Monthly Archives: April 2017

APCM Address 2017

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Ian Black

Parents taking their children out of school during term time for holidays have been in the news recently, not least because of a court case. There are times when this is necessary, but every school I have been involved with … Continue reading →

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Journey to a village named Hot Spring

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Ian Black

The story of Jesus meeting two disciples on the road to Emmaus, our gospel reading (Luke 24:13-35), is a wonderful but difficult story. Only Luke has this story, and no one seems to know where Emmaus is, just that it … Continue reading →

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Living good news v fake news

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Ian Black

‘Fake news’ and ‘false news’ has itself been a news item recently. Donald Trump hit on this as a way of arguing that photographs that clearly showed a sparse crowd at his inauguration back in January had been doctored and … Continue reading →

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Journeying at a different pace

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Ian Black

I don’t know if I am just being particularly aware of it this year, but a lot of people have wanted to hold meetings this week. And it is not just the secular world, which doesn’t hold much store by … Continue reading →

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The Pillowman and the Passion

Posted on April 9, 2017 by Ian Black

Just over a week ago I went to the Key Theatre to see Mask Theatre’s production of ‘The Pillowman’. The play is set in a totalitarian regime. The central characters are two brothers, under arrest in a police station, and … Continue reading →

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Alphabetic Prayer

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Ian Black

I recently looked at Psalm 145 and discovered that it is an alphabetic Psalm. I hadn’t realised this before, but each verse begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  So there are 22 verses – well there are … Continue reading →

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If only

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Ian Black

Well, what a feast that gospel reading provides! It is a wonderful story full of intimate love and grief, of anguish and questioning. Rather than split up the flow, the lectionary this morning gave us the entire story of the … Continue reading →

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