New Kid on the Blog

Happy Easter! Alleluia - Christ is risen! In case I've not mentioned it before - sometimes when this blog is quiet (tumbleweed style) I am also blogging on our Church website.  There is a staff blog there which I try to contribute to as I am able. Two particular postings I'd like to point you towards rather than rehashing them here are the Good Friday meditations which I led - which used poetry and prayers based around the Seven Last Words of Christ from the cross - and some Easter Sunday thinkings which went hand in hand with my Easter Day sermon . I am at present trying to enjoy some downtime. This may mean I get to blog, or it might not. Thanks for the follows and the comments and the responses, always appreciated.

Year C Easter 2 (2010) RCL Principle Acts 5.27-32 Psalm 118.14-29 John 20.19-31 Doubt is good! Poor Thomas – always remembered as the one who needed proof. The one from whom we get the saying ‘Doubting Thomas’ – a saying still used in a Biblically illiterate nation, with generations of people who don’t understand phrases, or at least don’t know the root and deeper meaning of phrases like ‘Prodigal Son’, ‘Treasure in Heaven’, ‘faith like a mustard seed’, ‘Job’s comforter’ nor many others that most of us have grown up with. Thomas, remembered because he couldn’t accept the stories that the others were telling – because he didn’t happen to be with the others when Jesus appeared. Doubting Thomas because the fantastic events recounted by his friends were too much to grasp, because he needed more. [More]

The longer one leaves something the harder it seems to be to get back to it - that certainly is the way things feel with this blog! I often think to myself 'oh, I should blog about that' but then think to myself - how would I introduce that? How do I make up for all those weeks with nothing said? Do I have to try and fill in all the gaps and explain exactly why it is that things have been so gappy? So I decided I would open with a statement about it being difficult to get back into blogging, and then just carry on and see whether or not any/some/all of the thoughts that have bobbed up and waved a bit turn up in blog posts over the next days or weeks. But without any more ado Alleluia - Christ is risen! It's that statement that makes us what we are - as Christians, I mean... So our celebrations of Easter and the lead up to it over Lent have been at the forefront of all I have done over the past six or so weeks. In fact our Lent course (which I wrote using material from ...

I've been thinking about blogging for a week or so since I returned from my Post-Easter break, but to be honest have either been short of time or energy to make it happen. I have kept up the twittering, until today, but the idea of sitting down and making order from my thoughts has been somewhat beyond me! I didn't really talk about Easter Day itself in my last post, which was a great day and at which many good things happened. It wasn't any easy day, though, and a couple of conversations (nothing to do with Easter itself) which took place meant I felt very much that the 'honeymoon' which goes with the first few months of being in a new parish or, in this case,Mission Community was very much over. But more of that in a mo We started Easter Day overlooking the stunning Devon Countryside from the top of a hill on which stands the Armada Beacon - the warning beacon used many years ago as part of a series of beacon fires to warn of impending invasion by sea. The bea...

Easter Day (2009) Year B RCL Eucharist An ‘Easter frame of mind’ In some ways it is quite hard to prepare an Easter sermon, particularly when, as is usual with sermons, one is preparing during the week before. This last week was, of course, Holy Week, and this year we have made special effort this year to observe Holy Week, with services that have focussed on healing, on repentance, and telling of the painful events of the Passion of our Lord Jesus, from his arrest to his crucifixion. In this week we have sought to set our minds on the passion and the death of our Lord Jesus and not on his resurrection. Though we know what happened beyond the cross part of our observance of this week just gone is to call to mind all that Jesus went through to bring us life in all its fullness. So this sermon was started on Maundy Thursday, after the service of the renewal of Ministerial Promises which I (and various Readers, Deacons, Priests, Bishops and even a few normal people) attended in the Cathed...

i read the text of a talk given recently by Jeffrey John , Dean of St Alban's Cathedral, which was one of a series of Lent talks - so having had Easter it seems a bit odd going back to Lent! This talk deals with the obsession with penal substitutionary atonement that has become a mainstay of certain wings of the Church - the belief that on the cross Jesus was being punished (by God!) for sin. I have to say that I don't think this is the only way of looking at what went on in the crucifixion - nor has the Church always seen this as the only interpretation. And it is there that the crunch comes, when wings of the Church cannot accept that there is any other way of looking at the Scriptural material that we have been blessed with. It is a mixed blessing, because there are so many that say 'my way' or 'my tradition's way' or 'the founder of our denomination's way' is the only way to see Scripture... I believe that Jesus paid the price for sin, but...

As you may have guessed, things have been a little busy around here, but i have had a fantastic day and we have been celebrating Christ's resurrection in style! Well, in an Anglican style! I have had the chance to rush around being late for services, trying to fit too much in, then had a great afternoon and a good british roast with good friends, including a new friend, my mate Jem's fiance!. A relaxed evening with an episode of Dr Who (continuing theme of resurrection there) and now just a chance for a quick blog to wish you all a happy Easter! Jem said something about the service this morning reflecting a commitment to everyday faith, filled with joy but recognising the hardships of serving these communities, but still showing a commitment to ministry in these places. What a great reflection of what we try to do, from someone who's wisdom i respect and value. Affirmation indeed. I hope the reality of the risen life of Christ is yours today and always. Alleluia, Chris...

This one is for the local magazine for this village, part of a whole load of 'demystifying' articles I have done... Perhaps I will post some of the others if things stay busy like they are for a bit. More of the Easter Mystery Last year, around this time, I tried to say a little bit about what happens in Church around Good Friday and Easter. Rather than going over the same ground again, this year I want to talk about Palm Sunday and the days which follow it, though it will be leading up to Easter Day again! Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter. On that day we remember that Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem not as a King would be expected to do, with an entourage, chariots and great white horses, but humbly and riding on a donkey. The people who knew who he was still proclaimed him to be a great person and laid their cloaks and branches from Palm trees down on the ground in front of him , as there was no ‘red carpet’ available, which is why we call it ‘Palm Sunday’....

Again, another 'between appointments' post, but have just had to write a couple of articles for local village magazines, so here is a sneak preview! Newsletter Easter 2007 April sees the greatest celebration of the Church year. Forget Christmas, forget everything else, Easter is the day that makes Christians who we are! It is a joy filled party that reminds us of the great love of God which takes way the power of death and sin and causes us to shout ‘Alleluia! Christ is Risen – He is risen indeed, Alleluia’. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this for those who follow Jesus. His resurrection from the dead is what gives us hope, it is the meaning behind our faith, it is the greatest truth to which we hold. St Paul, probably the greatest teacher of the Christian faith, wrote ‘If Christ is not raised from the dead then all we believe is in vain.’ But, having said that, if that was all we believed and all that we were concerned about then those who claim that Chris...