FR JULIAN'S WEEKLY BLOG
15/03/26
The war around Iran has effects which are affecting not just that region but the entire world. Huge jumps in the cost of crude oil will inevitably lead to increases in fuel prices generally, and will work their way through to increased inflation. America’s and Israel’s actions, for whatever reason, will have a detrimental effect on all nations dependent on the import of oil.
These actions will have a ripple effect; wider and wider areas of disturbance. As usual, it is the vulnerable, nations and individuals, who will suffer most. Those who already struggle to keep afloat financially. Those who have to choose between heat and transport and the demands of general domestic budgets. What is happening in the Middle East is not contained in the Middle East.
Sin works in the same way. It cannot be contained; it has an effect. Its immediate impact is between the sinner and the sinned against, but its effects aren’t just between the two parties. There are consequences, and the sin’s reality will ripple outwards. It’s not just the human or social consequences that result from sin, but also our relationship with God. When we sin, we hurt him as well as others. In Lent, and always, let us thank God for the boundless forgiveness he offers.​
08/03/26
I’ve had an existential crisis, one that 35 years ago would never have bothered me. My mobile locked me out… It was only when my father was seriously ill that I bought a pay-as-you-go phone for emergencies. Now that I’m deprived of it, I can see how much I use it, though not for actual phone calls. I’m not a technophobe, but definitely on the sceptical end of the spectrum. I still send Christmas cards (tho’ sometimes electronic ones at the last minute) and write thank-you letters. So much communication today is by social media, to the detriment of handwriting, grammar, syntax and spelling. I did say I was sceptical, but realise and accept there are new ways of communicating.
Holy Trinity has embraced technology in its audio/streaming tech, and use of data projectors and laptops, Facebook, website, A Church Near You, WhatsApp which are all useful tools. However, when it comes to communicating with God, there is only the one way – prayer, one of the three aspects to Lent, along with Almsgiving and Fasting.
AI does not help us in our reaching out to God. Nor any app. We just have to buckle down and get on with it, as St Anselm says, ‘Come and enter the hidden chamber of your heart’. No short cuts.​