Cowardice, sin?  Does the church need to repent over COVID?

We are now 4 years on from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and 2 and a half years on from the full re-opening of life in the UK which effectively marked its end.  The UK have been holding a public inquiry to learn lessons from the pandemic and some Christians have been encouraging the… Continue reading Cowardice, sin?  Does the church need to repent over COVID?

Were COVID measures outrageous and unprecedented?

One of the frequent complaints during and after the COVID19 pandemic was that the decision to bring in a lockdown, including and particularly the closure of churches was disproportionate and outrageous.  The belief is that Governments used the pandemic as a pretext. To bring in draconian rules to restrict our civil liberties. It has been… Continue reading Were COVID measures outrageous and unprecedented?

Relearning our theological triage

One of the challenges that we all faced during COVID was that the intense pressure on health care meant that none urgent surgery and treatment had to be cancelled. There were two reasons for this. First, hospitals were at capacity treating virus patients. Second, we wanted to minimise face to face contact to reduce the… Continue reading Relearning our theological triage

Lessons from COVID: Fear and Control.

The COVID pandemic brought many of us into closer contact with mortality than we were used to.  With a high proportion of the population being at least significantly ill and high numbers going on to be hospitalised, intubated and even dying, it meant that lots of people knew at least of someone who had been… Continue reading Lessons from COVID: Fear and Control.

Returning well – lean into your blindspots

The Government are expected to confirm on Monday 12th July the ending of all remaining COVID-`9 measures.  There has been a lot of speculation over the past few weeks about what that will exactly look like.  On the one hand, there have been briefings from some ministers, scientists and even the PM suggesting that some… Continue reading Returning well – lean into your blindspots

Do we really believe that God is sovereign?

You know that verse about mission in the hymn “I cannot tell”, do we really believe it?  The words go: I cannot tell how He will win the nations,  How He will claim His earthly heritage,How satisfy the needs and aspirations  Of east and west, of sinner and of sage. We sing it with gusto – or… Continue reading Do we really believe that God is sovereign?

How do you stop a pandemic?

Most of my working life, I’ve been interested in how to keep things moving, flowing and spreading.  In my previous workplace as a manufacturing engineer and later operations manager my primary concern was to ensure that product flowed smoothly along the production (or in our case repair) line without interruption or delay. In my  role… Continue reading How do you stop a pandemic?

Swallows and Vaccines

Yesterday was a good news day in the battle against COVID-19.  The twin announcements of a mass testing trial in Liverpool and the positive results from vaccine trials were signs op hope.  However, in the Prime Minister’s statement last night, we were reminded by him and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer that there is still… Continue reading Swallows and Vaccines