The Ponderings of a Meandering Minister…
I just read about a 15-year-old girl who’s going to go to jail for recording an attack on a man on her mobile phone. The man later died from his injuries. “The message is this: if you stand by and watch your friends committing brutal crimes and video their acts for yours or for others’ … Read moreHappy Slapper?
Good evening and welcome to Pancake Tuesday! Or Shrove Tuesday. Or, if you’re in America, Super-Duper Tuesday. Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday, when the Church enters a period of self-discipline called Lent. A time for prayer and fasting, for solemn reflection on the state of our community and soul. This year, in … Read morePancakes
Having been prodded by Tina to blog more, I thought I’d share another two movies with you that I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks… First, Enchanted – the return of the traditional Disney family film, I thought it was brilliant! Done really well as it moves from old-style cartoon to real-life New York … Read moreThe Lost Return
The Golden Compass has just been released, a movie version of the first of Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. There’s a helpful article here on how Christians should respond to a children’s fairy tale with atheist undercurrents… But my main reason for blogging is August Rush – which is simply brilliant! It moved me … Read moreTwo Movies
I thought I’d let you know that the Aldersgate Prayer Room is open 24-7 for two weeks (Mon-Fri) starting today. You can sign up for an hour or more at www.irishmethodist.org/fromourknees The theme is ‘Follow the Star’, a exploration of the nativity story. Make some time for your soul this Advent!
Back from another fantastic Autumn Soul! Young people encountering God, encouraged to pray, to serve, to love. All good. The speaker, Paul Flavel, was listening to God. He hit a lot of targets, real things that real teenagers are going through. One of his comments caught my attention – about going back to school and … Read moreProud to be a Jesus-loving loser-head
You’ll see below a message about signing a petition in support of the Burmese peaceful uprising. About ten years ago I was involved in a Methodist young people’s campaign for Burma, which got me interested in the plight of the country. In 1990 the military junta held elections, overwhelmingly lost, but decided to hold on … Read morePetition for Burma
I had the privilege of hearing Anthony Brown sing today in College – a fine voice, a fine man. He sang “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen”; a song I first randomly encountered in a parody of Star Wars, the name of which I can’t quite remember at the moment! But there’s something about the … Read moreNobody knows
I wrote this wee story for a service I preached at last Sunday. It’s my first trip into story-writing so JK Rowling doesn’t need to worry quite yet! _________________________________________________________ Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a young boy called Joe. Joe was an orphan, he had never met his parents … Read moreJoe and the King
We’ve been reading ‘First Bible Stories’ to Timothy and recently got to the paraphrase of Exodus 19-20: The Ten Commandments. I thought I’d post them here because they make so much sense! God spoke to Moses, and then Moses spoke to the people: “God has given us ten rules that we are to follow. They … Read moreGod’s Rules