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
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
Durham Miners Gala
Posted on by James Woodward
A quiet Saturday has gven me the opportunity to do some thinking and planning for an invitation to preach that has given me a great deal of pride and pleasure. On July 10th I shall travel north to preach in Durham Cathedral for the One hundreth and first Miners Festival Service i
Why do people leave the Church?
Posted on by James Woodward
I first met Michael Goulder when I was working as a Hospital Chaplain in Birmingham. He was a wonderful and inspiring teacher - I was aware that he had left the Church but unsure quite of the reasons.
I was glad to come across his memoirs and in it he sums up his decision:
I wa
amazement
Posted on by James Woodward
And God is filling me,
though there are times of doubt
as hollow as the Grand Canyon,
still God is filling me.
He is giving me the thoughts of dogs,
the spider in its intricate web,
the sun
in all its amazement
and my heart,
which is very big,
I promise it is very large,
a mon
In Praise of the train
Posted on by James Woodward
It has been quite a week! On the way back from friends in Oxfordshire on Thursday I had a tyre explode .... quite an unpleasant shock! I managed to move the car over into the emergency lane without hitting anything else! I had a close shave with danger but was glad to come out
How do we treat people?
Posted on by James Woodward
I remember that she was the most classless person I ever met. She treated everyone exactly the same, either as friends or as potential friends. She approached them with the same expectation that they had only been waiting for this opportunity to her the story of their lives. Wh
Better Care for Dementia?
Posted on by James Woodward
Dementia services in England are not getting the priority that was promised, the National Audit Office has said.
It urges the Department of Health to demonstrate that its dementia strategy, published last year, is not just words.
The plans include action to boost early diagno
Isaac Watts
Posted on by James Woodward
Isaac Watts - (1674-1748), English hymn writer
Watts was born July 17, 1674 at Southampton, England, the eldest of nine children. His father was a Dissenter from the Anglican Church and on at least one occasion was thrown in jail for not following the Church of England. Isa
My favourite politician!
Posted on by James Woodward
Climbing the Bookshelves: The Autobiography
by Shirley Williams 432pp, Virago, £20
Few politicians are loved or even liked.Shirley Williams was and is an exception. The warmth of her mellifluous voice can unfreeze the frostiest public meeting. Rumpled, unbrushed and lat
The Boundaries of Personal Power
Posted on by James Woodward
When we are young, we imagine that we are doing everything ourselves. We have our work because we deserve it. We believe that we generate our own opportunities, our own luck, our own unstoppable bodies. There must be something to this, we intuit, that our fate varies acco
Martin Luther
Posted on by James Woodward
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben. His father was a copper miner. Luther studied at the University of Erfurt and in 1505 decided to join a monastic order, becoming an Augustinian friar. He was ordained in 1507, beg
A Mission Shaped Church for Older People
Posted on by James Woodward
I travelled down from Windsor to London yesterday to share in a conference run by the Church Army and the Leveson Centre to promote our publication A Mission Shaped Church for Older People at St Michaels Chester Square.
(available from the Leveson Centre - www.levesoncentre.org.
Lawyers?
Posted on by James Woodward
I have always felt a certain amount of ambivalence towards lawyers - based on experience and a little envy at the sheer injustice of a society that pays them so much for their work!
Imagine then the circumstances whereby I choose to buy a lawyers memoirs! Putting money in the di
Elizabeth Fry
Posted on by James Woodward
Elizabeth Fry (nee Gurney) was born in 1780 into a well-to-do Quaker family in Norwich. As a child she did not enjoy the Quaker meetings and made her delicate health an excuse for missing them. Later Elizabeth became one of the Plain Friends whose religious observance w
the genius of Angelou
Posted on by James Woodward
temple
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we se
Christian Aid
Posted on by James Woodward
Travelling in and out of London has given me the time to look and see the power and possibility of advertising!
I have been particularly impressed with Christian Aid and its campaigns - have you seen their work that directly challenges us to change the world!
How often do we thi
Is anything private anymore??
Posted on by James Woodward
This is a kind of kiss and tell book that both attracts (for the gossip I confess but also the sheer wonder at how on earth he managed to get away with so much) and also repells. Is anything private - what of the seal of the confessional?
We find him rubbing shoulders wit
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
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,