Lack of faith?

Our local church is now very "happy clappy". My wife got me to go today as it is Easter Sunday.  

Although I used to be a regular worshipper at our church, these days I hardly ever go. In some ways I feel more spiritual, but I now feel no religion "cuts it".

This last 12 months has seen the death of two young sons of friends in very sad circumstances. Life seems cruel and no religion adequately explains how a "good" God can be so cruel. To me it seems like randomness. A good God surely could not be this unkind?

In many ways I envy the simple faith of many, but I am finding it harder and harder to feel that I fit in. To me, all religions fail to provide answers.

As I have said many times before, I feel all religions hint at a deeper truth and are, maybe, attempts to come to terms with our finality.

Churches Blog Updated

After a long break I have updated our church blog to include Grantchester.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Church Fete

This is usually held the next weekend in June each year, but it was changed to coincide with the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations. Although thundery showers were threatened all afternoon, they kept off. My wife ran the cake stall, as she does most years. It is usually a good chance to meet village people not seen for a while.

St Peter's Church, Cambridge

This redundant church in Cambridge was visited on Friday. It was open. It is located just north of the Folk Museum. I'll do a write-up for the church blog next week. Nice place - small but holy. It is a pity it is no longer in use.

East Anglian Churches Blog

http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/
I updated the churches blog with our local church here in Burwell yesterday. It is a church designed by the same man (Reginald Ely) who the world famous Kings College Chapel in Cambridge. Tradition says he practiced on Kings College Chapel!

East Anglian Churches - blog updated

Last week we called at delightful Aylsham in north Norfolk on our way to Blickling (NT). We visited the church there and I have updated our East Anglian Churches blog.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/

East Anglian Churches - blog updated

We actually visited Wiveton Church in North Norfolk a couple of weeks ago,  but I have only today updated the blog to reflect our visit.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/.

Churches blog updated

A few weeks ago we visited St Botolph's church in Cambridge. I have just updated the East Anglian Church blog.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

East Anglian Churches blog - updated again

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

This has been updated today to include St Edward, King and Martyr in Cambridge. This little church has a famous place in the English Reformation as the place where Robert Barnes gave one of the very first Reformation sermons. Hugh Latimer also preached here. The very same pulpit is still in use to this day.

Our 7 year old grandson's day was made earlier this week when he was shown the bells and rang some of them.

Ali, who I think is the tower captain, was really very very kind. Thank you Ali for making his day.

East Anglian Churches blog

Today we went up to the north of the fenland area (these days pretty dire!) to visit Walpole St Peter, which A.Clifton-Taylor called the loveliest church in England. The East Anglian Churches blog has been updated.

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Round Church, Cambridge

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

My other blog on East Anglian churches was updated today to include "The Round Church" in Cambridge, which dates back to 1130AD and is one of the oldest buildings in the city.

Other blog updated

See http://eachurches.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Today we walked from the delightful village of Dalham up to the village church. I have updated our East Anglian Churches blog to include this.

Dalham is a truly beautiful village not too far from Newmarket. It is in Suffolk.

Church 550 years old

Our local church has been celebrating its 550th anniversary this weekend, although parts of it go back very long time.
another 400-500 years. There has been a church on this site for a

Today they had an "open" day with exhibits, an open tower and open crypt. I was on duty guarding the chalice and other items, some of which date back to the 1500s.  Very old and still in use.

Although too wobbly to climb the tower myself, someone posted a Facebook photo showing the museum and windmill from the top of the tower today. In it, you can see our bungalow.

Church Fete

St Mary's Fete June 2014

Today was our annual St Mary's church fete. My wife has done the home made cake stall for about 35 years! In recent years the weather has been mixed with showers and heavy rain. There was a time when people used to ask for this weekend for weddings (3rd Saturday in June) as, for about 25 years, it never rained. The joke was the vicar had a special relationship with God. Today it was glorious sunshine and very warm at around 21 deg C - in fact a perfect day for a summer fete.

Cake stall centre LHS with Lis in torquoise blouse

I have no idea how much was made on the day for good causes and the church, but it was a very happy afternoon, and those who went had a good time.

I managed to walk down and soaked up the atmosphere for about 45 minutes although I was very wobbly on my feet. It was good to catch up with old friends I'd not seen in a long while.

Snailwell

Snailwell is a small village a few miles from here.  It is nothing special: a collection of delightful houses and cottages in the older part and a few more nondescript houses in the rest of the village.  It does have a splendid little church with a round tower. These towers are common in East Anglia but far less common locally.  This was the first church in which our grandson rang a church bell some years ago now when he was about 4.

Visit to the local church

http://www.stmarysburwell.org.uk/content/pages/uploaded_images/1.jpg

Our grandchildren love our local church, (picture above is on the church website) not for any religious reason, rather because it is a large, slightly mysterious place in which they can run around and explore. The toy corner is rather better than most too. Today their mum is taking them for a walk to the church, before their dad arrives around lunchtime. From here it is about 330m.

The church was largely built in the 1400s. It was designed by the same man who designed Kings College Chapel in Cambridge.  Burwell church  (and Kings College Chapel) is well worth a visit. Look for the medieval wooden animals carved in the roof timbers that are sometimes hard to see. Burwell is a fine English church in the perpendicular style much liked by Pevsner on his visits.

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2111478/

If you see no other film in a cinema this year, see this documentary film. It beggars believe how complicit the Catholic Church has been in suppressing and hiding child abuse cases by priests world-wide. The complicity goes right to the pope. No wonder he has decided to resign. Shame on the lot of them!