The Ministry of Presence One of the beautiful things to behold, if you know people who have been married for many years, is how comfortable and relaxed they are in each other’s presence. I visited a couple recently who have been married for over 60 years and what was inspiring was to see just how […]
Longevity and Faithfulness On a recent short visit to my Mum’s house she showed me two lovely invitations she had received. One was to an 80th birthday celebration in a local hotel. It’s hard to believe that this particular friend of hers is 80! I bumped into her in the local shop on that visit […]
The Beauty of Taize Worship It’s almost 30 years since I first visited the beautiful little village of Taize in Burgundy in France. I had experienced the beauty of its distinctive style of worship in a number of settings, including the Church of Ireland Theological College, where I had trained for ordination. I travelled there […]
Taking Your Job Seriously The place was packed. I found myself taking my seat largely surrounded by women of a certain age. They were up for a good time. The warm up was a pianist who had won a Tv reality show called ‘The Piano.’ He had touched the heart of the nation as he […]
Pursuing Glory The big story in Northern Ireland at the beginning of this Holy Week is one of sporting success as we celebrate the dramatic victory of Rory McIlroy at the US Masters golf tournament on Sunday night. This victory has grouped Rory with a very distinguished group of just 6 who have won all […]
Your Life in a Plastic Bag Every so often a story jumps out of the news and seems to grab you by the heart. I know on many levels we have become numbed by the sheer volume of stories of suffering and violence that dominate the headlines, but I heard this one on a talk […]
Some Signs of Engagement I recently heard an interesting discussion on a podcast I listen to about leadership in the church. It was asking an interesting question, “Would you prefer to see larger numbers coming to church, or would you prefer to see smaller numbers, but a depth of engagement with what’s going on?” Which […]
Signs of New Life One of the lovely things about this time of year is the signs of new life. Yesterday, I cut the grass for the first time in the new season and, while it took a while as I was too late getting to it, there is that lovely smell of freshly mown […]
Doing ordinary things very well I always enjoy the celebrations for St. Patrick’s Day in Downpatrick. The little church of Saul is believed to be the first Christian site established by St. Patrick around 432 AD. Each year, there is a morning of spiritual events and a pilgrimage and a festival service in the cathedral. […]
Laying Your Soul Bare As regular readers of the blog will know, I love a good read. I try to intersperse my reading between fiction and non-fiction, and it has been my privilege over the years to get to know some wonderful writers, both in person and through speaking to them on the podcast. Lent […]