musings on ministry
Christmas is coming. The end of the exile is near. Rob Bell says that: Exile is when you forget your story. Exile isn’t just about location; exile is about the state of your soul. Exile is when you fail to convert your blessings into blessings for others. Exile is when you find yourself a stranger Read More …
The Something Beautiful Podcast crew have produced a pretty cool crowd-sourced advent episode. Listeners and regular contributers were invited to read one of the 9 Christmas Bible passages and send in Christmas wishes. It’s turned out pretty good! Avril and I read one and all the family read another. I think our three boys do Read More …
This Sunday is the 4th in Advent. We’re almost there. The waiting is almost over… And yet the lectionary has us at Gabriel telling Mary she’s going to have a child. It’s as though they don’t want us to get to the birth. Perhaps all this waiting is important. Perhaps we’re meant to hang around Read More …
This week’s sermon almost didn’t happen. I was really busy and thinking about simply rehashing last week’s offering. But as I started to rework it I deleted it and started again. And I’m glad I did. As usual your comments, reactions and thoughts are most welcome. This sermon was preached on 14 December, the 3rd Read More …
A sneaky peek at Sunday’s sermon… Because of the way we arrange the Christmas story we sometimes forget that John and Jesus are the same age. Remember John is Jesus’ cousin. His mother is Elizabeth who was pregnant around the same time as Mary. When John talks about scanning the crowds he’s looking for a Read More …
I’m becoming a bit of a regular on the Something Beautiful Podcast, maybe because I’ll do pretty much anything for a latte and a cake. Check out this week’s discussion where Thomas and I have a chat about Advent, hope, expectation, disappointment and recontextualisation (Thomas’ favourite word this week), all with the wonderful noises of Read More …
I ended the service at Drumchapel Essenside URC with these brilliant words from Roddy Hamilton: let us go out with quiet boldness, tender daring, simmering anger, impatient justice. let us go out with provocative peacemaking into advent, enough to crack open the moribund and dry faith of the world in it’s spent and necrotic cravings. Read More …