In my many Christmas letters I received this year was one from my dear friend Revd Dr. Roger Newell, former minister of Claypath United Reformed Church, Durham, now Professor of Religious Studies, George Fox University, Portland, Oregon, USA. At the end of his letter Roger remarked that Pope Francis “made him smile…….he makes me feel […]
A reflection by Ray Anglesea What is Christmas? It may surprise you to learn that most of the images, customs and paraphernalia we associate with it are quite modern. Having been three times now to Euro Disney, Paris with my Newcastle Choir to sing at the November opening of the Disney Winter Wonderland Spectacular, Hollywood […]
ChristmasA reflection prepared by Ray Anglesea for his congregation at Crook The sorrow of the massacre in Paris has been shocking as it has been heartbreaking. Parisians, tourists and expats – innocent people of all ages, faiths and backgrounds cut down without mercy. The news is still difficult to absorb – the murder of innocent lives leaves us […]
advent, refugees
Reviewing the newly published book by Ruth Crofton A Dead Man’s Gift is a beautifully crafted short fictional story with its genesis in the narrative of the wise men so much a part of the Nativity Story. The book is a delightful and thought provoking story. It is drawn from the author’s experiences of travelling […]
Despite all the things we say about diversity, I do worry about the sameness of our congregations. But does this extract from Barnard Castle’s church magazine give us any cause for hope, I wonder? At least it seemed to me worth sharing more widely…. (And I’m sorry I’m posting a week after the Feast of […]
2015 seems to have been a bumper year for anniversaries. In June Her Majesty the Queen paid a visit to Germany, 70 years after the end of the Second World War. During the same month the nation celebrated the signing of Magna Carta – in Durham City a three month major exhibition was held to celebrate […]
Reflection shared with the West Durham Methodist Circuit Pilgrimage 19-September-2015 I first had the pleasure of reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce a couple of years ago (Publisher: Black Swan; 2 Jan. 2013). It is a story about an old, unfit, retired sales rep, Harry Fry, who after receiving a letter resolves to walk […]
Ray Anglesea shared these thoughts with the congregation at Crook last Sunday Last year at Eastertide my wife and I had the privilege of attending morning worship at St Paul’s Chapel, Lower Manhattan, New York City, a chapel steeped in history. The chapel is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan (1766). George Washington was […]
A Forgotten Army? Ray Anglesea shared these thoughts with his congregation at Crook – a small number of whom, he tells us, are VJ veterans The Queen was at the centre of events last weekend to mark the 70th anniversary of VJ Day. The Sovereign led tributes to the “forgotten army” of veterans from the Second […]
In the heat of an Oxfordshire summer, bodies of the British tourists shot dead whilst on holiday on a beach in Sousse, Tunisia have been arriving back in the UK. Coffins have been flown from Tunis to Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, on an RAF C17 and taken off the plane one by one with great respect, […]