on unrecogn
Mary Magdalene
Posted on by James Woodward
Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala is described, both in the canonical New Testament and in the New Testament apocrypha, as a devoted disciple of Jesus. She is considered by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican churches to be Saint Mary Magdalene, with a feast
Margaret of Antioch
Posted on by James Woodward
Margaret the Virgin, also known as Margaret of Antioch , virgin and martyr, is celebrated by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches on July 20. Her historical existence is dubious; she was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius I in 494, but devotion to her revived in the We
Space
Posted on by James Woodward
the gap between
What do they do,
The singers, tale writers, dancers, painters,
Shapers, makers?
They go there with empty hands, into
The gap between.
They come back with things in their hands.
They go silent and come back with words, with tunes.
They go into confusion
O glistening sunlight
Posted on by James Woodward
O glistening sunlight,
O iridescence, O unique shining,
The wedding of the Godhead:
O burning jewel.
The clothes you wear are noble
They fall straight and clear;
Your friendship is with angels:
A citizen of the sacred.
Come, enter into the palace of the King.
Hild
John Keble
Posted on by James Woodward
John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English churchman, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, and gave his name to Keble College, Oxford.
He was born in Fairford, Gloucestershire where his father, the Rev. John Keble, was Vicar of Coln St. Aldwyns. He atten
On the need for Perspective
Posted on by James Woodward
One of my favourite pastimes is looking at paintings. There are two great dangers when looking at paintings. The first danger is that of being too close to the picture. All we see then is the scrubbed brush work, layers of streaky paint, fragments of colour. We need to be at a
Benedict
Posted on by James Woodward
Born to the Roman nobility. Twin brother of Saint Scholastica.
Studied in Rome, Italy, but was dismayed by the lack of discipline and the lackadasical attitude of his fellow students. Fled to the mountains near Subiaco, living as a hermit in a cave for three years; reporte
Relational Aesthetics
Posted on by James Woodward
FOR EVIDENCE OF ART'S recent love affair with "interactivity" and "connectivity," one need look no further than the pair of digital art surveys currently playing at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. For less literal proof, this
Whitehall
Posted on by James Woodward
Whitehall is a monument to British constitutional history, a curious, unsatisfactory muddle of royalty, fleeting republicanism, imperialism and bureaucratic compromise. No wonder Prince Charles is a defender of architectural tradition. Like love and marriage, power and archi
Saying the Unsayable
Posted on by James Woodward
I have been offering some reflections on the exhibition that took place in Centenary Square last week here are some image to give you a glimpse of how it all worked....
Thomas More and John Fisher
Posted on by James Woodward
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, author, and statesman who in his lifetime gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist scholar, and occupied many public offices, including Lord Chancellor(1529–1
I said to my soul
Posted on by James Woodward
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and th