In case you missed it … 10 things I’ve recently shared elsewhere.
(1) The Archbishop of Canterbury is resigning. But do you know his name? This is very striking (Church Times):
[Two days after Justin Welby announced his resignation], “in another YouGov poll, 5856 UK adults were asked whether they had a ‘favourable or unfavourable opinion’ of the Archbishop: 42 per cent said that they had not heard of him…
“A wider YouGov poll was taken a week earlier … Of the weighted sample of 2177 UK adults, 78 per cent did not know who the current Archbishop of Canterbury was.”
(2) Pleased to be listed as a signatory to this letter (published in the Telegraph), opposing the introduction of assisted dying. Full list of signatories here.
(3) Enjoying this recording of one of my favourite Bach chorale preludes, for the season of Advent (the first one in the video). You shouldn’t try to be too clever when playing Bach. Let the music do the work. The walking bass needs to walk, and the rest fits in.
(4) House of Bishops, post-Welby: LLF is no longer going heLL-For-leather. A most welcome development.
(5) Interesting to have a sermon in the news headlines. I wonder what people make of it? Not an enviable task to preach on such an occasion. But I would be surprised if many people were actually challenged by this sermon. In a divided context, those on her “side” will praise her for her courage, and those on Trump’s “side” will just be annoyed. I’m not sure how such a sermon advances the cause of unity, to be honest.
(6) This makes for truly devastating reading: The devastating impact of 15 months of war on Gaza (The Guardian). If you want to do something to help, search for “Gaza appeal” or “Middle East appeal”… .
(7) Very thoughtful post on the style of John Mark Comer’s books (hat tip: Andrew Wilson): The Ruthless Elimination of Paragraphs (Digital Liturgies).
(8) I’d been eagerly awaiting an announcement about the next Bishop of Durham, so I’m very sad to read this update from the Diocese of Durham.
(9) My brief comments on the lectionary are finished! Lots of brief comments, so it’s turned into quite an epic project. Hope it is useful to some… Common Worship Lectionary Commentary.
(10) “Do you have a favourable or unfavourable opinion of the Church of England?” That question makes me think not of my local parish church, but of the CofE nationally (archbishops, etc). But if I was asked about the NHS, I would think local (hospitals, etc). Why is that? Church of England: just 25% now have a favourable view (YouGov).