Truth 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...
Read MoreDelays: A spirituality for flying…
I’m writing this blog at the airport. It’s my fourth flight in two weeks and each has been delayed. Apparently I will now be boarding in 6 hours time. None of the delays has been weather related, so my temptation is to go on a rant against everyone’s favourite airline – but I won’t do that. Instead I thought: “Let me put what I so often say to the test. Instead of raging against what I can’t control, let me see if my advice to spot God in the unexpected means anything when my plans don’t go as I’d hoped.” So what am I saying to...
Read MoreBecause You are Called…
Through some slightly unusual circumstances I’ve been asked to preach on the same topic (at different churches) for a few weeks in a row. The topic? “Called”. Or “Because you are called”. Perhaps you could say I’ve been called to preach on being called – but perhaps that’s trying to be too smart. I love the idea behind “called”. It presupposes two really important things. One – that there is a caller, and two, that this caller notices us – notices us enough to call us. Both make a radical difference to the way we are...
Read MoreCloud or ground thinking…
I’m a big picture person. Perhaps it goes back to my days in the chess team at school, but as any chess player will tell you, you’ve got to play the game forward. You are always asking, “If I do this and they do that, then what. But what if they don’t, and do that instead…” and so it goes on. Before every move you brainstorm in dozens of different directions before you commit and move your queen three spaces to the right. You are constantly looking for new possibilities – both opportunities and threats. And there is nothing worse than the sinking...
Read MoreThinking about posture: Punchers, Blockers, Embracers and Pioneers
We all know how shrill public discourse has been these last few years. I’m old enough to remember a time when if you disagreed with someone you thought: “That’s so interesting. It will be good to chat this through with them to see what we both can learn.” That doesn’t happen much today. There is very little nuance in the public space, and suggesting it is required is often seen as a sign of weakness or lack of conviction. The model is adversarial, and we often exaggerate and catastrophize to score cheap but dishonest points off opponents. It is sad when we see...
Read MoreBecause courage is a necessary virtue…
American poet and social activist Maya Angelou famously noted, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” If you think about it, she is probably right. After all, what good is it to be passionate about justice if you don’t have the courage to stand up and do something about it. It doesn’t help to feel awful about what is happening to someone else while knowing that you don’t have the courage to say something in their defence for fear of what might happen to you. To make a...
Read MoreWith a stake in the heart – learning from the past
I’m taking today’s blog in a somewhat different direction, and a bit of a warning is appropriate. I will be looking at some historic Christian responses to suicide, and what we can learn from them. While it is not meant to be, it could be triggering for some, and if that’s you, give this post a skip – we’ll be back next week with very different fare. And don’t forget, help is at hand if you need it.. In spite of the warning, I think this is a really important topic. I can’t think of anything more tragic than when a person ends their own life. The...
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