Not such a silent night…
Back in the 1990’s I was part of a tour which started in Egypt and finished in Israel. Naturally a visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was part of the agenda. I had high hopes for the time, and imagined myself bowing the knee at the Grotto Cave where it is thought Jesus was born. Like the Wise Men of old, my pilgrimage was to worship the One whose coming reshaped all of human history, and all of my own history. The start of the visit was unpromising. Our tourist busload was one of far too many. I am sure the size of the crowd broke every OHS regulation and indeed, so many...
Read MoreBecause we all need six weeks off…
A good friend was chatting about his recent visit to the dentist. As his mouth was trapped in a permanently open gape the dentist was doing all the talking, and was running through the woes of the world. He kept going for a long time and then concluded, “with all that has been going on, I think everyone needs six weeks off.” It’s a rather appealing idea that… the whole world taking six weeks off. It made me reflect on a recent walk Rosemary and I had been taking on the shared cyclist-pedestrian footpath. It was a sunny day and keeping to the left as we were supposed...
Read MoreWhen faith is a quest
Jesus commended the faith of little children, seeing in it innocence, spontaneity and deep trust. But for many, faith doesn’t come easily or naturally. Indeed, for some, nothing comes easily or naturally. William Blake in his Auguries of Innocence writes: Every Morn and every NightSome are Born to sweet delight Some are Born to sweet delight Some are Born to Endless Night It’s lovely for those who are born to “sweet delight”, but what about those who seem born to “endless night”? You probably know some who fall into this category, and perhaps you...
Read MoreReductionism or Awe: Thinking about God
It’s always good to think about God. What is less good is assuming we are always right and that we are on top of our subject. Any description or explanation of God is at best a simplification or a reduction, and that is as we would expect it to be. After all, as Tom Wright has noted, when you look at the majesty of the Universe and see its astonishing complexity, and recognise how finely but perfectly tuned it is, you don’t assume that the Divine being whose imagination brought this all into existence is One who you can quickly understand. When you genuinely sense the greatness...
Read MoreWhen you can’t unfriend…
I don’t know what your relationship with Facebook is like, but on the whole, mine is pretty good. It’s introduced me to over 2000 friends, the majority of whom I didn’t know before, and they often like or share my posts, introduce me to new concepts or generally enrich my life. On rare occasions a few have proved troublesome – some trying to offer me services I definitely don’t want, others being rude about things I had said in ways that showed they were playing to another audience and yet others linking me to long tag lists which implied that I supported...
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