Reflections

A very patient person kindly took my passport photo the other day. Tolerant and long suffering they led me gently through the necessary steps. Then they swiftly sent the image to my trusty email doodad. Passport photos don’t capture you at your dazzling best. The image that looks back at me is unrecognisable. The guy...Continue reading→

A Reflection for Sunday 28th of November You’re probably aware that the gospel reading on a Sunday works on a three year cycle. So in 2020 we read Matthew. This year we have been reading Mark. We get huge chunks of John during Lent and Easter. In fact, the gospel for Good Friday is John’s...Continue reading→

There are times in a priesty guy's life where he goes to a bedside with his heart in his boots because the person in the bed is someone who he has grown fond of. I wonder what on earth I will say. True the Church gives us formularies and books and prayers which are great,...Continue reading→

Pilate asked Jesus “What have you done?” It’s a good question to have a play with because it applies directly to us in all sorts of ways. Notice please that in the scripture the question isn’t answered. Let’s start with what Pilate is not asking. Pilate is not asking Jesus for his CV. He was not asking...Continue reading→

Your reality should you choose to accept it…. Jeepers families can be a mess can’t they? In today's Old Testament lesson we have a harrowing love triangle. One husband, two wives. A situation that must inevitably be fraught with instability, grumpy words and danger. Elkanah favoured his first wife Hannah, but Hannah is miserable due...Continue reading→

There is an enormous sense of satisfaction when a guy can trim the edges and mow his lawns. You can see where you have been and the cathartic effect of turning unruly grass into a neatly manicured lawn cannot never be underestimated. My doctor would also argue that the physical exertion will help keep my...Continue reading→

The year was 1990 and it was the year after our daughter Stephanie had died. I was going through a particularly dark time with my prayers and understandably I felt as if all the sparkle had evaporated from deep inside me. Instead of water, joy and light there was darkness, gloom and sadness. Instead of...Continue reading→

Of Auld Lang Syne What is it about Auld Lang Syne that stirs us with a bitter sweet nostalgia and poignancy? John Green in his book ‘The Anthropocene Reviewed’ explored the potency of Auld Lang Syne., He wrote “I think Auld Lang Syne is popular because it's the rare song that is genuinely wistful -...Continue reading→

A Fete like last year Due to the thing that we would all dearly like to stomp on, this year's fete will be like last year. Letters of thanks to our supportive businesses will be personally delivered but we will not be asking for any donations from them.  A list of these generous businesses. November will be set aside as...Continue reading→

Whose image is it anyway. Bishop Morrie is a fictional character created by columnist Michael Leach. This is one of Bishop Morries homilies. If you haven't done your taxes yet, you better get a wriggle on. Money is a symbol of love, and some of your tax dollars will go to feed the hungry, shelter...Continue reading→

The most beautiful thing in the world is … vulnerability Much of this article is pinched from a book by John Green. He talks about a dog who ‘in the early evenings would contract a case of the zoomies. He ran around us, yipping and jumping at nothing in particular and then after a while...Continue reading→

A reflection for the 24th of October. There are three groups of people in this gospel story. There is Jesus, there are the people who tell Bart to keep quiet, the ‘shooshers’ and then there is Bart himself. And the usual course for the preacher is to zero in on Bartimaeus. To offer a smashingly...Continue reading→

Did you know that time is a wibbly wobbly thing? For example, the hour spent in the waiting room of the dentist to do a root canal is much longer than the hour you spend over a delicious meal in a wonderful restaurant with spectacular views looking into the eyes of that gorgeous someone. I...Continue reading→

I want to read you an excerpt from a novel. In the story the hero Jack is invited to come and work in a carpenter's shop. The Master carpenter Charlie is an experienced gent of few words but the words he speaks are insightful and I found them helpful. You’ll probably pick up that English...Continue reading→

“Please Father Oulton. What will heaven be like?” This question was frequently asked when I was a school chaplain for a few years. Initially I would try to come up with the right answer, which invariably was the wrong answer, because I didn’t know the answer. You can say things like, “It will be far...Continue reading→

Once upon a time I took our daughter to a Wiggles concert. You know… those skivvy clad people that dance and sing with a very young audience. I remember it as a very rowdy outing but great fun for all of that. A few months ago The Wiggles announced a fresh line up of people...Continue reading→

Story one  - Fist shaking in the Lady chapel Well, it has been a time and our media have had a lovely year bringing us every possible conceivable angle on the whole COVID thing. Pictures, graphs and editorials. Much ink, much screen space, much grumpiness and some not so polite difference of opinion. It’s all out...Continue reading→

Have you noticed that there are a lot of numbers lately? Number of people who have been infected, number of people in ICU, number of people who have died, number of people who are on a ventilator, number of jabs, number of people  who were in the community while infectious, number of mystery cases. We are...Continue reading→

A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed. And what gospel is that?” There is no dichotomy between man and God's image....Continue reading→

Every so often in the gospel  we are given a tantalising glimpse into what I call a ‘shadow person’. Someone who is necessary to the story of the gospel but we actually aren’t told a lot about them. In today's gospel it is someone who I will call Doogal. 38 John said to Jesus ‘Teacher, we saw...Continue reading→