St Mary the Virgin Church

Race Across the World is household viewing for us. The BBC series flings us to fascinating faraway places we’ll never reach. We gradually get to know the travelling pairs as they open up their lives – a mother and son, old friends, estranged siblings hoping to reconnect. Plus there’s the edge of competition, the pairs sprinting backpack-burdened to each checkpoint. (The sprinting is a contractual obligation for the cameras, I imagine!) July – travel time. The evocative smell of sun cream and salt. Of car fumes in the motorway jam. Of freedom and escape. Memories… of beautiful coasts and mountains, […]

I confess to writing this month as much as a sports fan – a football fan in particular – as a vicar. I support Crystal Palace, and am writing this within 24 hours of their historic win in the FA Cup Final. This is for all supporters and participants of sport, indeed for all with a passion for something! I’ve supported Palace since a child and am now 62. They’ve never won a trophy. They’ve suffered numerous relegations, celebrated promotions, toppled great teams on memorable occasions. But in 120 years never this. “Better to have loved and lost than never […]

I have been struck by an likely connection between two very different places: our own villages, and Gaza. Both face concerns about housing and infrastructure. Gaza’s is tragically being flattened: homes and hospitals destroyed, people driven out (and worse). In our villages (thankfully on a scale of seriousness far smaller than Gaza), housing developments are proposed, midst strained or inadequate infrastructure. Our homes are so important for us. They give security and stability, familiarity and community. They form the fabric of our lives and create memories. We naturally wish to protect our homes and the local environment in which they […]

Rectory notes – Thou who wast rich TV screenwriter to programmes boss: “I’ve a smashing series idea, boss” “You’ve two minutes. Shoot.” “Think “Back to the Floor”, “House Swap”, “Holiday Swap” – rich person gives up their privileges for poverty (relatively speaking). Take it to the max. Who’s richer, more privileged than God? He gives it all up to try life at the bottom of the pile. No angels hand and foot. No smiting powers. Nothing. “He comes to Earth (this isn’t Doctor Who). Chooses Britain – OK, not bottom-bottom, for the me audience. Rural Britain – you need rural […]

Rectory notes – Colour! Exeter St David’s station waiting room, as I discovered whilst waiting for a train home to Feniton this week, is joyfully coloured at present. Children from Exwick Heights Primary School have made art to ‘Brighten Up Blue January’ for travellers. Colours splatter the display board. Uplifting words too – ‘Smile!’, ‘Be kind’, ‘Donut worry’. Children aren’t the only ones who can do this. In a residential patch of Reading, round the corner from where we lived before moving to Devon and when recently visiting old friends, is vibrant street-art. Telephone junction-box art, even. Love and Joy […]

Big Ben strikes midnight. Party-poppers are popped, champagne glasses clink, Auld Lang Syne swayed to for its annual outing. Meanwhile, out in space, the Sun calls across the void to the Earth, “Congratulations, Earth! Another orbit done. Four and half billion laps gone, seven billion to go. You’re nearly halfway!” Further out in space, the universe continues its extraordinary expansion. A year? Every planet has its own. Elsewhere, time is measured in the lifetime of stars and atomic vibrations. Time is a matter of perspective. This cosmic view is awe-inspiring. But it’s also unsettling. So let’s hurry back home to Planet Earth, to a […]

TV screenwriter to programmes boss: “I’ve a smashing series idea, boss” “You’ve two minutes. Shoot.” “Think “Back to the Floor”, “House Swap”, “Holiday Swap” – rich person gives up their privileges for poverty (relatively speaking). Take it to the max. Who’s richer, more privileged than God? He gives it all up to try life at the bottom of the pile. No angels hand and foot. No smiting powers. Nothing. “He comes to Earth (this isn’t Doctor Who). Chooses Britain – OK, not bottom-bottom, for the home audience. Rural Britain – you need rural screentime, you said. Go for Devon – […]

Two matters of life and death surface publicly this November. The first, Remembrance. We will again weigh the tragic cost of wartime conflict, past and present. We will stand in reverence for the sacredness of each life lost. The second will be the immensely difficult debate Parliament is to have on assisted dying. This issue cuts deep into our sensitivities and anxieties. We sit in reverence of life, of what its end may mean, and what its end may be like for those we love or for ourselves. Compassion motivates this discussion on both sides. The cries of some for […]