Peace on earth?

For many months, and especially in the last few weeks, we have been seeing the war in the Middle East and its horrible effects being reported almost daily on our TV screens and in our newspapers. I can barely watch the news now. I feel helpless, angry and even guilty...

Resisting without imposing

In the 1980s Lesslie Newbigin argued that the modern multicultural worldview simply did not have the resources to stand up against absolutist worldviews. Sadly the rise of radical Islam and the results of the EU referendum and US presidential election seem to be...

The gift of time

In Michael Bond’s reflection on the passing of the years read by Sir David Attenborough at the Queen’s 90th birthday service he stated –  “My father’s motto was – the most precious gift you can bestow on a child is your time.” A recent survey...

Seasons of life

Although for much of our lives we may prefer to ignore it, there are times when we are reminded, sometimes forcibly, of William Shakespeare’s definition of the seven ages of mankind: “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have...

Remembering to do better

This article was broadcast as a Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Ulster on Wednesday 27thJuly 2016 and is adapted and used with permission. On Tuesday in Rouen in France the community gathered to remember an 84-year-old priest murdered earlier that day in an atrocious...