The Ponderings of a Meandering Minister…
It may not surprise you that, as a minister of an institution that is pleased to trace its roots back to the beginning, the recent ‘hate religion, love Jesus’ youtube phenomenon has made me a tad uncomfortable – I agree but I still love the Church with all her failures: one of the amazing things … Read moreHate Religion, Love Jesus?
We’ve been working through the Essential 100 Bible Reading Challenge over the past while, and I’ve been posting comments on those passages from time to time through my YouVersion notes. I think I’ll have a look and see if any are worthy of wider bloggage, perhaps with a few tweaks… This is the most recent, … Read moreThe Curse of the Institution
Following a number of worried posts about the new Ticker on facebook, I did a wee bit of research, I’ve distilled it down to this: If you’re concerned about the whole ‘Ticker shows people the colour of my underwear’ thing, bear this in mind – when you comment or like something on facebook, you do … Read moreFacebook’s Ticker and Privacy
The Twitterati were at work for a second year, using the #chw11 hashtag.If you don’t already follow me on Twitter you can see my username above 🙂 We’re back from another great Castlewellan Holiday Week – well, by ‘back’ I mean ‘still here’ because we stayed in our own home for the second year running. … Read moreRadical, not respectable
We’ve done our fair share of travelling with young children on a budget – why stay at home when going abroad is the same price? Each time we fly or float we discover new things that make the travelling experience that little bit more relaxed. Some we’d even call life- (or at least holiday-) savers. … Read moreTravelling with young kids – things to bring
By the time I left college I had heard quite a lot about ‘abiding’. There’s a strong emphasis on spiritual formation in Methodist ministerial training,the sense being that you can always read a book about something to learn more facts, but if you aren’t abiding ‘in Christ’ your ministry is going to be fruitless. I … Read moreAbiding
It’s a long time since I’ve posted – I’m realising that some of the things I used to put on my blog now appear on Twitter, or even as comments on Facebook. And seeing as people reading this blog on the web might not be connected to me on Facebook, I thought it might be … Read morePoor at home, poor abroad
On Sunday 13 June 2010 I was ordained as a minister of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Which probably leaves some readers wondering what I’ve been doing for the previous two years! Suffice to say that upon leaving College we were considered ‘on probation’ before making the lifelong commitment to serve the Church. One part … Read moreOrdained to Equip the Saints
We’re back to the season of Lent again! I’ve hardly posted in the past year, apologies for that… But I’d like to try this again, especially the bit about spotting self-denial taking place around you (particularly where it happens in a way to benefit other people or you can see that it is forming genuine … Read moreLent Again
I wrote a wee thing for a primary school assembly, and thought I’d share it with you… To Adam and Eve, who rebel and must leave:Jesus is coming, get ready!Noah glimpses the rainbow and knows he is free:Jesus is coming, get ready!Abraham’s son, Isaac, a miracle, is born:Jesus is coming, get ready!God speaks through a … Read moreJesus is coming, get ready!