Fathers to tend the desert

One of my refrains to God in prayer, over the last few years, has been something along the lines of Psalm 63: “You, God, are my God, I earnestly seek you … in this dry and weary land where there is no water.” It has been thrown into sharp relief recently by the weather in …

The dangers of reading theology

It’s been a while since my last post and whilst a big part of that is down to moving, I no longer live in London, the real reason is that I’ve been at something of a low ebb since then. Moving took me out of my church and forced me to attempt to find a …

The Impact of How Newman and Manning Read the Past on Their Tradition

Anyone who has spent any time at the intersection of various Christian traditions on Church History will likely have encountered Newman’s “To be deep into history is to cease to be Protestant.” and I’m adding nothing new really by reminding the reader that Newman’s own position here was actually quite innovative for the time. Despite …

Brief Thoughts on Ten Conservative Principles by Russell Kirk

As part of an online reading group I’ve joined we’re starting out by reading the essay ‘Ten Conservative Principles’ by Russell Kirk which you can read for yourself online here. It’s fairly lengthy but the essay opens with a rather illuminating statement: Being neither a religion nor an ideology, the body of opinion termed conservatism …

In Praise of the Ostiarius, the Door Keeper

I’ve been reading a few texts recently from the English church in the Middle Ages and was interested in how one Anglo-Saxon Bishop of York believed there are seven ‘degrees’ or offices in the church. I’d heard about this in a general sense but I’ll quote the section I read so you can see it …

Trying to find a new Church when moving

The last few months have been unexpected for everyone, but for me I’ve been working from home most of this year and have the added joy that my wife is now expecting our second child. With this we’re realising that we will likely outgrow our two-bed flat and so we’re looking at potentially moving. Growing …

Is Liturgy a Means? Or an End?

I grew up in a fairly low liturgical environment, it was liturgical but in the sense that there was a shared structure and framework that I recognised when I went to other churches from the same tradition. It did, however, avoid a lot of the trappings and paraphernalia one tends to think of in a …

‘If the Church of England really is a hallway…’ and other thoughts

It wasn’t long since I stepped away from the discernment process that lockdown began in the UK. A lot of my thinking about Church since then has been rendered pretty abstract since we can’t actually go anywhere, especially given we spent Easter in lockdown this year. Yet I can’t help but wonder what things will …

Life Amidst Coronavirus

Last night I watched the Prime Minister announce what some are calling a lockdown in response to the spread of coronavirus across the UK. My own work has had me working from home for several weeks now and whilst some aspects have been a challenge I’m already doing what the Prime Minister is asking of …

O God, You are my God

O God, You are my God;Early will I seek You;My soul thirsts for You;My flesh longs for YouIn a dry and thirsty landWhere there is no water.Psalm 63:1 Not too long ago I wrote about my experience going through the discernment process for Priesthood in the Church of England. I mentioned that an outcome of …