Have a go at our next caption competition (above) and win a prize of Fairtrade chocolate!

Email your entries to: captioncompetition@churchtimes.co.uk

or send by post (postcards only) to:

Caption Competition
Church Times
108-114 Golden Lane
London EC1Y 0TG

Entries must be received by Friday 31 August.

Here is the winner from our last caption-competition photo:

Clive LawrenceBishop endorses Flambé Expression of Church Richard Barnes

THE Bishop of Burnley’s choice of entertainer for his summer garden party attracted a raft of imaginative entries.

Pentecost might have passed, but the fire imagery was too tempting for some:

• Graham was determined that his Pentecost sermon was going to be his best ever (Vicky Lundberg)
  
  
• The Bishop was not convinced about being set on fire in the Spirit (Richard Hough)
  
  
• Preparing for a Spirit filled Soul Survivor (Lesley Cope)
  
  
• They sang ‘Send the fire’ — and he did! (Deborah Vears)
  
  
• Help Lord! We sang ‘set our hearts on fire’, not our HANDS (#shinejesusshine goes wrong) (Isla Skinner)
  
  
• With Pentecost long passed, Bishop Philip wasn’t sure which sermon he could fit the flaming visual aids into (Sue Chick).

It’s good to see that note has been taken of Bishop North’s interventions in the pages of this newspaper:

• Bishop North’s suggestion that the Church should share its assets more fairly had already proved that he was not afraid to play with fire (Christopher Tookey)
  
  
• I know I asked for a new generation of priests to set the Church of England on fire, but this is ridiculous (Andrew Greenhough)
  
  
• I must tell the Bishop of Leeds about this; all your diocesan debt consolidated into one loan and then consumed by fire (John Radford).

The Bishop’s attire might have signalled his next engagement was an Oak Hill-themed fancy-dress party, but it takes more than that to make our readers forget his churchmanship:

• The new hand-held thurible still needed some adjustment (Michael Doe)
  
  
• The new brand of incense seemed to be rather too effervescent for general use (Patrick Irwin)
  
  
• Bishop Philip was pleased to meet representatives from Forward In Righteous Enlightenment (Michael Foster)
  
  
• I was simply asked to spark Catholic Renewal (Janet Stockton)
  
  
• And that was the last time Bishop Philip ever saw his second favourite mitre. . . (Stephen Gardner).

A couple of mischievous entries:

• Bishop’s stance on laying on of hands ‘nothing short of inflammatory’ (Church Times) (Ian Barge)
  
  
• Suddenly, there was a flash of bright blinding light and Philip was converted to belief in the ministry of women priests (Mervyn Cox).

Playing with fire? Surely a sermon illustration:

• The ecclesiastical-supplies salesman enthusiastically demonstrated the latest visual aid to accompany fire and brimstone sermons (Tom Keates)
  
  
• Holy smoke! You expect me to illustrate my sermon on Moses and the burning bush with that fire ball?! (Daphne Foster).

And some other entries that we enjoyed:

• Don’t pass it to me, this is my best shirt (Eric Lishman)
  
  
• Goodness Gracious, Great balls of fire! (Bridget Swan)
  
  
• And now they had proof that the Treasurer was light-fingered” (Alison Rollin); “Numbers 16.35 (Anna James)
  
  
• ‘Great!’ exclaimed Melissa. ‘One copy of the BCP dealt with; now for the next forty-nine’ (Nicholas Varnon)
  
  
• The theophany of Chequers (James Baillie)
  
  
• Harry Potter’s sister, Harriet, recruited by C of E to help woo attention-shorn public back to church (Rob Powys-Smith)
  
  
• Harry gasped in amazement when the heat from the Goblet of Fire removed his scar! (Wendy Hall).

As always, the winner receives a prize of Fairtrade chocolate, courtesy of Divine: divinechocolate.com.