Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptised by him. (Matthew 3:13) ‘It is time’, my son said. And my face fell. I had no words. I still don’t. Just memories, treasured up in my heart. Memories that now flood me so fast that I fear they will drown me. … Continue reading
My beads came with me to the abbey. And, yes, that would be the abbey we feared being thrown out of for being too noisy. The same abbey where I chewed repeatedly over the ethic of climbing out after Compline to go to the pub. I didn’t have to. Climb out, that is. And, despite … Continue reading
The beads ground me. Round and round their thread I go. One by one they slide through fingers. Polished smooth, though not yet by use. Cross in hand, each bead a prayer. The knots my selah reminder to breathe, to wait. Then bead to ask that he would speak. More knots, more breathing, more stilling: a waiting … Continue reading
My brain had never been so occupied so insistently by so many different subjects and in so public a way for so long. Andrew Sullivan, ‘I Used to Be a Human Being’. I have an iPhone 4S. Five years ago this was not a bad thing to have. Today it draws pitying glances, as friends wonder … Continue reading
The water is cold this morning. And after a night on the boat, a night when we caught nothing, I am hungry and I am ready to give up. I thought it would be a good idea, going back out there. It’s not as if there is anything else to do any more. But he … Continue reading
We need to be teaching church leaders about self-care, he said. And part of me was like, well, duh! Because I thought he was stating the obvious. And I think that, because of how I have postured my teaching on leadership, my students would have thought the same. Except then I realised that perhaps it wasn’t … Continue reading
Silence birthed a new level of authority I see, she said. She was talking about the preaching, not the thing that happened the week later. That thing hadn’t happened yet. And, to be honest, I thought little more of it, that thing she said. She will smile at this, I know. Because she knew then … Continue reading
Silently, silently this gift has come. And suddenly in the space of two years I find myself with an authority which I would never have believed. The sowing of my twenties, seed into darkness underground, waiting, waiting, waiting. And now death into life, barrenness into fruitfulness, silence into words of weightiness. I never sought it, … Continue reading
Is planned neglect the sin that others want me to think it is? In the midst of my blogging on the power of the well-discerned No, I am noticing some fascinating dynamics. As I wrestle deeply, I realise that there are contexts where institutions draw no boundaries on their demands upon the roles within them. … Continue reading
This reflection comes from conversation in a time of prayer and three other conversations, all of which happened across two days. The topic comes up fairly often, for a number of reasons related to the sheer demands upon my time and the unusual firmness with which I articulate myself on this matter. For others, it … Continue reading
