Speak plainly. Fudge is sweet; but it’s not a nourishing food. Don’t just talk about God’s love if God’s love is not all you mean. Don’t offer love unconditionally if later on there are conditions. Say what you think, and do what you say
Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool, retirement sermon, 12 February
On Racial Justice Sunday we remember the sanctity and dignity of every life, and that it is our personal and collective responsibility to protect them in and for one another. There is no “someone else” in Racial Justice; its violation against any of us is a violation against us all
Anba Angaelos, Coptic Orthodox Bishop, Twitter, 13 February
The Church of England through the ministry of all the baptised has been kind and compassionate to me. It has held my hand when it needed holding, offered a hanky when the tears have flowed, baked a cake and cooked a lasagne when comfort food has been required, fed me week by week through word and sacrament, raised me up when I have felt low, and brought me down to earth when I have risen above my station
Andrew Lightbown, soon to be a residentiary canon of Newport Cathedral, Monmouth, Via Media blog, “Why I’m Crossing the Severn”, 8 February
Sadly, tragically . . . it feels as though the Church [of England] has become overly anxious, and in its anxiety has become increasingly generic, doctrinal, and stressful . . . increasingly transactional, where the (bitter) fruits of such transactionality are doctrinal narrowness combined with a love of all things strategic
Ibid.
No, autocorrect: when I’m trying to message someone to tell them theirs was a “stonking speech”, I really don’t mean “stinking”
Pete Wilcox, Bishop of Sheffield, Twitter, 12 February
Does anyone actually think that the Church Commissioners shouldn’t take back the pensions burden from dioceses at this point, on top of their current disbursements? I’m happy to hear the arguments, but if we are all agreed, maybe it should just happen?
Tiffer Robinson, Suffolk rector, Twitter, 11 February
If this case has proven anything, it has proven that the biblical precept to “love thy neighbour” is one that owners of neighbouring properties would do well to abide by. The current action has involved great effort and cost to both parties in order to produce an outcome that, with only a modicum of goodwill, they might have been able to agree between them
Nicholas Thompsell, Deputy Judge of the High Court, in his judgment in the case of Prime London Holdings 11 Ltd v. Thurloe Lodge Ltd regarding temporary access to repair a wall, 14 February
We invite readers’ contributions. Quotations have to be from the past few days (or quoted therein), and we need author, source, and date. Please send promptly to: quotes@churchtimes.co.uk