Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History
by Adam Nicolson,
Harper, 2008
There are some places that have an extraordinary ability to get inside one’s mind and heart. Sissinghurst is one such place. I have only visited once, nearly 30 years ago – a day trip out of Lo
Spiced Fish and Rice
Posted on by James Woodward
Another discovery to share with you:
If you prefer an even more oriental flavour, a splash of dark soy sauce can be added - experiment with it and make it your own special recipe. It's such fun to do - keep tasting and add new ingredients a little at a time so you don't s
Obama and the weight of expectation
Posted on by James Woodward
If you had to choose another job I wonder what that job would be? Perhaps the move from being a teacher to a builder? Out of the kitchen as a cook into a hospital as a nurse? Away from the desk to a more physical job where papers and computers do not dominate?
Art and Death
Posted on by James Woodward
This highly sensitive and beautifully written book looks closely at the way contemporary Western artists negotiate death, both as personal experience and in the wider community. Townsend discusses but moves beyond the 'spectacle of death' in work by artists such as Damien H
What is a story?
Posted on by James Woodward
A narrative or story is a construct created in a suitable format (written, spoken, poetry, prose, images, song, or dance} that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. It derives from the latinverb narrare, which means "to recount" and is related to the
Lamb and Date Tagine
Posted on by James Woodward
Here is on eof my favourite recipes discovered over the New Year Holiday.
Ingredients
4 tblsp olive oil
2 onions peeled and chopped
I tsp ground cinnamon; ground turmeric, ground ginger, ground cumin, ground all-spice
1k diced leg of lamb
250gr soft dried pitted dates
25
Valuing Age:Pastoral Ministry with older people
Posted on by James Woodward
A new publication by James Woodward
Pastoral care and practical theology in the light of age and ageing are the focus of this book. It is written to help those involved in care, in a range of settings, to understand some of the pastoral questions and the issues that
Patience
Posted on by James Woodward
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 whatever you intend:
Ostrich or leaning tower or staring eye.
But you have never found
A cloud suffic
Seamus Heaney
Posted on by James Woodward
Dennis O’Driscoll
Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney
(Faber, 2008)
Seamus Heaney is regarded as possibly the finest poet of his generation. Although I find some of his writing rather dense and impenetrable, many people have been enriched by the sheer d
In Love
Posted on by James Woodward
Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the Muse -
Nothing refuse.
Leave all for love;
Yet, hear me, yet...
Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Though her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace fro
Understanding the Reformation?
Posted on by James Woodward
The Last Office: 1539 and the Dissolution of a Monastery
by Geoffrey Moorhouse
283pp, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2008, £25
St Cuthbert had a lucky start in life; lame at the age of eight, he was cured by an angel who came by on horseback, and who recommended a poultice made o
Valuing Age: Pastoral Ministry with Older People
Posted on by James Woodward
Valuing Age:
Review by Arthur F. Moore
This book has huge potential for empowering and enhancing the quality and relevance of pastoral ministry with older people. It is not a text book as such but it does offer the reader a richly and widely sourced introduction to the academ
In Praise of….
Posted on by James Woodward
Just back from a week in mid- Wales sleeping and reading and generally wondering what 2009 might have in store for me and my work. These musings take the form of scribbles and lists ... a thinking aloud on paper that increase with coherance after a glass of claret! Where would
Is religion marginalised?
Posted on by James Woodward
Religion, spirituality and the social sciences: challenging marginalisation,
Editors Basia Spalek and Alia Imtoual,
(The Policy Press) 2008
There is no point in looking for a single event or factor that kick-started the revival of public interest in religion towards the
Geranium
Posted on by James Woodward
geranium
Is there no great love, only tenderness?
Does the sea
Remember the walker upon it?
Meaning leaks from the molecules.
The chimneys of the city breathe, the window sweats,
The children leap in their cots.
The sun blooms, it is a geranium.
Sylvia Plath, from Mys
What are Sundays for?
Posted on by James Woodward
There is a morning;
Time brings it nearer,
Brittle with frost
And starlight. The owls sing
In the parishes. The people rise
And walk to the churches'
Stone lanterns, there to kneel
And eat the new bread
Of love, washing it down
With the sharp taste
Of blood they will shed
R S
The Christmas message
Posted on by James Woodward
God is wanting to connect with us, reach out to us. That’s the heart of the celebration of Christmas. We respond, hesitatingly, even unknowingly. We come, making our way down to Church and to the door.
Why? Nostalgia, distant memories, a hard year perhaps or we ma