Category: Spiritual Life
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158 So many other worlds
Early this September I spent a week alone in my friend Andy’s cabin on the Gower coast as I have done for some years. It was a rich and nourishing week as it always has been. On my last night I slept well as I usually do. I woke at 3.40 restless at the prospect…
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157 Who does God know?
I recently wrote a blog entitled ‘An Awesome Fact’ in which I reflected on a wonderful poem by the Polish writer Wislawa Szymborska, in which she draws our attention to how utterly unique we each are at birth. More recently I bought a birthday card for a friend who was celebrating his 70th birthday. It…
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156. Isn’t it easy to believe in God
My friend Keith Griffin has sent me an article he’s written. I’ve found it an exciting & hopeful read and he’s agreed that I can add it to this blog. Thank you Keith. “In thirty years of parish ministry what I valued most of all was the freedom to work across a whole range of…
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155 Thy Kingdom comes
What has God revealed to me so far through my prayer and life experience? I am ambivalent about writing these words, who am I to do so? We each have unique insights to share with others. I have a friend who can tell what’s wrong with the engine of a car simply by listening to…
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154 How are you?
I’m doubtful about coincidences. My experience is that when several seemingly separate but similar things occur in close proximity to each other, then the likelihood is that they are connected. Some years ago I wrote a prayer exercise that was included in a book “The God you already know’ that my friend Roy Gregory and I…
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153 A Feral Icon?
The Bible has significant references to boats. The most familiar being the Ark into which Noah and his family took two of every species of animal to survive the Flood and then repopulate the Earth. It was a place of refuge & renewal. Boats feature in the Gospels too. Jesus called some of His first…
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152. In the beginning
My 80th birthday in April has turned out to be a more significant milestone than I had expected. In March a series of synchronistic events led me to find and re-read my Priest’s Exam papers of July 1971. In Southwark Diocese you had to sit this in the summer after you’d been ordained Deacon, and…
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151 A Polish-Jewish Gift
A Polish Jewish Gift On our visit to Krakow Hannah and I visited the Jewish quarter and in particular the Jewish Museum. During the Second World War Germany invaded Poland and six million Poles were killed, including three million Polish Jews. Almost all traces of the existence of the Jewish community were destroyed. More recently there…
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150. An Awesome Fact
I recently visited Krakow in Poland with my daughter Hannah, as part of the celebrations of my 80th birthday. Her Polish friend Joanna had recommended Krakow, and so I asked Hannah if her friend might suggest a book or two that would give me a feel for Polish culture before we went there. She suggested…
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149 Our Vocation
One of my favourite films is entitled ‘Mail for Pastor Jacob’, which is set in the 1970s. It’s about a blind elderly Finnish Lutheran minister, who amongst other things has a ministry in what we might call ‘spiritual direction’ although that phrase is never used in the film. Every morning the mailman cycles up the path,…
A CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY 