‘O taste and see that the Lord is good’ [Psalm 34.8]   ‘Thank you’ is the most wonderful of prayers. It places us in relationship. It reminds us that we live in a universe of gift rather than a workplace of oppression.   If you find difficulty in receiving, tell God about it. Then open your hands. If God gives you something – a precious space, a gift of kindness from another, a moment when you are caught up in the beauty of creation - then receive this with graciousness. I will not say ‘you deserve it’ since the language of ‘deserving’ is not one that belongs here. It is gift, and ..read more

  The opening words of Bob Dylan’s ‘All along the watchtower’ have been going through my head: There must be some way out of here.   There must be some way out of the injustices and oppression that the Black Lives Matter movement seeks to right. There must be some way out of humankind’s casual misuse of the planet as nature drowns in a sea of plastic and the weather grows ever more extreme. How do we ever move away from the scandal of poverty and inequality - for all our technological advances the gulf between have’s and have nots persists. There must be some way out of fake news a ..read more

  The Sarre Penn is the smallest of streams. It rises just a few miles from where I live and after an 8 mile journey it is absorbed into the larger River Stour. You can find it on an Ordnance Survey map if you are keen of eye and determined to look for it. In summer, the Sarre Penn dries up completely, leaving not much more than a muddy rut in the landscape. Come the autumn rains and it flows once more, lively and purposeful. In spring its banks are rich in wood anemones, celandines, cuckoo flowers and bluebells. The Sarre Penn has become my familiar companion. I walk through the woods ..read more

  Staying with it   Watching dramas and documentaries on the television I find myself thinking ‘you’re standing too close to each other’. In a short period of time we have begun to consider social distancing normal if not comfortable. Seeing someone coming as we walk along, we move to the other side of the street. We allow more time to do our shopping, knowing we will need to wait in a queue before we even begin.     There are other areas of life where what was once strange has become the usual. We no longer bounce out of a hasty breakfast into a daily commute. For almost ..read more

  Coranavirus has come amongst us, and we are in a state of shock. For a moment we feel we have adjusted, but then another news item, a further restriction on movement, or the realization of just how much change we are dealing with sweeps us off our feet again. How do you adjust when what you are adjusting to keeps moving?   It reminds me of going swimming in Whitstable, close to where I live. I feel comfortable swimming just so far out, so though I have freedom of movement through the waves, when I want to, I can put my feet down and feel t ..read more

The Singer   I heard the singer before I saw him: a deep natural voice and a lilting folk song. He was one side of a hedge and I on the other. Coming into view I saw him slow-pedalling his bicycle along a country lane as I – invisible to him – walked along a footpath. The song grew and then faded as his journey continued.   I was moved by what I heard and then saw: a man on a bicycle at home in himself and with creation; a song that seemed to belong to this moment as much as the waving of grass in the breeze and the warm sun on my fac ..read more

Turning my ‘buts’ into ‘ands’   I am wary of the power of the little word ‘but’.   It easily slips into my sentences and, if I’m not careful, into my spirit.     Listen to these statements and notice what that single syllable does:   I had a good retreat that gave me a fresh sense of my path, but now I am back at work and facing reality.   It’s sunny now, but it’s going to be cold and rainy later.   I am looking forward to seeing my friends, but the journey back is going to take ages ..read more

Clearing I haven’t written here for a long while. I have been working towards a deadline for submitting a book on refreshing the spiritual life of priests, and this - together with other commitments – has crowded out these reflections. Earlier in the week I went for a long walk in the woods and passing by a simple wooden bench in a clearing, sat down to breathe a while.   Gazing out I began to take in the detail of what was before me. At the heart of the clearing was a single oak tree. The top was blackened by lightning like a sharpened penc ..read more

Someone untimely reborn   He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures... he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at one time...then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me.  [1 Corinthians 15: 4-8]   Over these coming days of Easter the Church guides us to the different accounts of Jesus appearing to his disciples. Mary will meet him in a garden. John will stare at an empty tomb ..read more

God and the blackbirds  Every day we feed the blackbirds in our garden. They are there each morning on the lawn, awaiting their daily meal of an apple. I cut the apple in two, open the door and begin to step outside. The blackbirds take flight. I know this is how it all works. I put the apple halves on the grass and close the door. After a minute or two the blackbirds are there, taking their fill of the fruit prepared for them.   Why do the blackbirds take flight? Don’t they know we are the ones who feed them? Don’t they realise that when ..read more