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East of Eden: Not a Wedding
Jo and Nina had been coming to Lighthouse for years. A couple, kind to each other, kind to others, and if you watched closely, you’d see they looked out for the ones nobody else noticed. They were in their early fifties, short hair, hoodies, tired eyes and warm smiles. They sat near the back, hands wrapped around mugs, listening more than talking. They were drinkers, gentle with it when at church, but chaos was never far behind. Nina ignored the letters. “What hospital appoin
Jon Swales
Oct 15, 20254 min read


Quiet Revival: Fruits
They say there is a quiet revival. Praise God for it. Students and seekers return. The disenchanted bow the knee. Secularism loses its...
Jon Swales
Oct 1, 20252 min read


East of Eden: Gateshead
The Angel of the North rusted, enormous, stands watch over broken estates. Not protection. A witness. Rev Pam walks the cut towards the youth worker’s flat. Grey drizzle. Bin bags spilling. Shouting from upstairs windows. Trained at St Hild near Leeds, cut her teeth in a suburban curacy, but felt the call North, to where the Angel spreads its arms. She passes Kenny, voice like gravel, eyes red from Stella. “Church lot divvent knaa, pet,” he mutters, “kids roond here haven’t a
Jon Swales
Sep 22, 20254 min read


East of Eden: Priests
The church was full. Old hymns sung with cracked voices. A life remembered. The old priest laid to rest. Afterwards, six deacons, six...
Jon Swales
Sep 16, 20256 min read


East of Eden: Deacons
The First Word — Heralds Two days before ordination, six wait in cassocks that itch against the skin. They gather in the retreat house...
Jon Swales
Sep 16, 202510 min read


East of Eden: The God Who Leapt Off the Page
He was trained in philosophy and systematics, raised on Reformed dogma: the Perfect Being, the God who always gets his way, a...
Jon Swales
Sep 15, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Unite the Kingdon
Thomas, parish priest, opens the Bishop’s statement on his screen: “We are deeply concerned to hear of the planned ‘Unite the Kingdom’...
Jon Swales
Sep 14, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Questions
Morning Prayer ended. The last “Amen” drifted through the nave. Candles flickered low, the air cool with stone. Charlotte closed the...
Jon Swales
Sep 11, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Burnley
The priest from Burnley remembers weekends away, instant coffee, cheap pastries, voices saying the Bible was flawless. Later, at college,...
Jon Swales
Sep 5, 20252 min read


East of Eden: The Kingdom
He left the cottage quietly, wife having a mid morning snooze, the newspaper folded neat. Two weeks by the sea, far from vestry quarrels...
Jon Swales
Sep 5, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Not a Museum
I. Prayer The nave is empty. Candles gone cold. Stone heavy with silence. He kneels, old knees aching. Hands grip the rail. His whisper...
Jon Swales
Aug 26, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Not a Business
Rain at the window. The fire spitting ash. Two priests, two pints. On retreat, The air thick with weariness. Steve leans forward, voice...
Jon Swales
Aug 26, 20253 min read


Bus Station at the End of the Age
Rain makes the tarmac gleam like dark glass. Streetlamps haloed in mist. Puddles hold the sky in shards. A seagull shrieks above the...
Jon Swales
Aug 18, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Sheffield
After Morning Prayer, Father Pete lingered. The New Testament reading had been plain enough— a call to live at peace with one another. He...
Jon Swales
Aug 18, 20253 min read


The Gospel of the Wounded Church
The wild Messiah is not done walking. But now he limps in the Body. Here is the Church— the Body of Christ, broken. She is the Bride—...
Jon Swales
Aug 14, 20252 min read


The Gospel of the Crucified King
Here is a man. Crown of thorns. Robe of mockery. A throne of timber — splinters carving truth into flesh. They called it execution. He...
Jon Swales
Aug 14, 20252 min read


The Gospel of the Wild Goose
Here is the holy breath — Ruach, wind unleashed, fire unfenced, birth without borders. She, the Wild Goose, cannot be caged by pulpits,...
Jon Swales
Aug 14, 20252 min read


A Lament for a Secular Age
Grieve for the thirst we no longer feel, for the hunger numbed by constant feasting. Name the beauty now hidden from our sight, the...
Jon Swales
Aug 14, 20252 min read


Barefoot, A Crack Pipe & LXII
She came to score, back of the cemetery, where no one watches, where the dead don’t judge, no shoes on her feet, too sore, too blistered...
Jon Swales
Aug 4, 20252 min read


East of Eden: Stations of the Cross
Fr. Andrew wipes the drizzle from his glasses, cassock frayed at the cuffs, a stole of second-hand brocade— green today, though few would...
Jon Swales
Aug 4, 20255 min read
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