Poetry by the Park
I'm not sure whether Ted Hughes was best poet I’ve ever heard, but he was certainly the most impressive - 6’6” and jaw like a snow plough! I was at school at the time and – sat at the back – grateful to be able to see the man.
Heaven in our embraces
I have heard
That we are held,
In the palm of God's hand;
Embraced in love.
I have found
That we hold
God in the palm of a hand;
heaven in our embraces.
Interwoven
Interwoven (from Psalm 50)
God gathers the earth
We are a pattern of beauty
A work of skilled hands
From the rising and setting sun
In rich variety
Together made one
Many voices in chorus
From Zion, God shines
Braids of light
Woven for strength
Storm and fire surrounding
God gathers the
It's Spring, Comrade!
Just when I’m tempted to give up on Facebook along comes one of those life-giving conversations. Our theme was ‘signs of Spring’: geese, swallows, bats … and lawn mowing! Changing buses in Whitefield this morning, a pair of pigeons brought to mind something rather more revolutionary.
Disillusionment
Disillusionment! It’s a word that usually carries a pejorative sense: ‘Fred was one of us – one of the good guys - until he became disillusioned’. I wouldn’t want to speculate what the ‘good guys’ did with their time but there is something curious about ‘disillusionment’.
3Red pepper day
On the 313 again! It's the warmest day of the year; hot enough to poach fish on the red pepper bonnet.
Are You Charismatic? (Part 2) The Anabaptist Years
As Wayne Hochstetler asked in discussion of my 'Are You Charismatic' , how would I update the story? My first post dates from 2010. It tells the tale of involvement with the Charismatic Movement from 1978 to 1985. I left London Bible College in 1985.
Places Have Prices: retreats and the cost of spiritual refreshment
For a passionate advocate of retreats, I have actually made rather few of them. This is overwhelmingly to do with the price tag. The question of access is complex. That 'price tag' includes the cost of travel, as well as charges levied by the retreat centre.
Lonely Mennonite Hearts?
This post began as a weighty, serious piece. I'm still entirely serious, but wanted to find a way around recrimination over the demise of the London Mennonite Centre. Presently, my own congregation (Wood Green Mennonite Church) is going through a tough time.
1William Blake and the New Jerusalem
It is 5pm on the Victoria Line to King's Cross. In the carriage above my head is one of those 'poem on the underground'.
Belfast, Manchester and the News of the World
Last week I was in Belfast. Egypt was in the news. I watched Mohammed Mursi toppled from power on the tiny screen in my hotel bedroom. This weekend, Belfast is the news, for all the wrong reasons. The city is counting the cost after the traditional 12th July march turned violent.
1Wood Green Mennonite Church Seek Part-Time Administrator
London's Wood Green Mennonite Church are looking for a part-time administrator. Could this be you? For details of the role check out our church website.
Shaving Fume!
Stanstead airport again! The customs officer has that look. Whatever it is, I'm ready to confess. I wouldn't put up much resistance. It turns out, I am indeed guilty. She dumps my over-sized shaving foam in the bin with satisfyingly vindicated thud.
What's Left for Left When the Right Get Ethical?
The marginalia and minor players of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral aren’t an obvious source of leftist inspiration. Eyeballing Charles Moore on the steps of St Paul's though, had me leafing through the press clippings.
It's the Co-op, Jim, but not as we know it
If ever proof were needed that 'small is beautiful', then consider the current demise of the Co-operative Bank. Like millions of other Co-op customers, I woke up this morning to news of a rescue scheme, addressing a £1.5 bn hole in the bank's balance sheet.
2Anabaptists, Keep Your Clothes On! In Celebration of Second Generations.
Name a movement. It could be political, artistic, religious or commercial - any will do. Now imagine that movement as it was in the beginning.
Theogeography
We began with visions of roadside sermons, but some years on and the road is doing most of the preaching. Our 'Walking Church' discipline is evolving, steadily growing with the miles. At least, that is my experience.
4Soul of India
"What do you actually do for a living"? I'm used to the question by now. The past few years have been a struggle at times. Writing is enjoyable but not always remunerative. Unfortunately, not everything remunerative is ethical. I turned down a lot of work along the way.
A Soap Opera for Pentecost
Of all the stories coming out of Syria it isn’t only horror on a grand scale that lodges in the mind. Two accounts from the past fortnight offer more intimate accounts of suffering. The first, the destruction of the Franciscan church and convent at Deir Azzor, was carried out by U.S.
Balthasar Denner - Artist, Mennonite and Londoner
They have locked her in a cellar! Not that the lady looks any the worse for her captivity. The portrait hidden in a riverside vault at the London's Tate Gallery is a little slice of Mennonite history.
2Alex Ferguson Retires
After 27 years as the manager of Manchester United, it has just been announced that Sir Alex Ferguson is to retire. Ferguson arrived at the club in 1986 and led United to an unprecedented 13 titles.
Blow the Wind Southerly? An Ecumenical Vision.
With Pope Francis settling in and enjoying a media honeymoon it is too soon to say if anything much has changed. One commentator picked up on 'evangelical gestures' and a fresh style.
6Creeds and Confessions: Usage and Abusage
Considering ministry? Searching the Christian vacancies? Then the job-seeker will sooner or later encounter those 'statements of faith'. Call them creeds, confessions or articles of faith, such statements are at least boundary markers to the treasury of a community's self-understanding.
Phil's Saturday Breakfast
Malta and the Shadow of Constantine
What do you know about Malta: St. Paul's shipwreck, the Crusades, wartime history, package holidays or party island? What you may not know is that Malta is one of the few European nations with a functional and heavily enforced blasphemy law.
Beauty and the Nuclear Beast
I have a northerner's prejudices: an image of Essex - all chav's and retail parks. The Dengie peninsula is something else. It's a long road to Bradwell-on-Sea, nearly twenty miles east of Chelmsford, then a brief atmospheric walk to the Chapel of St-Peter-On-The-Wall.
4Margaret Thatcher - a Retrospective
It is only a short walk from our house to Woodford, Winston Churchill’s old constituency. A statue of the great man at Woodford Green reminds me of a rather gruff traffic policeman. Yesterday, at the funeral of Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Winston’s ghost was much in evidence.
Watches of the Night
And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. (Matt 14.25, KJV)
It is 3am and I’ve been listening to that ‘Blackbird singing in the dead of night’ (the bird and not the Beatles).
Broken Ankle Blues
These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken,"
This week I have been cracking plates and dropping glasses. Now it’s my turn. I broke my ankle yesterday following a Good Friday service in Loughton.
Payment for Spiritual Direction
Spiritual accompaniment or spiritual direction. Whatever, the description, over the years I have enjoyed walking the way with a little company. I had a spiritual director in Oxfordshire but have only just got around to making connections in London.
4On the Edge
As uplands go the hilly part of Loughton to the north-west of the town isn’t exactly the Alps. Nor is it quite Bodmin Moor, though that doesn’t stop locals calling the district ‘Little Cornwall’. It is the only approach to Epping Forest I know that is also an ascent.
Walking Church at Greenbelt
Tomorrow sees the beginning of Greenbelt. A group of us from Wood Green Mennonite Church will be there. I know quite a few of you are planning to go.
Walking Church at 'Till He Comes'
I'm guesting over at Jeremy Myers' 'Till he Comes' blog at the moment. One of the interesting aspects of the 'Walking Church' development has been the North American response.
June Walking Church
Date: 24th June
Meeting point: Richmond station (for bus 371 to the park gate near the American University)
Finishing point: Roehampton University
Outline of route
Start time: 10.30am
Distance: Just over 2 miles
Duration: approx 2 - 2.5 hours
For queries on the day: 07532 172 600
Walk Leader
Futurology and the Death of Ray Bradbury
Yesterday 'In 2084' was trending on Twitter. The future of the world in 140 characters perhaps? Hardly a likely forum. From ecological prediction, to strategic military planning though, futurology is a serious business.
From Stratford to Strasbourg - Two Jubilee Perspectives
As I headed for France the Jubilee Bunting fluttered in the Chingford breeze. Leaving the country wasn't deliberate but last weekend I was pleased enough with the accident. Our republican neighbour has a brand new Socialist president - the conspicuously 'ordinary' Monsieur Hollande.
2Did Jesus Do Multi-Tasking?
Tomorrow I return to Strasbourg with the Mennonite Central Committee. It is more than a year since the previous Western Europe, Advisory Committee. There is a small voice in my head protesting the repetition of the 'c' word. If MCC were named today we would have a funky one word title.
2The Heart of the Forest Is Silent
Writing lyrics is something quite new for me. I'm appreciative of a good tune , but otherwise a bear of little music brain.
2Confessions of a Mystical Mennonite
All words carry meaning. That's what they are for. In some instances though, the connotations of a word make it hard to use.
5Repetition, Hesitation, Deviation
"...while anger needs to be transformed into creative energy, sadness needs to be befriended. Sadness I will always carry with me to a certain extent.
3Levellers Day
It is a two hour drive from Chingford to the small Cotswold town of Burford. It was good to return to Kite country! We passed by Wallingford on the way. Last Saturday we were here for the annual Leveller's Day.
The Leaven (Mt 13:33; Lk 13:20-21)
For the portfolio part of a course that I'm doing I have to use the New Testament in some context so I followed the instructions in a parable and 'took' leaven by putting out a kilner jar of flour and a little rainwater until wild yeast arrived and cultivating it for a few days.
3Jay Griffiths' Wild, Wild World
I am a Christian. Others are not, for their own reasons. That much of this reasoning is also my own, has been unsettling. Why similar evidence should make puzzled believers, agnostics and angry outsiders is complicated.
2Mennomergent?
This is a piece which should shortly have a life in 'Fresh Expressions' context.
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