Sandra Blow (14 September 1925 – 22 August 2006) Sandra Blow was born in London, and studied at Saint Martins School of Art from 1941 to 1946, at the Royal Academy Schools from 1946 to 1947, and subsequently at the Academy of Fine Arts, Rome from 1947 to 1948. She travelled to Spain and […]
Blog
sea
Posted on by James Woodward
WHEN the sea is everywhere from horizon to horizon .. when the salt and blue fill a circle of horizons .. I swear again how I know the sea is older than anything else and the sea younger than anything else. From Carl Sandburg, North Atlantic
Social Justice?
Posted on by James Woodward
A piece of research published today reveals a clear north-south divide. The Tees Valley in general and Middlesbrough in particular are places which became rich on heavy industry.William Gladstone famously went to the original town hall in Middlesbrough and proclaimed it an “infant Hercules”. Go to the same spot now and you find a sad, boarded-up building […]
Nativity of Mary
Posted on by James Woodward
Almighty and everlasting God, who stooped to raise fallen humanity through the child-bearing of blessed Mary: grant that we, who have seen your glory revealed in our human nature and your love made perfect in our weakness, may daily be renewed in your image and conformed to the pattern of your Son, Jesus Christ our […]
Contrition
Posted on by James Woodward
published in the Church Times 3 September 2010 Beyond regret and guilt to true contrition MY FATHER has a healthy ambivalence about religion, based on seven decades of living in a small village. Going to church, he maintains, does not seem to make a difference. It may not make us better people; in fact, […]
Laughter
Posted on by James Woodward
you can take from me bread, if you like you can take from me air, even, but don’t take from me your laughter. don’t take from me your rose, your speech, your spear, the splash of joy, the sudden silver, the outbreak: your laughter. From Pablo Neruda, Your laughter
We all swim then sink!
Posted on by James Woodward
On Thursday eevening I had the pleasure of talking to clergy from Sion College – and as well as their warm hospitality I found them altogether a sane, humane and reflective bunch. The reflections following a tour of Highgate Cemetery. Here is an edited part of the talk: Victorians really knew how to say goodbye. […]
Unclouded ending?
Posted on by James Woodward
VERA, aged 71, is a lifelong member of her church, in Birmingham. She is angry that the Church seems preoccupied with the young. “It’s almost if we do not exist,” she says. While many churches focus on attracting younger congregations in the effort to rejuvenate an ageing Church, it is also possible to […]
Holiday Reading – final part three!!
Posted on by James Woodward
Getting back into the rhymn of work has its challenges and rewards – at the end of day two I thought I would round off with the remainder of the holiday reading highlights. What do we want from leaders? How much humanity (and weakness) dare we tolerate in those in authority. Or have you ever wondered […]
Holiday reading – part two!
Posted on by James Woodward
This is my favourite holiday reads this August picked up quite by accident when I was trying to spend a book token in waterstones – taking advantage of their three for two offer! You remember the feeling – you land your hands on two books you think you want and cannot find a third! I […]
Holiday reading…..
Posted on by James Woodward
Part One – I hardly dare admit that I purchased this book but it proved a stimulating read….. as I continue to struggle what it is that makes for a respected politician of first rank. For those believers in the present paradise of coalition politics there will be much more of this legacy writing! And […]
And now …… for a well deserved break
Posted on by James Woodward
It is August and time for a break….. which means? and thats laughter just in case you forgot! and a little bit of good food and the sea……. (secret Im off to Wales! Do you know where this is?) and castles … different from this home from home! rest….. See you in September xxxxx James
The search for dignity
Posted on by James Woodward
I thought this well worth pondering from Katharine Jefferts Schori ( the Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church in the United States of America. She is the first woman elected primate in the Anglican Communion) There’s an institution in New York City called the Doe Fund. Its motto is Ready, Willing and Able. Early in the […]
Who is Jesus?
Posted on by James Woodward
About a year before he was hanged by the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from his prison cell to one of his friends. In his letter, he said ‘The question I keep constantly asking myself is, “Who really is Jesus Christ for us today?” ‘ Germany had had a great Christian past, but when Bonhoefferj […]
thorns
Posted on by James Woodward
‘Twas the old road — through pain — That unfrequented one — With many a turn — and thorn — That stops — at Heaven. From Emily Dickinson, ‘Twas the old road
Leading the Church of England
Posted on by James Woodward
I thought this profile worth sharing – as we continue to pray for all our Church leaders….. The last time the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spoke to the New Statesman, it was at the end of 2008, a year that our writer, James Macintyre, described as “one of the most difficult for Anglicanism since […]
Courage?
Posted on by James Woodward
In his Christian England (Volume 1), David L Edwards writes: “The two most famous lines in their (the Anglo-Saxons) poetry are spoken by a warrior who is about to lay down his life when his lord (‘the man so dear’) has already been killed. Byrthwold cries out towards the end of the battle fought at […]
The skill of Piper
Posted on by James Woodward
This is a wonderful book – the first comprehensive account of the life and work of John Piper, including many of the overlooked tributaries into which his creativity overflowed. It contains in-depth research into all the major commissions within John Piper’s lengthy career, plus much new information on his work in print-making, stained glass, illustration, […]
Meaning? Purpose? Living?
Posted on by James Woodward
Here we are, thrown into a world in which we have to live. We did not choose to exist, we did not create ourselves nor did anyone consult us as to whether we wanted to live. It has just happened to us that we have, so to speak, wakened up in a world and grown […]
Local Imagination?
Posted on by James Woodward
As the Summer fair season begins I found this reflection helpful….. Jesus often compared the Kingdom to a very small thing that has universal effect – yeast working through a batch of dough, for instance. As such, the quantity serves the quality – you need enough yeast to make the whole loaf rise, but […]