(This is also 'Church: Fractions and Factions Part 2') When we step forward and seek to serve God in some public way (make coffee, arrange flowers,lead prayers, preach, serve on PCC, lay leadership, ordained leadership) what do you might think might be THE most important qualities that you bring with you? Please stop reading and... Continue Reading →
A Manual for Heartache – Book Review
This is an extraordinarily good book. Practical and direct but overflowing with compassion Cathy Rentzebrink will gently talk you through how you can be kind to yourself when overwhelmed by grief. And she should know. Her 'back story' is of surviving a devastating and protracted loss which began in her teens when her brother, to... Continue Reading →
Reverse Contagion?
Earlier this week I anointed someone with oil. It's been a very long time since I've done that. Naturally I took appropriate precautions but as the person concerned was already in that fragile space somewhere between life and death, the risk to her of anything transmitted from me was out of all proportion with the risks she already... Continue Reading →
This is Who I’m talking about…
A 14-year-old boy called Walker whose heart is breaking prays and the next day Jesus turns up in his bedroom, long flowing robes, sandals and all. This short story/poem is absolutely amazing. The Jesus we meet is the Jesus I'd like everyone to meet. I often ask people to read one of the gospels to... Continue Reading →
‘Who do you say that I am?’ How do we know who we really are?
How do we hold ourselves together when we find we hear within ourselves competing voices some of which talk loudly and which appear to take us in opposing directions? Okay, so I don't mean 'hearing voices' in a bad way. I simply mean that all of us have different roles going on in our 'one... Continue Reading →
Managing your mind
Here is a second talk I did recently. This one is very practical: what to do with difficult feelings and whirling thoughts. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/authentic-2018-managing-your-mind-sheila-bridge/id1359049384?i=1000406713333&mt=2 Here are the slides I refer to through the talk Look at the shape made by the intersect of your body, mind and spirit. This is a traditional image representing God the... Continue Reading →
Being a Beloved person
I'm just posting here a link to a talk I did back in March at the Activate Conference. If you want to listen to the talk you follow the link and it's on itunes but it's free. I was blown away by the generous response to this talk when I gave but maybe you had... Continue Reading →
‘The Gifts of Imperfection’ and other books by Brené Brown
This isn't so much a book review as a library review - this woman has written alot and it's all very good. Where do I start? 'The Gifts of Imperfection' is annoyingly brilliant. why annoyingly? Because she kind of says the exact same thing that I wrote TWENTY-THREE years ago! Only she says it alot... Continue Reading →
‘It is what it is’
This is a phrase that has got me through some difficult experiences and some low moments. I've found myself saying it again to a couple of people lately. It may sound like resignation but there is a world of difference between resignation and acceptance (see image). So when I say this phrase I mean acceptance.... Continue Reading →
Bird-watching is a lot like thought watching
I am not much of a birdwatcher but I am learning to become a thought watcher and I was intrigued the other day by a metaphor which connected the two ideas. For about six months now I have been practising meditation. Practising is what you do when you are not very good at something and... Continue Reading →
