Rev elations

The outcome of the in/out referendum is an enormous political shock that is reverberating around the world – voting trends give a picture of a divided Britain : divided between those who are cosmopolitan and those who are traditional; between the young and the old; between cities and countryside; between the wealthy and the poor; between Scotland/Nr Ireland  and England/Wales. Such a huge political decision which ends a 46 year political union, which has toppled a Prime Minister and shocked the political classes, leaves us to wonder at the disconnect between those who lead and those whom they lead. For those who are elated and delighted at the outcome the narrative of victory is one that tells of: freedom from out of touch elites who rule from Westminster and Brussels; power to take back control of our borders; power to change our country for the better For those who are despairing at the outcome there is shock, anger and disorientation – the United Kingdom they thoug...

This weekend our nation and commonwealth gathers to give thanks for the long life and ministry of Queen Elizabeth II as we celebrate her 90 th year. We know that she still leads a remarkably full working life and we may well reflect today on how she has managed to thrive so long in such a demanding and public role. This week I’ve been on a conference and one of the subject areas was ‘building resilience for leadership’. We could easily have used Her Majesty as a shining example of someone who has displayed a remarkable resilience in leadership; not only is she the longest serving monarch in British history, but also the world’s oldest ruling monarch; and of course during those years there have been trials and challenges. But what is resilience? It includes the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; a certain toughness and clarity of vision and role. Our Queen remains remarkably steadfast and committed to her task. But, resilience is more than its formal definition sug...

Perhaps we could enter imaginatively into the face of God and more importantly into how God looks at us. It might not be easy to conjure up such an image; God’s face being hidden to us, but, what about his regard? How do we imagine him looking at us? The passages that we’ve looking at for Sunday 5th June from 1 Kings (17:17-end) and from Luke (7:11-17) reveal to us that God looks with compassion on his children, especially those who suffer, mourn and who are the least and most vulnerable in society, as women were. Elijah and Jesus are shown to have deep compassion on the two widows that they meet. They raise their sons from the dead; they act out of their very real compassion.                                                   ...