Tag: christianity

  • change? change? change?

    Change is inevitable …except from a vending machine That little quip is not original to me and is attributed to Robert C. Gallagher, but I rather like it for several reasons. It makes me smile. The first time I came across it I remember giggling at it as it was funny. Now, the giggle reflex…

  • how large are you?

    Many years ago, when I was serving as minister of a different church, I went to a conference for ministers of larger churches (not larger ministers of churches). There was a lot that was good and interesting, and a few things that bothered me (such as the lack of any female ministers) and a sense…

  • Words

    This week I have been mostly writing a novel. It’s a piece of work I started in 2007 and has been mostly dormant over the past couple of decades with occasional bursts of inspiration. I had managed about 14,000 words and reckon it was about half-finished when I resumed this week. We’re now up to…

  • 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,…

  • 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.…