Getting Ready for Low Sunday

In her cottage in Little Tremlett, Doreen the Reader scratches her head, removes the word "surprise" and replaces it with "shock" in the spiral bound notepad she uses as a sermon book.

Doreen's covering the Morning Prayer tomorrow at "Great", in the absence of the vicar (who's on his post-Easter coma fortnight). She's also taking the 10 past 6 evensong at Woodby Chapel next Sunday. This will be a shock to the retired priest, Vyvyan Westcliffe, who thinks he's got that gig. Doreen smiles, and looks across at the sack that will unexpectedly go over the good Canon's head next week.

Those that mutter about the "riches" of the Church of England don't reckon with the Doreens of this world. When the vicar leaves at the end of the month, she's going to have at least 6 months of services to lead. Which she'll do for nothing. It's gonna take a lot of time. And she doesn't get paid. In fact, she'll have so much to do that she probably won't want to "accidentally" push Revd Vyvyan into holes in the ground, tie him to trees, superglue his locks or all the other methods she uses to get him out the way when she normally wants to take a service. She and he will have their work cut out.

The Wardens will have enough to do as well. They already spend hours and hours a week on the maintenance of the church buildings. But now they'll have to negotiate visiting ministers. They'll have to work out who to let down out of the five churches when they can't all get a retired priest, or Revd Vyyan, and they have to get Doreen in - or get the congregation to knock something up themselves.

And all the time, Doreen and the Wardens and all the worshippers won't be pulling money out of these alleged "riches" - which are mostly reserved for the pensions of the priests, who themselves earn so little and work so hard that they are often technically below the minimum wage. Although Anglicans aren't renowned for high levels of financial giving, nonetheless they're still putting their money in, ever week or every month, to keep the show on the road, keep the priests paid, keep roofs on the buildings that the villagers love so much, even if they never go in there except if they want a posh wedding or a new arrival to be blessed or baptised.

So it's Low Sunday. And after the excitement of last week, the Church of England carries on. And somewhere in among the scrubbing of floors, the scribbling of sermons, fundraising and bad coffee, the arguing of choirs or the grumbling of vergers, somewhere in there - in Gospel and bread and wine, in the bodies of the worshippers and in those they serve -  Christ shows his wounds, and reveals he is alive.

Doreen opens the desk drawer, notices the chloroform bottle and the rag, and smiles slightly. Maybe she'll take Evensong tomorrow as well...

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Want to support the Beaker Folk? Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

Man Reportedly Drives Car

The BBC breaks with journalistic convention with its story today: "Man, 73, Smashes Porsche 911 through Wall in Colchester".

You see, that's not how these stories go. Normally it's more like "Lorry smashes into Bridge near Southampton". Or "'It was like a bomb going off' - residents react after lorry smashes into bridge". No mention of the driver's agency at all. I think it's the Oxford Mail that reached the apogee of this kind of reporting, with the remarkable "Passengers escape after car overturns on bypass". At no point in that article was a driver referred to at all. The "passengers" escaped. Also we're told the "occupants" got away.We are never told about a driver. An alien landing from another planet or someone coming back from the year Google would presume, in the case of this news report, that the car was completely self driving. After all, did a spokesman not tell us that the car "seemed to have rolled over".

Well, they're like horses, really, cars. Or dogs. Sometimes when the mood takes them - I don't know, maybe they've got an itch on the sun roof, or they just want a bit on sun on the undercarriage. So they just randomly roll over. Maybe the plan is to have a nice scratch, and then they'll roll back. Except cars are like tortoises and sheep. Turns out that if they do roll over, they can't get back. They lie there, useless, needing a friendly hand to put them the right way up.

I'm sarcastic. Of course. And maybe unfair. Because sometimes news reports are all too clear about the human being in charge of the vehicle. For instance: "Shocking moment lorry collides with cyclist" in the Daily Mail. Or "Everything we know so far after cyclist and lorry collide".  Or "cyclist in collision with lorry at Blackfriars Bridge".

It seems to be a thing to do with the way that motor vehicles wrap themselves round their human occupants. Maybe a Toyota Prius is a kind of cyborg. The human personality is lost in the comfy seats and detailed efficient driving instructions. The driver is one with the machine - to the point that there is no such thing as "driver" or "vehicle". There is merely the vehicle.

Maybe the vehicle takes over the driver's mind. Already dehumanised by being shielded in their aluminium armour, maybe the driver actually gives in and lets the vehicle do the thinking. Maybe, just maybe, I'm thinking, maybe the vehicle takes over the Twitter account of some drivers and does the tweeting for them. That would explain why "Nigel", who tells us he's "fun to be around" (although he does have problems with using apostrophes), and Ann, who's a dog-loving philosopher, respectively hate having to wait for safe places to overtake, and think all cyclists are middle-aged children.

Yep. Go down some country roads and some single track roads and cyclists can be a real problem. They won't get out of the way even if there is a queue of traffic behind them.

Too many have earphones covering their ears whilst listening to music.

— Nigel Greenwood (@NigelGreenwood6) April 6, 2018

This!! cyclists riding side by side are a danger to themselves and a menace to other road users particularly on country lanes pic.twitter.com/fdO10IUJ9D

— Ann Sheridan #FBPE Backs Rees-Mogg (@bernerlap) March 28, 2018

Actually, there's something else about those Twitter users. If only I could work out what it is.... Maybe that's the cars speaking as well.

So we have to accept that the causes of accidents are motor vehicles, not their drivers. Except for one unfortunate 73-year-old. It was definitely him driving. Not the Porsche. And it seems that the cars, in between colliding with cyclists (not the cycles, notice) are taking over their unwitting owners' Twitter accounts.

There's only one answer.

We're going to have to educate the cars.

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Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

Somerset Spirituality

Today's "Somerset Spirituality with Jed Wurzel" not really what I expected.

I was thinking - county of Glastonbury. Of Stanton Drew. Where two ancient cities share a bishop. The home of Wookie Hole and Cheddar Gorge.

Jed claimed to have the key to ancient Somerset wisdom. Said he knew to cure sleeplessness, encounter new consciousness and enter a trance-like state.

Then he drank 7 pints of Thatcher's Gold and passed out. Although before he did, he told us a short poem. He said it contained centuries of West Country wisdom. But it was actually a limerick about an old woman from Bristol. Least said....

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Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

No Glass Ceiling on lame Remarks

LibDem councillor Robin Ashby has got himself in the news with his comments on wage equality.  Using the rigorous statistical technique of "cherry-picking", he proves that, because Theresa May is Prime Minister, everything is fair and just in the world of opportunity.

Now I'm not so sure. My normal assumption is that a woman doing a job will be better than the average man doing a similar job. Because she's had to be to get it. The sort of male lack of self-awareness that allows a male councillor to stand up and speak drivel, means men are disproportionately likely to think they're pretty good at things they're not. The tendency of management to confuse confidence with competence means they then get promoted. For a woman to do as well means either being immensely more competent, or over-compensating with the confidence. And once they've got the job, they find out that where a man shows leadership, they are "bossy". Where a man is assertive, they are "shrill".

I commend Robin Ashby on giving the example of Her Majesty the Queen. I mean, she's Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Head of the Commonwealth, and Sovereign of the United  Kingdom.  But when she started out, she was  only a girl.

But let's go back to Theresa May. Is she proof, as Robin Ashby says, that there are no glass ceilings? Or does she prove my point, that a woman doing a job will  generally be better than a man doing a similar one?

Two words. Boris Johnson.

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Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

The NSS Tweets Drivel

So, after our attention was drawn to Simon Jenkins and his One-Nation, bien pensant, Simon-says views on church buildings over the weekend (demolished by Jules at "Picking Apples of Gold"), the National Secular Society were obviously feeling left out, bless them. So they steam in by telling us:

Government announces plans to spend more of your money on places of worship, because the church prefers to spend its significant wealth on evangelising rather that repairing its buildings. https://t.co/8q757nMYpw

— Secularism UK (@NatSecSoc) March 31, 2018

So this massive amount of "your money" is less than two million quid over two years. And will go to listed buildings of various denominations or faiths, in Suffolk and Manchester.

"Stick the fruit machines in the nave, Father. It'll make a killing."

So let's consider. Firstly, Suffolk has many churches with tiny congregations. A few months ago, I was musing on the Benefice of the Saints, and the undoubted stresses they must have staffing the place. I don't know what their money situation is like, but given they're paying for the minister and have all those buildings to keep up....  There are, if you didn't have the information at your finger tips, 482 Church of England churches in Suffolk alone. If they shared that 2 mega-knicker out between them, that would be about 4 grand each. Enough to replace about a twentieth of a stolen lead roof.. Or 5 CCTV cameras each to protect the existing lead.  I guess they're gonna be grateful for a few quid.

A few quid to keep together what are, let us remember, not exactly "evangelising" power houses. These are buildings that act as the memory store of a community. These are often places which are open at all hours to people of all faiths and nuns - often at the risk of costly damage to interiors and belongings. These are the places where anyone from their parish can be buried, or married, whatever inaccuracies Simon Jenkins may believe. In short, these are community assets as much as they are places of worship.

And then, there's some places of worship in Manchester as well. Goodness knows the Mancunians could do with being told there's a better place. Apart, obviously, from Liverpool.

But there is always an alternative. The NSS could campaign for the government to remove the listing from ancient churches. Let the worshippers decide for themselves what they want to do. Maybe they could flog the lead and use the income to cover the roof in UPVC double glazing. Would make evensong cracking wouldn't it, if you could see the night sky? You think about those Orthodox churches which paint the stars on the ceiling - well, sell the churchyard off for a Tesco Express and you could have the real thing. Awesome or what. Or why not solar panels? Or advertising hoardings?

Does the NSS realise that the answer to its supposedly rhetorical question, "would the Church of England rather not have to maintain all their buildings?" is - quite often, no. They're not much use really are they?  You can't rent them out. You can't put tarmac on the graveyards and rent them out as pay and display car parks. You can't put on extensions if the congregation is growing,  without the Victorian Society hoving into view (the glory days of secularism under Charles Bradlaugh were Victorian times. This may not be a coincidence.) You can't even put a loo into the bell tower or some plastic chairs in the place without some Village Pooter taking it up with the diocese.

So come on, NSS. Launch a hostile takeover of the Victorian Society, then campaign for listing to be removed from ancient churches. "Your" money won't be needed for repairs, and Simon Jenkins's dream of a thousand mini-libraries, micro-breweries and cannabis farms will be realised. Windfarms can sprout in every churchyard in the land. And everyone will be happy. You never know - the churches could even put in some shelving for all those food banks.

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Want to support this blog?  And also end up with a very funny book? Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

Easter Monday - State of Clergy

Minister	Church	No of services	Chocolate eaten	Status
Drayton Parslow	Bogwulf Baptist	2	0 grammes	Annoying
Archdruid Eileen	Beaker Folk	3	3 chocolate oranges	Knackered
Charlii	Beaker Folk	1	1 egg	Taken the children to MK
The Great Guinea Pig	Guinea Pig Folk of Stewartby	0	None	Squeaky
Revd Joanna	"Lambslaughter Benefice"	5	2 boxes of Quality Street	Hoovering
Canon Vyvyan Westcliffe (retd)	Available for Occasional Offices	0	4 Creme eggs and a pack of Werthers Originals	Waiting for next week
Revd Arbuthnot McManus	Lt Tremlett Presbyterian Church (redundant)	0	17 eggs	Hallucinating
Revd Steve Steventon	St Stevens, Stevenage	3	3 eggs	Glad of the one church
Trev "The Rev" Kevminister	"Watercress Benefice"	18	No time	Not dead but sleeping
Revd Nathan	Trim Valley Benefice	7	3 eggs	Incoherent

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With apologies to Spike Milligan

Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

Supporting Beakerism

This is really trendy. Wikipedia, the Guardian, even Ian Paul does it. Asks for money, that is.

This blog has been running for 12 years. And in that time, the total amount of income it's generated has been nothing. And that's fine. It's fun to write. And keeps the Beaker People out of the pubs in their spare time*. So it's not like the blog is running out of cash.

But on the other hand, this blog spawned off another blog. And that blog spawned off a book, "Writes of the Church". And it would be really nice if you wanted to buy a copy. Or a few. It's a good birthday present for the overworked clergy person in your life. Or anybody who's ever come back from church, or a church meeting, and gone "I can't believe that happened and then X said that...."

If you don't like to support "The Man", can I recommend purchasing from The Bible Reading Fellowship shop. On the other hand, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that you can get a copy at a very competitive prize from Amazon at the moment.

 If you're a vicar just preparing for your post-Easter break and looking for some light recreational reading, this is just the thing to fit conveniently into your luggage and give you a few laughs. If you're into the echatological implications of the Book of Enoch, then you'd be better off with a better book, frankly.

The great advantage of buying "Writes of the Church" is that, unlike supporting the Guardian, you get an actual book. Which you can then read. Or sell on Amazon. It's got be be better than funding Simon Jenkins, hasn't it?

Anyway, thanks for this. And it'll go back to an advert at the bottom of the posts now.

* Actually it doesn't.

Easter Sunday Programme

6 am : Hnaef starts lighting the Holy Fire

9.30 am : Hnaef finally gets the Fire alight

10.30 : Hnaef is taken to hospital for treatment to his second-degree burns

12 noon : Orange Rolling in the Dunstable Style

2 pm - 6 pm : Consumption of Chocolate

6 pm - midnight: Feeling a bit sick

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Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

Simon Jenkins Writes Drivel

Well, it wouldn't be Easter if the Guardian didn't have something running down Christianity, would it? And this year's volunteer for the warm lager-filled chalice is Simon Jenkins.

It's impressive really. Most Guardianistas would normally be arguing for disestablishment, and getting everyone up and fretty. But not Simon. Instead he argues that the Church should be "fully nationalised".

His claims for how this would work appear to be almost entirely drivel, but let's go with it shall we. It's Easter, after all.

Apparently, churches are currently "locked and inaccessible". Very true. Many rural churches are - often for fear of theft. The wild and lovely church of St Joliet in Cornwall, where Thomas Hardy wooed his Emma and then turned the whole experience into a book, has a rather plaintive sign:

"The Brass and other items have been stolen"

See, the vicar and PCC of St Joliet are prepared to leave the place open, for people's spiritual recreation. Even when they were at risk of damage or theft of the valuables. But would Simon Jenkins's putative committee subletting the running of the building be prepared - even be allowed to do that? Nope. The building would only be open if someone were prepared to guard it. And even in a Jeremy Corbyn / Guardian world of unlimited money trees, they wouldn't pay for 12,000-plus full-time guardians (and co-guardians, for safety, and holiday cover) to look after the Church of England's stock. No. They'd need unpaid people to do that. Unpaid people who could do it already, if they wanted to.

Simon Jenkins tells us that one reason why the Church of England should have its buildings nationalised (I assume he doesn't want to nationalise the actual church - firstly you could argue it already is, and secondly it's a heck of a mess), is because "it resolutely refuses to serve the nation". This is expressed, in Simon Jenkins' imaginary world, in the way that "most"of its parishes "refuse to marry or bury outsiders".

This is pure rubbish. There are rules for who parishes of the Church of England can marry and bury. First up, burying. The C of E will bury anybody who lived in their parishes. According to the FuneralZone website, "clergy will lead a funeral service for anyone living within their parish". But to be honest, it's probably better to wait until they're not living within the parish. Likewise on weddings: you can be married if you or your spouse-to-be live in the parish, or if you have a "qualifying connection". You don't have to believe anything, or you can be a tree-frog worshipper. As long as you've got some kind of reasonable connection (and as long as you aren't planning to marry someone within the same genital grouping), you should be fine. I believe quite a lot of people are working on the whole marrying people with the same - ahem - equipment as well. They'll get there.

Let's move onto how this is all going to work. First up, the Church buildings will be "taken into state ownership, and then transferred to local parish or town councils". So the public bodies that generally run park benches and bits of greenery will now be expected to be manage Grade 1 and 2* listed buildings on land worth, generally, millions of pounds. And remembering how much money it takes to keep the buildings in a reasonable state, how will Simon Jenkins pay for this? Oh yeah. I forgot. He writes in the Guardian. Tax.

"Parishes would be legally free to levy a local church tax to pay for the upkeep of their most prominent and historic building. There is nothing novel in this. There is a church tax in Germany, Italy and much of Scandinavia – sometimes with opt-outs if people object."

Thing about Germany is that the taxes don't just pay for the buildings. They pay for the ministers as well. Don't know if Simon Jenkins is so on-board with this. Don't know if anyone else would be, given it's an extra 8 or 9% on the income tax in Germany, for instance. I know I'd be ticking the opt-out.

No, what Simon Jenkins is probably thinking of is more like France. Where the State owns the buildings, but doesn't pay for the ministers. Which is why it has 40,000 plus buildings and only 7,000 priests. Let me share with you a lovely church:

Pleherel-Plage Church

Pleherel-Plage Church near Cap Fréhel in Brittany. It's gorgeous, it's well-kept, it's barely ever used for community or Church events. Welcome to Simon Jenkins' world of churches. Immaculate, unused and empty.

But no - Simon Jenkins has some great ideas for how to use our nation's stock of ancient buildings. "Even if chancels remain in religious use, naves, aisles, towers and churchyards should be adapted for other purposes, with some regulatory latitude. This might embrace not just local shops, but creches, libraries, day centres for the elderly, places to collect a pension, pick up a parcel, connect to wifi, meet a friend or have a drink." So villages that have lost their pubs and post offices due to financial constraints will suddenly have the money not only to pay for licensees and post masters/mistresses. But they're also going to find the people to look after the elderly, run the library and keep an eye on your nippers for you.

And some people say it's religious people that believe in unbelievable things.

To quote Simon Jenkins, "We are saddled with these fine buildings."

"Blessed" might be a better word. But you know what, go ahead - take them into state ownership. Those buildings are worth millions. Some are in fantastic locations. Will keep the Church in stipends forever. While the Church can move into school halls and pubs and gyms, keep warm and worship God.

Simon Jenkins, go home. You're writing drivel.

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Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

A New Commandment

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Not exactly a new commandment, really, that believers should love one another. "Love your neighbour" is all the way back in Leviticus. Jesus had already expanded that - told us that our neighbours include our enemies, with the story of the Good Samaritan. Told us to love our enemies, as well as our friends. Told us that even to call someone a fool was to put yourself in danger of hell.

And yet, he tells them it's a new commandment. "Love one another."

And maybe he's telling them it's a new commandment because it's so easy to forget. We slip back. We stop loving one another. We return to back-biting and complaining because we love it so much, really. And then.... Jesus tells us there's a new commandment. Love one another. As he has loved the disciples.

How does he love the disciples? By being a servant. By sharing his life with them. By being one among them. He's the Son of God, but he's not too important to give up his heavenly privileges and come to earth as a baby. He's the Word of God, but he breathes and sweats, suffers pain and dies like us. He knows all the wonders of heaven, and yet he will pick up a child to bless her. He's the First and Last, Beginning and End. And yet there he is among this band of Galileans, come to celebrate the Passover like all the others.

He bows to wash their feet. The work of a slave. But he'll be a servant, because that is why he is there. To set an example of what the work of any Christian should be - and of any Christian leader. To be a Christian leader is not to be a star - it's to be a servant.

When Church leadership forgets it's about servanthood. When it decides it's holy, unaccountable, that's when it fails. The stories of  abuse committed and covered up in the Church, now coming into daylight - that's what happens when leadership is protected, deferred to, put up on high. "Father knows best." At the Independent Enquiry into Child Sex Abuse, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, said there was a "mindset in which the authority of ordained ministry was beyond criticism.” This is not the attitude of a Church whose Head, lover, and saviour was a servant. This is not the heart of Jesus Christ.

It's not just about abuse, of course, and it's not just about leaders. Jesus calls us all to be servants, of one another. A servant being one who serves, who has to put others first. Somebody whose rights are put aside. If we all did that, people really would believe that we were Christ's disciples.

And now Our Lord puts his rights to one side. The human God, the servant and saviour. The one who came from heaven will now be raised up to heaven. He will die the death of a slave; of a rebel; of a traitor.

And before he does that, he gives us a new commandment. We are to love one another.

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Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.

Mummy's Home

News from Australia of the mummy that was found in a coffin which was previously thought to be empty.

And that would be just a dull little story, but this line got me thinking:

"Experts will try to identify the mummy, which was "badly torn apart" and ransacked by tomb raiders at some point in history. Only about 10% of the body remains in the coffin."

If you had been Mer-Neith-it-es, picking the spot for your burial and appropriate inscriptions and hieroglyphics for what you hoped would be your final resting place - what would worry you more? The 90% of your bodily remains that the tomb raiders presumably scattered and left in the tomb - or the 10% that a bunch of Australians are currently carbon dating and CAT scanning?

So the spirit of Mer-Neith-it-es goes to follow the sun-god Ra around the skies. And wonders why he is flying in the wrong direction. And asks why these white-faced people with strange accents and tampered-with balls refer to "CATS". The only cats she knew were sacred. And she reflects that the only people that don't have human rights, are the long-dead.

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Want a good laugh? Want to laugh at the church? Want to be secretly suspicious that the author has been sitting in your church committee meetings taking notes? Then Writes of the Church: Gripes and grumbles of people in the pews is probably the book for you. From Amazon, Sarum Bookshop, The Bible Readers Fellowship and other good Christian bookshops. An excellent book for your churchgoing friends, relatives or vicar. By the creator of the Beaker Folk.