Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbour as yourself.”
This year the subject of same-sex marriages in and out of the headlines. Often, maybe always, a controversial topic it raises tensions and all too frequently leads to a barrage of abuse, sadly even from those who agree with Christ’s call to love and respect one another. Continue reading
“Truth and doubt”, a doodle by Derek Bruff during a sermon by Brent Hutchinson.
There is one element of my exploration of ordination that I have been slightly uncomfortable about from the start, if this was God’s will why had He seemingly not spoken through other people about it?
It has felt like everyone else I have met, or heard about, that is exploring ordination has had people going up to them passing on messages from God. They might not know it but they have a gift of leadership, of preaching, healing, praying or something else that God wants them to be using. God has told them that they should be ordained. Continue reading
The Life and Work of a Priest by John Pritchard
Later today (7th October 2013) I am meeting with the DDO for the second time. At my previous meeting she asked me to read John Pritchard’s book ‘The Life and Work of a Priest’. It is a classic from the ordination exploration reading list by the Bishop of Oxford and is a throughly interesting end enjoyable read. The secondary task was to write a piece to start a discussion on the helpful and challenging images that came to mind as I read it.
I hope that my reflections on the challenges and thrills, and the burdens and privileges of being a priest may prove interesting. I even dare hope and pray that it may even provoke you to think of the life and responsibilities of leaders in the Christian faith, and maybe even your own.
Please do let me know what thoughts you have, you have much to teach me!
As I have said in the past exploring God’s call has got me looking to see Him in each experience I have. Writing this blog is certainly helping me in that regard as well, not least because I need something worthwhile to write about!
I knew from the start of exploring ordination that the church’s authorised discerners (I’m sure there is a better term for them!) like people to keep a journal. I enjoy doing that but it is quite different from the blog. The journal is often simply a stream of consciousness, or a collection of random thoughts and helpful or challenging quotes that I come across. As it has no audience but myself it never has to be coherent; a consequence being that thoughts are sometimes left hanging, never developed and remain unsubstantiated. Continue reading
The flaming torch I held lit up the night as the rain, driven by the wind, lashed at our faces. We were climbing a hill to stand at the foot of 3 crosses perched on the edge of a cliff. It was the beginning of a men’s ministry weekend at Lee Abbey on the North Devon coast.
Our speaker began to talk. Slowly the worries and anxieties leading up to the weekend faded as God came into focus. The raw power of nature amplified the retelling of Jesus’s crucifixion. Continue reading
An icon illustrating a parent and child (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In my current period of life, more than ever before, I am walking through life wondering what God is trying to tell or teach me. This past week was a particularly unexpected and painful experience. Instead of starting the next stage of my ordination exploration I was watching my son struggle for breath in my local hospital. Continue reading
English: Buses of in , Edinburgh, alongside Princes Mall (right), as viewed from . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Buses. You wait ages for 1, then 3 turn up all at once.
This past week has seen a trilogy of events occur in quick succession.
It started with a meeting with a potential Spiritual Director. My Vocations Chaplain had recommended that I sought one out. They are people with whom you can explore matters of faith; people to help you wrestle with trying to understand what God is trying to say to you or in reconciling a world view with a Biblical view of life. Continue reading
BBC Broadcasting House in London (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I was challenged recently to write a piece for a competition to become a new voice on BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought.
The challenge isn’t just writing a coherent thought, it is also writing one that can deliver a spiritually based message within the allotted 2 minutes. Then there is the challenge of potentially reading it live on a national radio station to hundreds of thousands of listeners.
It didn’t take long or much prayer to know what to write about: tolerance, and the lack of it, is something that has been placed strongly on my heart for some time now. Continue reading
Screwtape advised Wormword not to tempt his patient too quickly (C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters).
Perhaps I shouldn’t have said in my last post I’m Still Here! that I was reasonably at peace with waiting for the DDO. No sooner had I published the post that I had a strong sense of being attacked spiritually. Temptations increased. Waiting for the DDO began to feel torturous.
I should have seen that coming.
There is one thing I know for sure, and it is something that many of us have experienced or witnessed. When God is at work, when He is about to do something significant, something that will bring Him glory, Satan will do what he can do to stop it. Continue reading
Celebrations at Wells Cathedral as priests and deacons are ordained.
This week I finally cracked. It has been a month of waiting, a month of silence.
After meeting with a Vocations Chaplain my details were passed on to the Diocesan Director of Ordinands (DDO). It would be their job to delve even deeper to discern whether God is indeed calling me towards ordination. But since my meeting a month ago I haven’t heard anything, which was fine, to a point! Continue reading
The Pilgrim Explorer 