Moving in mysterious ways

Our Mystery Worshipper is perplexed when they turn up for church but the doors are locked

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Michael Faraday

Time-travel news

Michael Faraday, one of the greatest scientists of the Victorian era, was born today in 1791 to the family of a blacksmith
22 Sep

Jesus lends a hand

The worship group goes into meltdown when the jumbo TV screen fails before the service – by Simon Jenkins
9 Sep 23

What we hope for

‘Faith is a sales assistant in a large department store’ – a poem by Rupert Loydell
9 Sep 23

Highway Church, Penryn

A very warm welcome, a decent cup of coffee, and a sermon on Thomas as a biblical superhero
13 Aug 23
Cornwall, UK

Christ’s Church of the Valley, Phoenix

Sermon by video, a communion snack, and ‘delicious coffee and food’ nowhere to be found at a Phoenix megachurch
3 Sep 23
Arizona, USA

St Michael’s by-the-Sea, Carlsbad

An organ and violin prelude top the bill at a service that was ‘high as a kite on its way to heaven’
13 Aug 23
California, USA
St George's, Bickley

St George’s, Bickley

Bells and smells, beautiful music, appropriate hymns, plus delicious coffee and cake
2 Jul 23
Bromley, London

Strange conversations

Rupert Loydell reviews two recent books, each a conversation between friends, including nun extraordinaire Sister Wendy Beckett
22 Mar 23

On holiday with the Lord

Travelling abroad this summer? Why not plan to warm a foreign pew in a church where you don’t know the language?
4 Jul 22
Amanda B. Reckondwyth churches

Mystery, worship, and Miss Amanda

Amanda B. Reckondwyth, long-standing editor of the Mystery Worshipper, processes down the aisle at the end of her service
30 Jun 22

Making the Bible wholly buyable

A new podcast takes a trip through the Bible but leaves one significant item of baggage at home – religion
27 Jun 22
Writz record cover

Looking down the wrong end of a telescope

Rupert Loydell looks back to the collaborations and collisions between church culture and the wider culture in the 1970s and 80s
20 Jan 22

Most popular

St George's, Paris

St George’s

Perfectly well-behaved baby of sunny disposition saves baptism from too much solemnity
2 Oct 22
Paris, France
St Lucas, Toledo, OH

St Lucas

13 Aug 17
Toledo, Ohio, USA
Crown Church of Scotland (Interior)

Crown Court Church of Scotland

Standing in the need of prayer - but no hand waving, please!
9 Sep 12
Covent Garden, London
Holy Trinity, Gran Canaria

Holy Trinity

2 Dec 11
Puerto de Mogán, Las Palmas, Canary Islands
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