Showing everything tagged as Luke

The exhibition of Anthony Gormley’s life work at the Royal Academy of Arts is a must-see.

The 2019 film, The Professor and the Madman, set in London, beginning in 1872, tells the story of an American surgeon and Civil War veteran, William Chester Minor, who, in a fit of paranoid rage, wrongly believing there to be a plot to murder him, shoots and kills George Merrett, leaving a widow, Eliza, and six orphaned children.

Those of you who have read the flyer, for our Autumn Lecture series will have seen that our theme is the quality of mercy. Mercy feels a slightly anachronistic word today, in a culture and political backdrop which often appears to be one of blame, hostility and increasing division.

‘Boris Johnson must peddle Brexit optimism “as if he were a steroid-boosted cyclist trying to win the Tour de France” between now and October 31, key Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has argued’. ‘Johnson’s promise to prove “the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters” wrong, and his claim that “no one in the last few centuries has succeeded in betting against the pluck and nerve and ambition of this country”, is in exactly that vein’.

Last week I took my nephew to see the production of Jesus Christ Superstar which is playing at the Barbican. It’s a great revamped production and the music, set and dancing feel fresh, dramatic and alive.

It’s rumoured that as David Cameron cleared his office at Number Ten Downing Street he left on his desk for his successor three envelopes, with a note to say, ‘Open one of these when you get into trouble.’

Have you ever felt like you are putting a lot of time and effort into working for God and not feeling like you’re getting much back?

All the way through the Gospels one of Jesus’ constant refrains is “Do not be afraid.”

These words seem to be directly addressed to our times. For while we live in a nation of relative wealth and plenty, we also live in a time it seems of anxiety and fear.

One thing that Jesus does not shy away from is the fact that in the world there is suffering. Real suffering. In fact he tells his disciples that he himself will suffer and if they want to follow him they will have to take up the cross and suffer too.