January 2017 Dear Friends, Nicola, Cameron and Ross join me in thanking you for all your good and kind wishes at Christmas and join me in sending you greetings for 2017. They didn’t put up blue plaques in Biblical times. If they did, there would have been one in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, ‘King […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – November 2020. A season of Remembrance.
Dear Friends, In November the church moves into a season of remembrance: All Saint’s Day is swiftly followed by Remembrance Sunday. During a recent online meeting I was stirred into an early taste of remembrance when I found myself in the company of a couple of people I had the pleasure of spending time with […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – September 2020. A new academic year …..
Dear Friends, As a new academic year begins, under extraordinary conditions, I imagine teachers, not unlike church ministers, feel as though they are having to negotiatetheir way through regulations and guidelines with the skill of a tightrope walker. Never having a head for heights, I have always been puzzled why anyone wouldwant to place themselves […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – July 2020
Dear Friends, Like all of us, I have read much over recent weeks about the current crisis: the causes of it, the handling of it, particularly by governments around the world, and where God is in the midst of tears, isolation and fear. One of the most useful reflections was offered by Tom Wright (former […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – April 2020
Dear Friends, They used to say in times gone by (BC – Before Coronavirus) that a week was a long time in politics. As I look back to what I wrote for Reflections a month ago, it seems like a completely different world. I didn’t even refer to Covid-19. How naïve and short-sighted! Within the […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – March 2020
Dear Friends, ‘All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.’ In a single sentence our greatest playwright summed up the essential character and vocation of human beings. We are destined to perform on the public stage and play many parts. Whether we are natural or reluctant players, there’s no escaping […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – January 2020
Dear Friends, Of all the images we have in our minds of Jesus, which dominate? The good shepherd? The healer? The crucified Christ? Christ risen from death? Traditionally at Christmas we’ve been encouraged to imagine Jesus as a plump baby surrounded by festive trimmings! If so, the Gospel reading we heard on the last Sunday […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – November 2019
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – October 2019
Dear Friends, Nicola and I have entered a strange new world as our youngest son went off to university last month. We are now ‘empty nesters’. According to Wikipedia: “All parents are susceptible to empty nest syndrome… Symptoms of empty nest syndrome can include depression, a sense of loss of purpose, feelings of rejection, or […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – July 2019
Dear Friends, Below is an edited version of my address to this year’s AGM: Last week I had an interesting religious experience in the National Gallery. I was still recovering from 2 days of meetings in Leeds discussing all sorts of things about ministry in the United Reformed Church. The discussions were long and inconclusive […]
Russell’s Monthly Newsletter – June 2019
Dear Friends, According to the spiritual writer David Adam, if spring represents the incoming tide, summer is the full tide of our lives, a time of depth and growth. It is the time when we achieve much and shape who we are. It is a time to seek to enjoy life and live it to […]