Friday Five

On the Leeds-Liverpool canal at Bingley, Yorkshire, England, is a staircase of 5 consecutive locks. The photo is here to illustrate my selection of:

5 blog posts worth a visit this week:

• Dave Perry reflects on the rogation-tide custom of 'beating the bounds' in relation to his faith and role as a Methodist minister. Take a look at 'Beating the bounds of faith: longing to be found and desperate to find'. I love the lake district photos and story of the ewe and lamb seeking and finding each other.

• Thinking Anglicans provides links today to last week's Church Times guide to women bishops. These articles from the special feature are temporarily available to non-subscribers.

• In the last of a candid and moving series of posts on living with the scars caused by abuse, Lesley Fellows writes about 'Recovering from abuse - freedom'.

•  Bishop Alan is 'Doing God in Dresden' and wonders why it's OK for the President of the Federal Republic of Germany to participate in a Bible Study and to admit in an interview that he prays daily, without being accused by the media of a 'secret theocratric agenda' as certain UK politicians have.

• 'Good in Parts' posted her sermon of last Sunday which helpfully addresses the discomfort many church people feel about evangelism. In Easter 6A she encourages being prepared to 'give an account of the hope that is in you'.

That's it for now.