nukelearfishing

nukelearfishing – the random and occasionally humorous musings of a Baptist Minister who is trying to be a free sample of Jesus and discover God in the ordinary.

(These musings don’t necessarily represent the views of the church I serve)

  • Obsessed with your reflection

    In Greek mythology Narcissus, an attractive hunter, was cursed by one of the women he spurned to fall in love with his own reflection in a clear, glassy pool of water. It’s where we get the term ‘narcissistic’*. I have been the Minister for the wonderful Mutley Baptist Church in Plymouth for five years now,…

  • Coming soon

    I have just been shocked to see that I haven’t created any bloggages this year! It’s just not good enough, is it? There are reasons for this – one is that I have been doing some training as a Pastoral Supervisor and that has taken a lot of my time and creative energy that might…

  • Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

    One of the greatest songs of all time, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen opens with these questions. I recently had an experience that led me to ask similar questions about myself. In the summer I was interviewed on zoom for a magazine. It was a fun interview and the interviewer said some kind things about me.…

  • what’s the point of shouting?

    As I sit in my office at the church building where I serve I can hear a man shouting very loudly in the street outside. I can’t hear what he is bellowing but his tone is very aggressive and I can hear a female voice being drowned out by his shouts. It is distressing to…

  • is equality possible?

    I thought I would offer a controversial heading to this bloggage by way of click-bait – getting you wondering what I might possibly be thinking… We have human rights legislation that enshrines principles of equality in law. I think that there is a general assumption that equality is ‘a good thing’. But is it possible,…

  • When a welcome is not enough

    Many years ago, Sally and I visited a church for a morning service. I won’t embarrass it here by naming it as I would hope that things have changed in the past 30+ years! We were looking for a new church to call our spiritual home, but had to leave soon after the service ended,…

  • welcoming questions and doubts

    I used to think that having questions and doubts was a bad thing: they showed that I lacked faith or was ‘backsliding’. I have come to realise that I was 100% wrong. Questions are good, doubts are good. Yes, really. Questions show that something matters to you. If it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t worry about…

  • new blog post this is

    Ever since I was a ten-year-old who went with his Dad to the cinema to see a new film called ‘Star Wars (a new hope)’ I have been a fan of that film franchise. There’s something about the galactic struggle between the forces of good and evil (or the light and dark side of ‘the…

  • splashes of grace

    On Easter Monday my wife, Sally, and I went for a walk at a local reservoir. It was a mild day and we decided to walk all the way around the reservoir. After a while we stopped and I took this photograph, and then we saw a bench so sat on it to have a…

  • Who is Easter for?

    I have been an ordained Baptist Minister for over 30 years. I have learnt a few things over those years (I would be worried if I hadn’t). I am a different minister today from the rookie who emerged blinking into the daylight of local church life from the low-light environment of a theological training college.…