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
Bede
Posted on by James Woodward
Today we commorate The Venerable Bede
Almost everything that is known of Bede's life is contained in the last chapter of his Historia Ecclesiastica, a history of the church in England. It was completed in about 731, and Bede implies that he was then in his fifty-ninth year
Julian of Norwich
Posted on by James Woodward
Little is known about Julian of Norwich, a close contemporary of Chaucer’s –not even her name (“Julian” was the name of the church at which she was an
anchoress). Unlike Kempe, Julian wrote her text, Revelations of Divine Love,
exclusively about her vision and reli
Ashdown and his Diaries
Posted on by James Woodward
The Ashdown Diaries
Volume One 1988-1997
(Allen Lane 2000 £20 642pages)
I have been meaning to read this for some time and finally discovered a copy at the bargain price of £4 in a second hand bookshop in Oswestry covered market. Waiting can yield great results for the
Thatchers Inheritance
Posted on by James Woodward
Thatcher and Sons: A Revolution in three Acts (Allen Lane 2006)
Simon Jenkins is a clever, insightful and careful writer. I read this volume after the considerable publicity following the thirtieth anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s historic election in 1979. It was one of
Spring
Posted on by James Woodward
spring fever
Today, look: another day. Waking, wide open,
Afraid. Don't dive into the library,
Into yet another book! Reach for your guitar,
Let love, let beauty, be what it is we do:
You don't have to fly abroad, in order to kneel
And kiss the tarmac!
The breeze at daw
The Speaker
Posted on by James Woodward
The Speaker
(BBC 2 14th April 2009 8 – 9pm)
What makes for a good speech? How do those of us who are tasked to speak become better (more convincing) speakers? What is a significant speech?
Young people from across the country are gathered together and offered an opportunit
Good Bye to all my friends in Temple Balsall
Posted on by James Woodward
May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to c
Beginnings and Endings?
Posted on by James Woodward
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make and end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. And every phrase
And sentence that is right (where every word is at home,
Taking its place to support the others,
The word neither diffident nor ostentati
Do not forget the poor!
Posted on by James Woodward
G20 leaders must not forget promises to the poor - Religious Leaders Communiqué
In a communiqué issued in advance of the G20 meeting in London, they call on political leaders to consider the moral issues at the root of the current financial crisis, and to pay special att
Time Out
Posted on by James Woodward
I remember as a student in London buying the weekly magazine Time Out to catch up on films and see where cheap theatre tickets could be bought. Always a mine of information and very candid and illuminating reviews. I wonder of it is still in print?
I am back in Temple Bals
Hugo Young
Posted on by James Woodward
Curiosity, Hugo Young argues, is the essential ingredient of the best journalism. The only way to understand any world, especially the ever complex, always churning, often deceiving world of politics, is to craft the right questions and then go in search of the answers.
How are we to understand our Life?
Posted on by James Woodward
SO MANY DIFFERENT LENGTHS OF TIME
How long is a man’s life, finally?
Is it a thousand days, or only one?
One week, or a few centuries?
How long does a man’s death last?
And what do we mean when we say, ‘gone forever’?
Adrift in such preoccupations, we seek clari
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?
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
Regret?
Posted on by James Woodward
Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures
as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression
Swami Sivananda
Who would be a Vicar these days??
Posted on by James Woodward
I had reason to write to a friend who has recently celebrated twenty years in the ministry. It has given me the opportunity to reflect upon some of the questions and convictions that surround the nature and exercise of priesthood in today’s complex and confusing world
Saint or Sinner??
Posted on by James Woodward
During this November time we have been remembering – and as a colleague of mine said in church recently – we Christians are particularly good and skilled at remembering. All Saints’ celebrates those men and women who have inspired us and been faithful to disciple
From Alice Walker to barack Obama
Posted on by James Woodward
I found this very powerful and challenging and moving..... read on!!
Open Letter to Barack Obama from Alice Walker
Nov. 5, 2008
Dear Brother Obama,
You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United Stat