November is a month of remembering: On 1st we commemorate All Saints Day and on the same day the very moving All Souls Services give us an opportunity to remember those we have loved. A few days later children get huge excitement and pleasure from Bonfire Night as we, perhaps a little ghoulishly, remember the fate of Guy Fawkes.

The mercury was nudging 50 degrees centigrade, or would have been had mercury thermometers still been allowed. My sister had refused point blank to leave the air-conditioned car again, having almost melted at the last stop.

This weeks readings and reflection

Caravaggio’s painting, “The calling of St Matthew” depicts the moment Christ inspired Matthew to follow him. The painting shows a finger pointing and a surprised looking Matthew pointing at himself as if asking “Who – me? “That feeling will be familiar to many of you. It certainly is to me, as I recall the incredulity I felt when it was first suggested that I might consider ordination! God calls unlikely people. He called me, as he calls each of us in different ways, and he called Matthew to be an unlikely founder member of his Church.

This weeks readings and reflection

A small but significant act of remembrance took place on 15th August

This weeks readings and reflection

‘Wars always put a brake on progress.’ More than twenty years later, I can still recall the ‘question’ for my A’ level history coursework. As an enthusiastic seventeen-year-old, I set to work tearing apart the question as one was meant to do, arguing about the definition of progress and how war could accelerate certain types of progress. Faced with that question today, I am not sure how I would respond.

This weeks readings and reflection

New Draft rules for the use of Face Coverings in church have been released by the Church of England