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Only 3 of the 13th century Magna Carta's 63 clauses are still valid in English law. One of these 3 is the first, which guarantees the freedom of the English Church. The original charter was written in medieval Latin. An English translation of this clause (from the British Library) reads as follows: "FIRST, THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from the fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present dispute between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter the freedom of the Church's elections - a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and importance to it - and caused this to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III. This freedom we shall observe ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by our heirs i...

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. In the Archbishop of Canterbury's Statement for Holocaust Memorial Day 2011 he speaks of the need to remember Holocaust stories and the many stories of people who suffered similar tragedies since. Archbishop Rowan says: "If the stories are not told over and again, we lose the memory of those who suffered and we risk losing something that protects our humanity." The theme promoted this year by the Holocaust Memorial Trust is 'untold stories'. The focus is to remember victims and survivors of the Nazi holocaust and subsequent genocides such as in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The idea is to encourage people to learn from history and consider what action they can take that could have a positive affect on their community. Huge statistics of mass murder and degradation of people are hard to comprehend. Individual stories, told through art, poetry, story and memorial objects, highlight the significance of those statisti...

This evening I’m looking forward to a meal out with friends, knowing the chief item on the menu will be Haggis. Tonight is Burns Night, which is celebrated even outside Scotland by some of us, in honour of the poet Robert Burns. If you want to learn 10 things you never knew about haggis click here. The Church of England festival today is ‘The Conversion of Paul’ when we remember his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus and what resulted from that. In the spirit of the worst preaching techniques of making clumsy connections between what’s making news and the Good News of the Gospel here are 3 contrived connections between Haggis/Burns Night and Conversion/St Paul: Burns called the haggis the chief of puddings. St Paul called himself the chief of sinners. Some people get drunk on whisky on Burns Night. St Paul advised “be filled with the Spirit”. Burns Night helps unite people with Scottish identity. St Paul called for “unity of mind and purpose” for those ...