Author: stuart

  • It’s arrived…

    The Electric bike is here – it’s got more gadgets and gizmos than Dot’s phone!! – if only that were possible Isn’t it wonderful to connect with people and pick up where you left off?, even after a few years away – of course the good old internet helps – reflecting on an evening meeting…

  • What is it?

    Good question… However, the full qestion was: Taking as a given that you want to serve people, teach, and enable your potential congregants to grow spiritually;  What is it that is within you, which is fulfilled by becoming a priest? This was a question posed to potential students at Salisbury and Wells Theological College when…

  • Music and Worship

    Music in worship, essential? or not?  participatory or reflective background? organ or other musicians or unaccompanied? Wherever you go with this I think you probably lose – unless you have a niche market church! I have been asked to speak about the worship of the Iona community, this could be dominated by a discussion about…

  • Remembrance

    Well, I thought I had played it safe (as safe as I have ever got) yesterday with a sermon on Micah.  Swords into ploughshares etc. Listening to the voices of the past and present, wartime poets like Siegfreed Sassoon. However, The quote from Thomas Merton got a distinct blank look… (note to self, leave room…

  • Death

    Nice light hearted topic for a saturday morning… Not sure if others have had the same experiences as this, but there seems to be good proportion of people who cannot deal with death.  That might sound like a normal problem, yet when one is constantly coming across people who say they blame God for taking…

  • The A338

    While reflecting on the few days we spent in Wiltshire and Hampshire I realised the stark contrast of the journey often made down (or up) what is mostly the A338, between then and now.  'Then' being about 20-25 years ago.  It represents a distinct shift in perspective.  Names such as Porton Down, Boscome, Tidworth, the…

  • Cottage Lodge

    Been away for a bit… We found this delightful little B&B in Brockenhurst, as eco friendly as you can get, all locally produced goods, or fairtrade if not available, local soap, ecover products, the lot really!!  We even got free tea and cake just for not using the car while we were there, YUM! So…

  • Morfa Newydd

    Who would have thought that training for ministry would be useful?? Well so it turns out, all those afternoons spent in Penarth at the Methodist Care homes and nursing home (see care home placement) were worth while. Morfa Newydd is a care home of the type I was visiting.  They have a communion service once…

  • A little ray …

    … of sunshine, (apart from the delightful parishoners comments after Sunday’s morning prayer service!!) Since all it has done today was rain, (and on a funeral day too!!) it was nice to have some good news. The RB in it’s wisdom has felt it appropriate (given the circumstances) to allow a slight change to the…

  • Car Loan

    I was rather hoping not to have had such a conversation with the person who runs the car loan scheme, however, the issue of the electric bike is being pursued. Probably the most annoying part of the conversation was ‘well it’s a car loan scheme’ to which I replied, ah, but it is only called…