Heads, feet, and hair seem to be essential to much religious practice. In the place of worship – Christian males: head uncovered, feet covered; Jewish males: head covered, feet covered; Muslim males: head covered, feet uncovered. Sikh: hair never cut. Buddhist monks and nuns: head fully shaved. Jewish (First Testament/Hebrew Bible) regulations about not cutting
Monks, Manes, and Moustaches Read More »
Our entrance rite has long fittingly been called our cluttered vestibule. Christmas holidays is one chance to worship in quite different communities, and to pop into church buildings as one drives around, also looking at their Sunday service booklets or pew sheets. From this it is clear that in many, many communities nearly every last
Our Cluttered Vestibule Read More »
This Saturday, 31 January [feast day of that other well-known saint 🙂 ], it is 100 years since the birth of Thomas Merton. He is one of the most-influential spiritual writers of recent times. He was born in Prades, France, of a Kiwi father and American mother. His dad went to the school where I
Thomas Merton 100 Years Read More »
I recently read about a convent that lent out wedding dresses for brides. People donate their wedding dress and so there is a good supply of hundreds to choose from. A sister alters the dress to fit. People can leave a donation in gratitude. It seems yet another example of creative mission and ministry. There
Church Keeps Wedding Costs Down Read More »
An article by the reliable Ruth Gledhill on the Christian Today website claims: As the consecration of the first female bishop [in the Church of England] approaches, Christian Today has learned that at the consecration a few days later of traditionalist priest Father Philip North as Bishop of Burnley no bishop will lay hands on
Update: Bishop Kelvin Wright, Bishop of Dunedin (NZ), has responded to this post on his excellent website. After reading my post, do go and read his here. Motion 30 in NZ Anglicanism, that we can currently liturgically recognise committed same-gender couples, and that set up a working group towards formally blessing such couples, four months
Baptist Loophole for Same-Sex Couples Read More »
Your kingdom come. John the Baptist can be a bit of an embarrassment for Christians because if we look honestly at the documents it’s pretty clear that initially Jesus was a follower of John the Baptist. In Matthew Chapter 3 it says: In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,
Does your parish or church use a facebook page as your primary means of communicating on the web? UPDATED with links to parishes that solely use a facebook page as their presence on the web (see end of post). I have wondered about encouraging people to use a facebook page as their parish website. Now
Using Facebook as your Website Read More »
