Article in Stretton Focus, November 2015 I am an avid Radio 4 listener. Recently there have been more memorial services than usual, partly due to World War I and II but also to more recent tragic events. Listening to a memorial service programme it occurred to me how many demands we make on God. If […]
Recognising Jesus
Article in Stretton Focus, December 2015 At this time of the year I am reminded of Leo Tolstoy’s short story, Papa Panov’s Special Christmas. It was Christmas Eve and Papa Panov, the village shoemaker, was closing his shop. In the street outside there were sounds of happiness and smells of Christmas cooking in the air. […]
The unexamined life …
Article in Stretton Focus, January 2014 . . . . . is not worth living”. So said Socrates one of the founders of western philosophy (469-399BCE). He lived up to his own teaching, and was ready to pay the price for delivering it. He was a gentle and humble man, but lived in turbulent times. […]
Original Forgiveness
From ‘Focus on Faith’, Stretton Focus, January 2014 With a newborn baby in the family my thoughts turned to the concept of original sin. It’s not a concept which I have ever readily accepted. Just looking at the beauty, helplessness and total innocence of a newborn child the idea that it requires forgiveness in order […]
Readiness is all ….
Article in Stretton Focus, February 2014 Some readers will recognise the title of my piece, as a quotation from Hamlet. The young prince is about to fight a duel, in which he could be killed. He faced the prospect of his own death with a cool philosophy, saying that death is inevitable; and if you […]
Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation
Article in Stretton Focus, March 2014 Just a minute! Let’s think again about those speech defects that Nicholas Parsons is so concerned to remove from the participants in his popular radio and TV programme. The programme itself has been on since 1967, and is still going strong. The spontaneous wit of the likes of Clement […]
Making Connections
Article in Stretton Focus, April 2014 You could say (and I will!) that life is about ‘making connections’. Our life begins as a connection between egg and sperm in the womb: followed by a myriad of interconnections and link ups as the foetus develops. After birth the child begins to make connections with the outside […]
Love Life: Believe in Yourself: Hope in God
Article in Stretton Focus, May 2014 In my line of descent, we don’t have a coat of arms with a Latin inscription. But if we did I would like the translation of the Latin to be – Love Life: Believe in Yourself and Hope in God. Life is the most amazing gift that Creation gives […]
Be Cool – Truck Timber
From ‘Focus on Faith’, Stretton Focus, May 2014 Among the earliest religious activities that we know about are those concerning the weather and the seasons. Even today we hear prayers asking for weather which suits human activity, whether that is harvest, fertility, or good skiing. In the Bible the weather often takes a hand, notably […]
Which God do YOU worship?
Article in Stretton Focus, June 2014 A few months ago, in a letter to Focus (December 2013) a correspondent enquired about which God I worshipped. It was a ‘loaded’ question, designed to show that I didn’t worship any God; or at least not the right one! Certainly for me, the word ‘worship’ has connotations that […]