On the pilgrim way: ‘I felt we were intruders in the unmanaged woods’

23/07/2025 | Reform

Sheila Maxey takes a back seat

In May I spent a week on a canal boat exploring the Caldon Canal. The sun shone all week as I mostly sat at the front of the boat watching nature, hour after hour. … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘I want to describe that joyful weekend but perhaps it is beyond words’

09/06/2025 | Reform

Sheila Maxey tries to put joy into words

I had the privilege of leading worship on Easter Sunday this year – I must have done so countless times over the past 40 years. There are great hymns to sing and … Read More

Do stay for tea and coffee: ‘Who says children‘s books are for children‘

09/06/2025 | Reform

I’ve been on a mini book tour. The books aren’t mini – although they are for mini people – the tour is.

And before you say this is just a thinly disguised plug for my new books… well, there’s nothing … Read More

On the pilgrim way ‘It was a coming together of a part of the Church which had now dispersed’

25/04/2025 | Reform

Sheila Maxey enjoys a Church reunion

It is 20 months since Brentwood United Reformed Church closed. Last Christmas I received an email from C who, with her husband and son, moved away from Brentwood about two years before the closure. … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘What I am happy to throw out may fill them with horror’

11/03/2025 | Reform

I am beginning to think about the question of passing items of mine on to the next generations. I have experienced two very different ways of doing so.

In one, a maiden aunt of my husband’s prepared carefully for her … Read More

On the pilgrim way: ‘Like a kindly earworm, I heard, “The light shines in the darkness”’

29/01/2025 | Reform

I made a resolution at Christmas time – not waiting for the new year. I decided that I would try with renewed effort to find the signs of light and life, and hope lying around me and in the wider … Read More