New Years Resolutions
Have you thought of any New Year's Resolutions yet?...or reminded yourself of last year's resolutions! How we would go running and get fit!!?... For every half hour we run, we...
What story might we tell?
This was today's Christmas Day service at Todmorden. We welcome you all here today to celebrate Christ’s birth. At the end of this service we will depart to tell others...
When is a Third Place a winner?
Where do we go to relax, to be free to say what we want to? Where could we all go to, to gather, to feel 'at home', to allow relationships...
Blue Christmas 2019
What if the Christmas celebrations are not 'for you' this year? The anniversary of a loved one passing on still brings tears, or that it is so difficult to keep...
What Christmas are you looking for this year?
It's Christmas time when the churches are bedecked with tinsel on Christmas Trees, oranges with cloves poking from every side and candles adorning, and a myriad of different Carol services...
TDOR 2019
"The Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. With so many seeking to erase transgender people - sometimes in the...
Remembrance 2019
If you can imagine what it is like to be flying during war, to be on an aircraft with 18 others, watching over the skies electronically, directing ‘our’ aircraft towards...
Administration…Liquidation…what’s next for the church?
If administration is the process for a company to escape insolvency, and if that were to fail, liquidation is the ending of a company, the selling off of any assets...
What’s next for the Methodist Church?
On Saturday 19th October, 250+ members of the Methodist Church travelled to Westminster Church House, adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, to consult on the latest policy document from the...
Our Echo Chamber : Who hears us, can we silence ourselves?
Have you ever been in a cave or a tunnel and tried to shout out and then hear the echoes? We hear the reverberations of our voice, perhaps not so...
Which glasses to choose?
Once some animals went to Heaven. The Golden Labrador asked God if it could sit on his left side, to keep him company. The Alsatian asked God if it could...
When did Cheerful mean Hilarious?
Have you been to Baitings Reservoir? I have mentioned it before: it’s my thin place, where I am so close to God. I love the water lapping at the edges...
At the margins
A young man was admitted to 'Accident and Emergency', the family soon arrived to be at his bedside in Intensive Care. The man had fallen from a motorbike and was...
Sharing what’s important
I used to grow my own vegetables. It was really good to come home, tend to the weeding - normally competing with the brassicas - and water/feed the hopeful seedlings....
Faith, running and marriage
“Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”, or in another translation “Faith is the Reality of what is hoped for” . Hebrews...
CND – 4 August 2019
Today we mark yet another anniversary, the 74th, of the Little Boy nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945; one that brings great sadness, that still today we...
Do we need a building anymore?
I have been struck recently by the tension facing the church today: does it focus upon buildings or the people? Financially, our buildings have become a significant issue for us...
What retail outlets could offer to church
How do you think we could reimagine church? In the past I have looked at the Apple flagship stores, wondered at their retail strategies and reflected how they could be...
Where to go? Walk on by?
I'm on holiday. The weather is fair, the people wonderful and the language very confusing. I have learnt the word pansement this year, as it has been useful to help...
A Good Send Off
We often hear that "we should give <person's name> a good send off..."Why exactly? If we don't manage to give them a 'good send off' will that affect their departure?...
Where next?
I'm often perplexed by the question "After we die, what's next, or where's next?" What's your answer to that question? Some answers relate to living in a mansion, or a...
Easter 2019
On Good Friday many churches have a ‘Walk of Witness’, a procession of individuals who wish to show to their community what it means to them at this time of...
Analysing John’s Gospel
Further to the analysis undertaken using the R function stylo() previously, I was interested in examining whether there was any information to be gained by looking at specifically the Gospel...
Going on Holiday?
As we possibly consider a ‘staycation’ or ‘vacation’ this Summer, I wonder how we see ourselves. The English are often known for grasping the finest intricacies of the foreign language,...
A Walk of Witness?
I have attended many Good Friday services over the years but this year has been so significant. But is Easter relevant to you? This post from the Todmorden Faith blog...
Easter 2019 : In or Out of the Church?
As we approach Palm Sunday, I start to feel that the journey through Lent is nearing its completion. We can see the end: I wonder if the disciples did? When...
What are Todmorden Faith doing?
Here's a post from the Todmorden Faith group, from their latest meeting: #TodmordenFaith https://todmordenfaith.co.uk/?p=122 Were you aware that there are 198 listed ways to conduct nonviolent direct action? We heard...
Mother’s Day because we all have mothers….
It's that time of the year, well for the UK, just after Valentine's Day when we look to buy lots of cards, chocolates and flowers to celebrate our Mum. Yes,...
Ashing to Go?
The day after Shrove Tuesday (a la Pancake day) is Ash Wednesday. It seems that this is either noted in ecclesial circles with an Ash Wednesday Service including the Ashes...
Fasting: from what?
For some, as we approach the period of Lent, people can decide to fast, to abstain from food and/or drink – but why?
I want Lent .. to affect not only the next 40 days
but also the next 40 years
Rachel Held-Evans
In my younger days (!) I have given up chocolate, sweets and/or alcohol. But now I look back and wonder to what benefit, and to whom? Therefore, in our second meeting of the Faith group, 
where we … Read the remainder
Where do we fit?
For some people they have lived in the valley all their life, for others they have moved every few years. When I left education it was expected that we should...
Faith frozen
When you mention the word church, what do you notice? I wonder whether people have a specific view, a certain perspective born from many year's of understanding. This 'wisdom' may...
Todmorden Faith : Same Sex Marriage
Welcome to the first meeting of the monthly 'Faith' group where we look to establish a way to become an even stronger community in Todmorden, willing to engage constructively with...
How do you express faith in 2019?
At Kava, every first Sunday of every month, we start to look at a new community where we can discuss openly 'what does faith look like in 2019?'. We want...
Death Café
What a liberating time! To talk openly about death, those issues which are generally taboo. How times have changed. Why are we so reticent to talk about death? Here are...