Then he took the body down from the cross Luke chapter 23 verse 53 In most of our anglican churches the body of Jesus has been taken down from the cross. The crosses on our altars, in our processions and around our necks are nearly always empty – in our tradition – gold or shining brass, inlaid with […]

… following the presentation of the Passion story…

St Paul, the apostle we love to hate. That’s the new book by Karen Armstrong which Patrick brought into my office a couple of days ago: – and we do love to hate St Paul, don’t we. He always seems able to say not quite the right thing: He gets all passionate about one thing […]

For some people this week a meeting of 38 men in Canterbury has been pretty significant. 38 Anglican archbishops from around the world discussing our future. As the week went on, I became more and more nervous about what was happening. Would conservative archbishops walk out, as they said they would? Would the Archbishop of […]

Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away. It’s hard being a Christian. The days of the Christian faith being a comfortable or respectable refuge from the changes and chances of this fleeting world are long gone. Christianity may possibly once have been opium for some people – as Marx […]

Jesus took a little child in his arms and said – whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me …. May I speak in the name of ….. That’s quite a good verse for a baptism Sunday – here we are welcoming children – Ayrton, Jasmine and Nathan – and all in Christ’s […]

‘Onward Christian Soldiers marching as to war’ sang the midwife as she pushed my mother into the room where she would give birth to me. Marching as to war, however, is not an image we like to use any more – there have been too many Christians marching to war over the ages, and there […]

They said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. May I speak in the name of God… A hospital chaplain told the story of taking Communion round people on the hospital wards one Sunday morning.  The chaplain then reported back the refusals: ‘no thank you, I’m anglican’ was a […]

And he could do no deed of power there. May I speak in the name …. Power and success, weakness and failure, these are the themes for this morning.   Ezekiel is sent to speak the word whether he succeeds or not. Paul writes that it is when he is weak that he is strong. And […]

And Jesus said to them, when you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, May I speak…. I can just remember when fathers were scratchy and mothers were soft.  My father wore a hard suit, his skin was prickly, his pockets were full of wallets and pens and keys which stuck into you, and he always squeezed my hand too […]