As a child, I was awakened to the beauties of nature by walks in the Yorkshire Dales. Later I discovered that I had literally been following in the footsteps of an important philosopher and theologian, William Paley. Paley’s father was the headmaster of a Yorkshire grammar school in the middle years of the 18^th century. 

Paley’s best-known argument for the existence of God begins with him inviting us to imagine walking across the moors and stumbling upon a watch. Surely, he argues, the complexity of the watch and its ability to tell the time accurately are convincing evidence of...

Why was it that when our boys were growing up you could always guarantee that on a long journey in the back of the car they would start bickering. It was quite often to do with who was best at something. Normal sibling rivalry! I knew it well as I used to bicker with my sisters in the back of my parents car, years earlier. I suspect that you will have similar stories of your own growing up, or of that of your children and grandchildren.

Even good friends can end up bickering when tired and fractious after a long...

“What is it that you say?”

You can probably think of a time when you have wished that you had kept your peace and your tongue in check, as St.James cautions us this morning in the Epistle reading. Times when you have rued the day you ever said the words that you did say. Words that you instantly regretted saying as you said them.

None of us are particularly good at biting our tongues when provoked or tempted by spite or even when we think we are right. Most of us do it and I suspect that most of us...

Two of our readings this morning are specifically about Thanksgiving, so it is definitely time to give some real thought to what ought to be central to our practice of religion, but all too often isn’t. I must begin by saying that it isn’t easy! We look at all the horrors of the world we live in: Gaza, the Ukraine, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and it’s difficult, really difficult to feel thankful. We face the appalling fact of climate change and the potential destruction of our planet, and it becomes even more difficult to feel thankful. We must however not give way...