The Hidden Stuff I read a fascinating book about Christian discipleship some years ago called, ‘Building Below the Waterline,’ by Gordon McDonald. It spoke about the importance of what goes on beneath the surface of our lives. It began by talking about an impressive suspension bridge and how it was constructed with deep foundations below […]
Significant Moments I caught the end of a documentary on TV recently marking the 1st anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8th September 2022. It was a documentary that traced the events of that day minute by minute and hour by hour. It described the visits of members of the Queen’s family to Balmoral […]
Signs of New Life Most people associate the season of spring with new life. It’s then we often see flowers beginning to poke their heads above the ground as they signal their arrival. Farmers often welcome the arrival of new lambs, the days begin to lengthen and people look forward to this. In the Church […]
Can I borrow your church? One of the things I love about parish ministry is that no two days are the same. There are all sorts of unusual and inspiring situations that arise in encounters with people in different situations. As readers of this blog might be aware, the church where I work is currently engaged […]
Loving the Bible It’s well over 35 years ago now that I started to read the Bible for myself for the first time. I had begun to attend a Scripture Union group in my school by accident, when they wandered into the school chapel one evening, switched on the lights and found me sitting there […]
World Cup Thoughts Sports fans around the world have world cups on their mind at the present time. A world cup represents the pinnacle of achievement for a sports person like an Olympic medal. The fact that these competitions happen only once every 4 years means that everything is building to this point. For the […]
Seeing Our Blind Spots Last week when I was driving, a car behind me started flashing its lights to get my attention. I couldn’t stop on that particular road but, when I turned onto a quieter road and pulled into the side, the same car had followed me. The driver wound down his window and […]
A Work in Progress One of the things our son enjoys doing during holidays from school is jigsaw puzzles. He is currently pitting his wits against a 1000 piece puzzle of a scene from Positano in Italy. While I have never been to Positano, it looks beautiful, the cliffs and the coloured buildings, the sparkle […]
Some thoughts on grief I listened to a powerful conversation last night between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the singer/songwriter, poet and writer Nick Cave. It was on a podcast called the Archbishop interviews which is available on BBC Sounds. The two men spoke about grief and loss. Both of them have experienced the devastation […]
Live Music One of the great experiences in life is when we get to hear and see live music being performed in front of our eyes. It’s special if it’s an artist we have a great affection for and there is always something special about that moment that creates great memories we love to revisit. […]