In the latest episode, Joe is having an existential crisis and, worryingly, is asking for my help. So we discuss meaning and purpose. What are we here for? What is our calling? Is there a purpose to our lives or are we just fooling ourselves? Is it true that everyone on earth is a pun? Does Joe’s purpose involve cheese? In the episode I quoted Jung The afternoon of life is just as full of meaning as the morning; only, its meaning and purpose are different…

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In this episode Joe and I discuss Lent, Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. We reflect on the purpose of fasting, the way that Lent creates contours in the year, and the cheery fact that we are all going to die. From dust we are made and to dust we shall return. But what kind of dust? That’s the question. You can listen or subscribe here

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Last week we talked about lots of different kinds of church. This week we’re thinking about the purpose. What, actually, is the point of church? What are we supposed to do? And has this whole thing just been market research so that Joe can start a cult? Also, there’s a lot of food in this episode, none of it healthy. Episode details

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Having ideas is easy. Turning ideas into reality is hard. So well expressed here. So many people want everything at the touch of a button. But you can’t order success for next day delivery. In fact the idea needs the work, because not only is it the work that gives it form, it is through the work that you discover other, perhaps better, ideas.

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I’ve been doing more work on the chapter about Odda’s Chapel. Deerhurst lies in floodplain fields on the banks of the River Severn. There are two Saxon churches here. One is St Mary’s, a former monastic church, but the one I’ve been thinking about this week is a simple little building, a private chapel – Odda’s Chapel – which was lost and then found. We know from the dedication plaque who built it and why.

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I’ve been working on a bit about the beautiful little church of St Gregory’s Minster in Kirkdale, N. Yorkshire. Situated at the bottom of a valley, with a beck running around the churchyard, this building dates from around 1060. We know that, because the man who rebuilt it, Orm Gamalson, had a sundial made which you can still see in the porch. The inscription is in Old English and reads: ‘Orm Gamal’s son bought St.

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Justine Toh:The world is burning. Who can convince the comfortable classes of the radical sacrifices needed? From the Guardian, an article on the importance of Simone Weil and how her example could help us all to live a more sacrificial life. It’s a well-written article, which strangely manages to almost entirely avoid mentioning her faith. It’s written by someone from the Centre for Public Christianity, so it’s a bit surprising that it doesn’t make Weil’s faith a bit more… er… public.

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Sam Kriss, The internet is already over Not sure I entirely agree, but the power of the writing is irresistible at times. Like this nugget: Online is not where people meaningfully express themselves; that still happens in the remaining scraps of the nonnetworked world. It’s a parcel of time you give over to the machine. Make the motions, chant its dusty liturgy. The newest apps even literalise this: everyone has to post a selfie at exactly the same time, an inaudible call to prayer ringing out across the world.

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