NEWSLETTER APRIL 2026

MY WRITING LIFE

Writing etc.

Most of this month has been reading for my forthcoming book ‘Was Nicaea a mistake?’  The 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea (325) was commemorated last year and  everyone said what a good thing it was.  I think it was problematic in terms of both theology and political power.  First I bought a book I had used forty years ago, ‘A History of the Early Church’ by Hans Lietzmann.  It is detailed very interesting but quite tough going.   I decided I needed to spend some dedicated time to it so I booked myself in to St Michael’s Convent in Gerrards Cross for two days.  They have a good library there and I was able to borrow a book ‘God in Patristic Thought’; I also sent off for another book on the early church by W H C Frend – excellent, entertaining and eye-opening.  I was also able to meet with my old friend Sister Hilda Mary.  We go back forty years including a pilgrimage to Canterbury and clowning workshops.

Church

The month began with Linda and me flying back from Girona, Spain.  The next morning I joined hundreds of London clergy at the Chrism Eucharist at St Paul’s Cathedral.  Linda and I went to a beautiful and spiritual Maundy Thursday service at HTB Queens Gate. 

Good Friday started with the Stations of the Cross at our local Anglo-Catholic church.  In the afternoon we invited seven neighbours, in two shifts, for hot cross buns – a highly successful social happening.  On Saturday Linda travelled to her dafd’s at Plympton.

Church on Easter Day began at 6.00 a.m. with a full service at St Philips, Earls Court.  It started with the vigil of Easter with many Old Testament readings in the dark, followed by a long, long ‘preface’ sung powerfully by a professional bass opera singer.  We then greeted the resurrection by letting off party poppers.  Afterwards we had a fry-up for breakfast in the church hall.  Later that morning I went to a more normal service at HTB Queens Gate aka St Augustine’s.  In the afternoon I took the train to join Linda in Plympton.  But what should have taken four hours in fact took over six hours, including an unscheduled ‘de-training’ at Bristol because there was no train manager.

An eventful ’triduum’ (three days from Maundy Thursday to Easter).  

The following week I preached at a friend’s church in Finchley on the resurrection.  I started by asking who was the second person to see Jesus alive after Mary Magdalene?  No one knew, not even the vicar.  And the answer is there in Luke and Paul. (See p.s. at end of Newsletter).

Wednesday Saints continued, commemorating Earl Magnus of Orkney, a truly heroic Christian, St Anselm, monk, philosopher, theologian,  Archbishop and an all-round lovely guy, and Pandita Mary Rambani, a Sanskrit scholar who received the Christian faith and worked for the liberation of women in India.  You can check them all out on Wikipedia.

Birthday 

St George’s Day is my birthday.  It was great.  It started four days early when my brother Martin and Ros took me to hear ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ by Elgar at the Barbican.  A massive and moving work, over an hour and a half without a break.  Afterwards we had a sandwich and a bottle of wine in their hotel and had a really good ‘craic’, as the Irish would say.

The day before my birthday, our son Peter took us to ‘Sticks  and Sushi’ for a simply marvellous meal, including wagyu beef!  (Peter is in management in that chain).

The next day Linda took me and her to a lovely gentle afternoon at London Wetlands Centre, Barnes.  The sun shone, coots were feeding their chicks, but we missed the otters.  We will have to go back.

Culture

Art

When we were in Devon, Linda took me to the Beryl Cook art exhibition.  I enjoyed it a lot.  Beryl Cook is different, but she clearly has an eye for seeing joy in the most ordinary people and events.  When we left I found myself looking at passers-by with new and appreciative eyes.

TV and Film

On TV I watched a Netflix documentary on ‘Athos’.  It was a marvellous evocation of that strange monastic republic, which I last visited some forty years ago.  Watching it is almost like going on retreat yourself.  Recommended.

We also watched a strange crime and mystical drama about two crime gangs called ‘Mint’.  It remained me of that great and equally strange film ‘Night of the Hunter’.

Books

I actually read one book and have started another.  ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ was a gripping novel based on Anne Boleyn’s sister Mary, who was Henry VIII’s mistress before Anne came onto the scene.  Moral: shun ambition!

The other one I have started is ‘Rebel Empresses’, about two young women who grew up as fiercely independent and then were each married into imperial families.  It answered so many questions I had about nineteenth century history.

STOP PRESS

EASTER AND PENTECOST

The untold stories

Interactive Talk

(with wine and cheese) 

By Rev Andy Roland

Author of Jesus the Troublemaker, Bible in Brief,

The Church has a Past – has it got a Future?

Wednesday 6th May 2026

at

St Mary Abbot’s Church

Kensington High Street

6.00 Doors open, refreshments available

6.30 Talk and discussion

7.30 More wine and cheese

8.30 Leave

Eventbrite:  https://tinyurl.com/2v7kedmc

ALL WELCOME! FREE!

P.S. The answer is Simon Peter.  Luke 24.34, 1 Corinthians 15.5