One of the questions that the Bishop asked me in the pre-ordination interview was “Where was God in Grenfell Tower?” The context was a reporter from Sky News (say) holding a microphone up to my face. The question stayed with me throughout my pre-ordination retreat – not so much because of theodicy (aka “why does […]

In honour of my pending ordination (tomorrow!!) I have set up a new blog, which will (hopefully) be a bit deeper than my ramblings on here. It’s at revjameshandley.wordpress.com I intend to keep this site going with photos, reviews, random thoughts (not that there has been a lot of that recently – doing a theology […]

Well – it’s all real now. I am going to be ordained Deacon at Bradford Cathedral on Saturday 1st July 2017, to take up my curacy at St Mark’s Harrogate one day a week (plus Sundays). While the journey is by no means ending on the 1st July, it is a significant milestone, and many […]

Prayer is the lifeblood of the church, and having discussed personal quiet times, it is worth thinking about corporate prayer – or prayer meetings. Sadly these can make the heart sink, at the thought of sitting in a cold, uncomfortable chair for 20 minutes in silence without 3 other people who are looking at their […]

If you attended a Christian Union (or equivalent) as a schoolchild or student, you will already be familiar with the concept – if not always the practice – of “Quiet Times”. What is it? For those who aren’t familiar, the “Quiet Time” is a (ideally) daily exercise of taking some time out, and spending it […]

“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” – 1 John 1:9 At Spring Harvest 2014 I was struck by something the speaker (Ness Wilson) said in the context of the above verse at the main Bible reading. She said that at […]

October 31st is an interesting day for the Church. How to engage positively with modern culture while still celebrating the Light? One approach is to subvert the festival to point in another direction altogether (i.e to Jesus). One possibility is to run a Light Party – a celebration of all that is light, with music, […]

Journalling is, I think, one of the more misunderstood spiritual disciplines. There’s a sense that you have to be super spiritual to keep one, or write 5 sides of A4 a day. Certainly if you were to read the journals of spiritual “heavyweights”, it could be quite a daunting and demoralising experience. It doesn’t need […]

In Romans 6:23, Paul says: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Aside from the obvious quip (“That’s fine, thanks – I’ll sin on a voluntary basis”), I’ve been reflecting on this recently, and my own experience of sin and death. […]

Some years ago, I read a book called “Contemplative Youth Ministry”, by Mark Yaconelli. This was while I was a youth group leader, and it is a book that has changed my life and my spirituality. I mentioned it already in the context of Lectio Divino. It’s a book about understanding God’s role, and our […]