Virtual Methodist

Well, I made it... And here is the one picture of me...  It's the first picture of me that I possess... And I post it thankful for all the (many) years that have passed since then... and all the people who have helped to shape this handsome young man into the shambling wreck that I am now... parents who taught me the value of hard work... brothers who opened my eyes to the wonders to be found within books and exposed me to an eclectic assortment of music... a wider family who encouraged me in all my endeavours... teachers who inspired me to learn more and more about this wonderful world... preachers, sunday school teachers and older friends who prompted me in my journey of faith... friends with whom I shared adventures in sport, theatre, the great outdoors and in love... colleagues in ministry, lay and ordained, who have been with me through thick and thin... a wife to whom I owe more than I can ever express... 2 boys who I am so proud of... and the God who is woven into it ...

Getting near to the end of this meme, and out of thousands of songs of all styles that I like I am supposed to pick 2!?!?!  Well, here goes - I've mentioned both of these in a previous meme, and neither of them is a hymn or Christian song, but (observing my Thanksgiving discipline) I am particularly thankful to have encountered them at different times... They are both by Scottish female singers (I clearly have a thing for Scottish females)... 1) The Right Place, by Eddi Reader : which has come to me at a number of times as a song of uncomfortable assurance.. (this is a live audio version) 2) Sorry, by Karine Polwart : which wrestles with the whole difficult area of forgiveness, which is (due to the job and the province I work in), a constant theme... Cheers

How on earth is it possible to reduce all of the books I have ever read or want to read to a list of 4? Well, within the parameters of my self-imposed 30 Days of Thanksgiving here are 4 books that I was particularly thankful to have received as a gift from someone at some time or another. Again, those watchful for my spiritual soundness, please note that I have received many Bibles as gifts down through the years and have been thankful for most of them (the NEB which we received at our wedding left me a little cold) - If you ask me to narrow it down to one then the most influential would probably be the Message by Eugene Peterson, which I first received in its NT form from my mother-in-law 20 years ago, although given the recent book burning in North Carolina, there are probably those who would regard that translation as a book worthy of burning because of its heresy... 1) THE FLAVOUR THESAURUS by Niki Segnit. Given my love of food and a bizarre personality that has both a heavily ...

I said earlier on that 1 of my 9 Loves was food... to the point of obsession, but instead of my 5 favourite foods, I asked my youngest son to pick the 5 favourite dishes that I cook... So Ciaran's choice is: 1) CHICKEN SATAY- Chicken in a peanut sauce... No more like proper satay/sate than KFC but the family enjoy it and it is easy to cook. 2) SMOKED HADDOCK WITH CHORIZO - a rarity in that you will not often get me eating or cooking fish, but this is a great, quick, healthy, one-pot dish. I usually use smoked haddock, but Sally prefers the unsmoked. 3) GLAZED GAMMON - I do most of the Christmas cooking in our house and whilst the residents might be a little restless if there were no turkey, it would be all-out insurrection if I didn't supply a glazed ham/gammon. I boil it in cider and then finish it off in the oven with a glaze of mustard and dark brown sugar (great for diabetics) 4) PORK CHOPS AND ONIONS - A family recipe, from my mum, which was ...

This is the bit of this meme I just wanted to skip, because as I read over other people's ones most of them were either exercises in fantasy conspicuous consumerism, or, and this largely applied to Christian ones, exercises of nauseatingly saccharine spirituality. But I've started so I'll finish. I don't think I have ever written a Christmas list... Not with any expectation of receiving what I wanted... I do keep a "wish list" on Amazon, in order to help my family when they are flailing around trying to think of what to buy me for Christmas or Easter... However, I'm not very good at updating it, so slap it up me when I get multiples of the same thing... None of what follows appear on my Amazon list, nor are you likely to be able to purchase them for Christmas... As with the rest of this meme I have kept to the trivial end of the spectrum, so please take it for granted that I want peace in this province/the world, relief of world hunger, happiness for ...

I do not like to focus on fear... the tabloids (both the paper and TV varieties) do enough of that... be it fear of Muslim extremists, Roma-child-abductors, flesh-eating microbes, rampaging poisonous spiders... You name it, they will try to turn it into a phobia -with the word phobia being used in its sense of irrational fear... Dig deep into most of these stories and you will find little of substance. I also am not into those who build their ministries on a "gospel" of fear... Yes fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , but it is only a beginning... There are those for whom fear (either at a specific point or a more general fear) was a major feature in their spiritual journey, including Martin Luther, John Newton and John Wesley. Indeed last night I was at a meeting where a Catholic priest spoke of the fear that he had as a child growing up in a mixed area of north Belfast of his home being attacked and he or his family being killed, and how that was a powerful fact...

So here I am, 2nd day in and I'm already 4 days late... But I did say this would be a bit sporadic... Anyway, today it is supposed to be 9 loves. OK... (I really can't wait to get to the simpler ones like books)... Let's clear the decks and take it as read that I love my family, God and pet cat... So in many ways I'm giving you 12 loves for the price of 9... But there is no way on this virtual planet that you are getting me bearing my heart on those three... The first 2 because this is entirely the wrong forum to do them justice, and the third because there is already too much cat-related wackiness on the web, and I don't want to be associated with that... So here goes on a variety of things that I love in no particular rank order: 1) FOOD - Now there is an entire day given over to foods... but this is food in general. I have a serious psychological problem with food. It is my primary response to any emotional state; I'm happy - I eat,  I'm sad- I ea...

It's been a while since I've messed around with a meme... And I said a week or two back that I might give this one a go ... Although for a while I was a little hesitant because, first, it seemed a little self-absorbed, but then I remembered that I write a blog which is full of my opinions, so how much more self-absorbed can I appear; and second, frankly, the whole thing seemed a tad girly - I didn't see any other males engaging with it... but then Creideamh forged the way ahead for others with a Y chromosome... So here goes... I'll fit them in when I have time/can be bothered... If nothing else it will help members of my new congregation see what sort of a basketcase they now have as a pastor...The theory is that on each of 10 days we make the following disclosures:  1:   10 Secrets 2:   9 Loves 3:   8 Fears 4:   7 Wants 5:   6 Places 6:   5 Foods 7:   4 Books 8:   3 Films 9:   2 Songs 10: 1 Picture Now my ...