Richardl

LATEST ARTICLES ( 623 )

• The Deserts Shall Rejoice

  

  The story of a pictureA couple of weeks ago I paid a visit to Virginia Water, not far from where I live. At one end of the water there is a cascade. Read more

  Posted on 08 May 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Stop Watching This Video

  

  Read more

  Posted on 04 May 2014 LIFESTYLE, RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Never Mind the Length

  Check the depthSome time ago I read a scathing newspaper review of an after dinner speech. The reviewer said that the speaker went on at length ‘like an ugly... Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Ministry in the Chocolate Box

  

  Insights from a cardboard boatI have spent the past few days enjoying the beautiful scenery and the chocolate-box prettiness of Exmoor. Read more

  Posted on 01 May 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Visceral Christianity?

  

  Non-verbal communication for the preacherSo far, my query relating to the place of mind, heart and spine has produced few results. Read more

  Posted on 24 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• The Wolf in the Pulpit

  On listening to sermonsOver the years in these pages I have made no secret of the value which I place on story in communication. Far from being a threat to... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Good Friday Preaching

  

  From an open air pulpitPreaching in the open air is a very different experience. The wind snatches your notes away, the traffic drowns out your voice, and... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Barefoot Preaching

  

  Maundy ThursdayEvery year, Maundy Thursday offers an opportunity for a different style of preaching and worship. On more than one occasion we have held... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Easter Times Two

  

  Two speeches divided by a common languageWithin the past week both the British Prime Minister and the American President have held Easter gatherings at their... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• When Jesus Came to Teddington

  

  A project for Palm SundayA couple of weeks ago our senior teenage group listened to a poem ‘When Jesus came to Birmingham’. Following on from that, we asked the... Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• A Deck of Prayers

  

  An ideaI have just come from leading a Friday lunchtime prayer meeting. It lasts for about 45 minutes, and is attended by a group of people who often pray... Read more

  Posted on 11 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Dear PM

  

  Happy Easter to you tooDear Sir. I am not, actually, the Prime Minister. You see, the girl who described me that way was very little at the time and she did... Read more

  Posted on 11 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Not the End but the Beginning

  

  The words of a heroSixty nine years ago two guards came to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s hut in the Flossenburg prison camp to fetch him for his final journey to the... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• The Preachometer

  

  Measuring impactBack in 2000, I was completing a Master’s Degree in Preaching and tackling my dissertation on ‘the preacher as translator’. Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Digital Isolation…

  

  …or analogue reticence?There’s been a black-and-white photo doing the social media rounds recently, taken in a 1950′s railway carriage. Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Nighthawks and Lost Causes

  

  Glimpses by nightWalking into town for an admin meeting at the church as light faded last night, I found this little Prayer of St Jude carefully tucked into... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Technology to Pray for

  

  Not before timeA little while ago the editor of a well-known online tech magazine tweeted a question about the ugliest kind of wearable technology. Read more

  Posted on 01 April 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Just Three Words

  A gem of understatementMost of us generate a lot of words every day – spoken, written, texted and typed. If we could see them all around us, we would feel that... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• The Quality of Mercy?

  

  More from the vocabulary of faithI have now preached the last in my series of sermons on the ‘vocabulary of faith’ – looking at those words which are used both... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• A Tale of Two Churches

  

  A faded glory?Yesterday I visited two churches set in a an idyllic swathe of the Surrey countryside. Separated by the Tillingbourne River, babbling through... Read more

  Posted on 30 March 2014 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY