Category: Reflections
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Worship Styles, How do we feed the Sheep?
Being a student at an all-party college (that’s not a college where all we do is party, but rather a Training Seminary, where all traditions (Catholic/Evangelical, etc) train side-by-side) has it’s advantages and disadvantages. When I first arrived I thought that the chance to experience worship in many different forms would better allow me to…
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Prophetic Voices from Renewed Ancient Traditions
I was at a lecture today at the Baptist College of South Wales in Cardiff, curteusy of my training. The interesting thing that came to light (amongst the learning about the Celtic Tradition (which I’m very interested in), the Anabaptists, and the New Monastic Movement), was this idea that prophetic voices have not been lost…
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Thinking on Prayer
Originally written: 02.07.2010 while in Lesotho. I think I should stop reading St. Thomas Aquinus, he’s giving me ideas above my station. The thought was as follows: Prayer transforms God’s power in potentia into God’s action in the world This is hardly, I would guess, a new thought, but it is a new one for…
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Batman On an Elephant. That is All.
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American Episcopate ahead of their time?
Amidst calls for another reformation in the Catholic Church, the American Episcopal Church is busy forging ahead on it’s own. The news that’s making the headlines is of course the consecration as Bishop of Canon Mary Glasspool. This is not because she’s a Woman, the presiding Bishop of the US Episcopal Church is Dr Katherine…
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Why is the Church Obsessd with Sex?
Recently, I’ve been debating with a few people I know, the issues of Sex and the Church. It appears that the Church seems to mask “sex” in the lofty idea of “morality”. It appears, at least on a cursory glance at relevant press releases. It all seems to revolve around precisely what the point of…
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Prison Chaplaincy; A walk on the other side
Just before Christmas I served time as a Prison Chaplain in a Prison. It was only a week, part of the palcements that those of us at Theology College do to ensure that we have a well rounded understanding of the options that are open to us. It was a very strange experience, something that…
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Fridge Magnet
Today I was given a Fridge Magnet. It’s something that’s going to go in my “Rainy Days and Mondays” file. It was the simplest of gifts, yet the story behind it was… well, huge. Let me start somewhere that could be thought of as the Begining. Last Week, I preached a Sermon. It was a…
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A commentry on “I am the Truth, the Way, and the Life”
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6, NRSV This is one of those lines that quite annoys us liberals. It seems to portray a very narrow-minded view of God, and not one that sits quite happily with…
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The End of the Experiment
Well. A week spent of “letting Go, and Letting God”. Did I learn anything? Perhaps. I think the answer is probably something lame like “the middle way”. Not that there’s anything the matter with the middle way. I think though an important lesson has been (re)learnt. As is so often with these experiments, we notice…
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The Experiment, (Day 3)
So, today we had a Taize service. This is mostly lots of quiet meditative music, with bits being repeated, softly, gently and in harmony. Things being repeated for as long as was felt necessary, but all hte context of silence and meditative prayer. I had already been asked to serve at the ceremony, which was…
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The Experiement (Day 0)
So, there I was, minding my own business chatting with a friend of mine from college about our different approaches to God. I question everything, and she “let’s go, and let’s God”. As things go, she eventually dared me to try it. Just to not think about anything, not to analyse anything, but to simply…
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A rough reflection on Term
So, term has started. I thought that I should put a few thoughts down so that over the year I have a marker, to show where I started, and where I was going too, or at least, where I think I’m going too. Where to start? Last year, as acknowledge by the college as a…
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Eve, distracted by the Shiny
Hello All, Here’s an interesting thought… Genesis, as a psudo-literal story is a very irritating read. There are two trees in the Garden of Eden, one of Good and Evil, and one Life. When Eve touched the tree, she had disobeyed God (NRSV Genesis 3:3). So she may as well have eaten it. Lets stop…
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Goddess Rita, and the minor God, Olly
I was Stumbling around the internet, as is my want, when I really should have been doing other things, and I came accross a wonderful article about someone who’s trying to create a minor god called Olly. It was the kind of article with such a random opening that I found myself reading it. There…