Blog

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Isaiah chapter 40

Over the past two days, and completing it today, we have been reading the 40th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah at Morning Prayer. It begins a section of the Book of Isaiah that runs for the next fifteen chapters, that we always dip into …
Tuesday, November 24, 2020

A story of lost things

Those who have been in the rectory living room over the past three years will have seen the old walnut sideboard that is against the wall opposite the fire. It is nineteenth century Irish, and originally must have had an upper part that ha…
Monday, November 23, 2020

Columbanus and a postscript on Margery Kempe

Five years ago, while still at Belfast Cathedral, I was invited to help in the celebration of the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St Columbanus. The thought was that, though an Irish Saint from a monastery in Bangor, in what is now Cou…
Sunday, November 22, 2020

A walk to Agglestone Rock

We left the Rectory quite early yesterday morning, for a walk over Ballard Down to Godlingston Heath and to the Agglestone Rock, and, by so doing, managed here and there a few new stretches of path to us, as we opted for variations to the r…
Saturday, November 21, 2020

Pre-Advent and the Book of Daniel

Today, at Morning Prayer, we conclude our reading of the Book of Daniel, with all its strange imagery on the one hand, and yet its familiar stories of Daniel in the lion’s den, and that of Daniel’s three companions and the fiery furnace, an…
Friday, November 20, 2020

Doing the right thing at the right time

4.00 a.m. strikes as St Mary’s Church clock ticks around another night, and in the stillness a tawny owl calls from its roost in the old burial ground below the rectory garden wall. The stars are shining brightly, and randomly I am thinking…
Thursday, November 19, 2020

Pining for Evensong

It has been one of those morning when we both woke with a tune in our heads. I was on Rutter’s Clare Benediction, Helen on a setting of the Magnificat - Standford, but which one? In the end, after breakfast it was to YouTube we went - of …
Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Psalm 56 and a sighting off Durslton this morning

There is a choice of psalms in the lectionary for both morning and evening prayer on these days leading up to the beginning of Advent. This morning one of the suggested psalms is Psalm 56, which is the one which has the line in verse 8, of…
Tuesday, November 17, 2020

The death of Yitzhak Rabin - a memory from 25 years ago

Twenty-five years ago, early in November 1995, I led my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As it happened, it was at a crucial moment in the history of the place of our Lord’s birth, death and resurrection, that had seen so many critical th…
Monday, November 16, 2020

Things to inspire us

The early light coming through the east window of St Mary’s church this morning reminded me of yellow ochre, with which a sheet of drawing paper was primed before we began a watercolour in art classes at school. It glowed, whilst outside t…
Sunday, November 15, 2020

What will Church be like after the lockdown?

The second Sunday of the second lockdown and it is the 2nd Sunday before Advent. People are raising the question with me and others, “With what sort of a Church are we going to come out of this health crisis?” I suppose that there are two…
Saturday, November 14, 2020

Shining in the gloom

I awoke this morning with a line of a hymn in my head: “Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.” Usually when this happens, I am struggling to think if the first line of the hymn, but not with this one. There is no need for a G…
Friday, November 13, 2020

The Gift of Time

The clergy received a card from Bishop Karen yesterday. It came with the suggestion that we all take an extra two days off in Advent, in view of what has been a, “strange and stressful year.” She feels that we should choose what to do to …
Thursday, November 12, 2020

An autumn flowering snowdrop

Barely mid-November and the sight of a snowdrop in bloom in St Nicholas’ churchyard caused us to pause and look again. A little research later and we came to discover that this is not a sign of climate change, but a variety that does, ind…
Wednesday, November 11, 2020

St Martin of Tours

For a short while during my Primary School days I attended a St Martin of Tours C of E Aided School, which had the exciting blazer badge of a Roman soldier astride a horse slicing half his cloak off to give to a man begging. As blazer badg…
Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The Seed Shop

The Seed-Shop by Muriel Stuart. One of the lovely poems that I learnt at school was, “The Seed Shop”, by Muriel Stuart. I was thinking of it this morning, at the same time as planning to save runner bean seed, which seems about ready f…
Monday, November 9, 2020

Margery Kempe

The Book of Margery Kempe is a work of great interest from various different viewpoints. As a writing of spiritual illumination from the early fifteenth century, it has its considerable value, but for other reasons it is also important. C…
Sunday, November 8, 2020

Remembrance as a catalyst for Peace

Today, as well as being Remembrance Sunday, is also the Third Sunday before Advent. We are now within that period that we are looking onwards to Advent and Christmas rather than referring back as a “Sunday after Trinity”. Forty years ago,…
Saturday, November 7, 2020

Tomorrow's Remembrance Services

Remembrance Sunday tomorrow is to be different from past years, with restrictions in place, and no Church services. We are able to use our on-line resources once more in the morning, but at the War Memorial in the afternoon there is to be …
Friday, November 6, 2020

A little thought on edges, tamarisks and fire

Three young adults, two women and a man, dressed in well-worn Durlston Country Park sweatshirts, were raking up the thick thatch of dead grass and cutting back new growth of low-growing gorse, and had a bonfire going well, in the early afte…
Thursday, November 5, 2020

Another lockdown begins

As today we begin a new national lockdown, albeit less stringent than that in the Springtime, and we are faced with the suspension of all church services, except funerals, for the next four weeks. I know how disappointed many of us are, th…
Tuesday, November 3, 2020

A little light in the midst of darkness

Last night, driving over to Studland for a meeting, the weather had the feel of being on the change. The forecast for today and the rest of the week is much more settled than what has been recently, and I snapped a quick photo on my phone …
Friday, October 30, 2020

Trying not to lose the rhythm

With so much uncertainty about lockdowns and rising rates of infections across the country, and with everything that we trying to do somewhat compromised by restrictions, the Church has developed new ways of doing things, just the same as e…
Tuesday, October 27, 2020

King Josiah

This morning we read from II Kings of the young King Josiah of Judah and his reforms that made his reign such a spectacular example of what could be done to improve and secure the livelihood of the people, under a determined and well-direct…
Friday, October 23, 2020

Wendy Cope's Anecdotal Evidence

I have wondered why it is that Wendy Cope, surely one of the finest contemporary poets, is not more often read and quoted. I recently bought, and read in one sitting, her latest collection (2018) entitled Anecdotal Evidence.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Fungi in the woods...

The coming few days are leading us towards the Last Sunday after Trinity, which is next Sunday. From then we start referring onwards towards Advent and Christmas,
Friday, October 16, 2020

The Rose Window in St Mary’s

Those of you who have watched Solveig’s ordination service from St Mary’s - and many have, judging by the viewing numbers on YouTube -
Wednesday, October 14, 2020

The Maccabees

At Evening Prayer this week we have the opportunity to read from the First Book of the Maccabees.
Friday, October 9, 2020

A service at which we remember our loved ones

With a great deal of thought and preparation, we have decided to go ahead with our All Souls/All Saints evening service on Sunday 1st November, at which we read out the names of all whose relatives have requested them to be remembered in th…
Tuesday, October 6, 2020

"Everything is going to the all right" - Derek Mahon

I mentioned the continuing presence of swallows and house martins in the blog last Friday, and there are still plenty about these few days later. On Sunday afternoon, between showers, we took a walk to the pier head and along the front, an…
Friday, October 2, 2020

Signs of autumn

There are still plenty of swallows and martins gathering in numbers before crossing the Channel and leaving for their long journey to Africa. It is not unusual to see fifty or sixty feeding on the abundant insect life above Anvil Point or …
Tuesday, September 29, 2020

St Michael and All Angels

Michaelmas, or the festival of St Michael and All Angels, is one that in the nature of things, rarely falls on a Sunday, which is a pity, as it is one of the most special days in the Christian Calendar. This morning we read from the Book of…
Friday, September 25, 2020

Thanksgiving for the coronavirus test!

Developing a cough last Monday night, on the back of a head-cold, had me trying to book a precautionary coronavirus test from the following morning. I started before six and roughly every ten or fifteen minutes went on the Government websi…
Tuesday, September 22, 2020

That autumn feeling

The garden furniture has gone away today. There has been a look in the sky, and a feel in the air, that the time has come. Helen oiled the old chairs and table, made of teak from the deck of a First World War battleship, in a ship breaker…
Friday, September 18, 2020

Solomon and the building of the Temple in Jerusalem

At Morning Prayer this week we have been reading in the First Book of Kings about the transition from King David to King Solomon; of the new king’s great wisdom; and today of the beginning of the construction work of the Temple in Jerusalem…
Tuesday, September 15, 2020

The Ride and Stride walk - The Priest's way and beyond....

Last Saturday the annual Dorset Historic Churches sponsored walk took place, in lovely weather and slightly unusual circumstances. There had, no doubt, been some discussion as to whether or not to hold the event this year, with many church…
Friday, September 11, 2020

Three years on

Three years ago today we arrived in Swanage. My diary entry for the day is brief and to the point. Looking back on it, I recognise how tired we were, and yet that day had only travelled from Bristol, having stayed with our family there ov…
Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Lady's tresses orchid

A few scattered spikes of autumn lady’s tresses orchids have been seen in St Mary’s Church grounds. It is a very un-showy flower and so easily missed, but there are eager watchers for it each year, and like others of the orchid family, it …
Friday, September 4, 2020

Open our eyes that we may see!

Sitting in the health centre waiting room a couple of days ago awaiting some routine blood tests, I watched the inevitable health information video, in the absence of anything else. It was very interesting and I learnt a great deal about s…
Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Let the rivers clap their hands.....

One of the psalms read during the past few days has been Psalm 98, which proclaims the singing of a new song to the Lord. Many things contribute to this celebration, from harp and voice and trumpet and horn to the noise of the sea, with th…
Friday, August 28, 2020

Stephen and Saul; David and Nathan

The death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, is related in the New Testament reading at Morning Prayer today. Stephen was not only a martyr, he was, in character and personality, a man of quite extraordinary ability and value to the e…
Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Irony as revealer of truth

For some time, whilst reading other books as well, I have been working my way through the “Col-lected Poems 1941-1994” of Michael Hamburger.
Friday, August 21, 2020

Psalm 55

The psalm before us today is one as heart-rending as any in the Psalter. Here is a man whose distress is deep and will not depart from him.
Tuesday, August 18, 2020

A Walk on Brownsea Island

From the moment that one steps away from Church Field, the clatter of the boat and the chatter of the other visitors falls into the background, and becomes a wallpaper on which is imprinted the bustle of Poole harbour,
Friday, August 14, 2020

Late Summer in the Rectory garden

The rectory garden is getting a bit out of control. I have spent little time in it recently, except at the outdoor table eating meals, and even less working in it. There is that mid-August look of tiredness and requiring major autumn atte…
Tuesday, August 11, 2020

The Poor Clares

There was another amazing sunset last night, with visitors and locals lazing in the summer evening light out towards Peveril Point, standing on the foreshore and spilling from cottage gardens, glass of chilled white wine in hand, children h…
Friday, August 7, 2020

The path of peace

Last Sunday the Observer carried an informative column by Simon Tisdall, entitled simply, "A nuclear space race? It seems we’ve learned nothing from Hiroshima". In a direct few paragraphs he outlined the precarious nature of the arms race …
Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Jean-Baptiste Vianney

Jean-Baptiste Vianney, the Curé d’Ars, who is remembered today in the Church calendar was a remarkable French priest of the first half of the nineteen century. He saw, with a strong vision of the transcendence of God and the sinfulness of …
Friday, July 31, 2020

Psalm 19

One of today’s psalms, number 19, I have quoted on this blog before. We began with it on 20th April, early in the weeks of lockdown and at the height of spring. On that day, I noted the guillemots at Durlston - now they are all gone - and…
Tuesday, July 28, 2020

From Tyneham to Flower's Barrow

Time for another walk, I think, and this one does require a little drive and the £2 donated car park fee at the abandoned village of Tyneham. Not abandoned by its inhabitants, of course, but by the MOD as requisitioned land, never returned…
Thursday, July 23, 2020

A spiritual garden for St Mark's School

Some projects have taken a little longer to come to fruition than expected, as those involved have been engaged in more essential things - or unable to work - due to the weeks of lockdown. One long-cherished plan has been the establishment…
Tuesday, July 21, 2020

The summer garden

The garden, whether for sitting in or working on, is constantly under the flight path of the swifts that seem to be in large numbers this year. Even with the much increased traffic on Church Hill, the screeching of the swifts is an exhilar…
Friday, July 17, 2020

Summer visitors return to Swanage

The number of people around in Swanage is making the town feel more like a normal summer now, but seeing the activity of the shops and station and hearing the sound of both diesel and steam locomotives, comes with the realisation that as ac…
Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Return to Dancing Ledge

Last Saturday was a fine day for a walk: a gentle breeze, sunshine and a clarity to the air that brought things close to, from the abundant flowers of the bramble to the distant sight of the Isle of Wight. We re-traced a favourite way past…
Friday, July 10, 2020

The Churches and arrangements and plans for the Summer

The weather forecast for today and the week ahead predicts some sunny and warm days for us and, even in these very strange times, there is a feeling of holidays coming on. The pattern of Church life, however, is rather complex at the momen…
Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Reverting to a twice-a-week Blog

I have decided that the time has come to revert to a twice-a-week blog once again as another small stage in returning to normal, so, roughly on Tuesdays and Fridays something shall appear, and I shall remove the link from the Homepage of th…
Monday, July 6, 2020

Ida Haendel, Sibelius and Ezekiel's Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones

When I read of the death of the violinist Ida Haendel in the Guardian last week (Saturday 4th July - she died on 1st July), I picked up a point, that I suppose is obvious to those who know about these things but hadn’t dawned on me, that in…
Sunday, July 5, 2020

Reflecting on a first Sunday back in Church for services

With services in Church recommencing today we have had quite an emotional experience, as we have come back together and have read and prayed as one. Attendance has been very good, considering that many people have been unable to come, and…
Saturday, July 4, 2020

This weekend and back to Church

There are a number of large ducklings in the brook. Considering the potential threat to their safety, especially when they were much smaller, to see a family of eight, this big, is remarkable. They are no longer quite as endearing as when…
Friday, July 3, 2020

Surprises and Expectations

A fox poked its head over the garden wall as we were eating last night. In fact it did more than that, it boldly stood on top of the wall and surveyed the garden from that vantage point. The growth is so thick on bushes and trees at the m…
Thursday, July 2, 2020

FAQs

As we move towards a situation in which we may hold services in church once again, from this coming Sunday, a number of questions are being asked, and I thought that today I would try and answer a few. Why are we starting with Services o…
Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Another little thought from Job

Living with uncertainty is something that we are getting used to, and it doesn’t make for ease for those who like to have things organised and neat in life. There is ever that nagging doubt about our current situation, not only the consequ…
Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Small steps

I am celebrating Holy Communion this morning in the chapel, before St Mary’s is opened, for the first time since the churches closed, in order to renew the reserved sacrament for both St Mary’s and St Mark’s churches. I have been consideri…
Monday, June 29, 2020

Psalm 71

Psalm 71 which is appointed for this day dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, or just St Peter (traditions vary) is a prayer in old age - an old man looking back on his life. It could be that of a battle-hardened king who knows his strength …
Sunday, June 28, 2020

Church Services to begin again on 5th July

Today is the last Sunday that we shall have no services in the churches, provided, of course, that they are not closed again at some stage in the next few weeks. We are not thinking about that, but of the re-opening for worship on 5th July…
Saturday, June 27, 2020

Cyril of Alexandria

“The patristic understanding of the Incarnation owes more to Cyril of Alexandria than to any other individual theologian.” So L.R. Wickham wrote in the introduction to his volume on the selected letters of Cyril, who died on this day in the…
Friday, June 26, 2020

Fruit, flowers and a little rain

The garden is staring to produce good crops now, with pickings of raspberries and strawberries every day for the past week, and more to come. The taste of broad beans that were on the plant an hour earlier, is how we are supposed to have t…
Thursday, June 25, 2020

Sacred Space

One of the most startling effects of the restrictions over the past three months has been the closure of Church buildings, and, as they slowly emerge from their lockdown, first for private prayer, and shortly for public worship, the debate …
Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Starting Services in Church again.

It is hard to know whether to be excited or concerned about the general release in the lockdown. Dire warnings that this is too much, too early, and that the second spike in this deadly virus is inevitable, is balanced by the chance to do …
Tuesday, June 23, 2020

The end of Sisera

The Morning Prayer Old Testament readings have moved from Joshua to Judges, and today the killing continues with the efficient disposal of Sisera, by the simple operation of a woman driving a tent peg through his temple with a hammer, while…
Monday, June 22, 2020

A nostalgic visit

Yesterday, the morning Church services on-line over, Helen and I drove to meet family for a picnic to a spot in Hampshire that is between our two houses. We had originally intend to go to Selborne, but, it being a honeypot for picnickers, …
Sunday, June 21, 2020

The longest day

The longest day, and it starts cloudy and wet. We didn’t cover the garden furniture and move the deck chairs to the shed last night, so they shall need to dry in the better weather on its way. Such things are part of the British summer: …
Friday, June 19, 2020

Bildad and Job

The Book of Job is on the menu for Evening Prayer at the moment, and between last night and tonight we have contrasting, but connected texts. In chapter 17, Job, through verses that are difficult to decipher, makes the case against the eas…
Friday, June 19, 2020

Psalm 31

Psalm 31, that is read this morning, is not dissimilar to Psalm 22 which Jesus quoted from the Cross. “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” has echoes in today’s psalm, as the author pours out his soul with, “I am forgotten as one that …
Thursday, June 18, 2020

travelling light

The rectory garden is looking a little as though it needs some attention. The funny thing about this work when there are no services in our church buildings, and no assemblies in school, and no opportunities to visit people, and no actual …
Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Oberammergau

Today a party of 42 of us should be heading to Heathrow and onwards to the Austrian Tyrol, before travelling by coach to Oberammergau to see the Passion Play. We have been anticipating it for two years, and now we have a further two year w…
Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Psalm 36

This is the 300th blog which I have written for this website. It falls on a day when we read one of the finest of the psalms at Morning Prayer: Psalm 36. After other well-crafted verses, it contains the memorable line: “For with you is …
Monday, June 15, 2020

Part two of a walk from Worth to Chapman's Pool via Seacombe and Winspit

Yesterday, this blog carried us on a walk from Worth, via Seacombe and Winspit, to St Aldhelm’s Head and onwards to Chapman’s Pool, and we reached a coffee stop at a seat above the quarries at Winspit. There, in sunshine, we enjoyed the si…
Sunday, June 14, 2020

A walk from Worth Matravers to Seacombe, Winspit, St Aldhelm's Head and Chapman's Pool

Let us go together on another walk. This time we are planning to meet beyond Swanage, we are going to gather at the car park near to the Square and Compass in Worth Matravers. I would suggest boots, for this one, or strong shoes, but, le…
Saturday, June 13, 2020

Re-opening the churches

Yesterday was a day in which we brought plans of opening the churches to fruition. The advice and guidance has been difficult to unravel clearly. One minute we feel we have the freedom to open and with distancing manage quite a bit, then …
Friday, June 12, 2020

An evening walk

It was early evening, last Saturday, when one of those amazing and unplanned moments of nature’s life broke in upon our walk, and caught us and others up in exhilaration. We had walked up Bon Accord Road, crossed Durlston Road at Wordswort…
Thursday, June 11, 2020

Barnabas the Peacemaker

Today in some churches, Corpus Christi is observed, but for most this is St Barnabas’ Day. Perhaps the most significant act of Barnabas’ life was one that he did impulsively, and which we don’t even acknowledge until Evening Prayer today. …
Wednesday, June 10, 2020

The rectory garden in June

Ten days into June and the garden has definitely reached that point whereby things change so swiftly that it is hard to keep track. A cooler few days, and a little dampness too, have changed the feel of the garden, from something baked sol…
Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Columba

After Patrick and Brigid the Irish saint most honoured is Columba, known primarily both in Ireland and Scotland as the founder of the Abbey of Iona. How this came about is a story in itself. Columba was born into a privileged family; one …
Monday, June 8, 2020

Bishop Thomas Ken

Today, the Church’s calendar remembers Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711) a man of integrity and prayer who wrote, amongst others, three hymns for the times of the day, the evening one of which is amongst my very favourite hymns. They are: “…
Sunday, June 7, 2020

When shall we be able to open our churches?

It seems that the discussion over the opening of Church buildings is moving on. The clergy have received an email from the Bishop of Salisbury, whilst recognising that things may not move that quickly, requesting that we establish a plan f…
Saturday, June 6, 2020

What's in a name?

In these days when the airports are quiet and air traffic generally much reduced, it is interesting to note that two of our major centres have really rather lovely root meanings to their names. Gatwick is apparently from Old English gāt wī…
Friday, June 5, 2020

Cool and a little damp!

Yesterday was a slightly strange day weather-wise; cool, fresh, but mostly dry. Again, our walk was late in the day, out towards the coast and through the fields, refreshed with the rain of Wednesday, but hardly less brown; the paths a lit…
Thursday, June 4, 2020

Terns off Peveril Point

We walked, fairly late in the day yesterday, on one of our standard circular routes that takes in Peveril Point, and, walking down from above it, we could see with the naked eye, terns diving for fish between there and the pier. Even from …
Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Division, oppression, turmoil and inequality

After forty years wandering in the wilderness the people of Israel under Joshua enter the Promised Land today (Joshua chapter 3 is read at Morning Prayer). It is by the most roundabout of routes and through the midst of the River Jordan, t…
Tuesday, June 2, 2020

The last pool of darkness

We need rain, and we need it badly. Over the past four or five days the extent of the parched ground has become more obvious, with the grass turning brown and cracks opening ever wider in paths throughout the countryside. It is hard to im…
Monday, June 1, 2020

Mary and Elizabeth

The visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth is celebrated on 31st May, but is transferred to today, in view of yesterday being a Sunday. There is a notable tone of joy in this celebration, as the embracing of the two women, each expe…
Sunday, May 31, 2020

Images and reflections

Today, my blog is simply a link to two very different, but I hope you will find enjoyable, pieces of work, gifts really, to us from David Nunn and Solveig Sonet, for this Pentecost Sunday.
Friday, May 29, 2020

The eve of Pentecost

In verses from St Luke (chapter 9: 1-17), read this morning, Jesus feeds five thousand, from five loaves and two fish. It is the only miracle story, except the resurrection, that appears in all four Gospels, and one that retains the capacit…
Friday, May 29, 2020

The rectory garden

The garden at the rectory is ever full of surprises, as is any garden really. Just when one thinks that one has seen it all before, so something pops up and reminds you, that, with all the potential variation in weather conditions and the…
Thursday, May 28, 2020

A virtual walk to Brian Johnston's field

It is time that I invited you on another walk. This is going to be a short one, so it will be easy going, but - I warn you - it will be slow. Be patient, take your time; don’t rush. There is too much to take in. Let’s start at the Bla…
Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Ode to a Nightingale v Psalm 29

“In some melodious plot of beechen green, and shadows numberless”, is the location of Keats’ nightingale, and the place of a particular perspective on a world made glorious by sunshine through Springtime leaves below a deep blue sky. Komor…
Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Balaam's ass

This week we are reading at Morning Prayer the story of Balak and Balaam from the Book of Numbers chapters 22-24, which includes the incident of the curious case of Balaam’s ass. Giving it such a title makes it sound a little like a Sherlo…
Monday, May 25, 2020

An early visit to Swanage and Studland

Until I was interviewed for the post of team rector of Swanage and Studland, I had only once before been to the area, and that was in 1972, on Monday 27th March, to be precise. It was a wet day, I was 17, and part of an A level biology fie…
Sunday, May 24, 2020

The Eve of St Aldhelm's Day

Today is the eve of St Aldhelm’s Day, and the Bishop of Sherborne is undertaking a virtual pilgrimage by Youtube this afternoon at 3.00 p.m., as her regular St Aldhelm’s walk is not possible. The link to it can be found at the bottom of th…
Saturday, May 23, 2020

Museums in Quarantine

Helen and I have been enjoying the TV programmes for the lockdown on great museums and galleries, called Museums in Quarantine. The presenter, in each case, chooses a number of objects, normally open to view, but shut now in locked galleri…
Friday, May 22, 2020

The water from the rock of Meribah

The journey of the Exodus that we continue to read at Morning Prayer (Numbers 20: 1-13) brings us today to Meribah, and the strife between the people who poured out their frustration on Moses and Aaron, and Moses, in turn, declaring his irr…
Thursday, May 21, 2020

The Ascension of Christ

Putting the bins out this morning I was engaged in conversation by a passer-by, along the lines of, “People say that all of the good in human nature, demonstrated in reaction to the virus, means that when we return to normal nothing will be…
Wednesday, May 20, 2020

New Every Morning

There is a point, and I think that we have just about reached it, when the rectory garden feels as though any major work will have to wait until the autumn; from now on and through the summer, we enjoy what is there and accept what can’t be…
Tuesday, May 19, 2020

St Dunstan and the early morning sun

St Dunstan, who was born near Glastonbury in about the year 910, and who is remembered today in the Church’s calendar, was a reforming monk who became Archbishop of Canterbury. He is said to have prayed through much of the night and “at th…
Monday, May 18, 2020

Rogation Days

Rogationtide is ever linked in my mind with lanes full of cow parsley, and rural church congregations walking their parish and praying a blessing upon it, from pond and village green to sown field and farm yard; to village hall, with trees …
Sunday, May 17, 2020

Encountering the Rose Beetle

On Anvil Point on Friday in the sunshine of the early evening, a rose chafer Cetonia aurata buzzed amongst the thrift, its green metallic sheen and impressive size caught our eyes, and sent me scurrying once at home for my two volumes of Be…
Saturday, May 16, 2020

Worship and devotion

Over the years I recognise that I use the word ‘devotion’ more than I use the word ‘worship’ in speaking of our response to the love of God and the call to serve him, though, of course, both are of our common religious language. I have ne…
Friday, May 15, 2020

Lilies and cherry blossom

There are kestrels nesting in a tree on the edge of Godlingston cemetery. Having been close to them twice this week at burials, I wondered at the strange cry that I was hearing, and which I was told was the kestrels, and, subsequently, hav…
Thursday, May 14, 2020

St Matthias' Day

Thomas Merton, contemplative and writer from the middle of the last century, once said, “The monk begins to live the moment he wakes up and realises that he will never be a saint and never be an abbot.” Very few of us will be any of these …
Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Time to hoe

I managed to sort out the mower a few days ago, and what was turning into meadowland at the rectory has now been cut; well, mostly anyway, I do leave some longish bits, and mow round clumps of flowers. The need to water young seedlings in …
Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Florence Nightingale

Today we commemorate the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale, born on 12th May, 1820. She was a most remarkable person and, whilst affectionately known as “Lady with the Lamp”, as she walked around her wards at night, it was her insight,…
Monday, May 11, 2020

Patience!

Music is being promoted as one of things that is helping people through the lockdown, even though, in the natural course of things, it is one of aspects of life that brings people together, as we sing and play instruments, and even listen t…
Sunday, May 10, 2020

Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich, the saint remembered in the Church calendar last Friday, 8th May, could have been slightly overlooked in view of the fact that her day has also become the anniversary of V.E. Day. These things happen. A date will mean d…
Saturday, May 9, 2020

Christian Aid Week

Christian Aid Week this year is going to be different, as with every Church event at the moment. We are being led by the Swanage Christian Aid committee, which has highlighted a number of ways in which we can mark the week through links to…
Thursday, May 7, 2020

Small and beautiful

The smallest of things may be amongst the most beautiful: the fragment of the shell of a skylark egg, a minute piece of sea glass, the delicate marks on the flower of an orchid. Yesterday two absolute gems caught my eye; one in the garden,…
Thursday, May 7, 2020

Predictive text

Recently I was working at a document with Solveig, and I found that I had typed in the word, “Parishioners” and must have missed the ‘a’, which caused my computer to change the word instantly to “Prisoners” - which caused us a degree of con…
Wednesday, May 6, 2020

A walk to Dancing Ledge

I think that we shall take another virtual walk today! Come with me. Sit back in your chair, and imagine the way. We are going to walk to Dancing Ledge. Let’s start at the Black Swan, that has just begun ‘take away’ meals on Friday and …
Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Memories of a retreat

Ten years ago (it was in June 2010) I was with a group of clergy at Minsteracres Retreat House in Northumberland. During our time there we were led by the Bishop of Bangor in north Wales. I was reminded of this today when reading of St As…
Monday, May 4, 2020

The childhood of Jesus

The one incident that we have recorded in the four Gospels of the childhood of Jesus appears in this morning’s New Testament reading (Luke 2: 41-end). The passage ends with words that seem to indicate that our Lord had a normal upbringing:…
Sunday, May 3, 2020

Coming in and going out

The last verse of a reading from 1st Peter (chapter 2: 19-end) this morning links it to today’s theme of the Good Shepherd: “…. you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” Viewing a…
Saturday, May 2, 2020

Salisbury Cathedral 800th Anniversary

One thing that could easily have passed us by is the 800th anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral. I have been reminded of it several times in the past week, including by more than one person in Swanage, and I am very grateful to them. This w…
Friday, May 1, 2020

The rectory garden on 1st May

The sun is shining this morning and Swanage is happy! It is amazing the difference a little sunshine makes. The sun also appears in both Old and New Testament readings on this day dedicated to the Apostles Philip and James (Proverbs 4: 10…
Thursday, April 30, 2020

The Spirit of God

There is a theme that has intruded itself into the thoughts this week, unsought, but inevitable as the days have taken their course and the words have flown. From Christina Rossetti’s prayer to the Holy Spirit on Monday; from the Annunciat…
Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Staying a while in one place

Both Old Testament and New Testament readings this morning (Exodus 24 and Luke 1: 39-56) end in someone having travelled a distance remaining where they are, and then, in that place, spending time preparing to go to others with news and dir…
Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Climbing Mount Sinai

"Nothing is quite the same”, or some such words, are commonly on the lips of people one meets at the moment, whether it is how our families friends or neighbours are faring, or that things are being noticed more because of the absence of pe…
Monday, April 27, 2020

Christina Rossetti

Today in the Church’s calendar we remember Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) best known as the author of the Christmas carol “In the bleak mid-winter”. Most of her poetry would not be much read today, and would not have the appeal of this one…
Sunday, April 26, 2020

Leaves and fruit

Last Tuesday, I mentioned in my blog one of some striking pictures that the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard uses at the beginning of his book Works of Love published in 1847. He speaks of the ‘hidden life’ of love withi…
Friday, April 24, 2020

St Mark's Day

St Mark’s Day and the patronal festival of one of our four churches, all sadly locked at the moment. It is also that part of the Parish of Swanage that has the Church of England Primary School, its badge being of a lion, the symbol of Mark…
Friday, April 24, 2020

The rock that is higher than I

“Set me upon the rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61 verse 2) In our beautiful corner of the Isle of Purbeck we are never far from rocks. We look down upon them from the chalk cliffs as we descend from Ballard Down, or to the cracked …
Thursday, April 23, 2020

Resurrection

The transition across the countryside is underway from the early to mid spring of primrose and the flowering of blackthorn and plum, giving way to that of hawthorn, crab apple, elder and cow parsley, with thrift along the coast and the yell…
Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Manna in the Wilderness

Whilst we in Britain concern ourselves with the important questions of, ‘How?’ and “When?”, it is wise to relax the constricting rules under which we are living, including from the point of view of the Church, when we may open once more and…
Tuesday, April 21, 2020

hidden springs

The Old Testament reading at Morning Prayer has for some days been leading us through the Exodus, and this morning, having been saved from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, the Hebrew people find themselves in the wilderness and short of wa…
Monday, April 20, 2020

The heavens declare the glory of God

Among other psalms directed for use this morning is Psalm 19, which begins: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. One day tells its tale to another, and one night imparts knowledge to another.…
Sunday, April 19, 2020

On the eighth day of Easter

This is now the fifth Sunday upon which we have not been able to meet in Church, and we are all forming new habits and probably losing track of the days of the week, Sunday and Church-going being the hub around which the rest of the week re…
Friday, April 17, 2020

Many waters cannot quench love

The rain of the past twenty-four hours has been thirstily received by very dry ground, not least that of the rectory’s very free draining garden. Water features in today’s readings too, as the children of Israel step through a divided Red …
Friday, April 17, 2020

The Psalms of Easter Week

From Monday to Saturday this Easter Week, at Morning Prayer, we use the psalms 111 to 116. These are the series of psalms that became part of the Hallel, the ‘Hymn of Praise’ sung at the Passover supper. We know from the Gospel account th…
Thursday, April 16, 2020

The early morning light

The tradition of building churches facing east is an old one. For those of us living in the West it means that as we sit in church we are facing Jerusalem, and also we are facing the rising sun. It is striking on an Ascension Day morning …
Wednesday, April 15, 2020

From the rising of the sun to its setting let the name of the Lord be praised

Sand Martins, Solitary Bees and a walk from Swanage to Studland After another sublimely beautiful sunset last night, today is calling me to another virtual walk, underlined by the refrain to the morning psalm in Common Worship, today: “F…
Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The new and the routine

It is the time of year for seeing the first of this and the first of that, as migration brings birds and, in time, butterflies and other insects back to Britain, while other creatures are waking from hibernation. Good Friday, looking into …
Monday, April 13, 2020

The wind blows in a new day

After days of stillness, to wake this morning to the sound of the wind, reminded me of our Lord’s words to Nicodemus of the Spirit as the wind: we recognise its effects, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. The creaks…
Sunday, April 12, 2020

Mind the Gap

“Mind the Gap” is a familiar instruction to train travellers. That step between the carriage, that can move and arrive and depart, that finds itself at slightly different heights and spaces from a static platform, is one that is sometimes …
Saturday, April 11, 2020

Easter Eve

Easter Eve is, normally for most people, a day of shopping and preparation for Easter Day and a family gathering, though this year the instruction is “shop for essentials, and do not travel”, and, when we hear the news and the continuing sp…
Friday, April 10, 2020

Christ Crucified

Questions are asked every Good Friday, from those at the mock trials of Jesus to that from one man on his cross to another, “Are you the Christ?” Today we have our own questions, as we read the BBC headline this morning; “Easter can’t be n…
Thursday, April 9, 2020

Maundy Thursday

There was a particular quality of the air yesterday morning that seemed to say to me that Spring was here and there would be no going back to Winter, even for a day. Someone reported to me the first sighting of an orange tip butterfly, tra…
Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Approaching Maundy Thursday and Good Friday

John 13: 21-32 This morning we read from today’s Gospel of the betrayer of Jesus, and at Morning Prayer from Luke 22: 54-end, of the denial of Christ by Peter in the courtyard of the high priest. It is a day that starts with the frailty…
Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Believe in the light

The Gospel for the Tuesday in Holy Week: John 12: 20-36 St John’s Gospel, chapter 12, verse 35: ‘Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks …
Monday, April 6, 2020

The Monday of Holy Week

This Holy Week my daily blog will be based upon the appointed reading from the Gospels for each day, and Simon is providing a piece of organ music that you might like to play at the end of the reading, to allow a few moments of reflection. …
Sunday, April 5, 2020

Sitting still

Fortunate enough to have a garden in these days of restriction, I took my early morning mug of tea to the garden seat at just after 6.00 to sit quietly and observe. It was not long before I was eyed up by a row of about twenty pigeons on t…
Saturday, April 4, 2020

Living in isolation

On the eve of Holy Week I am taking to heart some words spoken by Christopher Jamison, president of the English Benedictine congregation, who’s been reflecting, as a monk, on the separation and isolation of the current crisis. He speaks of…
Friday, April 3, 2020

Thoughts on closed Church buildings

The effect of the closure of the Church buildings quickly became something that has upset many people. Knowing that a church is open for anyone to go into for prayer is something that we have taken for granted, and for the time being it ha…
Thursday, April 2, 2020

A dove released, as from the hand of God

Today, those who are following the #LiveLent Church of England Lent booklet, will read of Noah sending out the dove from the ark, looking for evidence of the end of the Flood. A dove also appeared in yesterday’s morning psalm, Psalm 55, in…
Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Plans for Holy Week

As we approach Holy Week, I would like to take this opportunity to give you some idea as to how we are planning to make the days special, in the absence of services in Church. I have been in conversation with a number of people to discuss …
Tuesday, March 31, 2020

A virtual walk

Some people have very kindly been sending me messages having read the blogs in recent days, and a recurrent theme is to relive walks. So today, without me leaving my study or you leaving your home, I invite you to come on a virtual walk; a…
Monday, March 30, 2020

To lift one's eyes

We have bumble bees nesting in our garden. They are in a safe place near the shed, in the ground and just behind the high retaining wall. I am trying to get a good enough view of one to identify them, whilst at the moment just narrowing d…
Sunday, March 29, 2020

A daily exercise

Our one daily walk for exercise yesterday took us to the coastal path once again, and with the weather a mixture, alternating according to the exposure of the particular part of the track, between warm sunshine and a chill wind, the sea was…
Sunday, March 29, 2020

Service for Passion Sunday

The Sunday service for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, which begins Passiontide is a short liturgy for you to read in your home and includes readings and a short reflection on the Gospel.
Saturday, March 28, 2020

A Craigie Aitchison Crucifixion

Yesterday the clergy were sent in a diocesan communication the copy of a picture being exhibited in Salisbury Cathedral, but unable to be seen at the moment because of lack of access. Craigie Aitchison painted his first scene at Calvary in…
Friday, March 27, 2020

"I am become like a pelican in the wilderness...."

I have a feeling that we are entering a new phase of this crisis as, on the one hand, people in Swanage and Studland settle into the pattern of existence that has become necessary, and the initial adjustment has been made, yet, at the same …
Thursday, March 26, 2020

Harriet Monsell

There is a strong theme of perseverance in the readings for Morning Prayer today. From Exodus 4: 27- 6: 1 we read of the Children of Israel, under the oppression of Pharaoh, being refused to lay off their work of making bricks for a few da…
Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Another Spring Day

It is an irony not lost on us, that in the face of the worst health crisis for the country in living memory we are experiencing such beautiful Spring days. I woke at 2.30 a.m. today and was conscious of my heart beating, Helen breathing be…
Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The sound of music

The Guardian editorial yesterday quoted Saint Thomas Aquinas, in a lovely piece exhorting us to appreciate the value of music in facing stress and difficulty. But music was on my mind anyway, as several people have said how much they enjoy…
Monday, March 23, 2020

Psalm 77

The wind has dropped, but we can still hear the sea from the rectory garden this morning. But yesterday afternoon as we slipped out for an isolated walk to the coastal path, and on Saturday, the waves were crashing in as they have done for…
Sunday, March 22, 2020

A service for Mothering Sunday

Today our team of churches, though not meeting in any of our church buildings can still worship knowing that in Christ we are united. This blog contains a short act of worship today, that you may like to use at 10.00 a.m. or 10.30 a.m. as …
Saturday, March 21, 2020

The lighting of a candle

Psalm 31, appointed for Morning Prayer today, has some wonderful lines, as the writer weaves one picture after another to promote the idea that, as we pilgrims walk this life, the light of the face of God will shine upon us. Verse 21 reads…
Friday, March 20, 2020

St Cuthbert's Day

Normal life is likely to be looking very different in the coming weeks, as the community adjusts to the pandemic that is today partially closing schools from today, on top of the cancellations and restrictions that have already been announc…
Thursday, March 19, 2020

How good it is to make music to our God

At Morning Prayer on this day, the Festival of Joseph of Nazareth, I found myself reciting the first twelve verses of Psalm 147, which include the words, “How good it is to make music to our God”, and, “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; m…
Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Thought for the Day

As indicated in the news item on the website today, referring to the arrangements in the present crisis with the outbreak of coronavirus, this blog is to become a daily thought for the day. I am aware that what seems to be happening across…
Friday, March 13, 2020

Hebrews 3:7-end

Morning Prayer today continues the Epistle to the Hebrews that we started last Monday,
Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Diocesan Share 2020

I have recently been handed the official Swanage PCC certificate for the contribution of the parish to the diocesan share for 2020.
Sunday, March 8, 2020

Swanage and Studland Group to Oberammergau

The pilgrimage to see the Oberammergau Passion Play, from Swanage and Studland, took a further step today when half of the party of 42 met this afternoon with Andy Webster, a McCabe Travel representative to bring us all up to date on the pl…
Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Reflections a week into Lent 2020

The weather remains variable, to say the least, but we are into March, and the opening day of Lent, Ash Wednesday is already a week in the past. Yesterday was a fine spring day with sunshine and daffodils, a still and glistening sea in Swa…
Saturday, February 29, 2020

Moreton Church's Whistler Windows

Yesterday we took the opportunity to visit St Nicholas’ Church, Moreton, famous for its Laurence Whistler designed, etched windows. We arrived after heavy rain, and the puddles and mud had to be navigated first. There is a also a most imp…
Thursday, February 27, 2020

George Herbert

Today we commemorate the life of one of the famous priest-poets of the Anglican Communion, namely George Herbert. He died on this day in the year 1633 at a very young age (he was not quite 40), having served not long as incumbent of the pa…
Tuesday, February 18, 2020

#LiveLent 2020

The Church of England is promoting a 40-day challenge for Lent this year, entitled “Care for God’s Creation”. The Standing Committee decided to order copies of the guide booklet for all of the churches of the Team. These will be distribut…
Saturday, February 15, 2020

Kingston Lacy's snowdrops

Each year we have managed to get to Kingston Lacy to see the snowdrops - with a good proportion of the rest of the population of Dorset, I fancy. We went yesterday, and we were not disappointed, as the millions of lovely white flowers carp…
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Diary of a Pilgrimage

On hearing that I was organising a party to see the Passion Play in Oberammergau in 2020, I was kindly lent “Diary of Pilgrimage” by Jerome K Jerome, a late 19th Century account of an overland trip from England to Oberammergau. It is dated…
Friday, February 7, 2020

Preparing....

Preparation is one of the vital aspects of the life of any organisation that is creating events. Whether that is getting ready for Church on Sunday, or making sure that all is in place for something like the Parish Fete, or whatever. Year…
Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Landslips and pebbles

We have had some beautiful days in Swanage recently, but some very wet ones too. Along from the beach huts walking northwards along the beach the land is gradually falling into the sea, and some areas are marked with coastguard security ta…
Friday, January 31, 2020

Special Days

Any week of the year may have special days within it, and this week started with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is held in most countries on 27th January. As we listen again to the words of survivors and try and imagine bac…
Sunday, January 26, 2020

The William Blake exhibition at the Tate Gallery

Finally, last Friday, I managed to get to see the William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain. It has been running since 11th September and finishes next Sunday, so I only just made it. Blake’s work is appreciated along Marmite lines. Yo…
Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Sunrise over Swanage

The past few days have had beautiful sunrises and sunsets all over the country, but this morning Helen and I took an early walk to Peveril Point to take in the scene. There were surprisingly few people about as the sun came up, but plenty …
Friday, January 17, 2020

"Unusual Kindness" - the theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2020 begins officially tomorrow and runs until Saturday of next week. In Swanage we are having our United Service on the day after it ends, i.e. 26th January, and we hold our weekday prayers on just f…
Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Passing Epiphany days

The festival finery is now all stripped away from the churches and the damp and breezy January gives a rather sombre look to things. As someone said today, “I think the days are getting darker again”, though, of course, they are not. In f…
Thursday, January 9, 2020

Near Epiphany at St Enodoc's

The Feast of the Epiphany, and memories of a day walking on the north Cornish coast last week. Parking at Daymer Bay we walked the short distance to St Enodoc’s Church, the place of John Betjeman’s burial and the area around which much of …
Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Winter Shrubs in the Churchyard

The writer Ronald Blythe, best known for his book Akenfield, first published in 1969 and a classic description of English Village life, but author of many books, and weekly contributor to the Church Times for a score or more years, had a ha…
Monday, December 30, 2019

Days of Contrast

The last two evenings have had very contrasting sunsets. We had a late afternoon walk to St Aldhelm’s Church from the carpark behind the Square and Compass in Worth on Saturday. It was muddy and wet, and the bushes and winter foliage drip…
Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Pre-Christmas tidy in the Rectory garden

A quick twenty minute tidy in the garden first thing this morning was important to fill the green bin, as today was the last collection for a while. Hedge trimmings that had been piled ready to go went in first, then the dead growth from h…
Saturday, December 14, 2019

Swanage Town Carol Service

Amongst a number of Advent and Christmas services around the town and surrounding villages the Swanage Town Carol Service holds a special place as representatives of all the churches, the town council and a cross-section of volunteers invit…
Thursday, December 12, 2019

David Bellamy and the Isle of Purbeck

The brilliant large moon (full last night), that we have been seeing on starlit nights this week, has cast a great deal of light from clear skies. Wandering down to the kitchen in the middle of the night required no artificial lights at al…
Saturday, December 7, 2019

Winter Beauties

We are inclined to make our churches and homes beautiful for Christmas, and there is a certain expectation that everyone will try to brighten up their surroundings at this time of the year - even though, as we know, some people find Decembe…
Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Some words of Dave Merritt and Seamus Heaney

In the aftermath of the London Bridge attack, when Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt, his son, were stabbed to death, the Merritt family asked that this tragedy would not be used politically. Over the years in Northern Ireland one has heard si…
Thursday, November 28, 2019

A drive back from Salisbury

With one thing and another I have missed a blog or two in the past couple of weeks. Sorry. Let me rectify it tonight, as I conclude what has been another quite long day. I am thinking back to last Tuesday when I drove to Salisbury for a …
Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Our bishops remembered in prayer

On everyday day, in a cycle of prayer that is used throughout the Anglican world, one or two dioceses and their bishops are remembered for prayer.
Sunday, November 17, 2019

A quiet beginning

This morning was a quiet Sunday start. I stepped into the stillness of the garden in the early, pale-lit sky, and the predominant sound was that of the sea. It is nearly ten minutes walk away, but at times it is crashing against the sea w…
Thursday, November 14, 2019

Children singing a little of Compline

As part of an on-going project to include children singing liturgical music, some 60 children attended a special session at St Mary’s Church yesterday afternoon. About equal numbers of Key Stage 2 children from St Mark’s (CofE) Primary Sch…
Thursday, November 7, 2019

Return of the metal poppies

Last year to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, 99 metal poppies were made at the Veterans Forge at Knitson. They have been stored for a year, and are now placed one again in the churchyard at St Mary’s for the Remembran…
Sunday, November 3, 2019

Early Sunday morning

6.45 a.m. and the garden is alive with bird noise, as the storms of yesterday have subsided and the lightest of breezes is all that one feels. The raucous gulls both distant and overhead form the background, but much smaller birds are tri…
Wednesday, October 30, 2019

General Elections and such like

My dear wife has forbidden me from making any predictions, be they political or otherwise, in view of the fact that my “putting the world to rights” is almost always spectacularly wrong. Given the volatile nature of the political landscape…
Friday, October 25, 2019

Swanage and Studland Vision Evening - Swanage Methodist Church - 23rd October

Last Wednesday the two PCCs of Swanage and Studland met under the guiding hand of Ven. Martin Webster, retired archdeacon and facilitator for our discussions. We were also aided in our thoughts by Revd Margaret Williams who gave us a short…
Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A vision evening and school harvest festival

Tonight in Swanage Methodist Church PCC representatives of the four churches of the Swanage and Studland Team Ministry to prayerfully consider the team vision, and that of each individual church, as we look into the future. This meeting ha…
Saturday, October 19, 2019

Remembering three remarkable lives

A visiting choir sang for Choral Evensong tonight, after visiting ringers had pealed the bells for three-quarters of an hour. With Byrd and Palestrina and "Angel voices ever singing" darkness fell and so closed a week that has had two fune…
Wednesday, October 16, 2019

An early drive to Wareham Station

After some days of rain, the beauty of the Isle of Purbeck emerged from the early morning mist yesterday, as if freshly minted in the filtered rays of glorious sunshine through a cloud-streaked dawn. I drove, entranced, to Wareham, to drop …
Saturday, October 12, 2019

Saturday Children's Explore Session on Animals

The first special Explore session for children and young families in St Mary's on 12th October brought 40 children to undertake craft work, make bird feeders, watch some "Animal Magic" by Kevin Burke, and learn a little about our relationsh…
Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Choral Evensong discussion on BBC Radio Solent

Last Sunday morning Simon Lole was interviewed on BBC Radio Solent as part of a broader discussion on the popularity of Choral Evensong. Simon mentions the "Come and Sing" service in St Mary's once a month. The programme is worth listenin…
Saturday, October 5, 2019

A musical weekend!

Having just come back from Salisbury to witness Simon Lole be made an Associate of the Royal School of Church Music, with members of the choir and congregation of St Mary's Swanage, we will tomorrow move from the excitement of that event to…
Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Autumn is here

After some days of rain and cloud, today has been glorious, but (as quite a number of people have said, meeting in the streets of Swanage) it is so cold. Cool is probably nearer the mark, or, as my mother-in-law would have said it’s fresh.…
Friday, September 27, 2019

The language of Parliament

Some strident words being used in Parliament this week have brought a great deal of attention to particular aspects of vocabulary, primarily the use of words that may in some people’s ears be little more than strong language, but in others …
Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Greta Thunberg’s speech at the UN Climate Action Summit

With the eyes of the country on Westminster it may have distracted us from the UN New York Climate Action Summit and its fearful message of the need to redouble efforts to counter the effects of humanity’s run-away acceleration towards dest…
Friday, September 20, 2019

The Harvest season approaches

An important focus on the environment this September is going to continue through the harvest services, which begin this Sunday with the St Mark’s harvest festival, and its harvest supper tonight. The other churches will be following suit …
Wednesday, September 18, 2019

An evening walk on Swanage beach

This morning at 6.30 a.m. the glow of early sunshine through the contrastingly dark branches of the trees behind the rectory, spoke of another new and glorious day ahead. The good weather looks to be continuing, and (note to self) watering…
Saturday, September 14, 2019

Two years on

Helen and I arrived in Swanage two years ago at this time, and how those months have flown! Looking back at my diary covering the settling-in days, I recorded the comings and goings, meals and chats, walks and (rather randomly) the finding…
Wednesday, September 11, 2019

The garden is ready for an autumn blitz

It has reached that time of the year when everything is crying out for a tidy-up in the garden. Last Saturday we had an apple-picking afternoon, using a very handy contraption that consists of a toothed ring attached to a little canvas bag…
Friday, September 6, 2019

Psalm 88

This morning we read Psalm 88 at Morning Prayer. This psalm is one that takes me to one place whenever i hear it or read it. In Jerusalem there is a church built on the site of the High Priest's house where Jesus was held on the night bef…
Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Last night at Westminster

Prayers for the political leaders of this country are being said in churches up and down the country and yesterday was, no doubt, no exception.
Saturday, August 31, 2019

Focus on the Environment

Living in a most beautiful part of the country it is hard to imagine not being totally aware of the natural world and the need to preserve it, but the decisions required by both individuals and organisations as to how this preservation can …
Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Joseph Edmonds - Memorial Plaque in St Mary's

One of the more unusual memorial plaques in our churches is one to Joseph Edmonds and his family. He served in the navy in the 18th century, as did two sons, James and John both of whom died in service, the elder in Jamaica,
Friday, August 23, 2019

Morning Prayer and the Healing of the Paralysed Man

This week at Morning Prayer in St Mary’s, following the Common Worship lectionary, we have started St Mark’s Gospel, and we will be reading it almost to the end of October. That is for the second reading each day, but for the Old Testament…
Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Visitors Reflect on Finding St Mary's

All of our churches receive visitors and leave comments in the visitors’ books. I had a glance at the July entries for St Mary’s and picked out these lovely messages:
Friday, August 16, 2019

The 'Second Degree of Grace'

In an essay by Holly Peston, poet and lecturer at the University of Essex in this Summer’s issue of The Poetry Review the author quotes an interesting couple of lines from Simone Weil:
Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Swifts Away

It has reached that point of the Summer when the swifts are disappearing, in fact they have been much more scarce over the past ten or twelve days, but before that were here in some numbers -
Friday, August 9, 2019

Mary Sumner

The founder of the Mothers’ Union is commemorated this day. Mary Sumner, who died on 9th August 1921 began in a small way with mothers from the parish of which her husband was rector.
Tuesday, August 6, 2019

The Transfiguration

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord appears in the Christian Calendar at a strange time.
Friday, August 2, 2019

Another wonderful organ recital

Dr David Hill played a magnificent organ recital last night, and gave value for money, as it lasted for over an hour and a half. Beginning in some style with a Toccata by Georgi Mushel, the mood changed dramatically for the beautiful Frank…
Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Wildlife in the rectory garden

Yesterday walking from the garden door, a large and bright orange-winged butterfly floated gently from tomato plant to red geranium. Looking closer where it settled, the black and cream markings of the wood tiger moth corrected my assumpti…
Friday, July 26, 2019

The desert in the city

The Gospel for this coming Sunday is concerned with the disciples and prayer (Luke 11: 1-13). Jesus, at their request, teaches them how to pray. For two thousand years this pattern of prayer has been followed, and groups and individuals h…
Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Swanage Parish Fête 2019

Rounding up everything after the Fete last Saturday has made us realise just how fortunate we were with the weather - and thankful for all the people who came, and were clearly enjoying themselves. As I write I know the figure for the amou…
Friday, July 19, 2019

Simon Lole's Organ Recital

Simon Lole gave us a wonderful organ recital last night, and it was very well attended too. He introduced the programme in two halves, giving us both personal reflection and some technical and factual information about the pieces and their…
Tuesday, July 16, 2019

A wasps' nest and other signs of Summer

Walking past the Church early this morning, a scarlet and black flash of a tiger moth rose from one bush high into another, and added to our tally of interesting insects about St Mary’s these days. Less welcome was the discovery of a very …
Saturday, July 13, 2019

Walking from Swanage to Studland

With a number of parish things on today, Helen and I chose to take much of yesterday away, and walked to Studland over Ballard Down. It is a stunning walk through meadowland, along clifftop paths with the flowers and butterflies of high su…
Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Reflecting on the Ordination Service

Yesterday in St Mark’s School, Solveig was greeted with ‘bonjour’ in assembly, and we spoke to quite a few staff and children afterwards - moving swiftly into English! There have been some initial meetings and services. Solveig preached f…
Saturday, July 6, 2019

Silver on the Wing

We were reading Psalm 68 at morning prayer and my attention was caught with the words of verse 12: “Though you stayed among the sheepfolds, see now a dove’s wings covered with silver and its feathers with green gold.” This psalm has been d…
Tuesday, July 2, 2019

The beauty of Swanage gardens - and meadows and coastal paths at Durlston Country Park

The sweet peas are flowering profusely in the rectory garden now, and Helen is cutting them every day. The countryside is full of flowers too, as we saw taking an early walk up Townsend Road and out towards the coastal path at the Durlston…
Saturday, June 29, 2019

Solveig and seven others to be ordained deacon in Salisbury Cathedral tomorrow

Our prayers are requested for all those to be ordained deacon tomorrow, for the parishes in which they are to serve and for their training incumbents: Joy Albone: Canalside Benefice Fiona Beale: Beaminster Area Lorna Johnson: Bridpor…
Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Activity, Sunshine and the Summer ahead

We are entering a period of the year when there appears to be something of importance occurring in the church or community virtually every day. Last Saturday the Dorset County Orchestra were playing in St Mary’s Church, this coming Saturda…
Saturday, June 22, 2019

Summer is here!

What a beautiful Dorset morning we have today, with weddings in several churches and involving choirs and bellringers, organists and clergy, all wishing the couples getting married, and their families and friends, a very happy day, and for …
Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Sundar Singh

At morning prayer today we read of Sundar Singh of India, commemorated this day. He was born into a wealthy Sikh family and after experiencing a vision as a young man was converted to Christianity. He travelled widely as an evangelist, an…
Friday, June 14, 2019

Surprised by Grace

There are some small things that one notices and some small things that it is easy to overlook, and such is the state of things in the garden at the moment, it could be said that quite a number of things are best overlooked - such as the w…
Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Kite-flying for Pentecost

Last Saturday there was kite-making at St Mary’s at an Explore session. Why kites, one may ask? It was all designed to link into thoughts of the symbols of the Holy Spirit in preparation for Whitsunday, the Day of Pentecost, which we cele…
Friday, June 7, 2019

Two hidden windows in St Mary’s - Part 2 - John the Baptist

The window hidden by the ladies’ choir vestry in St Mary’s is a partner to that in the men’s vestry, and they are connected in another way too, ...
Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Two hidden windows in St Mary’s - Part 1 - Elijah

Obscured by the men’s choir vestry is one of two hidden windows in St Mary’s Church in Swanage. The picture depicts Elijah being fed by the ravens.
Friday, May 31, 2019

The Bishop Edward King Chapel

My visit to Ripon College, Cuddesdon, last week, mentioned in my blog earlier this week, included daily worship in the college chapel.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019

A Visit to Cuddesdon

I visited Cuddesdon last week as part of the stages of preparation for Solveig, our soon-to-be-curate, to be ordained deacon less than five weeks from now.
Friday, May 24, 2019

Studland Flower Festival reaches its 50th year

The 50th Flower Festival at St Nicholas’ is an occasion to celebrate, with this beautiful gem of a church decorated so expertly once again, as well as the opportunity to mingle with the visitors, drink tea and eat cake, and marvel at the va…
Tuesday, May 21, 2019

He's up! He's out! He's still about!

The eye-catching cleverness of some wayside pulpit posters, that some churches excel in producing, is worth handing on, and, by way of a good example, a Church in Guildford has the following on a board outside: He’s up! He’s out! He’s still…
Friday, May 17, 2019

The Desert Fathers and Mothers

Today I spent in Salisbury. To be exact, I spent it at Sarum College. All serving clergy are obliged to attend a number of courses each year, and we are given considerable freedom to choose days and subjects that suit us. The list appear…
Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Mid May and the Easter Season

Mid May and the Hawthorn blossom is perfect in the Dorset hedgerows. White is the predominant colour during this month as the elder opens and the cow parsley lines the lanes of the countryside and the crab apple flowers begin to fade. W…
Friday, May 10, 2019

A great catch of fish

Last Sunday, the Gospel for the day included the catch of 153 fish in one cast of the net by the fishermen disciples, having returned from Jerusalem to Galilee and decided to go out fishing. We know the story. They fished and the caught n…
Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Julian of Norwich and an early May walk

The day of St Julian of Norwich and thoughts of her divine showings; the visions that she held and revealed, that remain ours to ponder so many centuries later. Her commemoration falls as the pattern of late spring brings the renewal of li…
Saturday, May 4, 2019

Pimms, Hymns and Songs of Praise

Singing is one of the constant themes of most Christian worship, and takes different forms, which often come with a story attached. We like to hear where a hymn arose from in the author’s life; what a song means to someone who has sung it …
Tuesday, April 30, 2019

transferred saints' days

Transferred saints’ days have brought us St George yesterday and St Mark today. I recall a few years ago St Patrick’s day falling in Holy Week - it may even have been Palm Sunday, I can’t remember exactly - and many an Irish Church celebra…
Friday, April 26, 2019

Joined-up thinking

The exasperation of young people at the chronically broken politics of our time is as understandable as it is frustrating for them. Fr Martin Magill, in St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, drew everyone to their feet in solidarity as he forthr…
Tuesday, April 23, 2019

From Easter Day

The Easter weekend was so sunny and warm it was hardly surprising that the town and sea-front were buzzing with visitors until about lunchtime yesterday, when, between sea-mist cooling the air and filtering the sun’s rays, and holiday-maker…
Friday, April 19, 2019

Good Friday in Swanage

It has been a fine day with Spring weather and the trees and bushes opening in pale green. Ann Wroe, in her recent book 'Six Facets of Light', remarks that Dante used the colour of young beech leaves for angels’ wings in heaven. But, it i…
Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Seeing what is similar but not quite the same

Sometimes quite random but rather amazing coincidences happen, as did one such last Saturday. Helen and I were starting reading a new book together, and we opted for The Confession of Brother Haluin by Ellis Peters - the 15th Chronicle of …
Friday, April 12, 2019

Preparing for Holy Week

The fact that Easter is so late this year does not seem to have made me any better prepared for Holy Week than any other time. I have, for the first time in 40 years experienced the annual parish meetings before Easter rather than after, w…
Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Durlston Pleasure Ground Project

The Durlston Pleasure Grounds Project is one that is involving a great number of volunteers and has been proceeding for some weeks already, but Helen and I have only just taken the opportunity to look at what is being done with a brief visi…
Thursday, April 4, 2019

Signs of the times

The heavy rain this week has brought relief to the garden, at the same time as dampening spirits and tempting everyday walkers into their cars. There is so much to be seen and enjoyed in the daily changes in the immediate world around us, …
Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Exciting Musical Initiatives

Exciting new initiatives with music at St Mary’s Swanage Tomorrow (Wednesday 3rd April) we are trying something new in St Mary’s with children from two of the primary schools in Swanage. St Mark’s (C of E) Primary School and St Mary’s (…
Tuesday, March 26, 2019

The Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Yesterday was the Feast of the Annunciation and I am reminded of some lines by the Scottish poet John Burnside, who was born just about twenty-four hours before me in March 1955.
Friday, March 22, 2019

The Voice of Jeremiah

At Morning Prayer today we listened to Jeremiah at his most scathing as he tore into those who worshipped idols:
Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Let there be Light

Thick walls, a stone-clad roof and double-glazing, even with a small bedroom window open, are inclined to dampen the sound of the dawn chorus, but this morning it seemed to begin in earnest at about 5.00 a.m. We are well into Lent now, bu…
Friday, March 15, 2019

Thoughts of Spring

There is always a danger of putting things in too early in the garden, and I am fully aware of it, but still do it, risking the very obvious dangers of frost and any effects of a return to winter. The current windy weather is beating again…
Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Praying Together - Lent 2019

The little Lent booklets Praying Together - Lent 2019 - have disappeared in large numbers from the churches and have also been distributed to those who are house-bound, which is all good news. The picture on the cover could have been taken…
Saturday, March 9, 2019

St Mark's SIAMS inspection result

On 1st March St Mark’s CE Primary School received its Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools - know to those who understand these things as a SIAMS. The school was given just a few days to prepare, and the inspection was as…
Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Children exploring what is enough...

Last Saturday twenty-five children and their parents had another really good Explore session in St Mary’s. They were looking at the things that we need and the things that we would like to have and the difference between them as we approac…
Friday, March 1, 2019

St David's Day

A few days ago Helen and I received a postcard from Ashprington in Devon. In fact it is a picture of the parish church which is dedicated to Saint David. Very helpfully, the blurb on the back gives the information: “The 13th century churc…
Tuesday, February 26, 2019

The sound of water

The early spring weather has delighted everyone, with birds singing, and clear skies giving us warm and sunny spots where the flowers are well-on for the date on the calendar. But it is the scent that wafts across the rectory garden on the…
Saturday, February 23, 2019

If my people ...

Reading through the Books of Chronicles at Morning Prayer recently has brought us this past week to the dedication of the first Temple, built in the time of King Solomon. We have been left in awe and wonder, not so much at the detailed des…
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Snowdrops at Kingston Lacy

The snowdrops at Kingston Lacy are understandably noteworthy, for the sheer quantity is impressive. But the place is also important. A few raising their heads in a flower bed beside St Mary’s Church, or those thinned and spreading on a ba…
Friday, February 15, 2019

Skylarks above Durdle Door

One of the joys of walking is falling into conversation with complete strangers. Helen and I were walking from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door, with, even in mid February, scores of others. We took the main path out, but came back along the …
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The Silence of the Girls

The enduring lessons of Homer, and especially the events surrounding the siege of Troy, have ever provided inspiration for later writers. In fact, I have heard it said that poets, reaching back into the past for models and examples to buil…
Friday, February 8, 2019

John Ruskin anniversary

The postmark on a letter arriving at the rectory yesterday reads, “Victorian art critic John Ruskin Born 200 years ago 9 February 2019”. This franking stamp on an envelope run through a machine, no doubt at great speed, in Royal Mail’s Swi…
Tuesday, February 5, 2019

From Rock Cake to Agglestone Rock!

Last Saturday, and a day off, began with coffee in the Java Coffee Shop in Swanage and the temptations that come with that indulgence, as I succumbed to a very fine rock cake, full of spice and fruit. This set me up for a walk. Helen and …
Friday, February 1, 2019

St Brigid's Day

St Brigid’s Day and the Sir John Lavery triptych The Madonna of the Lakes comes to my mind. Well protected now behind glass in St Patrick’s Church Donegall Street, Belfast, it was first exhibited one hundred years ago at the Royal Academy …
Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Seagulls

Walking along the seafront a few days ago, close to the sign near the museum asking people not to feed the seagulls, were a mother and daughter attracting a great flock of black-headed gulls, and so, by way of illustration, the argument as …
Saturday, January 26, 2019

The Consecration of Bishop Andrew

This is the 100th blog I have created on this website, so I am glad that it can record a significant occasion, which is the consecration of a bishop! Helen and I were in Southwark Cathedral yesterday, with many from Salisbury Diocese, to e…
Tuesday, January 22, 2019

From wet Saturday to reflective prayers

Helen and I were at Wareham market last Saturday buying Seville oranges for the latest batch of marmalade. The smell in the rectory on the days that it is made is comforting, and a reassurance that January is not passing by without this an…
Friday, January 18, 2019

Oberammergau 2020

The party which is forming to go to see the Passion Play at Oberammergau next year is now up to 24, and there are - I am aware - more people interested in going, so I have applied for a few additional tickets, and so today, I know that at l…
Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Charles Alan Smythies

Last Sunday morning I was sitting in the small clergy stall at the back of the choir of St Nicholas’ Church, Studland, which is a very comfortable seat, albeit somewhat hidden from most of the congregation. That’s why, when conducting wors…
Friday, January 11, 2019

Winter, but showing a few signs of Spring

The appearance of snowdrops in numbers, as opposed to the odd one or two that can appear even before Christmas, is one of the exciting moments of winter, because it is such a reminder of Spring - the reason why many people will be making a …
Tuesday, January 8, 2019

"On this Island"

In November 1935, W. H. Auden wrote the lines of a poem “On this Island”; these words forming the title of a collection of poems, later published under the opening two words of the first stanza: Look Stranger. The first part of the poem I …
Saturday, January 5, 2019

A visit to the Isle of Wight

48 hours on the Isle of Wight have been a lovely break and were discovering things all the way, as neither Helen nor I had been to the island before. First stop had to be at the Needles to view Swanage from afar, as we, like everyone else …
Tuesday, January 1, 2019

The dawn of 2019

Ten years ago today I began a three-month sabbatical in which I wrote a book on Anglican priesthood, that was not published; practised the violin daily; and began to write a diary. The legacy, ten-years on, is that one day, perhaps, I may …
Friday, December 28, 2018

Embers of yesterday

Walking around Peveril Point at the end of the afternoon yesterday, as were many other people in Swanage, the light was stunning in all directions. The sun was going down, and, looking from this headland towards where one could imagine som…
Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Christmas Night

Last evening from the 4.00 p.m. Crib Service through the Candlelit Carols at 6.30 p.m. to the Midnight Eucharist, there were very nearly a thousand attendances (including two hundred children) at St Mary’s Church alone; this level of attend…
Friday, December 21, 2018

Approaching Christmas

The appeal of the animals at the crib service in St Mary’s is a great draw for the children, and we are grateful to Nick Viney and others who help to bring them and look after them there. We are also deeply appreciative of the team that o…
Tuesday, December 18, 2018

A tale of four Christmas Carol Services

In the past week there has been a Christmas Carol Service in each of the four churches. All have been quite different, and all wonderful in their own way. We started last Tuesday evening in St Nicholas’, with the Christmas tree by the pul…
Friday, December 14, 2018

Does more time help?

Walking into St Nicholas’ Church last Tuesday evening for the Carol Service I heard one woman say to another, “What I could do with is an extra week between now and Christmas.” That is the kind of comment that will resound with others as t…
Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Handel's Messiah

The performance of Handel’s Messiah last Saturday evening in St Mary’s Church is undoubtably going to remain memorable for many of the people there, if the reaction over the days since is anything to go by. The Purbeck Arts Choir and Orche…
Friday, December 7, 2018

A Very Special Christingle Service

Yesterday (Thursday) twenty-five children, from St Mark’s Church of England Primary School in Swanage, travelled with staff and parents to Salisbury Cathedral for a very special Christingle service. They were with pupils from church school…
Tuesday, December 4, 2018

An Advent Session of Children's Activity

Last Saturday, in preparation for the beginning of Advent, children and their parents descended on St Mary’s Church for a special session of Explore. They made Advent Calendars, cunningly designed from egg-boxes, made cards and bit by bit …
Friday, November 30, 2018

Advent Calendars

St Andrew’s Day and almost Advent; the Studland Churchyard shed, demolished by a fallen tree in a recent storm, is to be replaced today, and it is the calm before a storm of a different kind, as clogged diaries herald a busy few weeks ahead…
Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Marking time.

There is a decidedly damp feel to today, and it seems to have been almost dark from early afternoon, but we are in late November….. Just a few days now until the beginning of Advent, and the time draws on to Advent calendars, candles and…
Friday, November 23, 2018

Lucy Menzies 1882-1954

At morning prayer in St Mary’s we are in the habit of reading a little of the person being commemorated that day. Everyone there always seems to enjoy this delve into the Church’s past, and a reminder of the saints and martyrs through hist…
Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Feeling "through-other"

There is a commonly used Ulster expression or, better, I suppose, compound word, which is spoken across the community, as someone is described as ‘through-other’. It means looking a bit disheveled in physical appearance, and/or a little di…
Friday, November 16, 2018

The rectory garden turns towards winter

The garden is starting to look a little sorry for itself with most of the leaves down and the now limp summer growth hanging onto the herbaceous plants like a sodden blanket. There is work to do and, if the weather is kind, over the next f…
Tuesday, November 13, 2018

A tree falls

The high winds last week brought a change over just a few days to the look of the countryside, as millions of leaves were blown off the trees and have settled in corners and gutters, drifted in through our front doors and the entrances to t…
Friday, November 9, 2018

Young People of Swanage Remember

Today the children and young people of the schools of Swanage made their particular Act of Remembrance and walked from St Mary’s Church to the War Memorial. In the church, three year nine pupils from The Swanage School read poetry that the…
Tuesday, November 6, 2018

War, Faith and Reconciliation

Tomorrow there is to be an important 6th Form Conference to be held in Salisbury Cathedral. It is linked by date to these days of Remembrance leading up to Sunday’s commemoration of those who lost their lives in conflict, and the centenary…
Friday, November 2, 2018

99 Poppies

99 Metal Poppies Yesterday morning 99 metal poppies were installed in the grounds of St Mary’s Church. They have been made individually, from donated steel, at the Veterans’ Forge at Knitson, and then painted. The installation has take…
Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Home, Memory and Remembrance

In the autumn issue of The Poetry Review, the Journal of the Poetry Society, the editorial lays out the theme, which is the concept of ‘home’. This is not just a complex thought to which poets often return, but a matter of great importance…
Saturday, October 27, 2018

Gridlock

One of the joys of living in Swanage is that most things are in walking distance from St Mary’s Church, beside which we live. But having just driven back from London, I am reminded that most people are faced with some form of transport - c…
Tuesday, October 23, 2018

A lovely autumn day

This morning, walking over to All Saints’ Church for Morning Prayer, I passed a number of people with cameras looking out to sea, enjoying the sight of the light on the water. The sun was rising behind thin layers of distant cloud, but all…
Friday, October 19, 2018

Judith

Tomorrow, at Morning Prayer, we conclude our reading of the Second Book of Kings that has been on the daily lectionary menu for the past three weeks. It has many difficult names for readers to trip over at 8.00 a.m. and some wonderful mome…
Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Preparing for Remembrance

Helen is still picking runner beans and the brambly apples are continuing to fall, whether the wind blows or not, though they are nearly all down now. I weighed one a couple of days ago and it was 1lb 2oz - which I think is the record for …
Friday, October 12, 2018

Fanny Alexander

It was on this day in 1895 that Cecil Frances (Fanny) Alexander died, writer of “All things bright and beautiful” and other popular hymns including “There is a green hill far away” and “Once in royal David’s city”. She wrote “All things br…
Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Remembering Thomas Traherne

The weather has been beautiful in Swanage and the garden is crying out for attention, but much of it will have to wait, though we are enjoying the last few tomatoes, runner beans, courgettes and roses as well as the cyclamen and dahlias. T…
Friday, October 5, 2018

Remembering a famous climb

Two hundred years ago on Sunday, 7th October 1818, the diarist and poet Dorothy Wordsworth, sister to fellow poet William Wordsworth, with a friend, Mary Barker climbed England's highest peak Scafell Pike. Dorothy was 46 at the time and Ma…
Tuesday, October 2, 2018

“Another thought on Harvest Thanksgiving”

I am excited about the thought that the “Come and Sing” Choral Evensong in St Mary’s for October is on Harvest Festival Sunday, and we have the prospect of a large number of singers for all the wonderful and popular harvest music.
Friday, September 28, 2018

Approaching Harvest Festival

Approaching Harvest Festival brings a warm kind of feeling, doesn’t it? Is it the mellowness, or the colours changing, or the readiness to see completion and achievement?
Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Random Acts of Kindness...

I missed last Tuesday’s All Things Bright and Beautiful because I was unwell, and, suffering from a tummy bug, I was not going to go near a gathering in Church. I have to say I was feeling neither bright nor beautiful! Thank you Anthony f…
Friday, September 21, 2018

Canon Peter Burtwell's 60th Anniversary...

Thinking about Peter Burtwell’s 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood today made me do a little research as to where his priesting happened:
Tuesday, September 18, 2018

The autumn rectory garden

The rectory garden is in one of its transitional phases as the tomatoes are gathered - most of them green now - for ripening on shelves in the utility room - though, as Helen says, there is always green tomato chutney to be made. As for th…
Friday, September 14, 2018

School class assemblies at St Mark’s Church

Yesterday began what we hope will be a regular Thursday morning assembly from St Mark’s School in the Church. Year 3 arrived at 11.00 a.m. and had their opening act of worship, thinking of generosity and how it is expressed or withheld. T…
Tuesday, September 11, 2018

'Ride and Stride' and the Swanage Folk Festival

Saturday morning, last weekend and Helen and I were leaving the rectory to see how many churches we could visit in the day, supporting the Dorset Historic Churches Trust. We began with St Mary’s and Swanage Methodist, both of which were ta…
Friday, September 7, 2018

Early Autumn at Anvil Point

A book that I was given on leaving Belfast a year ago is Portrait of Dorset by Ralph Wightman. The author died almost fifty years ago and had been well-known as a broadcaster with the BBC from the late 1930s and as a writer on the countrys…
Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Anniversaries

Anniversaries have a deep hold on many of us. Memories both sad and happy flood back when a date appears on the calendar that is of significance. One way or another we mark them publicly, or silently remember, quietly alone. In the past w…
Friday, August 31, 2018

A day of music and sunshine

The Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival 2018 is well underway and two events have taken place in the churches of the Swanage and Studland Team today. This morning, in St Nicholas’ Studland, there was a most interesting concert, de…
Tuesday, August 28, 2018

One memory to another....

A few spikes of Autumn Lady’s-tresses orchids have appeared in the grass in St Mary’s churchyard, not for the first time, I gather. It is mysterious isn’t is how after such a long dry spell earlier in the summer, through mowing, and the gr…
Friday, August 24, 2018

Time, contrasts, life.

A gorgeous autumn-feeling dawn this morning belies the fact that there is light rain spreading from the north-west today, “by lunchtime” if one is to believe the voice of Radio 4. There are quite a few visitors in Swanage gathering for the…
Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Lifeboat Week

The twenty-first of August - and eleven months in post now - I am still experiencing annual events for the first time. Last week it was Lifeboat Week, concluding, as it does, with the Lifeboat service, this year held at the Lifeboat statio…
Friday, August 17, 2018

Newly hatched!

The Mill Pond is only a few yards from the Rectory front door and at one time it could have been seen from the gate, but the weeping willow, enjoying having its roots firmly placed where it has them, at the upper end of the pond, is very la…
Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Only a bus-ride away...

Last Saturday, taking a day off, Helen and I took the number 50 bus, the Purbeck Breezer, said by some to be the finest bus-route in England, via the Sandbanks ferry to touch the edge of Poole and onwards to central Bournemouth. It is an h…
Friday, August 10, 2018

The Spreading Flame

The Epistle to the Hebrews popped up twice for me yesterday. Not amidst the lectionary readings but from two books that I was dipping into. The first was by way of a throwback to the 1970s when, as I was studying for a primary degree in div…
Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Goings and Comings

This the fiftieth blog on this website comes with a thought or two of how the summer is unfolding here in Swanage. Carnival week is over; in fact it ended with fireworks on Saturday evening, which, this time, we watched from the rectory ga…
Friday, August 3, 2018

Beholding and Reflecting

Carnival Week in Swanage, we had been told by everyone, was like no other few days of the year in the town, and so it is proving to be. On Wednesday evening just past, Helen and I were invited, very kindly indeed, to view the midweek firew…
Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Swanage Carnival

Last Sunday the weather caused the Carnival Praise Churches Together service to be moved from the open air into All Saints’ Church, but the forecast was that the rain would ease in the afternoon, which it did. So the Swanage Carnival Proce…
Thursday, July 26, 2018

Beans climb high as the drought persists

The on-going lack of rain is starting to have that habitual sense of security that comes with never needing to think of taking a waterproof on a walk. And, so, a few rumbles of thunder late afternoon yesterday, an arc of rainbow over the s…
Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Pimms and Hymns

Helen and I eschewed Choral Evensong at St Mary’s last Sunday and walked over Ballard Down to Studland for Pimms and Hymns, the once a month mix of hymn favourites, elements of Evensong, a thought for the week and, afterwards, a retiring to…
Saturday, July 21, 2018

The calm before the storm

A heavy shower late yesterday evening has freshened the air considerably this morning, but the weather is fine as I write this at 7.30 a.m. It is going to be sunny for the Fete, I think. Preparation is to start at 8.30 a.m. and the openi…
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Seeds and stony ground

Between a school assembly and a meeting yesterday I nipped into the Holme Garden Centre, having been diverted at Corfe Castle through Church Knowle, Steeple and Creech because the police had closed the road on the Norden side of Corfe. Win…
Friday, July 13, 2018

David Poulter's Organ Recital

David Poulter, successively organist at Coventry, Chester and Liverpool Cathedrals played a superb recital on the organ of St Mary's Church last night.....
Tuesday, July 10, 2018

All Things Bright and Beautiful

All Things Bright and Beautiful, our Tuesday afternoon service for those with dementia and memory loss, was well attended again today, and we thought a little (from last Sunday’s Gospel) of the disciples being sent out in pairs, because tha…
Friday, July 6, 2018

Dry ground, blue skies!

Picking something up from the Post Office in Swanage this morning was not without incident, as the swifts were flying in close formation low over the houses, shops and road. At times they were screeching just a few feet - it felt like inc…
Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Looking down

Flying over to Belfast yesterday was quite a joy, once we escaped the clutches of Gatwick Airport and the disorientating effects of thousands of people milling “relaxing and shopping” - except it was lunchtime and everyone was looking for f…
Saturday, June 30, 2018

Remembering Achill Island

Two reminders of one of my favourite poets came to mind today as I heard a message from Achill Island, way over in the west of Ireland, the birthplace of John F. Deane, a wonderful Irish writer who has produced many fine books, including a …
Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Nine months can seem longer or shorter!

Nine months can seem longer or shorter! A few days ago Helen and I passed our nine-month mark in Swanage. That is a bit of a staging point, as it is nearly the whole of an academic year and has taken in all the major Church festivals. …
Tuesday, June 19, 2018

A Few More Discoveries...

A few more discoveries…. Inheriting a new garden is a bit like a lucky dip, you never know what is going to appear. The Rec-tory garden is full of interesting plants - some are less so, especially the masses of ivy - but I think that th…
Tuesday, June 19, 2018

All Things Bright & Beautiful

All Things Bright and Beautiful All Things Bright and Beautiful, the service designed especially to be easily accessible to people with memory loss or dementia, which takes place on a Tuesday afternoon every week in St Mary’s at 2.30 p.m…
Friday, June 15, 2018

We Meet You, O Christ...

We Meet You, O Christ - An Anthem by Simon Lole to the words of Fred Kaan Last Sunday in St Mary’s we heard sung by the choir a new anthem for sopranos, altos and men by Simon Lole. He speaks of it in his musical musings on the St Mary…
Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Flowers of the Field

Standing by a grave at Godlingston cemetery yesterday morning, we laid to rest Grace Ellis, 92 years of age; 92 years resident in Swanage. Twelve days ago I conducted the funeral of Irene Dimarco, 92 years of age; 92 years (except about fo…
Friday, June 8, 2018

Prayer for Swanage and Studland

About every six months Swanage and Studland comes up on the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer. We are the subject of everyone’s prayer this month again, on Thursday 28th June. I am contacted by the Diocese of Salisbury about eight or ten weeks bef…
Tuesday, June 5, 2018

A little gentle gardening

The men’s gardening group, organised by Andrew Fleming (its reputation goes before it!) met earlier today to undertake a the clearing of some undergrowth in what had been a “gardener’s garden” some years ago, but due to frailty was now badl…
Friday, June 1, 2018

Time to wait and watch

There are ten ducklings in the river below St Mary’s Church; ten very fluffy young creatures that are going to take some keeping together over the next few weeks. I wonder whether or not they will all survive. We shall be counting them da…
Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Reading the Psalms

Yesterday, in the daily lectionary, we began the Psalter afresh, with Psalm 1, and will once again read them all through day by day before reaching Psalm 150 on 14th July. There are blips where some are taken slightly out of order and chan…
Friday, May 25, 2018

The healing nature of gardens

The highlights of the Chelsea Flower Show last night included quite a bit on the healing nature of gardening, and of being in gardens generally. Rachel De Thame spoke movingly of her experience of living with breast cancer and how, whilst …
Tuesday, May 22, 2018

The Countryside in May

Longer days give more opportunity for walking our lovely Dorset countryside, even with the busyness of parish life. From Swanage there are many and varied footpaths and, one by one, Helen and I are discovering them. Last week we walked up …
Friday, May 18, 2018

Pentecost and a Royal Wedding!

I have landed myself with a bit of a conundrum for tomorrow. There is a session of “Explore” in St Mary’s Church, just before the Royal Wedding. Hatty and the team have been working very hard, and I think that we are likely to get quite a…
Tuesday, May 15, 2018

St Mary's icon, part two

Sunday week ago, when the children were looking at the St Mary’s icon, they were asked (by me) to look at Mary’s eyes and describe how they thought she was feeling. They came up with a few thoughts around sadness, and yet tenderness too. …
Friday, May 11, 2018

The lost will be found!

I was heading over to Studland to meet Tony Higgins last Tuesday and couldn’t find the car keys. This doesn’t happen very often as they nearly always go back in the same place, but, having searched everywhere I was staring to think that ma…
Tuesday, May 8, 2018

The St Mary's icon (part one)

The icon the is on the wall of the vestry in St Mary’s Church and is brought out into the Church for festivals of the Blessed Virgin Mary and at Christmas, was looked at by us all last Sunday during the Family Communion. It is twelve years…
Friday, May 4, 2018

"It's good to be back!"

“It’s good to be back”, we often say as we arrive in Swanage from being away for while. Having needed to be in Stratford-upon-Avon for a night it was once more our reaction. In just twenty-four hours there were changes in the garden too:…
Tuesday, May 1, 2018

The Dream of Gerontius

The experience of listening to Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius last Saturday evening in Poole’s Lighthouse is one that will remain with many of us for a long time. The sheer work involved for the choirs will assure that for each memb…
Friday, April 27, 2018

Swanage from a new angle

We hadn’t meant to go so far, but on Wednesday morning early Helen and I walked northwards through Swanage and onto the shore path, past the beach huts, the sun shining brightly on the sea, slightly behind us to our right. It was, perhaps …
Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Personality reflected

It’s not often that we are celebrating the birth of a new prince or princess, so it is special, though I wasn’t quite ready for the drip feeding of information during the course of yesterday. Such is the interest of much of the nation that…
Friday, April 20, 2018

Getting things in order....

We are working towards some new things at the moment and my mind is flitting from one to another, so, let me sort them into order for myself and then, perhaps, they will make some sense to everyone......
Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Comings and goings

A few days have made such a difference to the countryside. Walking Washpond Lane yesterday, all the signs of nature catching up after such a cold start to Spring are there, simply bursting out with what reads as a collective and expressive…
Sunday, April 15, 2018

A damp retreat!

A few days in an Irish monastery have been my retreat this year, and I got back last night. The Holy Cross Monastery in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains is a place of peace and reconciliation - and silence! No conversation in corrido…
Monday, April 9, 2018

A visit to Lambeth Palace

For someone born in London, I have a great reluctance to go into the centre of this great city. I feel energy draining from me from the very moment of stepping off the train, and being swept along by the tide of humanity that swirls around …
Friday, April 6, 2018

What's in a memory?

I am reading an anthology based on “Memory” - which is such a powerful part of our lives, and something that we often reflect on, probably without realising it. Recently there was a meeting in St Mary’s to discuss the formation of a weekda…
Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Tuesday of Easter Week

A damp and cool Easter with some dry weather, but the picture of Swanage visitors with hats and gloves on and coats done up to their necks is the abiding memory. That, and the sadness over the accident on the seafront, and the death of a m…
Friday, March 30, 2018

Good Friday

Last night we left St Mary’s Church having experienced about two minutes of complete darkness after the Maundy Thursday Eucharist and the stripping of the altars to the plainsong of Psalm 22.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Holy Week and Easter in Five Objects

A single school assembly in Holy Week presents us with a problem of choice. There is so much to tell; there is every opportunity to confuse - especially young children. I imagine that clergy and others leading collective worship in school…
Friday, March 23, 2018

Journeying into Holy Week

The weeks of Lent seem to disappear so quickly and here we are on the verge of Holy Week. It is at the point of tiptoeing into the Palm Sunday weekend that fills me with the thought of needing to take things a day at a time.....
Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Paul and Corinth, and our Holy Communion in the open air.

Unlike our day in Athens, the hours we spent in Corinth were quiet, and we were largely on our own. We found a beautiful spot to celebrate Holy Communion in the open air, and read from Acts 18 of Paul’s ministry with Priscilla and Aquila, …
Sunday, March 18, 2018

St Paul and the Areopagus

The day that we spent in Athens yesterday relocated our pilgrimage to Paul’s second missionary journey. He had needed to leave Beroea and he travelled to Athens by ship, before moving on to Corinth. Most people think primarily of Paul’s p…
Saturday, March 17, 2018

En route to Athens

Yesterday was a day of travelling through Greece from the town of Kalambaka just below the Meteora rocks all the way to Athens. St Paul moved from Beroea to Athens by sea; we drove for six and a half hours by luxury air-conditioned coach, …
Thursday, March 15, 2018

The wonderful Meteora

Rising above the town of Kalambaka the majestic rock formations of the Meteora have been the home of many Greek Orthodox Monasteries since the fourteenth century. Six remain, and all can be visited, some by many steps, others more easily..…
Thursday, March 15, 2018

St Paul at Beroea and an Orthodox Monastery

A short way from the hotel is the place where Paul preached at the synagogue in Beroea to those “more noble than those in Thessalonica” and including “not a few women of high standing as well as men”. They are pictured at the spot today in…
Wednesday, March 14, 2018

With St Paul at Philippi

We travelled yesterday from Kavala (Neapolis) following the route that St Paul would have take from the coast to Philippi along the Egnatian Way. We visited the beautiful area of the stream where Paul met Lydia on the Sabbath day and spoke…
Tuesday, March 13, 2018

St Paul's call to Macedonia

Travelling to Greece in the footsteps of St Paul is an interesting pilgrimage taking in both the early missionary journey of the Apostle into Europe and spending time learning something of the Greek Orthodox Church and the history of this r…
Friday, March 9, 2018

What a difference a week makes!

What a difference a week makes! Last Friday morning it took me twenty minutes to reach St Mary’s Church as I, and others, inched their way with shovel and salt down the few yards of Church Hill and encountered a sheet of ice. Today Spring…
Wednesday, March 7, 2018

A lovely clear sky

A lovely clear sky this morning heralding what is bound to be a beautiful day. The new team web-site should be going live on this day too, thanks to the work of Andy Mutter and the representatives of the four churches making their essential…
Monday, March 5, 2018

What a morning for ice

What a morning for ice! I couldn’t reach the Church for Morning Prayer until I had cleared a path-way across the road with salt and spade to hand, inching a safe route. But people always come together in adversity and, in the snow and ice, …
Thursday, February 22, 2018

New website, new blog

For three and a half years I wrote a twice-weekly blog for the St Anne’s Cathedral website. In it I reflected on things that were happening in the cathedral, and anything else that took my fancy from a few lines of poetry to some amazing si…