Tag Archives: history

A Clergyman’s Diary: A Wiltshire Transfiguration

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Gerry Lynch

When the sun transfigures the 1500 year old Wansdyke, it calls to mind the Transfiguration of Christ: ‘Tis Good Lord, to be Here. And we are as clueless as the apostles. Continue reading →

Posted in A Clergyman's Diary, Christianity, Photography | Tagged christian, christianity, history, photography, religion, transfiguration | Comments Off

A Soldier Shot on the Afghan Frontier, 1889

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Gerry Lynch

In Rochester Cathedral, a cross executed in memory of Lt Archie Harris of the Royal Engineers “[s]hot while in pursuit of a Pathan robber on the Afghan frontier”, 11 October 1889. History doesn’t repeat but it does rhyme. “A scrimmage … Continue reading →

Posted in churchcrawling, history | Tagged churchcrawling, history, memorials, poetry | Comments Off

Afghanistan Exposes the West’s Crisis as it did the Soviets’

Posted on August 19, 2021 by Gerry Lynch

This post originally appeared on Slugger O’Toole The Soviet Empire was undone by three things – firstly, overstretching itself, especially through the acquisition of a series of Global South satrapies from Nicaragua through Ethiopia to Vietnam in the 1970s and … Continue reading →

Posted in history, World Politics | Tagged afghanistan, geopolitics, history, political history, the crisis of the west | Comments Off

“Rebuild my Church”: Sermon Preached at St John’s Devizes on Sunday 4 October 2020 (the 17th Sunday After Trinity) by Gerry Lynch

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Gerry Lynch

Readings – Philippians 3:4b-14, Matthew 21:33-46 I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. May I speak in the name of God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, sermons | Tagged history, playingjazzwithgod, sermon, sermons, st francis, thepastisthepresent | Comments Off

The Mosque of Bohoniki

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Gerry Lynch

The mosque at Bohoniki is one of the last places of worship of the Lipka Tatar community which still survives as it has since the late 14th Century in what are now the borderlands Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus. The mosque … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Islam, Photography, Reflection, Travel | Tagged Architecture, history, photography, poland, religion, tatar | Comments Off

Blogging Staggers Day One: Praying With the Lepers

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

The Bartlemas Chapel – a name that sounds like something out of Dickens, and the chapel felt like something from a disappeared world as well. A few hundred metres down a laneway from the noise and bustle of the Cowley … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Reflection | Tagged anglican, bible, christianity, church of england, cowley st john, history, leper chapels, oxford, prayer, psalms, worship | Comments Off

What Is A Man? The Question Asked by a Memorial to Forgotten Wars

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

The memorial to the fallen of the 1860s Wars of German Unification in the Rheinpark in Emmerich (Kriegerdenkmal, Emmerich). Emmerich is a sleepy little river port on the Rhine, literally within a casual afternoon stroll of the Dutch border. Completed … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Germany, Travel | Tagged history, nationalism, statues, war, war memorials, western civilisation, wilhelm kreis | Comments Off

A Tallinn Memorial from the Days before Nationalism

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

Our past was at times profoundly different from our present in ways we little appreciate; this memorial in an Estonian church survives from a time when nationalism was not a given, not too long ago. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Europe | Tagged church, churchcrawling, culture, estonia, EU, history, ideas, nationalism, political history, politics, religion, tallinn, Travel | Comments Off

Mariken van Nieumeghen aka Little Mary of Nijmegen

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

This bronze statue has been on Nijmegen’s Grote Markt, by the entrance to the Stevenskerk, since 1956 and was executed by Vera Tummers-Van Hasselt. It represents Mariken van Nieumeghen (Little Mary of Nijmegen) one of the symbols of the city … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Photography, Travel | Tagged Art, christian, dutch, history, netherlands, nijmegen, religion, storytelling | Comments Off

Boxing, Sculpture and ‘Degeneracy’: Joe Lewis, Max Schmeling and Rudolph Belling

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

Bronze “Der Boxer Max Schmelling” by Rudolf Belling, 1928. The divergent fates of sculptor and subject of this work are fascinating. Belling held radical views on the theory of sculpture, and his works were damned as ‘degenerate art’ (entartete Kunst) after the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Germany, Photography, Travel | Tagged boxing, history, joe lewis, max schmeling, rudolph belling, sculpture, sport | Comments Off