7th August 2020 Why didn’t we see this coming? That’s the question that Olga Khazan asks, writing in April in The Atlantic magazine. Her article bears the title, Humans are too Optimistic to Comprehend the Coronavirus: Why Americans didn’t see the pandemic coming. So, she explains, instead of stocking up on PPE and testing equipment,
Read more31st July 2020 A few years ago I did an online course in biblical counselling, called The Dynamics of Biblical Change. David Powlison would begin his lectures by exegeting a hymn – talking us through it and showing us what it means, much as we do with a Bible passage. I’m not suggesting that hymn
Read more24th July 2020 On 17th July, J I Packer died at the age of 93, and went to be with his Lord – as one person put it, “a great loss for the Church on earth, and a great joy for the Church in Heaven.” Another described him as one of the three great giants
Read more17th July 2020 “Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” So wrote the author of Hebrews to his Christian
Read more10th July 2020 We had a very special evening a week ago when we had all our mission partners in conversation via Zoom. If you were there for it, you’ll know how good it was, and you’ll be glad to hear more from it. If you weren’t able to make it, I’d like to give
Read more3rd July 2020 It seemed unlikely that anyone would be interested in watching someone insert numbers into a grid. Yet that’s what thousands of us did a couple of months ago when we watched Simon Anthony solve a ‘miracle’ Sudoku puzzle. The classic Sudoku puzzle involves putting the numbers 1 to 9 into a 9×9
Read more26th June 2020 Helen and I were totally overwhelmed by the kindness we were shown last Sunday, as we marked twenty years of ministry here at St Stephen’s and St Wulstan’s. I’m only sorry that we didn’t get to share that day with you all in person. I trust that time will come. It prompted
Read more19th June 2020 What are you learning from lockdown? The importance of washing your hands? How to have a Zoom meeting? What social distancing means? Perhaps you’ve taken up a new hobby, or learned to bake your own bread? Maybe you’ve learned something about yourself? Some novelists were asked what they’ve learned. Mark Haddon says
Read more12th June 2020 What can I possibly say about the appalling and unacceptable murder of George Floyd? I don’t know enough about racism, or about the United States, or about how their police works. At the same time, I can’t say enough; there’s just too much to say. And anything I do say will
Read more2nd June 2020 It would take something dramatic to shift the coronavirus pandemic from its top spot in the news headlines. Sadly it was the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis that did it, along with the rioting that has followed in numerous US cities. You’ll probably know the story. He was a
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