Virtual Methodist

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 ...

Partly as a personal response to some of the issues raised in my (surprisingly popular) post last week prompted by some of the points of annoyance I encounter in my calling as a pastor/preacher, I thought I would return to Eugene Peterson's "The Contemplative Pastor" as part of my daily devotions for a wee while... And a few lines in I found a whole collection of thoughts piling up which required more mature reflection... so in the absence of any ability on my part to do such a thing, I thought I'd blog on a few of them... beginning, as we should with the discipline of prayer... Peterson says: "Prayer is a subversive activity. It involves a more or less open act of defiance against any claim by the current regime..." In other words, prayer is not just an act of personal piety or a corporate ritual, but is a profoundly revolutionary political activity. To continue my thoughts in yesterday's post , not only is prayer a pledge of allegiance to a ki...