Thought for the Day
A one-minute read to inspire or challenge. Written by members of the church and updated every few days.
13th May 2026
I’m away from home, attending a work conference. It was an early start – a packed breakfast on the train. The conference was useful, but I’m tired after concentrating on back-to-back presentations and traipsing up and down long, dimly lit hotel corridors. Words from Matthew 11: 28 – 29 hold an immediate appeal at this point: “Come to me, all you that are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me… and you will find rest for your souls”.
However, I’m brought up short by words from Jan Sutch Pickard in this month’s IBRA Bible reading notes:
“People are on the move: roads are crowded with families fleeing for their lives – having been warned of an attack or having already lost their homes to bombing – and seeking a safe place, fearing that nowhere is safe now.
… People are on the move. The city streets are full of folk walking together – calling for justice, carrying placards pleading for mercy, weighed down by the burden of what is being done in their name. Where are you, God?
People are on the move: world leaders burdened by responsibility, jetting into negotiations, to peace talks, expressing outrage while selling arms used in the conflict, to destroy places with names we know from scripture and people made in the image of God. Where are you, God?”
My common and garden temporary fatigue is one thing, but needing rest in the face of the world’s troubles and burdens is quite another. God of justice and mercy, may those who need to know your rest find it.
Ruth Allen
8th May 2026
When I was in senior school, assembly each day included a prayer from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (High Anglican headmistress). These were mostly in the English of Tudor England and I grew to appreciate some of them. I was less happy with the one which starts ‘Prevent us, O Lord, in all our […]
6th May 2026
I am a great fan of science fiction and fantasy stories. As I write this, I have just watched the latest Netflix episode of ‘The Witcher’ (you may know the director, if not the series – a certain Jeremy Webb). There is a scene towards the end where the hero, Geralt of Rivia, is knighted […]
1st May 2026
In his ‘Thought’ for April 24, John pointedly remarked that we ‘rush our Easter celebrations too much’, simply wanting to get into the alleluia business right away, whereas in the gospels the Easter story is one of mixed bewilderment, doubts and even disbelief, and only then a dawning realisation that something almost inconceivable has happened. […]
29th April 2026
Walkers amongst you will be familiar with Trig Points. Some 6,000 remain dotted across the country, each set on the highest point of a hill or mountain. They take the form of a stone pillar about four feet high, with, on top, a triangular metal mount for a surveyor’s theodolite. From each, it is possible […]
24th April 2024
We rush our Easter celebrations too much. In the gospels, alleluias are not there at the beginning. Early in his ministry Jesus says that just as Jonah was three days and nights in the stomach of the large sea creature, so ‘the Son of Man will be three days and nights in the bowels of […]
22nd April 2026
Tomorrow is St George’s Day. Nobody seems to know why St George became the patron saint of England. He was born in Turkey and is popularly thought of as having slain a dragon. I have been to Turkey a couple of times but didn’t see any dragons – so maybe he slew them all! In […]
17th April 2026
The return of the Artemis II crew last Friday following their record-breaking flight to and from the Moon was surely a source of satisfaction for many of us. Apart from some minor difficulties with the on-board toilet, the mission seems to have gone rather well. By coincidence, fifty-six years ago today, the world was celebrating another safe return from space, but that happy outcome had been far from certain. Commander Jim Lovell’s famous words, ‘Houston, […]
15th April 2026
Finding God in the Stillness In the busyness of life, it’s easy to move quickly past the quiet invitations God places before us. Yet again and again, scripture reminds us that his presence is not found only in the dramatic or extraordinary, but in the stillness, when we pause, listen, and trust. Often in the […]
10th April 2026
At Easter we recall the story of Jesus, risen from the dead, joining two of his followers walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Last month the new Archbishop of Canterbury undertook an 87-mile, 6-day walking pilgrimage from St Paul’s Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral in preparation for her installation. BBC TV has just aired the latest series […]