‘Giving thanks’
Greetings, Let me begin by thanking people who sent birthday messages to me yesterday, emails and texts, music and video-clips, pictures of cats, trees and flowers, their own favourite Alan Bennett moments and news of…
Category: Companionship Blog
‘Birthdays locked-down with Alan Bennett’
Good morning, Today is my 50th birthday. I was born on 2 April 1970 in Glasgow, the youngest of three children. This is surely one of the oddest birthdays I have spent. I was in Glasgow when I turned 10, in Aberdeen…
‘Foolhardy failure’
Good morning, Our meditation today comes from Jared Michelson, Honorary Cornerstone Chaplain. In it he reflects on the “foolhardy failure” of continuing in preaching “as if nothing had happened.” Well, today is a day…
‘St Benedict’s Rule’
Good afternoon, This evening a group for University staff called Turning Pages will meet – I was going to say remotely but that has all sorts of poor resonances for me. We may be in different places but I hope we are…
‘Try praying’
Good morning, It’s the first day of the resumption of teaching following the spring vacation. But a different form of teaching for most students and academic staff. If your lecture, seminar, lab, tutorial or thesis…
‘Not separated’
Greetings, A few hours ago we began the first online Sunday service from the Chaplaincy. 36 households took part, tentatively working out what to press and when, how to speak together, and not have the world hear my…
‘Walk the Labyrinth’
Good afternoon, One of our Quaker Chaplains, Barbara Davey, offers the following meditation: We are hearing much at this time about the positive benefits of being in nature, for those who are able to venture outside.…
‘Kindness and compassion’
Greetings, I was asked by In the Loop, the University’s weekly e-newsletter to write something about kindness and compassion for today’s edition. But I thought I would share it with the mailing list too, as many people…
‘Compline explained’
Good morning, I was reading a new book by Rowan Williams this morning, The Way of St Benedict, in which he describes monastic services of worship and silence as “moments of recollection and rooting.” The phrase leapt…