A Bit of ‘Behind the Scenes’ One of the aims, or intentions, of this blog is to demystify what happens in church to those outside it. Sometimes people have a sense that church is not for them because of some misinformation they have picked up along the way. There is a perception also that church […]
A Window into Someone’s World I’ve always enjoyed memoirs, autobiographies and biographies. Some of them are more revealing than others and they can give us a real insight into someone else’s world, what makes them tick and how they have built their career or navigated some of the challenges they have faced. We tend to […]
A Man of Wonder I was saddened to hear of the death of Manchan Magan on Friday past. Manchan was an acclaimed writer, podcaster and documentary maker, and he died at the age of 55. I loved the series of documentaries he made about travelling Europe by train about 18 months ago. During the making […]
Theological Education Sad news reached me at the weekend about the death of Canon Billy Marshall in the Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough. Billy had been a formative influence on many generations of clergy as he lectured in Anglicanism, and was Vice Principal of the Church of Ireland Theological College for many years. Not only […]
More Joy, Fun, Cuddles and Chocolate for Everyone Regular readers of the blog will know how much I appreciate the education our children receive in their respective schools. There are many opportunities for the children to flourish and try new things and make friends as they undertake all their activities together. Our daughter has complex […]
Lightbulb Moments There is a part of us that is always looking for spectacular things to happen in our spiritual life. We love those amazing stories of God breaking through and transforming someone’s life in a powerful and remarkable way. The reality for most of us is that our spiritual life is much more mundane […]
A Prayer for those in the Public Eye I heard an interview with three pop stars on the radio on the school run last week. They were now middle aged and had been famous for quite a few decades, and they were sharing stories about their music and careers. They were all going to perform […]
Going Up the Gears As with much of life, Churches tend to go up the gears in September as activities and organisations resume after a summer break. As we drive around the city these days, there is an increase in traffic as schools go back. As exam results are published and processed, many students are […]
Just Another Bank Holiday at St. Finnian’s We spent much of the morning on Bank Holiday Monday tidying up the garden, as we had been away on a week’s annual leave. The grass needed to be cut, the weeds seem to have grown in abundance, and all the debris from the wind needed to be […]
Some Lesson from a Trip Out West – Part 3 This is the final part of a 3 week series about some lessons learned from a family holiday in the West of Ireland about a month ago. In the first week, I was thinking about the power of welcome. Last week, I was thinking about […]