“Could the last person to leave the church please turn out the lights.”

At the time of writing this article I’m sitting in the restaurant of IKEA in Glasgow, just having consumed the obligatory cup of coffee and slice of chocolate almond cake. The quote comes from the front cover of the New Scientist magazine, 3 May. I spotted it on the drive up to Glasgow – my wife Pam and I are visiting our daughter who now lives in the city. The visit also affords a break from parish life – a time to reflect on life in general and the things going on in society. The past months have been fertile ground as far as the press and national debate on religion is concerned – one minute we’re declared a Christian country by David Cameron, the next we’re hailed as a progressive pluralist/secularist nation with no place for the Christian faith in public life. Continue reading →

So, Easter is nearly upon us.  As a child and from my youth I can remember always liking Easter – it was somewhat second behind Christmas in terms of “looked forward to” events, but only because Christmas presents surpassed chocolate in excitement value.  On the Eggs front, my favourite has always been Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons – a simple little number with exquisite taste, unadulterated by fondant fillings and rectangular shapes.  I think a Buttons Egg is for the purists among us.  And then there was the challenge of separating the two halves of the egg without breaking them, followed by the dilemma of what do you eat first – egg half or bag of buttons? Continue reading →