I have been trying to make an effort to read, rather than ‘graze’. I ‘graze’ a lot: pick up articles from newsfeeds, newspapers, parts of books that I have to read to get information etc. However, I rarely read a …

So, after doing loads of school assemblies about Lent and getting children to think of ideas that might help them appreciate Lent, I decided to do something.

Well, I decided to ‘do’ something unproductive.

I decided to read a book. …

Perhaps it was the feeling that exists between Christmas and New Year of endless Saturdays and warmth, but I got down to reading a proper novel. I had time to turn over phrases and words and drink a story in, …

I have always had a thing against Christian books on leadership. Partly as they seem to come from a ‘Your own best life now!’ stable or plain management theory (no great harm in that) with a thin veneer …

‘….at the bottom of every box is hope. No matter what terrible things jump out…we have to wait.’

And often the lonely role of vicar/pastor/priest/minister is holding on to that and holding out that real hope…….

(p232 ‘the gardens of the …