David Morgan

Available now: The Mind's Empty Tomb. My first book! amzn.eu/d/e1sbAkb

Saving this for future use.

@justnotcrkpod Duckett to open (has credit in the bank) with Hameed. Foakes returns as keeper. Bowling - probably Atkinson and Leach. In & around the squad: Sibley, Bairstow. R Ahmed. Carse. Possibly C Overton and/or Robinson. Watching: both Rews. George Hill. Bashir. Coach: Langer?

For the sake of argument, let's just say these are the players locked in for England's next test. Who fills the gaps? 1. 2. 3. Bethell 4. Root 5. Brook 6. Stokes* 7. 8. 9. Archer 10. 11. Tongue Coach: We'll react to the responses on the pod tomorrow 🏏 #Ashes

Scriptures opened, bread broken, carols sung. Incarnate Christ celebrated and worshipped. And we get to do it all again in a few hours time! #clergymaltclub

@chinmj @WalkerMarcus I didn’t notice the sky that day - I was too busy dancing.

@WalkerMarcus Well the sky turned black on the one a couple of days prior to Easter.

When is this “Black Friday”? Is it tomorrow?

@2D0XPS I guess it does raise a question: how far back should ‘remembrance’ stretch? If the Boer Wars, why not e.g. Crimea? Will WW1 ever be such distant past that we no longer need to remember individuals by name?

@2D0XPS Ryde is the first place I have known whose war memorial begins with the “South African Wars”. The final section (one name) is “Northern Ireland”, so I am confident that unmentioned C20th campaigns are because there were no casualties for the town to record.

I feel sorry for the families of the 22,000 British who died in the Second Boer War. Died a decade too early to have your son's name read out once a year in perpetuity.

@talkChristianly I can’t understand how/why this advice has only now been taken on board by the HoB. It’s been obvious even to non-canon-lawyers for a long time. Much of the process in recent years can surely only be seen as an attempt to avoid (circumvent?) this simple reality.

Today's surprising decisions from the House of Bishops on LLF underline how very, very poor this process has been for several years. The legal advice, concerning both 'bespoke services' and clergy in same-sex marriages, could and should have been articulated clearly years ago.

@KingCrawa @CanonRobinWard I will concede that I had not realised that Ludlow was not being filled. Sodor & Man isn’t a relevant comparison, hence “English” rather than CofE. My substantive point - that the idea is not “ludicrous” - still stands.

@Fr_Bram @CanonRobinWard The Dioceses of Hereford and Sodor and Man also don't have suffragans. Even if you want to exclude Man on the grounds its a crown dependency that still leaves one other English diocesean without a full time stipendary episcopal collegue.

Interesting that a request for a suffragan has actually been turned down.

@KingCrawa @CanonRobinWard There’s a fair case to be made that the CofE as a whole has too many bishops, and/or that more bishops is generally not the right way to tackle our myriad challenges. But I also think that Portsmouth is in an unusual position in relation to that wider debate. 2/2

@KingCrawa @CanonRobinWard I don’t see it as ludicrous. Our population is larger than e.g. Truro or StEds & Ips - and the small geography is complicated by the Solent. Also, Portsmouth is the only English diocesan to minister without a stipendiary episcopal colleague. 1/2

Apparently my academic hood is exactly the right colours for the Parachute Regimental Association!

It is disappointing how few people in the CofE have taken responsibility or been held accountable in these scandals - but on this occasion it does appear that +Winchester is not at fault. Better accountability still requires fairness and accuracy.

My new glasses are varifocals. Am now officially Middle Aged™️.

@BBCRadio3 How about 'The Cricketers of Hambledon' by Peter Warlock? A musical tribute to the Cradle of Cricket!

Cricket fans and music lovers unite! 🏏🎶 On Thursday 24 July, BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics meets BBC Sport's Test Match Special in a gloriously sporty edition of the Playlister. Which classical tracks should follow this BBC Philharmonic pitch-perfect cover of Soul Limbo? Bowl us over with your best suggestions in the comments - @MannGeorgia will pick her favourites at 11.15am this Thursday. And don't miss the BBC Philharmonic's unique collaboration with TMS on @5liveSport, telling the story of the 2005 Ashes with music. Listen to The 2005 Ashes: Settling The Score on BBC Sounds.

@KingCrawa @OSacrumCorIesu @talkChristianly Indeed - it can work. The HTB network describe a model of ‘one church on multiple sites’, which I quite like - it’s certainly a better concept than the usual ‘multiple churches sharing one vicar’. It certainly feels worth a try in other contexts.

@OSacrumCorIesu @Fr_Bram @talkChristianly It can work though

Too often I hear people say, in effect, that many rural churches need palliative care and the only viable option is a 'new worshipping community' or plant. I'm not sure our faith means much at all, if we don't have faith that God can renew even an elderly or depleted church...

@KingCrawa @OSacrumCorIesu @talkChristianly Nor should that be presented as a ‘last resort’ or some kind of ‘failure’. Tell people about the positives; fewer meetings, less paperwork; more time and energy to actually do worship, pastoral care, and mission. The stuff that actually grows churches. (3/3)

@KingCrawa @OSacrumCorIesu @talkChristianly If we think about e.g. three villages, with a church each but a total population of less than 3000 people, we make them a single benefice but keep them as three parishes. They could - arguably should - be a single parish which just happens to have three buildings. (2/)

@talkChristianly @OSacrumCorIesu I think part of the challenge here is that while “2 or 3 gathered” is a church, it’s nowhere near enough to run a parish (wardens, safeguarding, treasurer etc.). We probably need to be bolder about merging parishes in order to give individual churches the best chance.

@OSacrumCorIesu This probably requires several hours of conversation! Key things for me are a reluctance to see any closure as 'strategic' but I do recognise sometimes things have to die; but given what someone once said about '2 or 3 gathered' I would be reluctant to have hard rules on numbers.