Thought for the Day
A one-minute read to inspire or challenge. Written by members of the church and updated every few days.
1st April 2026
In John’s account of the crucifixion Pilate asks, “What is truth?” Perhaps a deep philosophical question or perhaps trying to find what the Jewish leaders were claiming. The Romans had a goddess of truth, Veritas, and considered truth a virtue.
Truth seems to be increasingly under threat. There are those (mainly celebs) who make statements adding “This is my truth” where most of us would call it opinion. “That is a blue cheese” – truth. “Blue cheese is disgusting” – not truth, yours or mine, merely opinion.
Consider portraits. Paintings of eighteenth-century ladies look similar. Clearly the painter tried to make the client conform to what was thought to be beauty where possible. (They might not be paid otherwise.) Then came photography and we said that the camera didn’t lie. The photo showed both your wrinkles and your smile. But digital photography has changed that. Using AI you can remove your wrinkles, give yourself a glowing tan, wonderful eyebrows and fat lips and end up looking exactly like thousands of influencers on social media.
More worrying is the alteration of photos of newsworthy events by individuals, political parties, pressure groups or governments. Just add another hundred to the pictures of a political rally, put a gun in the hand of a demonstrator, put a politician’s face into an embarrassing sex picture. It is clear that the BBC and reputable newspapers are now checking photos submitted to them for this kind of interference.
Justice has always needed truth and photos will always be used as evidence.
Will we start to doubt whether anything we see or read is truth?
Margaret Clements
30th March 2026
Let us join the disciples as they follow Jesus during the week that will lead to his crucifixion. I encourage you to read the whole of John chapter 12 and imagine yourself in Jesus’ presence as the story unfolds. The week begins in Bethany, at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus – yes, the […]
27th March 2026
From the writings of Martin Luther King: “I’ve seen hate on too many faces to want to hate, myself; every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must say to our most bitter opponents: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our […]
25th March 2026
Have you noticed an increasing tendency of people and businesses offering their services to say, ‘We’re passionate about . . .?’ It can be a ‘passion’ about anything from car maintenance to plumbing to landscape gardening to . . . whatever. I confess to finding this somewhat annoying. When I look for a job to […]
20th March 2026
I have recently been reading a novel – Peter Abelard – by Helen Waddell. It is about a cleric in France in the 12th century. As a priest he is supposed to remain single, but he secretly marries and, while he manages to avoid being condemned by the church court (which could have meant excommunication), […]
18th March 2026
The way we are changing our language sometimes worries me. For example, we seem to have become frightened of the language of death and dying, and have substituted the weak and ambiguous language of passing, not even passing away. How far have we come from the historical language of gone to glory. We may rightly […]
11th March 2026
When, in my very early 20s, a lapsed Catholic friend asked me what I believed about God and Jesus, I made a complete mess of ‘sharing my faith’ with her. By the time I’d finished going on about God’s plan of salvation, I could see she was only listening out of politeness; “that’s very interesting”, she lied. Later, during my ministerial training, writing an essay about the various theories of the atonement – what happened […]
6th March 2026
Being thankful. The prayers at our Renew Wellbeing Café on Tuesdays follow a pattern suggested by Psalm 103. There is a section inspired by verse 2: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits and we prompt each other with the words “What are you thankful for today?” It has […]
4th March 2026
We sat quietly at the beginning of the service in church on Sunday, mindful of the attacks in Iran and the Middle East over the weekend. On the news we had seen unfamiliar place names, dots on the map, but where real people – just like us – were experiencing the terror of military attacks. […]
27th February 2026
Every profession, craft or game uses ordinary words in its own ways. “How did it go today?” “I only made eight. Two singles and a lovely six over long on then I snicked one and was caught by short leg.” It makes sense to a cricketer (or his daughter) but may be meaningless to you. […]