iChaplain

While watching the recent eclipse, I found myself thinking about how awesome God is. Well, "watching" might not be the right word. Everyone else seemed to have the proper eclipse glasses that they'd queued all day for.  Meanwhile, my plans were less sophisticated. My pinhole projector skills turned out to be completely non-existent, so I spent most of the eclipse running between the garden and the living room.  Obviously, I wasn't looking directly at the sun. I was trying to catch glimpses of what was happening outside and then dashing back inside to watch the coverage on TV. By this point, I felt less like an amateur astronomer and more like a contestant on some bizarre fitness challenge. My step count was excellent, even if my eclipse-viewing technique wasn't. This continued for a while until someone pointed out that I could simply stream it on my phone. That certainly made life easier. But even in the middle of all that running around, I was struck by what I wa...

I've been thinking recently about the biblical image of Jesus as the Cornerstone. When we reflect on that image, we often think about direction and alignment. The cornerstone determined the shape of the building, and everything else was positioned in relation to it. That's certainly true. But I wonder if there is something more within that image. What if one of our greatest struggles is not rejecting Jesus, but trying to occupy a place that was never ours? Not deliberately. Not consciously. But in the way we live. Many of us carry a quiet assumption that everything depends on us. We need to make the right decisions, provide the right answers, hold our lives together, and somehow keep everything from falling apart. We carry responsibility for our families, our work, our finances, our future, and sometimes even our faith. The burden can become so familiar that we hardly notice we're carrying it. The result is often exhaustion. Perhaps that is because we are trying to carry a ...

Image provided by StockCake Many of us struggle to get our heads around the world economy, never mind the UK economy. The news is full of stories about inflation, interest rates, growth, trade and markets, but much of it feels far removed from everyday life. Yet, somehow, all of these things affect us. They affect what we earn, what we spend and what we can afford to put in our shopping baskets each week. The question becomes much more personal when we're spending our own money. Perhaps that's part of the problem. Standing in a supermarket aisle, I sometimes find myself wondering whether choosing the Fairtrade option, or the one with the little frog logo, really makes any difference. Can my spending genuinely help a worker on the other side of the world whom I'll never meet? And what happens when money is tight and the ethical choice is also the more expensive one? Recently, I attended a talk on God and the Economy. It got me thinking about what the Bible says about money, ...

  In a world that often emphasizes self-reliance, the Bible calls believers to something different: carrying one another's burdens through prayer. One of the most beautiful expressions of Christian love is praying for others. It is a simple act, yet Scripture teaches that it can have a profound impact on both the one praying and the one being prayed for. What Does the Bible Say? James writes: "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16 (NIV) This verse does more than encourage prayer. It instructs believers to pray for each other. Prayer is not meant to be limited to our own needs and concerns. God invites us to stand in the gap for our families, friends, churches, and communities. Looking More Closely at James 5:16 At first glance, this verse appears straightforward, but it contains several important truths about Christian community and prayer. First,...

Sometimes the best ideas arrive unexpectedly. I had just left a service at St Nic's Church in Durham. The reading was from 2 Corinthians 4, where Paul writes: "We have this treasure in jars of clay." It is one of those passages that stays with you, reminding us that extraordinary things can emerge from ordinary people. As I stepped out into the city, I found myself in the middle of the Durham Brass Festival. The streets were alive with music, performers and visitors. One moment I had been sharing in worship with a church community; the next I was part of a gathering united by music and celebration. The experience left me wondering about the relationship between worship, music and community. More Than a Contrast At first, a church service and a brass festival seem quite different. One is rooted in worship and faith, the other in musical and cultural tradition. Yet as I reflected on my experience that morning, the contrast seemed less important than I had first imagined. Br...

  The Verse We Reach For When Words Run Out Jeremiah 29:11 appears everywhere. It is printed on mugs, cards and posters, and shared in messages to people who are having a hard time. It is often used as a quick reassurance, a comforting line we offer when someone is struggling and we do not really know what else to say. I have done it, and you probably have too. Sometimes we reach for this verse because we want to offer hope, and it is the first thing that comes to mind. However, Jeremiah 29:11 was not written for people who were about to step into a bright new chapter. It was not a motivational quote for someone starting a new job or waiting for exam results. It was not even a promise of quick rescue. It was spoken to people living far from home, trying to make sense of a life they did not choose. These were people whose world had fallen apart. They were confused, unsettled and unsure what the future held. In many ways, they were experiencing the same kind of uncertainty that many ...

Image by Pete from Pixabay The theme of this year's 2026 Durham Miners' Gala, "The Past We Inherit, The Future We Build," is both simple and profound. It speaks of gratitude for those who came before us and responsibility towards those who will follow. While Jesus never used these exact words, the idea runs deeply through his teaching. The theme invites reflection not only on the mining communities of Durham, but also on the wider question of what we receive from the past and what we owe to the future.  The Gala itself is rooted in memory. It honours generations of miners, families and communities whose labour shaped County Durham and much of modern Britain. Their struggles, sacrifices and achievements are part of an inheritance that cannot be measured merely in economics. They handed down values of solidarity, dignity and mutual care. Yet inheritance is never meant to be an end in itself.  Jesus often taught that what we receive carries with it a responsibility. In ...

  We  don’t always wake up thinking, “Today I’m going to ignore God.” We wake up thinking about what needs to get done.  The bills, the messages, the job, the family. Alongside it all, there’s something else quietly shaping us, a desire for stability, a hope that things will work out, a longing to feel secure, valued, or at peace.  Life fills up quickly with these things, and before we realise it, our attention is already spoken for.  It’s not that we’ve rejected God. We’ve simply become busy, preoccupied, distracted. And it’s into that very normal, very human reality that Jesus speaks: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” At first, it can sound like a call to simply “put God first.”  But as we sit with it, we begin to see that Jesus is not just talking about where God sits in our lives. He is challenging what shapes our lives in the first place.  Because the real issue isn’t just that we...

  A Familiar Landscape Even if you have never opened a Bible, there is a good chance you have heard Psalm 23. It appears at funerals, in films, and in quiet moments when people are searching for words that carry comfort. There is something about it that feels familiar, like a landscape you somehow recognise, even if you have never walked it before. Perhaps it endures not just because it is well known, but because it speaks to something deeply human: the desire to feel safe, guided, and not alone. Being Known and Cared For The psalm begins: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”  For those who approach it from faith, this is a statement of trust in God’s care. For others, it can still be heard as a powerful image. A shepherd is not distant or abstract. A shepherd pays attention, stays close, and guides with care. And then there is that second phrase: “I shall not want.” Many of us spend much of life aware of what we lack, time, security, clarity and peace of mind. This li...

There are times in life when words like joy can feel slightly out of place. We hear them, we read them, and we know they matter. Yet there are moments when they do not quite match our experience. Not because we disagree with them, but because life, as we are living it, feels very different.  And it raises an honest question.  What does joy really mean, when it does not feel like joy at all? When Pain Takes Over Everything Recently, I had toothache.  Not just mild discomfort, but the kind that takes over completely, the sort that brings sleepless nights, constant throbbing, and deep, exhausting pain that is hard to ignore. It reminded me of something similar I experienced over twenty years ago. The intensity was the same. Once again, everything else seemed to fade into the background because this was all I could feel. And during that time, I can honestly say this. I was not thinking, “This is wonderful.” I was not thinking, “I am really enjoying this.” It was quite the opp...