The Solace of Fierce Landscapes

The Solace of Fierce Landscapes, by Belden Lane, is one of the best books I've read in the last 5 years. It is a very moving reflection on the tradition of desert and mountain spirituality in the Christian tradition, interwoven with the author's personal experience of watching his mother die slowly in a nursing home. It has been particularly powerful for me because my own mother is towards the end of a very long and slow decline into incapacity in a care home not far away from where I live.

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What's missing in the gay marriage debate?

The CofE has announced a consultation exercise on the live issue of gay marriage, which I suppose is a step forward. This may be simply the kind of consultation much favoured by recent governments, where the appearance of openness and listening is simply a pause for breath before absolutely nothing changes and we return to business as usual. But perhaps I'm a little cynical, and should wait for the report.

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