All Purls. No Swine.
I remember the day, on Church Lane in Handsworth, at a time very different, in the late 1950s. With my maternal grandparents and my mother. Early church service (the children's service) at St. Mary's. Sermon by the vicar, the Reverend James Charles Harrison Tompkins, he who my father suspected had always had a lifelong infatuation… Continue reading On This Easter Sunday
Lordy me, it's cold in Western Pennsylvania, this January 20th, 2026. Accuweather (which is quite good at telling us what's actually happening at the moment, but is less good at predicting what might be happening three or four hours from now, let alone next week or next month) says it's 12F/-11C outside; however, a thermometer… Continue reading “St Agnes’ Eve–Ah, Bitter Chill it [Is]!”
An oldie but (to my mind) a goodie: There are some personal anniversaries I celebrate in my iPhone calendar app. Birthdays, death days, anniversaries, significant--even tragic--events of family, friends, and loved ones. Plenty of all those. Perhaps more than my fair share of a couple of them. But a few events superimpose themselves, irrespective of… Continue reading It’s The Eve of St. Agnes (Again)
A popular modification (so my mother told me) of perhaps the world's most ubiquitous Christmas hymn, from the year 1936. And a replay (mostly) of a post from some years ago, both here and on Ricochet: I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as King… Continue reading “Hark the Herald Angels Sing…Mrs Simpson’s Got Our King!”
My last post invoked a few memories, some of which were of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth, Birmingham, and of my first life experiences with Christian church services and Christianity in the UK. I've written about St. Mary's in a slightly different context before here, and so I offer you the following post from 2021. Every… Continue reading The Power and the Glory
A post today on Ricochet references one of my favorite authors, and one of his comments on Hell. The author is C.S. Lewis, and the quote (from The Screwtape Letters) is We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and… Continue reading “The Doors of Hell Are Locked On the Inside“
The "David" mentioned in the post title is the patron saint of Wales. He is believed to have been born somewhere in the last half of the fifth century in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and he lived most of his early religious life as a teacher and preacher. He rose quickly through the ranks as a result… Continue reading Send it Down, David! (Please)
Tradition has it that, on April 23 in AD 303, a young and promising Roman soldier in the army of the Emperor Diocletian was beheaded after gruesome torture, and died professing his Christian faith to the end. Very little is known of his life, but it’s believed he was born into a devout Christian family,… Continue reading A Bloody Cross–April 23, 2024, A Day for England
https://youtu.be/akb0kD7EHIk (See here for the story of this video.)
I probably won't make them today, owing to some leftover dreaded lurgy from a bout of something approaching pneumonia, but they, and a number of other family Easter traditions are in my thoughts. From Ricochet, four Good Fridays' ago now: Hot Cross Buns! A Good Friday tradition I don’t always adhere to but which, for… Continue reading “One a penny, two a penny…Hot Cross Buns!” And a Bit more Good Friday Randomness