Brian MountfordJan 283 minDo you ever pray, Dad?I’m taken aback when Charlotte asks over Sunday lunch, ‘Do you ever pray, Dad?’ I’m very uncomfortable when faced with what I regard as an
Brian MountfordJan 822 minReligion and its FutureMy experience of religion We don’t choose our parents or the time or the culture we’re born into. You might be born into a wealthy family or find yourself th...
Brian MountfordMay 30, 20191 minFragile LifeWalked up the High Street to lunch in Exeter College and felt the buzz of students in sub fusc coming back for the Examination Schools and caught snatches of...
Brian MountfordDec 23, 20181 minOut with a bangThe two Corpus Carol Services were a wonderful climax to my year there as Acting Chaplain. Sadly, just as you are bonding with the choir and students, it's t...
Brian MountfordNov 5, 20184 minDiary: being a vicar in secular societyIt may be school half term, but the Oxford University term is only three weeks in. My first encounter with this year’s freshers at Corpus Christi College was...
Brian MountfordJun 9, 20182 minLove Island - article for Daily MailThis is the full version of what the Mail printed in butchered form on 9 June 2018 Before I switched on ‘Love Island’ I was ready to say it was part of our t...
Brian MountfordMay 20, 20171 minFriday's ChildJust delighted that Philip Pullman has endorsed my forthcoming book, Friday's Child, to be published later this year by John Hunt Publishing. It's an antholo...
Brian MountfordMar 27, 20173 minDeath, Heaven and Motor Neurone DiseaseThis extract from a recent funeral address struck a chord with an unusally large number of people, so I share it here. I think I know roughly what Sue though...
Brian MountfordDec 15, 201618 minMeaning of MusicJust found this chapter from an old book of mine which sold but a few copies and was surprised by how good it was! I've edited it a bit. GOD IN MUSIC ‘Awake,...
St Nicholas, IslipDec 5, 20167 minSt Nicholas of MyraRoughly once a year I’m lucky enough to travel as a cruise ship lecturer. We’ve been as far as Vietnam and China, but always prefer the Mediterranean. Unfort...
Brian MountfordOct 11, 20165 minOne in ten are grateful - sermon St Nicholas, MarstonI think of myself as one of you – a tiller of the Marston clay - a land holder in Marston for £7 a year – yes, I have an allotment. People ask me what I grow...
Brian MountfordJul 20, 20161 minBuilder's LabourerI apologise to those who have been looking here for my latest blog. I have been completely absorbed with my own personal housing crisis, encouraging and cajo...
Brian MountfordJun 5, 20162 minAn Agnostic's FuneralBut he wasn’t really a believer. This is a frequent response when I say to a family planning a funeral or memorial service that they must choose a reading fr...
Brian MountfordMay 24, 20162 minEthical readingBubbly and irrepressibly Jewish, Hindy Najman, the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, urges me to attend her inaugural on 26 ...
Brian MountfordMay 10, 20162 minHoliday and the numbing of the mindJust returned from North East Spain having battled with the robotic mechanisms of mass tourism. At Girona Airport, the car hire executive was 'unable' to acc...
Brian MountfordApr 28, 20161 minPaintingThis portrait of me, painted by Rosalie Watkins who works in Lavender Hill, London, was my leaving gift from the people of the University Church. I've writte...
Brian MountfordApr 11, 20162 minGetting towards the endMy time at SMV is fast running out like being in a canoe in the calm but accelerating water above the Niagara Falls knowing that very soon things are going t...
BMMar 9, 20162 minTraditionWhat affection we have for ‘Mum, Mum, Mum’* on Mothering Sunday. We know we shouldn’t, but we love it. We recognise the song’s aesthetic flaws. But it’s an S...
Brian MountfordMar 4, 20162 minTo see oursels as ithers see us - on being paintedThe studio is a stark rectangular cube in an old warehouse, a metal framed window at one end and a rough concrete beam across the ceiling. Stacked on the flo...
Brian MountfordFeb 26, 20169 minSelf-identity: A talk given by Brian MountfordIntroduction – two versions of me 1. Self in the mirror: your image, how you see yourself, the clothes you choose etc. Why is to be the most common verb? Bec...