Blog

  • Sermon preached on 17 August 2025. (But should it have a content warning?)

    I wonder whether you have heard of a place called Edinburgh. It is a place about 50 miles away from here. And it is a wonderful diverse, international city…for at least three weeks a year. Now the East of Scotland and the West of Scotland are different one from another. Amongst other things, religion is…

  • “Issues” is no more

    Earlier today, the General Synod of the Church of England took a hugely significant step. It removed a document called “Issues in Human Sexuality” from the discernment process for people being assessed for clerical vocations in the Church of England. Oh, I can hear you yawning from here. But it really is important and this…

  • Fake Pope Quote Posts

    One of the more bizarre developments in social media has been the rise in fake quotes from popes appearing online. One might think that Roman Catholics would be particularly at the forefront of this kind of activity, but that’s not necessarily the case. Anglicans seem to love a good fake pope quote. I’ve seen them…

  • In just three days…

    Every year I make a promise to people. I say that if they keep the triduum with me at St Mary’s then it will change their life and change their faith. I think that keeping the Triduum helps make sense of all that we do in church for the rest of the year. In just…

  • A man had two sons…

    Jesus make up the story of the Parable Son for Lent 4 and maybe it isn’t about repentance at all. So what was he on about?

  • The University Sermon – University of Oxford – 23 February 2025

    I glanced up from my desk as I sat down to write this sermon and gazed at an icon that has been on my wall for the last 8 years. It is obviously an icon showing the garden of Eden. A green background. Two figures stand on either side of the tree of knowledge. Although…

  • Divine Dating – the Mysterious Art of Finding A New Cleric

    How does God speak? Is it in the words of a CV or by judging the style in which it has been laid out? Would one font convince you to put someone on a shortlist and another make you put the application in the reject pile? Is it through the checking off of tick-boxes on…

  • Predictions 2025

    Good results for Nigel Farage following the English local elections in May. Terrible results for Conservative Party. No progress towards the marriage of same-sex couples in the Church of England Turbulent year for WordPress, which powers about half of the internet. 2025 will be the hottest year on record. No trade deal for UK with…

  • Scottish Episcopal Kalendar 2025

    For years now, I’ve produced a Kalendar for the Scottish Episcopal Church with all the bible readings set out for the year. This year’s Kalendar is available online so that anyone can download it and print it out for themselves. It is available right here: http://thurible.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Final-Kalendar-2025.pdf Anyone who would like to make a donation because…

  • How were my Predictions last year?

    Time to check out how I did with the predictions I made on New Year’s Day 2024. 1  General Election in UK – Labour landslide. PM – Sir Keir Starmer. (No great change in policies from the Tory government that Labour will replace). Yes – fulfilled in every way. 2  US politics will continue to…