Simon Says ...

Just had to add this Church Sign Generator , it's fantastic fun. Check out the ready made signs or make your own!

It's been a while since I last blogged - combination of being busy and technical problems (my server keeps crashing!). Communion Part One At present I'm thinking a lot about communion, what it means to be in communion with others, and what it might mean not to be in communion with someone. So here are some first thoughts, which will ramble a bit. At base communion is about eating together. Hospitality is key here, and there is a whole host of Biblical material about hospitality. Perhaps Abraham's entertainment of the three men in Genesis 18 is instructive here. Abraham is sitting in the doorway of his tent when they go past. He runs out and almost begs them to allow him to give them some refreshment and a break from their journey. They agree and allow Abraham to serve them (which he does in a far more lavish way than they agreed to). It transpires that they are the angels who go to bring judgement to Sodom and Gomorrah, (which reminds me of Hebrews 13.1-2 -...

Today's blog is in the nature of a celebration of the new Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, who was my tutor at University. Last night he preached at the launch of Fulcrum. His sermon is well worth reading, as is a letter in today's Times . Both point beyond the division of the church into competing groups. It's a vision that we all need. (Sadly, to read the letter you have to scroll down past a rather less helpful letter from George Carey.) Two quotations from Tom Wright's pieces may help explain why I think them so good: "Gospel inclusivity is always a transforming inclusivity. But if there is a danger in a cheapened unity which glosses over real differences, there is just as great a danger in retreating into pre-packaged and culturally conditioned little boxes. Through the church God's wisdom in all its rich variety - the word in Greek is polypoikilos, a word you'd use to describe a flower-bed alive with every colour in the rainbow - God's ma...

This week's Church Times arrived today, with Reform (a group within the Church of England that defines itself against things) saying it was pleased that it seemed the Primates of the Anglican Communion had finally realised that discussion of the issues surrounding the consecration of a gay bishop would help no one. Reform have long held that to have the discussion is to betray the truth, which is so clear from the Bible that no discussion is necessary. Also this morning I found another apt quotation from Thomas Treherne, which runs counter to Reform's position: "Felicity doth open controversies, and vanquisheth Devils" ( Select Meditations IV.19). Traherne sees the value and the spiritual depths of opening an argument in order to let the truth in and the devils out. This is a difficult operation, but may be the only way to lance the sore. Traherne, I think, is wiser than Reform. I also found this on the Fulcrum website - an article by David Runcorn offeri...

Today is the feast of Richard Hooker, a 16th Century Anglican divine and apologist for the Church of England against the puritans. My favourite quotation from him seems all too appropriate for today's Church of England: "Think ye are men, deem it not impossible for you to err" ( The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity Preface IX.1)