thinking honestly about life and faith
I write this post as I approach the 10th anniversary of the trauma we experienced in the earthquake and tsunami in Samoa. It was in itself a story of death and life. For many people, death came so suddenly and … Read More »
Paul Tillich’s wonderful book The Courage to Be, which has been one of the guiding lights of my entire adult life, sets out the basic idea of the courage or faith necessary to engage with the ambiguities and anxieties of life. … Read More »
Mindfulness is a big thing just now. It is a welcome shift in focus, from the continuous stress on performance and outcomes. In fact the words I have just written all carry a lot of significance. A shift in focus: … Read More »
We are yet again embroiled in debates about freedom of religion. As so often has been the case, there is no serious attention being given by those making claims for protection of their freedoms to what they really mean, other … Read More »
Every now and again, I come across profound wisdom in the novels I read just for pleasure. Here is one such example, from Michael Robotham, Watching You: Joe O’Loughlin Book 7: Zoe had never been very interested in football. Daniel … Read More »
Advent is the season of expectation and anticipation. It is about ‘the coming of the Lord’? Actually, it is about trying to understand what we mean by ‘the coming of the Lord’. In short, it is far more than the … Read More »
There are real hazards in the freedom of religion—not just in the current debates but in the thing people want and call ‘freedom of religion’. This has become very clear this week as we have visited a number of places … Read More »
Tomorrow is Trinity Sunday and I am delighted to have the opportunity of leading our local community of faith in worship. A generation ago, a leading British scholar wrote in a book on preaching that Trinity Sunday was the one … Read More »
Here is my Reflection, from today’s Christmas Day Service: Someone once made a clever little re-phrasing of the Lord’s prayer, from ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us’, to ‘Forgive us our Christmases, as we … Read More »
I’ve spent this week in Waco, Texas, with a group of leaders and scholars from both Baptist and Catholic churches, commissioned to dialogue together for 5 years on the theme of ‘a common witness’. It has been a surprising … Read More »