Learning to Go Slow I recently had some days of leave over half term and, as we drifted around not doing very much, I caught a wonderful series of documentaries I had recorded over the summer. It was called ‘Europe by Train’ and it was made by a journalist and environmentalist called Manchan Magan. I […]
Learning from the Masters It’s always a joy to watch people who are really good at what they do. I spent a few hours recently in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast watching some of the best snooker players in the world battling it out to become the Northern Ireland Open Champion. It’s amazing to get […]
Shining a Light on World Mental Health Day Last Thursday was World Mental Health Day. It’s a day that could have slipped our attention. There were some items on the radio I heard as I was driving in the car. Many people are much more open these days in discussing our mental health, but there’s […]
Something Went Wrong! This week’s blog is coming your way somewhat later than expected. I had hoped to write it when I normally do but, when I switched on my computer to do so, the following message came up. Apart from telling me something went wrong, it gave an error code and, the bottom line […]
Praying for Overwhelming Events Sometimes the scale of the world’s needs can seem rather overwhelming. We hear of catastrophic storms, wars, floods, droughts and famines. We read terrible human stories of accidents and criminal activity. We hear of racially motivated attacks, and these stories make us wonder how to respond as a Christian, or if […]
Making Big Announcements One of the aspects of Church life that can be quite challenging is how to make big or important announcements. Very often, at the start of a service, we rattle through the events of the week, or we let people know about forthcoming events. The same announcements may also appear on a […]
Extending the Hand of Friendship A great hero of mine died earlier this year back in March. His name was Charlie Bird, and he spent his working life as a journalist with RTE, the Irish broadcasting network. He became their chief news correspondent and his was the face and voice that accompanied major global and […]
The Big Sing According to research done by the Singing Foundation website there is now considerable evidence to support the claim that singing really is good for you. It has physical benefits like improving your posture, lung function and regulating your blood pressure. There are other social and psychological benefits, too, like relieving stress, improving […]
The Beauty of Warm Hospitality Last weekend our son Conor was invited to a birthday party. It was his friend’s Dad’s 50th and they had invited him to come and stay overnight to share in the celebrations. When I arrived to drop him off, there were quite a few cars down the road where they […]
Defining Moments In the past few weeks many young people have received exam results which can feel particularly significant at this point in their lives. They may determine whether someone will return to school, or choose to pursue another path to further their education or training. They may determine what course someone will study, or […]