The community has been fortunate of late to enjoy visits from other communities. The latest of these has been by the Archbishop’s Community of St. Anselm based at Lambeth Palace. Last week we hosted Miranda and Michael, Methodist North American citizens from Florida and Mississippi. The Community was set up in September 2015, when the […]
News
Anglican Social Theology
The Mirfield Centre hosted a fully-booked residential conference on Anglican Social Theology from 20th to 21st January. Participants came from across the country including Truro, London, Gloucester and Durham. The speakers told the story of this movement from its Nineteenth century roots in the thought and action of F.D Maurice and the Christian Socialists, through Brooke […]
Brethren visit Trier
As part of a regular cycle of exchanges, George, Simon, Nicolas and Marc travelled to Trier, Germany in December, for a four-day visit to the monastery of St Matthias. Our communities have a very close relationship, and this visit was an especially good and happy one. We shared in their life, had discussions about the […]
Transfiguration
Transfiguration 26 February 2017 I want to begin with something most of you will not have heard before. It is from “ Alice through the Looking Glass”. The White Queen and Alice are having a conversation. The White Queen says to Alice : “Let’s consider your age to begin with. How old are you?”. “I’m seven […]
Has Christ been divided?
Has Christ been divided? 22 January, 2017 Here from the novel Shirley is Charlotte Bronte’s portrait of the curate Mr Macarthey: “I am happy to inform you” she writes “with truth, that this gentleman … proved himself … decent, decorous and conscientious … . He laboured faithfully in the parish: the schools, both Sunday and […]
Launch of St Hild College
Launch of St Hild College 14 January 2017, Dewsbury Minster Sermon preached at the service to launch St Hild College, formed by the merger of the former Yorkshire Ministry Course and St Barnabas Theological Centre, continuing to operate from its site within the grounds of CR at Mirfield. I am old enough to remember the Beatles. […]
The Baptism of Christ
The Baptism of Christ 8 January 2017 Today we keep the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. Because of the quirks of the church’s calendar, in which some festivals are coupled with a specific date like Christmas, others are based on specific Sundays, like this one, so that while we kept the great feast of […]
Naming of Jesus
Naming of Jesus 1 January 2017 Numbers 6.22-27; Gal 4.4-7; Luke 2.15-21 Driving around the country to Ministry Division meetings is not inherently pleasurable but it sometimes brings unexpected benefits, usually courtesy of Radio 4. So it was that on one occasion recently I heard the following tale. In a clearing in the Australian bush […]
Jesus came to…
Jesus came to… 18 December 2016 – Advent 4 What can anyone say in this run up to the pre-Christian midwinter festival, when Christmas music has been played in bus stations for a month already, coloured lights glimmering from windows, cards arriving; even presents? Who are music, the lights, the presents, for? Are they really […]
Straightness
Straightness 4 December 2016 – ADVENT 2: Year A Poets, story-tellers and other observers and commentators on the human condition have occasionally pointed out the curious fact that in order to arrive at an intended destination the traveller sometimes has to go by a roundabout and circuitous route. Alice at the beginning of her adventures […]