Rev Shirley Murphy
The thoughts, reflections, faith stories and meanderings of an 
Anglican Priest

Ruth looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter one more time... Dear...

"Why was my burden so heavy?" I slammed the bedroom door and leaned against it. Is there no rest from this life? I wondered. I stumbled...

"Patience is a virtue." We're all familiar with that cliche, and many of us know that patience is listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 as...

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took the small boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated,...

“If I just had more faith….” I think most of us have struggled with that at some point in our lives. If I just had more faith I wouldn’t...

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the...

Encourage one another and build one another up. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) The word “hope” generally expresses two different ideas. The more...

In speaking of prayer I often distinguish between a “life of prayer” and a “prayer life.” It seems much of our life today is...

There hasn’t been one day in over two hundred years without some kind of war on earth. Political, tribal, religious, territorial, civil,...

It’s in the tightening of your chest, the bile in your throat, and the knot in your stomach. It flashes in lightning fast, infecting...

“Try and look for the good in others” is a statement many people will have heard from childhood, yet in society there is a distinct lack...

The text for Beatitudes for a Global Pandemic was written by Jayne Manfredi, based on Matthew Chapter 5 Sources...

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of the risks posed, Remembrance Sunday will be very different this year. So we have compiled...

Marcel Sternberger was a methodical man of nearly 50, with bushy white hair, guileless brown eyes, and the bouncing enthusiasm of a...

Joni Eareckson Tada has lived in a wheelchair for more than forty years due to a diving accident at age seventeen. She is the founder of...

All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows' Day falls on November 1, and is followed by All Souls' Day on November 2. (or the 3rd if the...

November 1st is All Saints Day. This ceremonial event is a day that we praise all the saints -- known & unknown. All Saints Day, also...

Over recent years, there have been many television shows aimed at helping people get properly dressed. Sometimes the premise revolves...

Moses’ story is told in the Book of Exodus, but it starts in Genesis with the story of Abraham and his family with whom God makes a...