I’m A Believer

I’ve enjoyed reading about last weekend’s hunt for the Loch Ness monster. Two hundred people with hi-tech gear, around the Scottish loch near Inverness… The biggest hunt in decades ended in failure. Christie McLeod, who travelled from Toronto, Canada said: ‘There are two types of people in this world, Nessie believers and non-believers, and I’mContinue reading “I’m A Believer”

He Went About Doing Good…

Just going about… Toyohiko Kagawa was born in Kobe, Japan in 1888. Studying theology in Japan and Princeton he was convinced that Christianity needed to be lived out in action. Returning to Kobe he lived with the poor, advocating for the prostitute, murderer, abused and victimised. His outspoken pacifist views and calls for social reform causedContinue reading “He Went About Doing Good…”

Like Billy-O

‘Like billy-o’ is a common phrase. ‘It rained like billy-o; I was soaked through.’ ‘We worked like billy-o to get the job finished.’ ‘When she went shopping she spent money like billy-o.’ It means ‘very intensely, vigorously or enthusiastically.’ Stephen mentioned the phrase at church yesterday morning, saying the phrase came from an Essex preacherContinue reading “Like Billy-O”

Love, Labour and Loneliness

Richard Coles was ‘a minister of Christ in the richest neighbourhood in possibly the richest city in the world’ – St Paul’s Knightsbridge. He describes the opulence… but ‘it was one of the hardest places that I’ve ever had to minister… (the riches) become a barrier between them and their deepest needs.’ Musing… What areContinue reading “Love, Labour and Loneliness”

Turning Wine Into Water

Yesterday I was musing on the story of Jesus turning water into the best wine. Jesus takes the ordinary and mundane and transforms it miraculously into something extra-ordinary… Oscar Wilde said: ‘The English have a miraculous power of turning wine into water.’ We can turn the extra-ordinary back into something mundane. We visited a gardenContinue reading “Turning Wine Into Water”

The Case of Cricket versus Christianity

(Health warning: Today’s musing is longer than usual!!) Order! Order! I call this court to order! My Lord, members of the jury, the case I bring before you this morning, is that Cricket and Christianity are guilty of previously undisclosed similarities. My evidence is drawn from my observations yesterday, when I witnessed Somerset beat DerbyshireContinue reading “The Case of Cricket versus Christianity”

Outsiders, Observers or Insiders?

The plan is that we shall go to watch the cricket today… There are three sorts of people: Those who don’t understand cricket, those who watch cricket, those who play cricket… outsiders, observers, insiders. These three categories apply to church… Those who stand outside the church – detached, uninvolved; those who come occasionally, a passiveContinue reading “Outsiders, Observers or Insiders?”

Who’s a Winner?

Yesterday in the football… Norwich beat Millwall 3-1; Norwich were the winners. Many were bitterly disappointed when the English Lionesses lost 1-0 to Spain in the final of the World Cup; they’ve come second in a world tournament… so are they winners? Yesterday in the world athletics championships… Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson won the heptathlon; aContinue reading “Who’s a Winner?”