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 complexities of this new year? We see and hear minute […]
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 matter how modest or seemingly ill-considered their architecture, […]
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 simply be […]
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 disciplines of the spiritual life. I lived for some time in Bournville – that […]
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 festival. Amazon delivers […]
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 stray ? What were […]
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 onto. This genre of writing is fraught with […]
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, send up not one bird. So absolute, it is no […]
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 rising; they float like one stippled star that opens, becomes for […]
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, and friend – there are so many feelings and thoughts in our hearts and minds. I […]
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. It has helped me ( again ) to think about how we frame age. […]
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 absolute, it is no other than happiness […]
The Shrine Church of Saint Melangell
Posted on by James Woodward
Some places are etched into our lives in a way that draws us back. The Pennant Melangell valley is one of those spaces that has drawn me back for over two and a half decades. It is a liminal space with a tangible sense of the other and the spiritual. In all weathers and across […]
What kind of leadership ?
Posted on by James Woodward
In the unchartered waters in which the Church finds itself a key responsibility of any leader is to be one who questions; a person who asks questions – of God, the Church and of the wider community. Any leader at this time, but perhaps especially in the Church will be aware of the […]
Does Belief change in Old Age?
Posted on by James Woodward
On re-reading – Belief and Ageing :Spiritual pathways in later life Peter G. Coleman (Editor) Paperback, 192 pages Policy Press Bristol 2011 I agreed to offering a session at this years Sarum Centre for Formation in Ministry on what the Bible might show us about flourishing in older age. I grabbed a few books […]
Seeing beyond the immediate: listening and learning alongside older people
Posted on by James Woodward
From 1998 through to 2009, I had the privilege of working with many hundreds of older people in an Almshouse charity. We lived together in rather splendid seventeenth-century buildings which were surprisingly adaptable for modern use. It was an intentional community with a Church, primary school and a community of older adults living together. I […]
Space, Colour and Form in Kettles Yard : Reading Ways of Life by Laura Freeman
Posted on by James Woodward
This book was a present from a friend who had seen that I had visited Kettles Yard some few months ago. I have been hanging onto to it so that I can read slowly and carefully without interruption. What a treat it is ! I should say that I need no convincing of this space […]
Tell Me the Good Things : On Love, Death and Marriage by James Runcie
Posted on by James Woodward
There are, I confess, on my bookshelves a number of books that have been waiting to be read for some time. I bought this book last year after a rather arresting radio interview with James Runcie. There were a couple of connections that moved me into ‘I don’t need any more books, but this one […]
Reading Scripture : On seeing and not seeing ?
Posted on by James Woodward
Do Small Groups Work? Biblical engagement and transformation Anna Creedon SCM Press 2021 The 2023 July Session of the Church of England […]
The Shaping of a Soul by Richard Harries
Posted on by James Woodward
The Shaping of a Soul: A life taken by surprise Richard Harries John Hunt Publishing £18.99 (9781803411620) I have read and now write about a man and his story from a privileged position. I worked with Richard as his first domestic chaplain from 1987 to 1990 and now my life is enriched […]