Gerry Lynch
@gerrylynch
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Rector of 5 parishes in rural Wilts. Part-time @UniOfOxford doctoral student. Formerly @AllianceParty Exec Director & @DioSalisbury Director of Communications.
Potterne, Wiltshire, England
Joined March 2009
@evanvucci @AP The universe and nature are full of meaning, pattern, and beauty. We walk by faith because our sight perceives so many things that give lie to the idea that we are just a collection of atoms arranged by random chance.
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How come Brexity people always shout that we need more 'Dunkirk spirit' but then get upset when people flee across the English Channel in tiny boats?.
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So happy to see Irish culinary culture is respected in Canada. I remember the smell of nachos cooking in my granny's kitchen, and memories of the jalapeño fields of County Antrim always bring a homesick tear to my eye.
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Ruth Davidson said to be furious at a Tory/DUP deal. Not just about LGBT issues. Scots know Orangeism & the UDA in a way the English don't.
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In a church in deepest England, a candle burns for the Irish Defence Forces soldiers on UN peacekeeping duty at the Golan Heights ceasefire line. Please pray for them and their Fijian, Indian, Nepalese, and Uruguayan colleagues who might soon be in the middle of a hot war.
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Christianity in Nagorno-Karabakh has just been extinguished after 1,722 years. 120,000 Armenians have been ethnically cleansed in weeks. This followed a 9 month blockade resulting in massive shortages of electricity, fuel, food, and water which the world largely ignored. #Artsakh.
The last photo of the last clergy of Dadivank. They arrived in Armenia on Oct. 1, 2023, marking that day the first time in 1722 years when no Armenian Christian prayer is heard in Artsakh / Nagorno-Karabakh. Before leaving the sacred monastery, they prayed for return.
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I is an Oxford Graduate. Graduation delayed 14 months due to the lousy pandemic but finally happened in the pigging rain yesterday. Was quite emotional during it, which I didn't expect. A milestone in life and a lot of hard work to carve it at the tender age of 44.
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I witnessed two great paradigm collapses in my youth: one the death of Catholic Ireland, the other the collapse of the Soviet world. Almost nobody saw either coming—even those few underestimated their speed. There is nothing particularly given about the current Western order. 1/3.
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Does anyone remember getting their six needles about a week before their BCG?.
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Despite being one of the most extraordinary buildings in Europe, @durhamcathedral is one of the last C of E cathedrals to make no admission charge, and even requests for donations are made unobtrusively. So I gave them the largest donation I've ever made for a church visit.
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I'm hardly an Arlene fan, but some of the reaction on Twitter to this has been appalling. I don't see how you can say you want a United Ireland and then object when the leader of Unionism & First Minister of NI goes to Dublin to appear on Ireland's biggest talk show.
Breaking news. Arlene Foster will appear on RTE's Late, Late Show on Brexit night as a bridge-building gesture to the Republic. She tells Saturday's @Bel Tel she aims to heal the wounds between North & South. Following in footsteps of Rev Ian Paisley who was on prog with Eileen.
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No, I don't mean the 1998 Belfast Agreement. I know about that too, though. I was in the room when it was signed.
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The British Monarchy is a cold house for Unionists.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh, a chairde go léir in Éirinn 🇮🇪🇬🇧 Thank you to all the wonderful people we met in Ireland! #RoyalVisitIreland
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Can youse tell Edwin Poots that Lisburn & Castlereagh had the 10th highest growth in #COVID19 of all 214 council areas in the UK this week? I'm sure he wouldn't want to mislead his constituents into complacency about a deadly malady just to score a sectarian point or anything.
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Just gave myself the rare treat of watching N Ireland TV news. In between two people being killed by the UDA and a suicide rate off the charts compared with any other part of the UK or Ireland, Jim Allister popped up to say an Irish Language Act would make NI less British. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️.
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All 10 TDs from the City of Cork are men. That hit me quite forcefully. It also hit me forcefully that absolutely nobody is taking about this.
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The biggest political story in the UK right now is the Northern Ireland Executive's paralysis in the face of the worst #COVID19 outbreak in the UK, with ICUs a few weeks from falling over, and nobody on this side of the Irish Sea has even noticed. Which is in itself a story.
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China is moving into global first place in all sorts of fields, such as rubbish maps of the Irish Border.
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It's very telling that the DUP running a lesbian candidate causes pandemonium with bits of their base whereas them running a UDA candidate doesn't cause a whimper. It isn't anything I'd reckon as 'moral' behaviour myself.
@Davewoodzy I respect Jim's right to hold his own beliefs. He does not have the right to impose them on others. This is the political party we're discussing, not his church's view. He has said openly he would not support a DUP candidate. Surely they have a duty to defend her position.
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Socialism is dead; basic tenets of the liberal order—due process and free expression—are ditched by Liberals when convenient. In their stead came a progressive technocracy with manic faith that the only moral option is accelerating into the historical curve we all see coming. 3/3.
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There is nothing inevitable about liberal universalism, democratic elections, the rejection of the importance of the non-material, and concomitant faith in science and technology. It might collapse with sudden speed and I suspect we're living through precisely that. 2/3.
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Empires rise & fall. The count is continuing in Foyle. A new Ice Age arrives. The count is continuing in Foyle. The Sun turns into a red giant. The count is continuing in Foyle. Proton decay sees all matter start to disintegrate. The count is still continuing in Foyle. #AE22.
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So hope for a great sea-change.On the far side of revenge. Believe that further shore.Is reachable from here. Believe in miracles.And cures and healing wells. ~~Seamus Heaney
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£19.65 for three pints, one of which is non-alcoholic? Belfast is officially Rip-Off City.
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@tomhashemi @georgeeaton One person's "wanting better population heath" is another person's "using pretend-scientific soundbites to shame people for eating at an outlet the upper bourgeoisie likes to sneer at".
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Thought myself inured to violent conflict-related death from an early age, but I saw this kid's Dad sitting on his grave earlier at Yerablur, smoking & bawling his eyes out. Then I started bawling my eyes out too. His name was Vazgin Aslanian. I'm not sure if he quite made 19.
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Final Northern Ireland share of the vote:.DUP 30.6% (-5.4%).Sinn Féin 22.8% (-6.8%).Alliance 16.8% (+8.9%).SDLP 14.9% (+3.2%).UUP 11.7% (+1.4%). This is an awful result for the DUP, and despite North Belfast, a dreadful result for Sinn Féin, which lost a quarter of its vote.
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A shot I took this evening of the medieval Monastery-Cathedral of St John the Baptist at Hovhannavank, 45 minutes drive from Yerevan. #armenia🇦🇲
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Fresh graves from the 2nd Karabakh War in Yerablur Military Cemetery. Most of the 5,000 Armenian dead were 18-20 year old conscripts. The older looking photographs were of lads born in the year 2000. Heartbreaking stuff.
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The TUV's Fermanagh branch attacked the UUP on Twitter as a "gay rights party" but the ratio+pwning from LGBT-affirming Unionists was so painful it deleted its account. Not everything in NI is as bleak as it sometimes seems. Huge positive change on this issue in the last decade.
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1. Police beating firemen in Girona today. Not sure where Spain goes from this. #CatalanReferendum
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SF got 17% of Alliance transfers in W Tyrone with SDLP still in the race. There is a definite & growing bloc of mostly younger voters which floats between the two parties & I think also potentially the Greens. I don't think either Alliance or SF has really processed this. #AE22.
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A priest gives a pilgrim a blessing at Tatev Monastery. This is a 10 second exposure - they were both that still. #armenia🇦🇲
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@dan_of_steele @sumlenny 1. Because he knows the situation at the front in Russia is dire. 2. Because he needs to back out of a war he knows is unwinnable.
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It staggers me when leafing through Lost Lives just how many RUC & UDR men were shot dead in their homes or cars in front of wives, children, parents, siblings. If you're pretending they were 'legitimate targets' then, you're providing moral ammunition for dissidents now.
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My hot take on #ZombieRugbyGate is that every time I think the Union is doomed and a United Ireland is inevitable, I remember that Tadhg Hickey will be tweeting right through any border poll campaign.
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The skyline of the Armenian capital Yerevan, capped by Mount Ararat, viewed from by the Three Divers sculpture towards the top of the Cascade.
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A mole at Church House has leaked a suppressed first draft of the Church of England race report.
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A shepherdess rests her legs while tending her lambs at the open air khachkar museum in Noratus, #Armenia🇦🇲.
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.@rezaaslan @tomdoorley Worse than that: Trump's favourite Bible verse is "an eye for an eye". Clueless about what Christ taught.
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The C of E has been strangely convinced since ~1990 that its crisis was caused by poor management. But what it actually has is a narrative crisis, which it shares with Christianity throughout the West for reasons that have little to do with it specifically. 1/x.
And guess who’s been teaching Bishops how to lead organisations… Yup, that would be Paula Vennells.
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Got an emergency call at C'mas to give a very old lady, near death, last rites & communion in a care home. Conscious but seemed in last 24 hrs given breathing etc. Family just emailed to say my visit did her a world of good: can I visit regularly? It's a funny business, this one.
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When I arrived at Yerablur Military Cemetery today, a huge windstorm suddenly arrived and made all the many flags on the site flap. Thunder had been rumbling in the distance for most of the afternoon, but this was so improbable I had to take a video of it.
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What disturbed me most about the images from Sunderland this evening wasn't the muppet with swastika tattoos, but the local teenage lads joining in. As those of us from NI know, when kids get a taste for rioting as recreation during the summer holidays, it can be hard to stop.
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Quick - everybody in Northern Ireland buy gorilla suits over the weekend so that when Karen Bradley flies back in on Monday morning, we can really mess with her head.
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NUMBER CRUNCING: Latest polls imply 350 votes at most separate the @AllianceParty and the DUP in North Down & less than 1k in East Belfast. Two more votes in every street wins it. Huge chance for @naomi_long & @StephenFarryMLA to stop Brexit esp. if younger voters turn out. #GE19.
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A very active member of one of my churches - PCC member and all that - had what has turned out to be a massive stroke at a carol service. It's very serious. We would appreciate prayers for her and her family.
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If I were still running election campaigns in NI, I'd be rubbing my hands at the prospect of DUP double-jobbing. Still more at the DUP getting Tories in London to overrule N Ireland law just so they could double-job. Alliance & UUP could pick up wheelbarrows of votes from this.
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DID YOU KNOW: the 1918 'Spanish' flu started in America and came with US troops to France and then Britain, and got its name because Spain was the first country it affected that wasn't at war and therefore where the news of the disease wasn't censored.
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Yerevan's famous cascade. I'll be walking up but not in this midday heat. I did take the escalators up first thing and saw Ararat with its peak covered in snow. It's ubiquitous from high ground here.
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Does any city do an identity crisis in its airport fridge magnets like Belfast does?
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France—7,135 adults baptised in RC Churches at Easter 2024, double the number 20 years ago: 26% aged 18-25, 24% from non-religious families, 5% from Muslim backgrounds. Also 5,025 adolescents aged 11-17.
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To celebrate St Patrick's Day, I'd like to celebrate one of the funniest things I've ever seen, on a tourist trinket shop while on holiday in Brittany 12 years ago.
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Terrible decision by Labour. Twas ever thus. Free debate is the first of Corbyn's principles to go with a sniff of power.
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A high proportion of those piling on of Carla Lockhart would consider themselves feminists or allies, and also to be tolerant and supportive of diversity. But still tweet hate at a woman politician, clearly grieving deeply, who lives according to a different worldview from them.
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The DUP is the biggest supporter of NI having different laws from GB on abortion, marriage equality, selective schools and much more. There is no great Unionist principle against this sensible compromise deal. #Brexit.
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I'd love to have @ceecuk and their allies explain why is it impossible to remain in Communion with people who marry gays but imperative to remain in Communion with people who put gays to death?.
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The Northern Ireland miracle: an ideologically riven 5 party coalition with a woeful track record in government, barely on speaking terms in March, managed the lowest COVID19 death rate in the UK & stayed united in public over how to ease the lockdown, with broad public support.
"I certainly didn't want to see us fall into the situation that we saw when Boris Johnson made his announcements." . @naomi_long on Northern Ireland's tailored and flexible approach to easing lockdown.
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#wedeservebetter than:.* sending women who need abortions out of the country.* banning same-sex couples from marrying.* treating our indigenous language like a terrorist plot.* Brexit foisted on us against our will. One can't put a gov't together by avoiding what collapsed it.
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Woke: the election results showed a hunger for progressive politics in NI.Broke: DUP & SF are still the big two, nothing ever changes here.Bespoke: 2 more votes in every street will see @naomi_long win in the European elections, and that will change transform NI politics for good
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One weird thing about the Church of England at the moment is how its collapse in self-confidence is leading it to ape the governance models of secular institutions—business, public sector, NGOs—which are clearly flawed and are themselves suffering from a crisis in confidence.
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The awful @PreciousLifeCom targeted @DavidFordMLA very specifically in this election. He got his biggest vote ever. Just sayin'. #AE17.
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As Cathedral congregations have been the fastest growing in the C21st C of E, surely "resource churches" should be in large urban areas far from cathedrals (Middlesboro', Bournemouth, Stoke, etc.) and be funded to have choir schools & maintain a full round of daily sung services?.
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Of your mercy, pray for the happy repose of the soul of Fr Brian Tigwell (1 May 1936—5 March 2023). Loving husband, father, grandad, brother & friend to many. Faithful priest & Rural Dean of Devizes 1992-98. My best mate. Died peacefully at home much visited by family & friends.
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The Bishop of Salisbury had kindly offered me & I have accepted a title at St John w/ St Mary, Devizes working to Paul Richardson. I will with God's grace start here after being made a deacon in June 2020. I was here to meet parishioners today and needless to say I am delighted.
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At the field of khackhars, ancient carved stones, at Noratus on Lake Sevan. The farthest east I'll be on this trip, or have been on planet earth for 17 years. #Armenia🇦🇲
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How swiftly we've moved from “secularism protects everybody's religious freedom” to denying the Last Rites to a dying murder victim because public officials neither know nor care how important they are.
The Mail reports that a priest tried to give Last Rites to Sir David but was denied access on the grounds that this was a crime scene. This was very distressing to read and I’d like to see a full explanation of this decision by @EssexPoliceUK.
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An afternoon spent at @TruroCathedral means I have now visited every Anglican cathedral in England. This was the last on my list. Deo gratias.
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A bus driver in the French city of Bayonne has been left brain dead after being assaulted by several passengers he refused to let board as they were disobeying the country's rules that make face coverings mandatory on public transport. Horrific.
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“The Bishop of Ramsbury is pleased to announce that he has appointed the Revd Gerry Lynch to be the Rector of Wellsprings. Please pray for Gerry as he prepares to move into the benefice. The details about Gerry’s licensing will be confirmed in due course.”.
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@Culture_Crit The Ambassadors, by Hans Holbein the Younger, is the most amazing piece of art I have ever stood in front of.
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The Armenian Genocide Memorial with onsite museum. Not exactly cheery holiday visiting, but it's impossible to understand modern Armenia without it. Next stop: the Karabakh War Cemetery at Yerablur.
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A big week ahead for me. I would appreciate the prayers of those of you who pray.
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I never feel more working-class than when Church of England clergy moan on X about their pay. I could cope with the entitlement that says we should be paid the same as GPs (2x the UK average🤷♂️) if so many of the same people didn't spend their lives banging on about Socialism. 1/2.
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The cybermob attacking Sean Cavanagh encapsulates the zeitgeist of 2020: people adopting a costume of self-righteousness to indulge one of the worst aspects of human nature, the thrill that comes from being part of a group of bullies, all because the man stated an objective fact.
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@NatSecSoc Church workers are delivering a huge range of charitable & social services at present, including seeing the dead laid to rest with dignity. All main churches in the UK have suspended services and shut doors. Is this really the right time to grind your axe? #stayhomesavelives.
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The Cooley Peninsula Carlingford Lough from a London to Montreal flight.
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Because we all need a break from arguing about Brexit sometimes, here's a photo I took of the late 15th Century Stanbury Chapel in Hereford Cathedral.
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@Chadlad1 @lardychap Surely they're fleeing the sclerotic continent being slowly suffocated by Brussels bureaucrats with their red tape in order to benefit from the opportunities in free post-Brexit Britain? Shouldn't you be welcoming this?.
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