Hyperbole I can remember coming home from day’s out in the Lake District when I was a child, and my dad saying that he was so hungry he could eat a horse between two haystacks. One of my favourites is to say that someone has an ego the size of a small solar system. And…
St. Oswald’s service of Holy Communion starts at 10.00 am. The service is by Canon Michael Ratcliffe and the Vicar will preach. There is a Messy Sermon Group for children during the sermon and a small play area for young children. Afterwards, there will be refreshments for those wanting to stay a while longer. You…
As a priest I have the privilege of praying God’s blessing for people on many occasions. So, it was an occasion when somebody prayed a blessing for me that struck me as I considered today’s readings. I was visiting Christians in the Mangla Dam area of Pakistani Kashmir. As is the case in Pakistan I…
St. Oswald’s service of Holy Communion starts at 10.00 am. The service will be led by the Canon Michael Ratcliffe who will also preach. There is a Messy Sermon Group for children during the sermon and a small play area for young children. Afterwards, there will be refreshments for those wanting to stay a while…
Three years ago, I went from Egypt (Cairo to Mount Sinai to Jerusalem) to Israel through the desert of Sinai by road. During this journey I began to reflect on the similarities between the Israelites’ journey through the vast and harsh desert of Sinai and the Christians’ journey through the wilderness of this world. In…
St. Oswald’s service of Holy Communion starts at 10.00 am. The service will be led by the Canon Michael Ratcliffe who will also preach. There is a Messy Sermon Group for children during the sermon and a small play area for young children. Afterwards, there will be refreshments for those wanting to stay a while…
Candlemas is a lovely feast: outside of Easter and Christmas, it is definitely on the top of my list of favourites. Beautiful it is, but it is a bittersweet feast – there is sorrow as well as joy. The bitter: At the end of the St. Oswald’s Candlemas service, we turn from Christmas towards Lent…
St. Oswald’s service of Holy Communion for Candlemas starts at 10.00 am. The service will be led by the Canon Michael Ratcliffe who will also preach. There is a Messy Sermon Group for children during the sermon and a small play area for young children. Afterwards, there will be refreshments for those wanting to stay…
Driving north up the M6, there is a place, just south of Lancaster, where hedges begin to give way to dry-stone walls. Most are tumble-down and badly kept, the grey stones often lying in heaps, the walls supplemented by fences to keep the livestock in the correct field. But these tumble-down walls make my heart…
St. Oswald’s service of Holy Communion for 23 January 2022 starts at 10.00 am. The service will be led by the Vicar who will also preach. There is a Messy Sermon Group for children during the sermon and a small play area for young children. Afterwards, there will be refreshments for those wanting to stay…