Dear friends As some of you know, I am a member of gym. I’ve been a member of many gyms over the years. Sometimes over those years, my attendance has been sporadic, paying my dues and never darkening the door. Other times, I find I get into a rhythm and find a pattern that means […]
Dear Friends, I’m not sure whether you’re like this, but I love to people-watch. One of the best types of places I find for this is coffee shops or cafes. You can sit with your drink of choice, perhaps with friends, a newspaper, or a book, and flit from your main focus to the activities […]
Dear friends Recently I came across a box of photographs that has come with me everywhere I’ve lived for the past 20 or so years. Back when people took photographs on film and had them printed, I would get the completed film out of the camera and then, usually, send it off to be turned […]
Dear friends As we start to take the Christmas cards down and the last bits of tinsel get vacuumed up from the carpet, we begin putting the season away. The presents, the endless mince pies, the attempts at wrapping without losing the end of the tape, all start to become a distant memory as New […]
One of the fascinating things about the Christmas period is the approach people take to gift giving. I’m sure many of us can think back to times when gifts at Christmas were symbolic, maybe home-crafted, maybe something small or something that would not have been gained otherwise. I’m sure many of us recall Christmas giving […]
Dear friends I find that autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons. The colours that come from the leaves as they turn from green to orange and red and eventually to all shades of brown is quite a wonder to watch. The green seemed to cling on for much longer this year, and then […]
Dear friends Instead of a ‘letter’ this month, I want to offer you a postcard. As a child, holidays included the sending of what always seemed like dozens of postcards as a message from a sun-drenched – or just rain-drenched – holiday destination. Holiday postcards usually give a picture of interest on one side – […]
When I was on a regular pattern of the academic year (which has been the case for more years of my life than not!), the mid-point of August would be the point at which it was time to start preparing for the new year ahead. It was time to restock the pencil case with necessary […]
This month’s ‘musing from the manse’ is in reality written while on a train. June has been a month of many journeys with time spent away firstly on holiday and subsequently on a Summer School with other URC Ministers and then a training course in Hertfordshire. As I look out of the window with the […]
Dear friends, Congratulations! We’ve made it through the various liturgical seasons of the first half of the Christian year, and we’ve now hit the six-month period known as Ordinary Time. The excitement of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost have passed as we reflected and celebrated, and then reflected and celebrated again. The ‘ordinary’ […]
