Articles | Gathering up

Living the tension

Will Howard — Fri, 15 May 2020 17:56:14 +0000

Christchurch Parish Website May 2020 A favourite poem of mine is by Seamus Heaney. The poem itself doesn’t have a title. It’s simply no. 8 in a sequence of poems in his collection entitled Seeing Things. You can read the poem here on the Nobel website. One way of reading the poem is that it’s… Read More »Living the tension

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Looking back to our future

Will Howard — Wed, 06 May 2020 15:31:46 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, April 2020 What is the one thing upon which you base everything else in your life? For example, in recent times, human rights have increasingly become the basis by which many of us try to order our lives, both as individuals and as societies. Explaining on what grounds we hold such rights… Read More »Looking back to our future

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The Idolatry of God

Will Howard — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 10:45:58 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, March 2020. Over the last couple of months, we’ve been looking at the first commandment (here and here): the one which tells us not to have any other gods before God (Ex 20:3). As we’ve explored this topic, we’ve seen that we have a deep-seated tendency to root our identity, security, well-being… Read More »The Idolatry of God

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First things first

Will Howard — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 23:41:48 +0000

In last month’s piece about the Ten Commandments, we noted in particular that the one that comes first is that we are to have no other gods than God: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other… Read More »First things first

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The Order of The Ten Cs

Will Howard — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 10:08:00 +0000

The story goes that prior to giving Moses the Ten Commandments on Mt Sinai, God was having second thoughts. He was about to hit the print button but, as happens, there was a problem with the Wi-Fi. Put on hold by the IT department, He started to wonder if the order He’d put them in… Read More »The Order of The Ten Cs

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Making space

Will Howard — Sat, 30 Nov 2019 13:07:37 +0000

How will we reply to the greatest invitation of all this Christmas? This is a time of year when we often find ourselves needing to make space. For example, when we have to squeeze a couple of extra chairs around the table to make room for old friends we haven’t seen in ages; or when… Read More »Making space

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It’s a privilege

Will Howard — Sat, 21 Sep 2019 11:56:47 +0000

What’s the one thing we need in order to be church? This autumn marks the 20th anniversary since the completion of the Priory Church Nicholson pipe organ. In 1999, the sense of excitement in the air after the many years of hard work was tangible, even to us newbies (Jen and I had only just… Read More »It’s a privilege

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The importance of rest

Will Howard — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 12:13:30 +0000

Relax: why the gift of sabbath has never been more vital. Every year, nearly all of us go on a holiday, with many of us doing so during August—especially if we have children at school. In fact, according to research by ABTA, over the course of a year, not only do 86% of us in… Read More »The importance of rest

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All aboard!

Will Howard — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 10:12:40 +0000

What the story of SS Uganda can teach us about what it means to be the church. Christchurch Parish News, July 2019 Back in the 1970s, my brother went on a school trip on a steamship called Uganda. The exotic name caught my young imagination and having heard how enjoyable his experience had been on… Read More »All aboard!

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Step by step

Will Howard — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 09:55:35 +0000

Summer fitness tips with a difference! Christchurch Parish News, June 2019 I am a reluctant convert. For at least a couple of years my wife, Jenni, had been trying to persuade me but I was having none of it. It wasn’t for me, I would protest. I didn’t need it. I was managing perfectly well… Read More »Step by step

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What kind of church are we?

Will Howard — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 22:22:33 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, May 2019 What does it mean to be a church that takes the Bible ‘seriously’? A few years ago, a church noticeboard caught my eye. In big blue capital letters, it read: ‘This is a Bible-believing church!’ Underneath that confident statement, in only slightly smaller type, were the words, ‘We are a… Read More »What kind of church are we?

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On the rise

Will Howard — Sat, 30 Mar 2019 10:10:03 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, April 2019. What the theme of Exodus and Resurrection can mean for us all this Easter. When we say we believe in God, first and foremost what we mean is that we trust in God. But how do we know that God is trustworthy? After all, just because we’re speaking of someone… Read More »On the rise

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Lenten reflection: ‘warts and all’ or Facetune?

Will Howard — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 10:55:01 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, March 2019 In 1656, when sitting for his portrait, Oliver Cromwell insisted that the painter, Samuel Cooper, depict him ‘warts and all’. This stringent command would appear to be in sharp contrast to the prevailing zeitgeist of our own time, when many of us fine-tune our online appearance using filters and specialist… Read More »Lenten reflection: ‘warts and all’ or Facetune?

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In-between times

Will Howard — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 08:05:51 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, February 2019 As we prepare for a later Lent, I ask what it means for us to live faithfully in the here and now. This year, Easter is almost as late as it can be. Falling at the end of April, we have to wait until the second Sunday in March for… Read More »In-between times

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Living together in unity

Will Howard — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 09:48:23 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, January 2019

A reflection on Psalm 133 as we prepare for the week of dedicated prayer for Christian unity.

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Darkness to Light

Will Howard — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 10:12:25 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, December 2018

A personal reflection on the hope of Christmas, even when times are difficult.

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King of Hope

Will Howard — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 10:48:01 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, November 2018

What does Christ’s Kingship mean for us today?

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Reflecting the Light of God

Will Howard — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 11:06:10 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, September 2018

What do we mean when we say we believe in God as described in the Bible?

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Out of the ordinary

Will Howard — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 11:20:35 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, August 2018

A reflection on the calendars we follow to structure our lives and why there is nothing ‘ordinary’ about this time of the church year.

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What do we believe?

Will Howard — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 07:00:31 +0000

Christchurch Parish News, July 2018

A new report reveals striking insights into the range of different beliefs within any UK church. What does this mean for us?

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