ST MATTHEW'S WESTMINSTER
  • Welcome
  • Livestream
  • Volunteering
  • Music at St Matthew's
  • Resources
    • Ascensiontide Novena of Prayer
    • Sermons
  • Safeguarding
  • Contact Us

26/12/2012

Archbishop's Christmas Sermon – ‘join the human race this Christmas’

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Fifty-nine per cent of British people describe themselves as Christians, so the census informed us a couple of weeks ago; twelve per cent down from ten years ago.  There was, of course, great delight from a couple of secularist organisations.  But if I were a member of the British Humanist Association, I might want to pause before I became too excited.  It remains true that three quarters of the public still want to identify themselves as having a religious faith of some kind.  And what the census doesn’t and probably can’t measure is exactly how those who don’t identify as religious think about religion.  Do they never give it a thought?  Do they wish they could believe something?  Do they see it as a problem or as a resource in society?  In the deeply painful aftermath of the Synod’s vote last month, what was startling was how many people who certainly wouldn’t have said yes to the census question turned out to have a sort of investment in the Church, a desire to see the Church looking credible and a real sense of loss when—as they saw it—the Church failed to sort its business out.


Read More

Share

0 Comments

22/12/2012

Peace on earth won’t be an empty hope (Rowan Williams)

1 Comment

Read Now
 
Picture
BBC Radio broadcast, 22nd December 2012

Archbishop's Thought for the Day: Archbishop Rowan Williams gave his Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4. Reflecting on the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, the Archbishop said "the good news of Christmas is that an atmosphere of fear and hostility isn’t the natural climate for human beings, and it can be changed." 

The full text of the Archbishop's message follows...


Read More

Share

1 Comment

9/12/2012

In theology as in politics, conflict is not only real, it is necessary (Giles Fraser)

1 Comment

Read Now
 
Picture
The execution of Charles I. 'The Church of England found its purpose in life following the English civil war as a project of national togetherness'. Photograph: Hulton Getty
Giles Fraser, The Guardian, Friday 7th December

The difference between the politics of the church and the real world of party politics is that in the church people are nice to each other in public and nasty to each other in private, whereas in real politics it's often the other way round. But the church is so dysfunctional that it prefers the rhetoric of unity to its reality. Thus those debating female bishops in General Synod fell over backwards to couch their speeches in terms of generosity. But outside observers saw something very different – a snake pit of seething animosities. And outside observers were basically right.


Read More

Share

1 Comment
Details

    Pressmail

    Pressmail is a news service which seeks to keep people informed of comment in the UK concerning current issues in the church.  There is no charge although we encourage subscribers to join the Friends of St Matthew's as a way of supporting our work.

    Subscribe

    Archives

    July 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    Categories

    All
    Andrew Brown
    Carlo Martini
    Church Times
    Clifford Longley
    Corporate Ethics
    Gay Marriage
    Jeffrey John
    Jerome Taylor
    John Bingham
    Justin Welby
    Mark Vernon
    Pope
    Richard Coles
    Roman Catholicism
    Rowan Williams
    Taize
    The Guardian
    The Independent
    Theo Hobson
    The Tablet
    The Telegraph
    The Times
    Women Bishops

Privacy & Safeguarding

Privacy Notice
​
Safeguarding

Other websites

St Matthew's School
Conference Centre
History of St Matthew's
Picture


© St Matthew’s Westminster, 2010-20   |   20 Great Peter Street, Westminster, London SW1P 2BU
 +44 (0)20 7222 3704  |  office@stmw.org  | ​
|  School   |   Conference Centre | 
Picture
  • Welcome
  • Livestream
  • Volunteering
  • Music at St Matthew's
  • Resources
    • Ascensiontide Novena of Prayer
    • Sermons
  • Safeguarding
  • Contact Us