News!
30 Mar 2022
If you had tuned into BBC Radio on 18 April 1930 you would have been very surprised at the content of the 20:45 news bulletin. It was a simple four word sentence. “There is no news”. Fast forward nearly 92 years and that would be unthinkable. Most of us have got access to rolling 24 hour news channels. Th...
Read More Conversion Therapy Letter
23 Feb 2022
We are aware of the concern expressed online about the open letter about the proposed conversion therapy legislation, of which I and a deacon here are signatories. It has been suggested that those signing the letter are in favour of conversion therapy. This is untrue. As the letter makes clear "in our church we welcome and show love to many peop...
Read More Reflections On A Media Discussion
24 Nov 2021
The failed terrorist attempt on a hospital in Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday led to a week of discussion in the media about the credibility of Christian outreach to asylum seekers. The man who planned to commit the atrocity was baptised a number of years earlier. It was very easy to get annoyed about the reporting - after all, it w...
Read More Assisted Dying
25 Oct 2021
Over the last few weeks there has been a renewed discussion about the possibilities of relaxing the law on assisted dying in this country. The House of Lords debated Baroness Meacher’s bill to allow terminally ill adults assistance to end their life. This bill is unlikely to become law but the debate will certainly continue, and it is likely more attempts will b...
Read More This Term
23 Sep 2021
It is so good to be able to feel that things are back to some kind of normality in church life! Although the two morning services served a purpose, they weren't the same as us all being together on Sunday morning (and showing our faces! and singing!). That unnatural rush away from church at the end of a service has...
Read More The Simplicity Of God
07 Aug 2021
I was asked by Lake Road Congregational Church in Keswick to lead one of their sessions introducing aspects of theology. I did a short talk on "The Simplicity Of God". This is what I said in the 20 minute presentation. There was a discussion afterwards. When I was asked by James to do this I didn’t quite know what to focus on, but my mind went back to the start of last year...
Read More Forgiveness
05 Jul 2021
One of the ways you can tell that the gospel of Jesus Christ has really taken root in a culture is that the influence of God’s word spreads beyond individuals becoming Christians. Laws begin to be passed which reflect what God commands and prohibits. The norms of society become influenced by what Jesus teaches. The opposite is also true. When a culture begins to reject Christ...
Read More Remember!
23 Jan 2021
Earlier this week there was a lot of discussion in the media about “Blue Monday”. No, not the early 1980’s classic single by New Order, but the fact that the third Monday in January has been described as the most depressing day of the year. It has been decisively shown that there’s no real science behind that description. However this year it felt like an apt description of how I, and I...
Read More Sundays During Lockdown
06 Jan 2021
Despite the fact that we are now back into an indefinite period of national lockdown, the government have clearly stated that churches can remain open for public communal worship. This is a reversal from their position in previous lockdowns, and a wonderful answer to prayer. It is therefore right that as a church we should ...
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