The Green Chalice by Mark Coleman

  The Power of Civil Resistance Is there any point in trying to change anything ? Over the years I have been inspired by people and movements who have stood up against the state when it has been serving narrow interests and promoting injustice. I remember being inspired reading about Gandhi, the small, skinny man in a dhoti, and his challenge to the British Empire. On a Christians Aware pilgrimage to Robben Island in 2001 I sat in the cell that Nelson Mandela had lived in for years, remembered his courage and prayed that I too might be an instrument of God’s peace. Our power, our influence over history, is a good theme to consider at this point in history when it becomes ever clearer that we are on a runaway train taking us ever faster towards disaster. We are told that we have a very short time to cut emissions if we are to avert extreme temperatures that would make much of the earth unlivable, yet the UK government is issuing more oil and gas licences. Many of us are anxious and ...

I blessed the pub as well as the rushes ! Perhaps it was the glass of Moorhouses bitter I'd drunk, or the friendly community, but I strayed from convention and blessed the pub as well as the rushes, musicians and dancers. I didn't forget the residents of Littleborough. I'd never been to a rushbearing, so was thrilled to be there. I was covering as the local priest, Father Ian, had COVID. There is no Church of England authorised set of words for a rushbearing so I had to do my own research and soon discovered that this was a tradition that spoke to our contemporary crises. It seems that the rushes were cut down and brought to church each year for two reasons: to provide insulation for cold churches and to protect the knees of the faithful on hard floors. This was long before central heating or pews. Care of people and grateful use of natural resources came together in the rushbearing. The local landowners would give the rushes, and presumably paid the workers for...