Sheila Bridge Blog
I had a most interesting conversation yesterday with a friend around this question: "what is a Christian?" We were discussing the phrase "practising Christian", she accepts that she isn't one of those but she does understand herself to be a Christian. The phrase 'practising Christian' is generally taken to mean "church goer" but being a... Continue Reading →
"Let man's soul be a sphere and then, in this, the intelligence that moves, devotion is" These are lines from a poem by John Donne (1573-1631), hardly contemporary but still wonderfully insightful. We have all sorts of words for worship these days: praise/adoration/contemplation but I think loves this phrase, worship or 'devotion' is 'the intelligence... Continue Reading →
I have learnt a spiritual lesson from growing potatoes. Just when they begin to show little green shoots just above the surface of the soil like this: you are supposed to dump another inch or two of soil on top of them! I was so excited to see these little shoots begin to appear, it... Continue Reading →
What do you "treasure and ponder"? Most probably it is happy memories, kind things that have been said to you or moments of wonder. It is most unlikely that you "treasure and ponder" the moment a close friend told you that something terrible was going to happen. We might remember such moments, but we are... Continue Reading →
So we are in the middle of Lent - a time when many people choose a discipline which helps them 'observe' the season. For many streams of the church, Lent kicks off with an act of religious observation - receiving the ashes on your forehead. But Lent is about more than outward observation; Lent is... Continue Reading →
https://www.facebook.com/mobymusic/videos/10154690698776108/ Watching this powerful video made by Steve Cutts for the song 'Are you lost in the world like me?' reminded me of how much I was impacted by reading The Village Effect by Susan Pinker earlier this year. Pinker makes one point. Yes, only the one point! But she makes it really effectively and what... Continue Reading →
Yesterday evening I enjoyed a lovely meal with a group of girlfriends I hadn't seen for a while. On previous such occasions the main focus of our conversation would be about the personal details of our lives "how are the kids doing?", "Where are you going on holiday?", that type of stuff. But last night... Continue Reading →
This week I have been totally bamboozled-twice! Firstly in a conversation with a marketing consultant about the best way to use social media and secondly, in a conversation with a retired gentleman running a community allotment. Digital communication and gardening. https://twitter.com/PeterJohnPeople/status/723517764468613120 Not subjects that have too much in common but in both conversations I found... Continue Reading →
Is that anywhere close to 'Bonafide bonkers'? This week is wall to wall services if you are an Anglican clergy person: 4 services in the last 2 days and now a pause before the BIG day itself tomorrow. I'm feeling a bit 'bonafide bonkers' today. However, it was at the first of those services that... Continue Reading →
If the title of this post sounds arrogant, forgive me: I am using the word 'position' literally and I'm talking about a way to pray. Yesterday morning, as distressed as I was over the appalling loss of life in Paris, I was also very disturbed by the French President's declared intention to start a "merciless war... Continue Reading →
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