and it was a blinking long way, I'm not doing that again for while! I don't mean I swam until I had a revelation (and jumped out the pool shrieking 'Eureka') I mean I swam to Revelation...from Genesis. From the first book of the Bible to the final one - 66 lengths. Any further and I'd have... Continue Reading →
Listening in on Heaven
Last Sunday I was preaching about why the Bible contains 'horrible histories' (or are they 'helpful stories'? Maybe they are both). Almost as an aside I mentioned the idea of living with music of heaven humming in our heads. When we know ourselves to be in the middle of a difficult story with many twists,... Continue Reading →
A Midnight ‘Call to Prayer’
Last night Jonathan Oloyede, a Nigerian pastor passionate about prayer asked every one in the Meeting Place (at New Wine, Newark) to take out our phones and set an alarm to 12 noon to act as a daily reminder to pray. About half the audience complied, some didn't and the rest were heard to say... Continue Reading →
‘Shall we dance?’ or ‘is knowing a vicar dangerous?’
I am about to go into pre-ordination 'hibernation' - (that would be 'on holiday' then) - and when I return to the blog it will be with a shiny new dog collar. Meanwhile I'll leave you with this, as near as I can get to something as serious sounding as a manifesto, a kind of explanation... Continue Reading →
A smile that embraces you
Sometimes you find treasure in unexpected places. I've been reading The Great Gatsby for my book group. The opening chapters are full of wealthy people partying in beautiful places. But nothing is as idyllic as it seems. All the characters are desperately clutching for happiness whilst living ugly lives full of darkness: unfaithfulness, domestic violence and drunkenness. I wasn't enjoying... Continue Reading →
Bob (the dog) does theology… again! (the meaning of communion)
I'm a little embarrassed to admit it but Bobby has (yet again) helped me solve a theological conundrum. I've been thinking about how we know stuff (see previous post Thinking without words) and what I've been wondering about is a phrase from Tom Wright. He says 'love is a way of knowing'? (Tom Wright Suprised by Hope 'Love is the deepest mode of knowing'... Continue Reading →
Finding God… but to a deadline
I really enjoyed yesterday's story about the Large Hadron Collider. Apparently after investing 'Mega-Enormous-Huge' amounts of money trying to find the 'God Particle' (Higgs bosun) scientists have announced that if they if haven't found it by the end of next year, it doesn't exist! To my untrained, unscientific ears this sounded very odd. What if... Continue Reading →
Is it possible to think without words?
I'm back at college... more long words: epistemological, ontological and eschatological (loosely translated 'how did we get 'stuff'/what is 'stuff'/what will happen to 'stuff' in the end) I've been wondering whether it's possible to think without words? It must be: children who can't yet speak can still think. Even my dog 'thinks' but how do either... Continue Reading →
Live Life Loved 