Blog

I remember being surprised on taking a walk on my first morning in Cambridge, to discover that there were cows on Midsummer Common near Jesus Green. After years of city and suburban ministry, it was not quite the landscape I was used to. The image doesn’t seem quite so unusual now. I have spent the last nine years in a rural parish. In the late afternoon at the vicarage, sometimes the cows from a nearby farm can be heard as they make their way indoors for milking. Today is the Feast of St Francis, who had a particular focus on [Read More]

Yesterday, the 11th of August, was the feast of St Clare of Assisi. She was born around 1194 into a life of wealth and privilege. After hearing Francis of Assisi preach, she is said to have slipped out of her family home at night and met Francis and his brothers by torchlight at the Porziuncola, a small chapel outside of Assisi. There, she received the religious habit and had her hair cut short, marking the end of her old life. Despite her family’s resistance, she never wavered. She founded what became the Order of St Clare, known as the Poor [Read More]

In Matthew 10, Jesus sends his disciples out and he ends with something very simple but full of meaning. A cup of cold water. The central focus is a different way of seeing. Seeing with a kingdom viewpoint. Receiving what is before us. Just recognising God’s grace in front of us, here and now. And in these small acts, we are drawn into what God is already doing. Not a feast. Not even a meal. Only a cup of cold water. In the name of Three words carry the meaning. They speak of trust and recognition. In them, ordinary encounters [Read More]

John 10 gives us a beautiful and very familiar image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” It’s a picture that has inspired artists for centuries—a picture of care, belonging, and guidance. But it’s not only about an individual relationship with Jesus. It’s also about a people. Jesus talks as much about the sheep as he does about himself. Faith, in that sense, is both personal and shared—it’s shared life. An image that I always find helpful is a group of people walking a pilgrimage together. Not [Read More]

The story of the road to Emmaus is quietly unsettling and wonderfully comforting at the same time. Two disciples walk away from Jerusalem—away from the place where everything had just happened. They are grieving, confused, and disappointed. And yet, as they walk, Jesus Himself comes to walk alongside them. But they don’t recognise him. Not because he is absent, silent, or inactive—but because are not yet able to see who he is. They had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel. We had hoped, they say. Their hope has turned into disappointment. And still, Jesus is right there. [Read More]