David Sheen ☩

Ascension Day at Brasenose College is peak Oxford and peak Anglican with the traditional beating of the bounds, welcoming @SMVOxford and @smng_oxford then through to Lincoln College for some penitential Ivy Ale, and then listening some Ascension day singing and the penny drop. This evening we will crown the day with a joint BNC / Lincoln Choral Eucharist for Ascension Day. Our guest preacher will be @WestLondonMan Regius Professor of Pastoral & Moral Theology. This year Lincoln chapel is hosting. #AscensionDay #Oxford #BrasenoseCollege #LincolnCollege

This week's theme is 'People of London' - a celebration of ALL the people who make and have made London the beautiful city it is. ------ 'The London Underground' (from 'This Is London', 1959) by Miroslav Šašek

The Sunday after Ascension Day "This day God said to our nature, Sit Thou on my Right Hand. This Day's Gift going far beyond Adam's Loss. Paradice was the Place from which He fell, but this Day we were carried up into Heaven". - Thomas Traherne, "The Church’s Year Book"

‘Theologians have long been aware the universe is unfathomably large’ – more from me in @churchtimes on theology and astronomy. churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2026/…

A final Ascension Day post. A few photos of our Choral Eucharist in the glorious Lincoln College chapel with the choirs of BNC & Lincoln. The celebrant was the chaplain of Lincoln and our preacher was the Revd Prof Luke Bretherton, Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology, Christ Church, Oxford. A splendid occasion to crown the day. #AscensionDay #Oxford #BrasenoseCollege #LincolnCollege

Cursed is he who moveth his neighbour’s landmark! ❌📍 Following our Choral Eucharist for Ascension Day, we upheld the ancient tradition of Beating the Bounds. We walked the parish boundaries with sticks and wands, stopping for prayers and to support our local pubs.

I don't understand all of the earnest whinging about Burnham's gambit. So far as I'm concerned, this is political theatre of the most exciting kind. The by-election is going to be a moment of high drama. That is about the best I expect from our politics at the moment

@NiceColorsss Before 1660 this was indeed possible. Remember the CofE attended the Synod of Dort in 1618/19.

No, you cannot be Anglican and hold to the Westminster Confession.

Ascension Day at Brasenose College is peak Oxford and peak Anglican with the traditional beating of the bounds, welcoming @SMVOxford and @smng_oxford then through to Lincoln College for some penitential Ivy Ale, and then listening some Ascension day singing and the penny drop. This evening we will crown the day with a joint BNC / Lincoln Choral Eucharist for Ascension Day. Our guest preacher will be @WestLondonMan Regius Professor of Pastoral & Moral Theology. This year Lincoln chapel is hosting. #AscensionDay #Oxford #BrasenoseCollege #LincolnCollege

'So the beautiful bird ventured into flight. Now he sought the home of the angels above, that glorious country, bold and strong in power.' Today is Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter. A wonderful Anglo-Saxon poem about Christ's 'leap' into heaven: aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2014/06/christ…

The Collect for The Ascension Day. pbs.org.uk

Interestingly Christening / Baptism is like Cow / Beef, Pig / Pork - a trace memory of the Saxon / Norman divide. The old Saxon word was Christen, to make Christ, and Wycliffe has Jesus ‘christened’ in the Rover Jordan. The nobles used baptiser of their children.

This week is Rogationtide - an ancient season of prayer and processions to ask for blessings on the land and the fruits of the earth. It's traditionally the time for the chaotic, riotous but important custom of 'beating the bounds'. historytoday.com/archive/out-ma…

It’s time for Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure. Nothing has convinced us that he is able to rise to the challenge confronting this country. As the process unfolds, no candidate should be blocked from standing; the job is too important for factional warfare and NEC machinations. Labour must now navigate a very difficult transition to a new Prime Minister. It must avoid the danger of retreating back into its comfort zone in which it can pretend there are no hard choices and trade-offs in rebuilding the country. There is a hard road ahead. The people of our islands are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. The next leader must have a clear programme of government and story to tell the British people about how we will get there.

@AmishCatholic Many congratulations!

@RichardTYoder1 Many congratulations!

It’s official—I am now Dr. Richard T. Yoder. Grateful to everyone who made this happen along the way, not least of all my supervisor, Professor Ronnie Po-chia Hsia (pictured here). #PhDone

How the day started (Oxford Town & Gown 10k) and how the day ended (Choral Evensong).

Over the course of 2025, we sensitively restored St Deiniol's church in Worthenbury, which is undoubtedly one of the finest Georgian churches in all of Wales. 1/7