The Darkest Night…
About 40 years ago an older friend spoke to me about “the dark night of the soul” that he was going through. I had never heard the term, but he told me it was initially coined by St John of the Cross in a poem of that title. I was struck by the idea, conjuring up images of a stormy night when in the thunder, damp and gloom you temporarily lose perspective and doubt the goodness of God. Not that I related to the idea. My own life was going well – I was recently married, we had brought our first home, doors were opening up to me – there was one good thing after another. But my...
Read MoreTruth telling: Words as weapons or healing balm?
I have a few mantras I trot out often enough to be annoying. One is “facts are friends”. And they are! Even though we might not like what they are saying, it’s better to face reality than to have it forced upon us. So I am in favour of telling the truth, and developing environments in which candid conversations can take place – though I do work hard to demonstrate that candour and kindness do not have to be incompatible. My stance then is that truth telling works… except when it doesn’t. Are there times when we should lie – or if not lie, avoid...
Read MoreCross-carrying or rest? The Matthew 10:38 and 11:28 paradox.
In a church I served as pastor, several leaders from the church would meet for prayer before each service. Though sincere, the prayers were predictably repetitious and I’d often be able to pick what someone would pray before they said it. One favourite was the request that God would “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” It’s kinda clever, though now I’ve heard it in so many places I realise it didn’t have the originality I initially ascribed to it. It points to an interesting little paradox. Are churches about comforting disturbed people, or...
Read MoreLeaders as weight carriers…
I’ve been thinking about leadership lately – perhaps not too surprising as on the 14 June I have a book coming out on the topic, Stirrers and Saints lest you are interested, but much more about that in future blogs. There are so many possible answers to the question, “What do leaders do?” but the one I have been pondering is “leaders carry weight on behalf of others.” Let me elaborate. A few months back I was chatting to a school principal who was a little ruffled because a staff member had exploded at him for making a one off change to the school program. It...
Read MoreGuarding God’s Reputation: Is God a Moral Monster?
Like many who went to school in the sixties and seventies, my day started with an assembly at which the Lord’s prayer was said. We’d rush through it, and I can confidently affirm that it is possible to say it in well under 8 seconds. Not that I’d advise it. After all, the sentiments are so rich, you don’t want to miss them. Do you remember how Matt 6:9 starts? “This then is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.'” In my sub 8 second scramble I never paused to reflect on what it meant. If you had asked me I suspect I would...
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