Rector's Blog
Some posts will be long, some will be short, some might be extracts from sermons, others more everyday, some will be articles that have also appeared elsewhere, some will be topical and some will be just thoughts that occurred at the time. Do check out our Facebook page as well for updates, thoughts, meditations and comments. This blog generally takes a progressive and inclusive perspective – and that means taking the Bible seriously but not literally, honouring the past, but looking to today and into the future, and seeking to build an affirming church that serves all people with love, tolerance and acceptance. The views expressed may be mainstream in some aspects and pushing the boundaries in others, they simply reflect the Rector’s own theological journey within progressive Christianity, also known as liberal theology, and the desire to share ideas, impressions and feelings. It is this aspect of journey, of pilgrimage in one’s life that we need both to recognise and embrace, that no position we take is forever, no opinion expressed is the final stance – save to acknowledge that the road of life takes tests and turns that we cannot foresee or plan for, and that we need to learn and grow as we go along.
Mental Health – Helping our Children in the Society of Today
The Mustard Seed Jesus tells two stories, two parables that focus on seeds as a way of speaking about the Kingdom of God. Seeds are amazing. Just think of it, contained within that tiny rather hard fragment is all that is needed to produce entire plants and...
A Search for Truth
(Previously published in the Clare Champion) I wonder if you remember a scene from the 1970’s TV series ‘Brideshead revisited’ where Julia is reflecting on her failed marriage to Rex Mottram; a man of prodigious money-making powers but of utterly stunted spiritual...
Move along please – room at the top
(First published in the Clare Champion) Previously I have written about holiness and how it may be found in surprising places; in the beating heart of a scruffy cross-breed dog who knows the saving power of love, but who admittedly still bears significant malice...
Right when you are wrong
(First appeared in Clare Champion, Friday, August 14, 2020) Sometimes you can be quite wrong and at the same time absolutely right; however in today’s digital world we seem to be so obsessed with ‘facts’ that we can find it hard to accept that many profound realities...
The EU is a holy place.
(First appeared in Clare Champion, Friday, July 17, 2020) The holy places of the world are not by any means perfect. They can be highly compromised, chaotic, corrupt; a place to fleece pilgrims and purvey artefacts of dubious authenticity. They can even at times be...
A life transformed by love.
(First appeared in Clare Champion, Friday, June 12, 2020) When we first met Seamus he was shivering with fright, emaciated to almost a skeleton, he had been living rough for three months during which time he had crossed three or four counties in search of food and...