Reflections
“The only grandfather I knew was a poultry breeder and a gardener, based in Rosewood near Ipswich, as well as a shoemaker. He influenced me deeply. I loved assisting him with raising poultry when I was a boy. It was incredibly exciting. So I am keeping a small poultry flock – mainly Light Sussex – during my retirement,” says The Rev’d Bruce Sligo
Hymns
“This hymn is a very useful addition to our repertoire of congregational hymnody, of course, and also has other more nuanced possibilities. For example, the first two lines of each verse might be sung by a soloist or small group, with the congregation joining in the repeated final line each time. Or it might be used as a quiet background during intercessions, with the final line used as the people’s repeated spoken response to the prayers,” says The Rev’d Canon Dr David Cole
“It is easy to be overwhelmed by all that is going on. One temptation is to turn our backs on all the worries, throw off our masks and carelessly drink vodka. The other temptation, almost as alluring, is to engage in endless worry and adopt the doomscrolling phone habits that so many of us feel compelled to develop,” says Bishop John Roundhill
“The word ‘intercession’ takes my mind back to those moments in the wilderness when Moses stood between God and God’s people and begged for mercy. When we lead our congregations in intercession, we stand in the space between God’s love and the congregation’s need, and we build a bridge there with our words,” says The Rev’d Dr Margaret Wesley from St Paul’s, Ithaca-Ashgrove
“For Christians, a focus on ‘creation’, rather than the ‘environment’ or ‘ecology’, underscores the interconnectedness of all life, affirming the deep connection we have with the broader created order and encouraging a genuine love and concern for all that God has created,” says The Rev’d Professor Rodney Wolff
Hear Bishop Jonathan Holland share about the genius of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer: “He said ‘We’ll put together a prayer book’…The first Prayer Book came out in 1549. It was a little bit conservative, but it began to pick up all the kinds of ideas and principles that were in Thomas Cranmer’s head”
Hear Bishop John Roundhill and St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School chaplain The Rev’d Gillian Moses share about how they use the Prayer Book: “Each one of those Prayer Books is stacked full of beautiful liturgies to help you at different times of life. And, also curiously, they are beautifully laid out”
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