Beyond a Difficult Childhood

23 Apr

I’m reading the latest book by Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes. This book is called Teacher Man. if you’ve read his other books you will find a lot of similar material: it’s about his experiences as a high school … Read More »

Have we lost our faith? Have we lost our heads?

20 Apr

Over the Easter period, when finally I had a few days’ space to reflect on things, several things caught my attention.First, it was Easter: a time when Christians call to mind (and heart) the death and resurrection of Jesus—and all … Read More »

A rational faith

21 Mar

Yesterday I discovered, in an old paper I had written, a quote which really inspires me. It’s a statement by Elton Trueblood, but unfortunately I haven’t recorded its source: No vital Christianity is possible unless at least three aspects of … Read More »

Martin Luther: why is he great?

20 Mar

Last Saturday, I was teaching a session in our ‘TransFormation’ program, which is a special program of leadership training for people from a non-English speaking background. Many of the students are refugees, and some have very limited English, and often … Read More »

Spirituality of place, 2: Contrasts

13 Mar

Place is at least as important as time, or what we have thought was the realm of history, in our basic understanding of who we are and where we are with God. Some time ago I had the opportunity to … Read More »

Spirituality of Place: 1. the beach

12 Mar

I went to the beach for the weekend.Last year, after years of prevaricating, my wife and I bought ourselves a retreat place, near the beach, but set right alongside a forest —in fact a national park. It is such a … Read More »

Sports Chaplaincy

8 Mar

This is the first in a series of reflections on theses with which I have been involved —generally as a supervisor of someone’s research.I want to give some exposure to the work developed here and reflect a little on its … Read More »

Temptation: first Sunday of Lent

5 Mar

First Sunday of Lent: and the Gospel of Mark, for today, invites us to think of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.Mark has no nativity story, no build-up to the Jesus career. He’s just right into it. And so Jesus … Read More »

Freedom or commitment

28 Feb

Today it was my task to preach for the Commencement Service, in our college. My text was 1 Corinthians 11.verse 1, ‘Be imitators of me, as I imitate Christ.’ The following is an excerpt from my address, drawing upon a … Read More »

Why not ask why?

27 Feb

In the last week, there have been two dreadful road crashes which have taken the lives of young people, in one case 6 teenagers and another 5 people, including a mother and daughter. This last week, our local news media … Read More »