Category: Christianity

  • Oooo – pretty

    No, not a shiny new sports car or fancy techno-toy, but a Bible. An NLT Mosaic Bible to be precise. Actually, to be even more precise, the ‘deluxe’ version: I ordered one a little while back and collected it today. And very pretty it is too. Lots of ‘niceness’ about it, including dictionary/concordance, Hebrew and…

  • A dangerous act

    I am leading the intercessory prayers on Sunday. It’s Remembrance Sunday of course and that makes intercession all the more pointed and necessary. It also adds to the pressure to make them specifically relevant and appropriate. For some inspiration on form and words, I was looking through Walter Brueggemann’s book “Awed to Heaven, Rooted in…

  • One small step…

    … one not so giant leap. Today I got to participate in a funeral for the first time. It might seem odd that I haven’t done so before now but the opportunity simply hasn’t arisen (and I’ll not mention the microscopic funeral count, relatively speaking, to be ‘enjoyed’ in Brussels). So having had the opportunity…

  • Differently-abled

    I have, for some time, been using Guidelines daily reading notes from BRF. It is a mixture of thematic and systematic readings from a variety of contributors and, although generally fine, can sometimes be a bit hit or miss. I was intrigued by one of the topics in this latest edition – Deaf theology. It…

  • New ideas

    I had a very fruitful meeting with my academic supervisor today. It wasn’t intended as anything other than a bit of a catch up, but it turned out to be a most useful boost. I know that I’m only 5 weeks into the Masters course, but I was already feeling that I was lacking focus…

  • Sneaking in the front door

    For various reasons, my first Sunday in my third placement isn’t until next week. I have had a couple of very fruitful meetings with my supervisor, so I have, in a sense, already started – just not been there on a Sunday yet. Until today, when I decided to go along to get a pew-side…

  • Blue Like Jazz

    I’ve just finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It’s one of these books you often find referenced in all sorts of blogs and websites. It also seems to be a ‘love it or hate it’ book depending on which side of the liberal/evangelical divide you sit on (a bit like The Shack, I…

  • Crystallising thoughts

    I had a meeting with my academic supervisor today and most helpful it was too. We chatted through various possible approaches to my research project and in the general mish-mash of thoughts and conversation a few ideas began to crystallise. First up is the idea of language or how we express ideas. This is in…

  • “I don’t know!”

    Nelu recently posted a video clip of Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder on his blog. Go and watch it if you’ve not already seen it. Like Nelu, I can identify with what is being said; greater knowledge does not bring greater certainty. It merely exposes the vastness of our ignorance. And yet you have that paradox…

  • A time to laugh

    There is a time for everything… … a time to weep and a time to laugh. It would seem that the task of training for ministry is a serious one – and none would deny it. But it seems that some candidates just don’t take their spiritual formation seriously enough. After all, every task must…