This Sunday 5th July, on the Diocese of Blackburn’s YouTube channel at 9 o’clock, Rev’d Sarah Siddique Gill, Vicar of St Stephen’s and St James’ Blackburn will lead a multi-lingual service which will be repeated every first Sunday of the month thereafter. “The truth is that Christianity is a global religion,” says Sarah, who was born…
Today we celebrate the lives of Saints Peter and Paul. Here is a special reflection on each Saint by Sr Petra of Stanbrook Abbey at Wass, North Yorkshire, which is pictured above. The Abbey website is https://www.stanbrookabbey.org.uk On their feast day this year there will be no great gatherings in St Peter’s square in celebration…
This week’s Old Testament reading about Abraham and his young son, Isaac is challenging. A story of child sacrifice, averted only at the very last minute – and this without any judgement from God that this was horrific – almost on a whim. These stories of Abraham come from long ago, right at the beginnings…
The weekly service for the third Sunday after Trinity will be led by Rev Chris Lee, vicar of St Saviour’s in Wendell Park, London. The service will explore the welcome that God offers us to experience His love. There will be contributions from the Choral Scholars of St Martin in the Fields in London and…
In this weeks Messy Sermon we will be exploring together, the story of God testing Abraham. A Sunday family pack to share exploring the story of Abraham and Isaac – covering the story of God testing Abraham’s faith this pack also thinks about how the lamb in Abraham’s story reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice on…
A message from the Venerable Mark Ireland, Archdeacon of Blackburn…
Today is the day the Church celebrates the birth of John the Baptist. John the Baptist is an extraordinary figure. He is regarded by Christians as the last of the Old Testament prophets – he didn’t herald the Messiah in an abstract way – ‘one day the Messiah will come’ but was able to say…
Today is Saint Etheldreda’s day. St. Etheldreda, Æthelthryth or Audrey was Queen of Northumbria. She was born around 630 and was part of the generation which followed Saint Oswald. She was born just before he died at the battle of Maserfield. Etheldreda wanted to become a nun but, as was often the case for daughters of nobles,…
Today, 22nd June, is Saint Alban’s day. Saint Alban is remebered as the first British martyr. Saint Alban lived in Verulamium, near modern St. Alban’s in Hertfordshire sometime during the 3rd or 4th century, that is some 300 years or more before our own Saint Oswald of Northumbria. There was enormous change between the time…
How can we hold the love of God, and, the suffering, conflict and pain of the world together? How can we sit and read today’s Gospel passage, Matthew 10:24-39, that speaks both of God’s noticing of the death of a sparrow, but also of violence and family arguments that have arisen out of the Christian…