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After the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, what event has changed the world more than anything else? Pentecost and the creation of the church? Maybe – but without our New Testament reading today most of us wouldn’t be sitting here, St Martin’s and most churches around the world wouldn’t have been built, and the church would still be a tiny sect within Judaism only reaching out to other Jewish people. Imagine a world without the global church. Today’s Gospel reading is probably the most important event we never think about.

The Singing Detective’ is a TV drama serial by Dennis Potter that was first shown in the 1980s. The story concerns Philip Marlow, a writer of detective novelettes in the style of Raymond Chandler including one also called ‘The Singing Detective’. At the beginning of the series Philip is confined to a hospital bed because of psoriasis, the skin and joint disease, which has affected every part of his body.

It’s about the oldest joke in the book. In a pantomime it’s called ‘He’s behind you.’ The point is, the audience can see something the character on stage can’t see. The thing is, it never stops being funny. In the classic Fawlty Towers version, Basil Fawlty is horrified to find a dead body in his hotel, and refuses to fess up, even when the poor man’s relatives come looking for him

Each year on New Year’s Eve I gather round the dinner table with family and friends and we give each other time and space to remember and describe the best day of the year just gone. It’s not always the happiest or the most memorable, but often the day that just had everything – that summed up the previous twelve months.

Good Friday reflections on Jesus’ seven last sayings from the cross

I once was invited to address an annual meeting of a regional religious society. That meant before I got up to speak there was half an hour of the legal business of the organisation to sit through. The chair received the secretary’s report; and once it had been digested, the chair said, ‘I need to tell you that our secretary has decided that it is time to stand down, and that, after 8 years of loyal service, we shall be needing to look for a successor. Are there any nominations?’ There were none.