David Herbert

Those of us who read the #Bible who have never known exile, persecution, poverty, or who have never been on the wrong end of identity politics, need to remember that we are reading the scriptures of those who have. We read over their shoulders - at best as guests.

This sermon traces a thread from Saint Stephen to Coventry cathedral, and from the "many rooms" of John's Gospel to the fractures places of our own lives - suggesting that the rooms God prepares are not elsewhere, davidherbert.me/2026/05/03/roo…

An Iranian man left this comment on my YouTube channel. This is without a doubt the single best explanation of the reality facing Iranian people today👇 "As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political—it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic’s unelected institutions. Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore—because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse—because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation. So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime—but because we know how imperial powers treat ‘liberated’ nations in the Middle East. Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation—they’re collapse. A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we’ve learned—too well—what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."

Despite all the hate-mongering, mutual ignorance and disinformation, the vast majority of Americans and Iranians are on the same side. Their common foe is tyranny. Their leaders are the problem. There is no need for this fight. Well said, Simon Tisdall. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@StOlaveHartSt A wonderful and thought-provoking act of worship. Is there a transcript?

Listen to BBC Radio 4's Sunday Worship this week at the link below - available from 8.10am on Sunday. This edition was recorded here, introduced by Phillip with music by the St Martin's Voices, poetry from Dai Woolridge & reflections by Reverend Laura Luz. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

I've been thinking how gently Genesis lands and how life-giving these scriptures are, reflecting on the twisted arms of Jacob the Twister - reminding me that these are the scriptures of people used to coming second or last, oft despised, oft homeless. davidherbert.me/2026/02/04/the…

This seems very relevant in these mean times when the right is flexing its muscle to intimidate. The Cost of a Strong Church davidherbert.me/2026/01/20/the… via @davidrherb

Thank goodness this is happening. We mustn't deprive the very people the gospel is for - the stranger, the poor and those weakened by the powers that be. theguardian.com/world/2025/dec…

Luke’s Last Surprise: One Condemned Man Joining Another as the First in Paradise - #sermon4today davidherbert.me/2025/11/23/luk… via @davidrherb

Luke’s Last Surprise: One Condemned Man Joining Another as the First in Paradise - #sermon4today davidherbert.me/2025/11/23/luk… via @davidrherb

It couldn't have been planned but the scriptures this morning at Napton were read by someone with a limp (like Jacob) and a widow who fights for justice (like the widow confronting the unjust judge). I'm glad I called this LampLight #preachingtoday davidherbert.me/2025/10/19/lim…

It couldn't have been planned but the scriptures this morning at Napton were read by someone with a limp (like Jacob) and a widow who fights for justice (like the widow confronting the unjust judge). I'm glad I called this LampLight #preachingtoday davidherbert.me/2025/10/19/lim…

theguardian.com/commentisfree/… @MartineOborne writes in @guardian today about the 7 serving bishops in @churchofengland who say they welcome @bishopSarahM as their new archbishop but will not receive communion from her

@Joseph_Fasano_ That is so good. I'll share that with a writing group I'm part of.

When I received an email from a young person saying she "wants to be a writer" but wonders "if it's worth it in the world today," I thought for a long time and wrote her this message: Dear Abigail, You ask me, in your lovely note, if I have any advice for writers, especially young writers. I don't know what advice I can give you, because every day one tries to write is a chance to be more deeply humbled before the mystery, by the things one cannot do. Maybe that's how it's supposed to be; if we're not trying something impossible, are we really living at all? But I love you for wanting to be an artist in this world, so I will tell you this: I only know the life of a writer is a life of wild passion and quiet devotion; it's every day searching for truth, challenging that truth, starting over again; it's finally learning how to write in one way and then knowing you have to abandon it precisely because you know how to do it; it's moving into the unknown, always, taking risks that look from the outside like nothing but that inside the secret heart are matters of life and death, life and death. That's what it is, I think. It's listening to the dead speak, knowing when to hear them, when not to; it's hearing your neighbors' voices and knowing they have worlds in them, worlds; it's listening and listening and listening; it's finding a great question that can carry you all your life, because you have to ask it with your life, Abigail, you have to. It's making mistake after mistake after mistake, and it's being willing to say what you have to say even when no one is listening, absolutely no one, because if you say it clearly and humbly and truly enough, even if it takes you all your life, they will. The world is not over, only broken—that is a writer's hope. Because writing is witnessing, whether what's witnessed is a blossom or a great crime; writing is turning powerlessness into power; it's tenderness and empathy and the ache of them; it's the radical compassion of becoming everyone you pass on the street, everyone who lives and suffers and dies; it's losing your mind at times because you've forgotten who you are, and it's finding your soul because you remember... ...and it's passion, Abigail; it's not apologizing for your passion, because to live without passion is to make the body a cathedral without music; and it's loving; above all it's loving the broken world so hard it hurts, it just hurts, and trying, always trying—to love, to speak, to open, to rid yourself enough of your old ghosts that at least the voice of their going may be your own. The life of a writer is a life of learning to listen more deeply—to the self, to the other, to the world. And that is precisely what we need in our world today: more listeners. As I once wrote to a student who was feeling the powerlessness of her words, "Let your words be the witnessing, the listening. Poetry can hear the world for what it is, and for what it could be. Wars are made by those who hear no birds." I believe in you, Abigail, because you've started. And that's the hardest thing of all. I wish you joy and luck and the right kinds of struggles on the way. Hope, but don't turn from the shadows. Suffer, but don't love suffering. And love the work, the miraculous task. Because to fail at this is better than to succeed at most things this world pretends to love. And because in a world of destroyers we need every creator we can get. With love, Joseph Fasano

Here's something to think about in this #seasonofcreation "Before landscapes die, they vanish in the imagination." from #IsaRiverAlive @RobGMacfarlane

Here's a poem to mark today's 80th anniversary of the end of #WW2 and #VJDay Match of the Day davidherbert.me/2025/09/02/mat… via @davidrherb

Bravo The Mirror. Spot on. We’re better than this.

We drove back last night to see St George flags hanging from various motorway bridges and discussions all over social media about the flags that have been painted over roundabouts all over the country. Now, I'm one of the wokest people that ever woked, so I should clarify a few things. I love being British. I love scones, and British sarcasm, and coastal towns. I love the beauty of the Lake District and the vibes of London's South Bank. I love that I went to a school older than several countries. I love it that I can accidentally walk into someone and the person I walked into will apologise. I love pagentry, military marching bands, and the fact that when the Queen died we had to have a queue for a queue. I'm a former Royal Naval Reservist, and singing the National Anthem at Remembrance Day Parades always makes me want to cry, thinking about all those who gave their lives for the ideals of the country mentioned in that anthem. I'm not convinced that painting flags on the roundabouts is a particularly sensible use of time or resources, given it's illegal, but I have no problem seeing St. George's flags wherever anyone might want to put them. It becomes problematic, however, when the flags are being abused to represent a view so antithical to Christianity so as to become almost evil. I do not believe that the majority of those concerned about immigration are racist. I suspect some may be misinformed, fed lies about "illegal assylum seekers" (it's never been illegal to seek assylum) flocking to our shores to seek benefits (I'm really not sure the £6 a day they receive is worth it). We hear that Britain is swamped with refugees - we take in fewer than most countries - and that assylum seekers are all young men here to commit crimes - a view there is very little evidence for - and that they take precedence over local people for housing - not true. And so if you're in a situation where you feel disempowered, where you see resources endlessly being diverted away from those in most need, where foodbanks are contiunally being opened and people feel happy about that (the stated aim of the Trussell Trust is to work themselves out of a job because they don't want anyone to be in food poverty), where it's impossible to find the right education for your SEN child and resources are being squandered left, right, and centre, I can see it's easy to be taken in by the lies. Because let's be honest, mostly they're pedalled with most interest in deflecting from their own wrongdoing. So hang as many St. George's flags as you want. Go nuts! But let's let it stand for more than blaming the most vulnerable for systemic failures of governance. Let it stand for a country in which we hold our culture with pride, celebrating all those who contribute towards it, wherever they're from. Let it stand for a country where all are welcome, where all are respected and valued. Let it stand for a country where misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, racism, ableism, and all the other evils that seek a way to blame people for being "other" are challenged. Let it stand for a country with accountable leaders making decisions for the vulnerable, rather than to line the pockets of the already rich. Let it stand for the Greek speaking Roman soldier with Palestinian parents it was meant to originally represent - our patron saint himself, if he existed, was a migrant. If you're one of the people, who I genuinely believe are in the minority, who are using these flags to promote racist views, who are merrily posting on social media suggestions about setting fire to migrant hotels or bombing small boats, if you're one of the people treating others with violence and disrespect - I'm sorry that life has treated you in such a way that you think this is ok. You are mistreating the very image of God in the other, and that's never a good idea. Please don't talk about Christian values until you've had a rethink, because honestly, that's just blasphemy.

A man-made tragedy. Those responsible should hang their heads in shame.

I can't stop watching these cows that think they have to jump over the white line! 🐮😂

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham — each bears the marks of suffering & hope. They lived by faith in what they couldn't yet see, refusing to settle for the way things were. They're a motley crew inspiring this sermon about refusing to accept the world as it is. davidherbert.me/2025/08/10/wha…