between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : The living is easy?
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-living-is-easy.html
Tuesday, 11 August 2015. The living is easy? In the last couple of weeks, we have had the usual mix of weather that goes to make up an English summer. Some days have seen blazing hot sunshine. On others, a whole lot of rain has fallen in a single day. Is now past for another year and the Ashes won back from some kind of scratch team from the southern hemisphere. In summertime, the living really does seem easy. If we carry a picture in our minds that the life that God invites us to lead is only made up of...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : Inclusion and discipleship
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2013/08/inclusion-and-discipleship.html
Wednesday, 14 August 2013. Twice this week I’ve been challenged by friends about whether the church of which I am a part maintains a right balance between being ‘inclusive’ and living a life focused upon being followers of Christ. The following are my initial (and personal) thoughts; they are open to comment and challenge. They are not official church policy nor the last word. If you think I have got it wrong, please set me right (but understand that I enjoy the rough-and-tumble of debate! The only basis...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : Death and friendship
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2014/10/death-and-friendship.html
Sunday, 5 October 2014. On Friday evening my sister telephoned to say that one of our childhood friends had died. He was my age. We had not kept in touch. Whole decades of his life were a mystery to me. Now gone. I am fascinated to discover how life has turned out for those with whom I grew up, went to school, studied or worked. Why will two lives rooted in the same soil grow so differently? Why – given a shared start – did their life take that turning; mine another? As it says in Psalm 16. I saw the...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : Don't look - it's not nice to stare
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2015/04/dont-look-its-not-nice-to-stare.html
Sunday, 26 April 2015. Don't look - it's not nice to stare. I was brought-up to look away. Not to stare at people who are different. I don’t slow down and gawp at road traffic accidents or watch paramedics tending to people on the pavement. To do that isn’t kind or necessary or right. Those appalling images can be cleared from my view at the click of a mouse. And I can be angry for the moment that ‘friends’ have published such graphic images on their pages where I (and others, including c...But I think I...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : Some thoughts in the hours before Ash Wednesday
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2014/03/some-thoughts-in-hours-before-ash.html
Tuesday, 4 March 2014. Some thoughts in the hours before Ash Wednesday. Tonight’s the night when traditionally we feast on all the remaining fat and flour in the house in the form of pancakes (best eaten, of course, with sugar and lemon juice or maple syrup). For tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, when the fast of Lent begins. It is a time of repentance and self-denial before the events of holy week, Good Friday and the resurrection at Easter. Another is that our free churches – you remember them? We are set fre...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : March 2015
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html
Monday, 30 March 2015. Thoughts from Palm Sunday. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany. At the Mount of Olives,. Jesus sent two of his disciples,. Saying to them,. 8220;Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this? 8217; say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”. As they untied it,. I took part in such a processio...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : July 2015
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2015_07_01_archive.html
Sunday, 19 July 2015. The owls are restless. When I renewed this blog in 2012, I began with a quotation from Welsh poet and priest R S Thomas. Having had a silent period on the blog front since Easter while I helped my family with their new venture, I find myself quoting him again now as I return to blogging. The owls are restless. People have died here. Good men for bad reasons. I read the quotation again today when I picked up Alan Garner’s The Owl Service. It is sad that few people younger than me kno...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : Are there no workhouses?
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2014/12/are-there-no-workhouses.html
Tuesday, 9 December 2014. Are there no workhouses? 8220;At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”. 8220;Are there no prisons? 8221; asked Scrooge. 8220;And the Union workhouses? 8221; said Scrooge. We all love...
between-here-and-now.blogspot.com
BETWEEN HERE AND NOW: some thinking aloud by a preacher without a pulpit : April 2015
http://between-here-and-now.blogspot.com/2015_04_01_archive.html
Sunday, 26 April 2015. Don't look - it's not nice to stare. I was brought-up to look away. Not to stare at people who are different. I don’t slow down and gawp at road traffic accidents or watch paramedics tending to people on the pavement. To do that isn’t kind or necessary or right. Those appalling images can be cleared from my view at the click of a mouse. And I can be angry for the moment that ‘friends’ have published such graphic images on their pages where I (and others, including c...But I think I...
