Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Teaching people to ‘tithe’ can be a delicate matter.  Some clergy teach ‘tithing’ well, and inspire their people to great generosity of spirit.   Other clergy teach ‘tithing’ at least well enough, and get their people’s sluggish cooperation. But – there are clergy who teach ‘tithing’ badly – and then, watch out!   St Adam (bishop 1213...

Cyprian is the saint for anyone who has given up a successful career in order to serve God in a difficult Christian ministry. For, before he became a Christian, Cyprian ‘had it all’. He was a renowned Orator of Carthage, teaching rhetoric and advocacy. But then, in AD 245, when he was in his mid...

Have you ever sinned since you became a Christian?  Really sinned – or in other words done something that was SO wrong and totally ‘out of line’ with being a Christian that you are still ashamed when you think of it now.  If so, and if you went on to ask God’s forgiveness for it,...

Ninian was a Celt who was born about 360, in southern Scotland.  He was remarkable for two things:  he was almost certainly the first man in Scotland to live in a little white stone house, and also the first to preach the gospel to the Scots.   Just as remarkable:  becoming the apostle to the Picts...

Joseph of Copertino (1603 – 63) should be the patron saint of all awkward people who mean well, but who drive those around them to distraction – especially their church leaders. Joseph began life in a garden shed, because his father had sold the house to pay debts.  Then he grew up wandering about open-mouthed...

Theodore had several things in common with Justin Welby: despite living in troubled times, and in the aftermath of a severe national plague, he made extensive tours of his archbishopric, spoke at many Synods, and worked tirelessly to unite the bickering factions of the Church in England. But, unlike Justin Welby, Theodore did not start...

Korea is known for its thriving Christian church.  But it was not always so – in fact no Korean was baptised until as late as 1784.  Christianity arrived in Korea through Christian books sent from China, and the Koreans responded warmly as soon as they heard the Good News.  A Chinese priest who visited in...

St Matthew was one of 12 apostles. But he began as a publican i.e. a tax-collector of Jewish race who worked for the Romans, before he left all at the call of Christ.  From earliest times, he was regarded as the author of the first of the four Gospels.    The Gospel of Matthew is in...

23rd September is the autumnal equinox (if you live in the northern hemisphere) or the vernal (Spring) equinox (if you live in the southern hemisphere)  The equinoxes occur in March and September, when the Sun is ‘edgewise’ to the Earth’s axis of rotation, so that everywhere on earth has twelve hours of daylight and twelve...

It’s amazing how little some things change down the centuries.  Take the life of Gerard Sagredo, for instance.  He left his ‘comfort zone’ of home and church because he felt God’s calling on his life.  He travelled abroad and taught in order to earn his living in a non-Christian country.  In his spare time he...

St Ceolfrith is a good patron saint for anyone who has studied hard for their profession, is strong in the face of tragedy, and who can also offer some homely care to others in need. This well-loved abbot of Wearmouth and Jarrow came from a noble Northumbrian family, and was ordained at Ripon when he...

Wilson Carlile was born in Brixton in 1847, and did not set out to become an evangelist. Instead, he was brilliant at both languages and music, and excelled as a businessman. That is, until an economic recession and serious illness brought him crashing down and finished his career, aged only 31. Not surprisingly, a serious...