Acoss the slow, sunlit mornings of this lovely Spring I have officed in the garden. There I write, read and pray. ‘Lord, teach us what is ours to do’. Well this is mine, I sense, while these days last. The garden, simply gift. As human noise and activity has withdrawn, much else is drawing nearer […]
Come before the winter next my love,before the frost traps fern fronds on the panebefore the world flies south to keep alivebefore the winds grow wildaround this fragile hopeand freeze its heart for well you knowthere are no sheltersfor a prayer caught lateupon the winter of a soul amidst the turning I will waitbefore the winter next […]
This article is was published in the September to December 2018 issue of Lee Abbey, Rapport magazine. Down through history, and in a variety of cultures, is found the practice of gathering tears and keeping them in a bottle. There is a poetic reference to this practice in one of the Psalms when a […]
Lord, have mercy on a man whose hardest cross we only glimpsed was caring much who all these days looked out through the private scars of wounded sight have mercy on a weary heart and haunted too we think until remembering itself became a shadow that cast long across his face […]
You lie, as always, head tipped forwards on the awkward abundance of those pillows. Today you are near the surface.But more often the climb is wearyingly hardto break surface and return our greeting.Here for a moment is the familiar smile. Your eyes reach ours,but not for long.You sink back down light fading from your vacant face. This journey will take all the […]
This Island has no interest in me […]
Sermon at service for licensing of lay ministriesLeicester Cathedral ReadingsNumbers 13: 1-2, 27-33Ephesians 4: 1-6Luke 10: 17-20 If those bible readings were chosen to set the scene for this celebration of rich and varied Christian callings then have you noticed one important ministry seems to be missing today? Where are the spies? In that first […]
A Remembrance Day sermon I was standing at the War Memorial on Sunday as many of you were. I spoke the words – ‘We will remember them’.I wore the poppy – ‘lest we forget.’But found myself wondering what the task of remembering actually involves. What does it take? And what does it ask of us not […]
An extract from a piece written for Celebrating Community (ed Emma Ineson and Chris Edmondson, pub DLT) – a book commissioned by the Lee Abbey Movement to celebrate 60 years of Christian witness through shared life. At the heart of Christian faith is a God who is hospitable. In the creation story at the beginning […]
‘Let anyone who has an ear to hear, listen …..’ Rev 3.13 Along with many in our society I am hearing impaired. I am also one of a growing number who struggle with tinnitus*. Strange isn’t it? In a world of incredibly sophisticated information and communication technology we are actually getting deafer. I was sitting […]