Chapter & verse: Isaiah 61:10-62:3

01/12/2020 | Reform

Peter Cruchley on why Isaiah reminds him of footballer Marcus Rashford

Let’s explore these words from Isaiah alongside the words of the English footballer Marcus Rashford, who wrote – on 2 November, in an open letter to his ten-year-old self: … Read More

Here & now: Naomi Baldwin

01/12/2020 | Reform

Let’s find a new now, says Naomi Baldwin

I have, saved on my phone, a quote I come back to time and time again. It’s one of those annoying motivational ones with a blurred image of something completely irrelevant in … Read More

I am… a prisoner’s mentor

01/12/2020 | Reform

A story of mentoring after prison

When most people think about volunteering to help others, prisoners aren’t often the ‘others’ they choose. You only have to read the news to discover that most people think prisoners are ‘bad people’ who … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘Is this meeting a new kind of witness?’

01/12/2020 | Reform

Sheila Maxey finds hope before lockdown

There is nothing like something new to cheer me up as I begin to face the fact that we might be in this Covid-19 world for a long, long time. In early October, we … Read More

Do stay for tea and coffee: “I’ll be home for Christmas,” so the song goes. Won’t we all?’

01/12/2020 | Reform

Paul Kerensa shares Covid-safe Christmas ideas

A couple of months ago in this column, I asked for your outside-the-box ideas to light up this bleak midwinter. If we can’t sing in church, if the Rule of Six-Geese-a-Laying means no big … Read More

Commitment-Phobe: Songs of yearning

30/11/2020 | Reform

Can lockdown Christmas have meaning?

‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’ is one of my favourite Christmas songs. We hardly ever sing it at our church because it holds this deep and true sad yearning. It is my song for this … Read More