Sheila Bridge Blog
Life is not plain sailing and I am not a sailor. But life is like consenting to a journey in a little sailing boat. I am not keen on boats in general, little boats in particular: too vulnerable, too open to the elements. There is only room in this boat (which is my life) for... Continue Reading →
In Luke 7 there are two stories of resurrection. Jesus raises the nearly dead, the centurion's servant, and the very dead, the son of the widow of Nain. Immediately after the young man sits up and starts talking there is a moment of stunned silence. Before the expression of noisy opinions or the blustering of... 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 →
Even to put a question mark at the end of that sentence feels like border line blasphemy! But actually there IS something that can separate me from the love of God - stick with me here... I've not gone off my head. I was reading that passage in Romans 8 this morning - I read... Continue Reading →
This is one of the saddest books I've ever read. That's not to say it isn't good, it is. But it is also pretty unrelentingly sad. Sally Magnusson, daughter of the well-known writer and TV personality, Magnus Magnusson, writes both her mother's life story and the story of the mother's descent into dementia. Along the... Continue Reading →
(No big plot -spoilers) This film starring Reese Witherspoon tells the story of a group of Sudanese children who escape from an attack which leaves their village and all their parents destroyed. Snatching up a few possessions they begin a terrifying trek of around 900 miles to eventual and relative safety in a refugee camp... Continue Reading →
I came across this poem. It's out there in the public domain and is by American poet William Stafford. I don't know what 'the thread' meant to him but for me this poem expresses perfectly what faith in the reality of God means to me. George Macdonald, a writer of allegorical fairy tales who greatly... Continue Reading →
I have really enjoyed this book. I knew that Gerald Kelly writes so brilliantly, there are phrases and images that stay with you long after you finish reading, so I expected to enjoy it. And I did but it was not what I expected. It is not a critique of 'evangelicalism'. There is no long... Continue Reading →
Twice in the space of a week I have found myself reflecting on big questions while standing in a graveyard. Last week I took my mother up to Scotland for a brief visit to the village she grew up in. In between visits to living relatives, we took a tour around the cemetery. It was... Continue Reading →
