On July 22nd the Church celebrates the Feast of Mary Magdalene, possibly one of the best-known figures of the New Testament; but what, in fact, do we really know about her? Also known as Mary of Magdala, and probably from the town of that name, by the Sea of Galilee, Mary Magdalene has become famous as the prototype of the reformed prostitute and a principal witness of the resurrection. Portrayed by several classical artists in various stages of undress, she has become a somewhat notorious figure, presented by some as the lover of Christ and even as the wife he married after “coming to” in the tomb and escaping to lead a full and natural life. Leaving aside these later myths, the first part of this claim to fame is also very insecure......

As a curate, I was on the governing body of one of the local primary schools and chaired the teaching and learning committee. We were reviewing the Year 6 SATs papers, which newly included a test on Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG). It was the only time the deputy head ever let me near that particular paper, following my detailed rant against it, but he failed to regain control of it before I came across a question on fronted adverbials. I realised that I had no idea what a fronted adverbial was. Surely, I reasoned, if I had worked through various degrees and learned (to some extent) several foreign languages, never needing to know about fronted adverbials, this fell into the category of advanced linguistics rather than essential grammar?.....

​“The road is long, with many a winding turn, that takes us to who knows where ….” is the opening line of one of my favourite songs and it takes very little effort or imagination to apply it to my present situation. The road to Ordination is a long and often winding road strewn with “Pot-holes” to avoid and diversions to negotiate but some great “view-points” along the way too. Ordination, though, was not the final destination, only an important landmark and then the road led me on to St Johns where I served my curacy and loved every minute of it – certainly for the first two and a half years anyway. ......

Late in 2013, just after I joined the West Worcester Group, I wrote an introduction to myself on a flight back from Paris. There is a degree of symmetry, therefore, that I am once more flying between Charles de Gaulle and Birmingham Airports as I write this piece in 2018. With all the changes that have happened since 2013, it was suggested that it might be a good opportunity to revisit my introduction and set out something of my vision for the future.......