The theme running through today’s readings is not Mothers or mothering but ‘consolation’. Today became associated with Mothers over the centuries because of the consolation that; ‘Holy Mother Church’ offers to the faithful. The Church was supposed to mimic Christ’s loving actions and to provide refuge, care and support for all God’s people. The Church was also supposed to be as welcoming to the familiar as it was the stranger just as Christ welcomed all those who came to him. And that takes us back once again to the idea of consolation. I relate consolation to Christ’s actions on the...

As you’ll know if you have taken part in the Lectio Divina sessions which Dean runs on Zoom during Lent and Advent, dwelling thoughtfully on a Bible passage can sometimes result in a word or a phrase gaining your particular attention. The words in today’s Gospel that grabbed my attention were repent and manure. 

Our reading from Luke begins with Jesus responding to a question - why do bad things happen to people such as the pilgrims massacred on the orders of Pontius Pilate or the eighteen who died when the Tower of Siloam collapsed? Jesus emphatically attacks the...

OK I have a confession to make. I really tried very very hard to write a heavy serious sermon about today’s Gospel – the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. And no matter how much I tried the more difficult it seemed to become. So, late last night I decided to give up and instead say something about Lent. Believe me it was much easier and this isn’t a heavy serious sermon at all.

I know that Ian and the choir are expecting – perhaps challenging me - to give words of wisdom about what was going on with Abraham...

One of the things I enjoy doing is making my own bread. I admit to cheating as I use my bread maker to make the dough but the combination of flours and seeds is my own. I also shape the dough and over bake it rather than let the machine create a ‘sponge’. I cheat because I don’t have the strength in my puny wrists to really knead the dough, properly. I am, however grateful, for the machine as I am still able to make organic bread, fresh when I need it. Being a bread maker if I had to...