Christianity

1st August 2023 In Christianity By Penelope Wallace

Possible reasons for the C of E’s appalling record

I have recently attended safeguarding training, run by the Church of England, and it included homework before, between sessions and afterwards. So I have as required watched the harrowing 2-part documentary “Exposed: The Church’s Darkest Secret," dealing with the serial abuser Peter Ball, former Bishop...

6th May 2023 In Christianity, General By Penelope Wallace

Penny Mordaunt and the Prophet Nahum

It was interesting that the Coronation came two days after the local elections. Regular readers of this blog may not be surprised that I was pleased by Labour gains, hee hee gloat gloat. I did also watch the Coronation. I had various thoughts during this long...

31st March 2023 In Books, Christianity By Penelope Wallace

The Oxford Movement

I have promised to blog this year about Charlotte M Yonge. This is not that blog. But knowledgeable people sometimes call her the “novelist of the Oxford Movement.” Novelist of the what? The definitive 1930 history book “1066 and all that” by Sellars and Yeatman is comparatively...

15th October 2021 In Christianity By Penelope Wallace

The Ten Commandments in the modern world (2): Number Five

The Fifth Commandment is to honour one’s parents (notably both parents.) “Honour” is not the same thing as either “love” or “obey.” Paul perhaps is extrapolating, when he says (Ephesians 6: 1-3) “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honour your father and...

1st October 2021 In Christianity By Penelope Wallace

Praying for COP 26

We all know, we’ve known for months, that something called COP26 is happening in November in Glasgow. (The Pre-COP conference is happening NOW in Milan.) How much more do we know? Until writing this post I didn’t even know what COP stands for ("Conference of the...

17th September 2021 In Christianity By Penelope Wallace

The Ten Commandments in the modern world (1)

Before I start, I must apologise for the almost two-month hiatus in the blog. It's been a busy summer, and I'm afraid the blog-drafting fell down the list of priorities. I'll try to improve. In the meantime, I hope all my readers had a refreshing...

19th February 2021 In Books, Christianity By Penelope Wallace

Review: “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer

Recently, our church was encouraged to read a book called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”, subtitled “How to stay emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world.” So much of it I found intensely annoying, and yet it is a useful book....

8th January 2021 In Christianity By Penelope Wallace

Repentance

I have been thinking lately about repentance. It has surprised me considerably that during this last year’s seemingly endless stream of new horrors, there have been few calls – to my knowledge – for us all to repent to save ourselves from divine wrath, even from...

5th December 2020 In Christianity By Penelope Wallace

“Rachel weeping for her children”: a story from Lamentations

Now that most of the people had been marched out, the city was almost quiet. There were carrion birds. Rachel daughter of Simeon had never been the kind of wife praised by the Proverbs writer, who excels in everything. Her weaving was barely adequate, and she...

28th August 2020 In Christianity By Penelope Wallace

Morality and the Patriarchs

My Scripture Union Bible reading notes have recently been taking me through the life of the patriarch Jacob. If you don’t know this fascinating story, read Genesis chapters 25-35… or just look him up on Wikipedia. (Previous readers of the blog will know about my...