New Kid on the Blog

At the 12-Step/Recovery Eucharist (which takes place every week on Tuesdays at 5.15pm at our Cathedral (Christ Church Cathedral) on Quadra Street in Victoria) a few days ago I had the opportunity to preside and share a few thoughts on a passage I rarely get to preach on, except at funerals!  These words of Jesus from John 14 "Peace I leave you..." It had a particular context, that of the healing and recovery that comes through the 12-Step program.  The service is not just for those recovering from addictions but is a peaceful and health-ful shared space for prayer and the recognition of the need we all share for that deepest healing from those things which we do that take us away from well-being and wholeness.  It's a shorter meditation/talk than I would normally do for a 'sermon' so rather than putting it on New Kid Deep Stuff, I thought I would post it here. Tuesday of Easter 5 – 12 Step thoughts John 14.27-31 Peace Peace, I don’t leave you the...

Referring back to my desire to foster a community where we tell stories, which was a blog post some while ago... here ... Here's some more thinking about how we can follow Jesus' example in inviting participation in the sharing of the stories of faith. This is a repost of a blog I posted in a previous incarnation at 'Grace Ground' - where I posted as a part of my last church group 'The Five Alive Mission Community' - I didn't manage to keep up that blogging regime (surprise!) but I do want to preserve this post.  I might not write in such a way now, this is two years old, but the heart is still what I would want to say.  I have recently rewritten this post for our local Paper too... I might post that here after publishing in order to compare and contrast! Tell Me I was on a ‘Life Coaching’ day yesterday provided by my Diocese to explore the possibility of either training some Clergy in Life Coaching or offering this facility with regards to worki...

Well, my first post for the Times Colonist went live on the website yesterday .  Those of you who have looked back through these hallowed pages will have read a version of it before a few posts ago, I thought it a relatively good introduction to myself with some reflection on who we think we are and who we project ourselves to be.  But you know what it's about if you either followed the link above or read ' Who Am I? ' below. There was at the time of writing this only one comment, and it is one that has caused me much thought in the past few hours.  It was a response that said 'I see no one who needs fixing or forgiving in any way' and made a case that grace is such that we are who we are and who we are meant to be - at least that is how I read it.  Go look, see what you think and let me know. Whilst I would identify quite strongly with a more liberal understanding of Christian faith, and would consider us to be graced rather than cursed, blessed rather than ...

My Study is tidy, or rather it is significantly tidier than it has been for a looooooooong time. Part of my lack of posting is the simple fact that I've not felt at home at my desk for weeks which, though it hasn't stopped me working, has stopped me speculating and generally being in blog mode for a bit! A long time ago I said that I think my study is an externalisation of my internal state, if that's the case then I am at the moment feeling that things are in a place on the way somewhere to being sorted, there's still a way to go, but it looks OK. Actually I think that might be a relatively good way of describing my view of life generally rather than specifically. I am very aware of the 'now and the not yet' state of the Christian journey. Now we live in Christ, redeemed and made clean, forgiven and whole, healed and complete. Except we aren't quite there. We are not only saved, we are being sanctified, prepared, made holy so that one day we will see ...

No, this post title isn't an allusion to my recent approach to blogging. Just a desire to share something from this morning which has pretty much left me wordless. not a bad thing, really! I'm good at talking things through, I can intellectualise, theorise, spiritualise and ...ise generally over many things, including some of the deeper things of life! But words can also be a defence against truly engaging with some deeper meanings too. This week I am engaged on a prayer pilgrimage arranged by one of our local clergy. I went along with the idea partly because, in theory, it seemed like a good idea, and not having seen my spiritual director for far too long I thought the opportunity to reflect with someone about prayer in general and my own spiritual life would not be a bad idea. I should say that this prayer pilgrimage is not actually a physical pilgrimage, except travelling to the venue to meet with a prayer guide. It's setting aside half an hour a day for a week to me...