The term “Reconciled Diversity” was taken from a biography of Pope Francis by Catholic commentator Austen Ivereigh, in which the-then Cardinal Bergoglio at an ecumenical gathering in Buenos Aires in 2006, described it as: The beauty of a people in which no one had to give up being who they were, yet who could walk […]
Bible reading 1 Timothy 4: 4-16 Christmas Eve for many is the day when we pack up work for the festive holiday and look forward to some time off – apart from the Clergy that is. It is also the day when certain people choose to do their last-minute Christmas shopping – married men in […]
Due to illness I have not posted anything on this site for some time. However now fully recovered from a rather nasty cold virus, I have also ventured out preaching again in my local Methodist circuit. Sunday October 24th was also Bible Sunday, a day to celebrate the scriptures and the central role they play […]
In our Methodist circuit we publish a series of monthly devotions which are written by and then shared among our members, some in electronic form and some in hard copy for those without access to the internet. During the worst of the pandemic these provided a vital resource for those unable to participate on zoom […]
In my last post I quoted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, I Want to Live These Days with You[1] which contains a year-long series of devotions which form part of my own daily reading. While continuing my daily reading I came across this passage dated for August 26th and did not want to let it pass without comment. […]
This piece was originally posted on August 01st for Black Country Urban Industrial Mission (www.bcuim.co.uk) discussing how the pandemic is likely to result in workplace chaplains such as myself, having to re-learn the art of listening so important to our ministry. I would advocate this is something any of us whose work involves interacting with […]
The Latin text used in the title was taken from a biography of Pope Francis by Austen Ivereigh called, The Great Reformer: Francis The Making of a Radical Pope[1], in which Francis describes the differences between a Bishop who watches over his people (vigilia) as opposed to one who keeps watch for them (vela). In […]
Since the current pandemic began the use of poetry both new and old, has provided an outlet for people to express their fears and hopes or to vent their anger and frustrations at the seemingly ever-upward spiral in Covid-19 deaths and the wastefulness of it all. I myself was fortunate to have had a Covid-related […]
As part of my Methodist Local Preacher training, we are called upon to examine and analyse various theologically-related themes and to write a reflection on how and why it shapes not only our core belief but also to our calling to preach the Gospel. Poetry, music and art have traditionally been used to depict faith […]
The opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities describing the upheaval of the French revolution, is in many ways a fitting place with which to try and reflect on the state of our nation (and a world) almost a 1/5th of the way into the twenty-first century. Three months on from when the literary […]
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