VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I wish You all well. This week 29 year old Richard Russell – a ground worker at Seattle airport – stole a 76-seat, twin-engine turboprop Bombardier Q400, did some rolls with it and then crashed into an uninhabited area, killing himself and destroying the plane. People I have met have brought up the subject of Richard’s demise with a … Continue reading Prayer for the Mentally Ill
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy. In case You are not, or know of someone who is ailing, below is a prayer for You or them. A fortnight ago a local couple’s 3-year-old daughter died, and we are all thinking about them. It has shocked the local area so much. It has somewhat bound us all … Continue reading A Prayer for the Ailing
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I write this week’s piece from the rectory study. The wind is battering the house with rain. The brown grass outside is gradually turning green. Leaves are flying everywhere. And I can see the family car is white – it has been brown with dust these last weeks of incessant sunshine and I’ve refrained from using the hosepipe. … Continue reading A Prayer of Thanks for Rain
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust You are well and that You and those around You are enjoying the summer. It’s the farmers and the incessant tractoring on our fields I want to focus on today. It’s them who have had to cope with the dry summer and it’s on these unheralded Brits that we depend for our sustenance over the year. … Continue reading A Prayer For Our Farmers
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that this missive finds You well and that You are enjoying the summer. Two Mondays back I received a call from a parishioner explaining that they would be unable to complete their parish duties for the foreseeable because they had just been diagnosed with cancer. Three days later the parishioner died. The diagnosis was brought about … Continue reading A Prayer for the Dying
VICAR We live in divisive times, Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine. Take a look at the Trump “angry baby” blimp which protesters plan to fly during the Presidential visit to the UK this summer. Brexit has split the country. The World Cup may have united the sensible parts of England but the other nations in the Union seemingly cannot wait for them to slip … Continue reading A Prayer for Unity
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I wish You and Your loved ones well. This week I met an old friend who has smoked since he was 12. He is now 64. He no longer smokes. I asked my friend how this was possible and he told me that he had spent what he normally spends each month on cigarettes (near to £500) on … Continue reading A Prayer for Addicts
VICAR Good day to You, Country Squire Readers, on this beautiful, sunny Sunday. I trust that I find You and Your families well and happy. There are too many families in the UK who are split and not talking to each other. I see them every day. An old lady whose son shows up just at Christmas to hoover up presents and never calls her, … Continue reading A Prayer for Reconciliation
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy. That your families are likewise booming and burgeoning. Today I want to draw Your attention to those in our communities who have recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. I am minded of the scene in The Theory of Everything where the late Stephen Hawking is hunched in a seat … Continue reading A Prayer for the Recently Diagnosed
