Uphill struggleHOW hard is it meant to be? It was Ash Wednesday, and I’d found myself halfway up a hill in a snowstorm, gloveless, cashless, and in my camel coat, wondering whether taxis were running to West Malvern. The…
Side walkA BRITISH-Iranian Christian sends me a video from her friends in Tehran, to try to help me to understand the scale and meaning of what is happening. I open it with trepidation, wondering whether I am going to see…
Global warningI HAVE bought a new car. At least, it’s new to me (I’ve never owned a brand new car). I took it for its first long drive. I wrapped up warm — it was that kind of weather. I had an engagement at the other end of…
Changing sidesASH WEDNESDAY went off very well this year. Morning and evening services at the church, and then to a care home in the afternoon — though I must admit that telling particularly elderly people that to dust they…
Job lot“HOW do you get a job like that?” Dr Parry, my erstwhile best man, and I had just been in the Basilica of the Most Holy Blood, in Bruges. He was referring to the priest seated behind the glass case that holds the vial…
Tongues of fireTHE thatched roof of the picturesque Dutch Reformed church in Franschhoek, South Africa, where we have been staying, was sprinkle-hosed the other Sunday. Wildfires have snaked across the mountains, and falling…
Elf ’n’ safetyTHE approach to Christmas at our church was marked by a series of unfortunate events. It began with a heavy leak from the vicarage kitchen into the basement flat of an elderly neighbour. As the vicar was away,…
Back to basicsTHE New Year brought an invitation to the “50th Anniversary Gathering” of those who matriculated at my Cambridge college in 1976: can it really be half a century since we all arrived in the fens, quivering with…
Quiet, pleaseRADIO holds within itself its own particular form of magic. At its best, the spoken- word version has the power to foster imagination, intimacy, and trust. The recent (in my view, crass) decision by many…
Spiritual exercisesOUR four children and their spouses come to stay, and that means our grandchildren, too. Being a grandparent is God’s gift of a second chance at parenting, with all of the love and fun and very little of…
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