Category Archives: Uncategorized

I visited a couple of friends in hospital yesterday. There’s a queue at the enquiry desk… bustling corridor… busy cafeteria.  So many people, Each has a reason for being here, each has a story to tell. My friend Geoff’s been in hospital for six weeks. I’ve known Geoff for years. We talk about his storyContinue reading “Each Has a Story to Tell”

I was reminded of four stories yesterday: Abraham: Before the American-Danish sculptor Gutzon Borglum carved the presidents into Mount Rushmore, he was practicing on some blocks of marble in his studio. A small girl visited him and stared at a half-finished president’s face. ‘Is that Abraham Lincoln?’ she enquired ‘Yes,’ replied Gutzon. The little girlContinue reading “The Person Inside”

My friend John quoted the Shakespearean phrase ‘as if we were God’s spies’. I discovered it comes from King Lear.  Lear is speaking to his daughter Cordelia about their future together in prison: …so we’ll live,And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laughAt gilded butterflies, and hear poor roguesTalk of court news; andContinue reading “God’s Spies”

God on high, hear my prayerIn my need, you have always been thereHe is young, he’s afraidLet him rest, Heaven blessed Bring him homeBring him homeBring him home He’s like the son I might have knownIf God had granted me a sonThe summers die one by oneHow soon they fly on and onAnd I amContinue reading “Bring Him Home”

We came back home from holiday yesterday. How do I approach this next chapter of my life– the routines, lists, people to see, things to do, plans for the coming weeks… Life’s normal ordinariness. Patience: Behind our holiday cottage was a hill. When we’d visited in the past we’d seen red kites flying above theContinue reading “Life’s Normal Ordinariness”

It’s the end of our holiday. Today we return home to Lowestoft. It’s been a good week, creating good memories… We’re approaching the end of September. Yesterday I listened to the lovely old song: Try to remember the kind of SeptemberWhen life was slow and oh, so mellow.Try to remember the kind of SeptemberWhen grassContinue reading “Prayers For Moving Forward”

On the news Sir Keir Starmer was speaking at the Labour Party conference: ‘I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel …’ I wasn’t really listening. ‘…I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the sausages…’ He suddenly had my attention. Did he really sayContinue reading “Did You Really Say That?”

This morning I read the book of Micah in my Bible. It contains several well known texts. One of my favourites is: ‘If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ’I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ that would be just the prophet for this people!’ (2:11) Politics in the UK andContinue reading “Plenty of Wine and Beer”

At the funeral we attended last week we sung the old hymn: Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,For those in peril on the sea! Rebellion: Yesterday, visiting Wells-next-the-Sea, I saw a plaque commemorating John Fryer. Born in Wells, Fryer served in the Royal Navy, and finally returned to Wells where he’s buried. InContinue reading “For Those in Peril on the Sea”

Unfinished Business: When I lived in Surrey smart-suited business men walked to the train-station each morning, travelling up to London, reading their newspapers in silence. One gent read one page of his paper, screwed it up, and threw it out the window. He read another and threw that one out the window. He did thisContinue reading “Unfinished”