Have you ever tried unpacking the jokes in John’s Gospel? And guess what? The first joke in John doesn’t just walk onto the stage once; it makes a grand return in Chapter 1, verse 15, because who doesn’t love a good sequel?
Category: History
Remembrance
The 11th of November is Remembrance Day, a solemn occasion to honour the brave individuals who sacrificed their lives in various conflicts. This significant date commemorates the cessation of hostilities on the Western front of the First World War in 1918, even though the war persisted on other fronts until 1920.
The Stonewall Inn
On this day in 1969, June 28th, Police raided the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of Manhattan, New York City USA. One year later on June 27th 1970 were the first gay rights parades were held in Chicago and San Francisco, and a day later, on the anniversary of the Stonewall raid in …
There is a lot more good news than you think
Why is there so much bad news? The reason is that bad news happens fast. Good things tend to be slow. Why is there no smallpox in the news? Because it has been eradicated, the last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in 1977, even then the WHO did not declare it extinct until 1980. Apart …
Continue reading There is a lot more good news than you think
Remembrance – Blessed are the peacemakers
... for they will be called children of God Why we need to remember them Remembrance is upon us again. This year I will not be going to the war memorial in Greenhead Park, as I have in years when I was not working, nor did I join in with a public act of remembrance …
Did a pandemic cause the Reformation?
We are not living in unprecedented times. Back in March this year Pope Francis gave this advice to Catholics. “If you cannot find a priest to confess to, speak directly with God, your father, and tell him the truth. Say, ‘Lord, I did this, this, this. Forgive me,’ and ask for pardon with all your …
The history of communication
The history of communication Writing We, humans, are social creatures. In order to be social, we have developed languages, speech has been with us about 500,000 years but sometimes that is not enough. Cave paintings show the necessity of lasting communication: media was born about 30,000 years ago. It took another 20,000 years after the …
Stained Class #HT200
Stained class The windows of Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield is in its bicentennial year, having opened in 1819. I thought that now was a good time to publish a blog about one of the most striking features of the church, our wonderful stained glass. Most striking is the East Window, being …
Richard Oastler and the Luddites
In 2012 I blogged about the Luddites on the 200th anniversary of their rebellion and how to keep rebellion down 10% of the population of Huddersfield was the garrison stationed there, and that when the country was involved in two wars. One to stop Napoleon Bonaparte invading and one trying to contain rebellious settlers in …
Two reformers
John Wesley and Henry Venn History of Huddersfield John Wesley I rode over the mountains to Huddersfield. A wilder people I never saw in England. The men, women and children filled the streets and seemed just ready to devour us. John Wesley's diary from June 1757 does not speak well of my hometown, thought the …
Making an ass of myself 