Virtual Methodist

Found myself in the embarrassing position on Saturday of noticing that our esteemed President, Heather Morris, had put this dialogue of mine on her facebook page... It shouldn't have been a surprise given that I had sent it to her a couple of weeks ago for her to use in whatever way she saw fit under the banner of her theme for the year "A People Invited to Follow..." But when I later shared the post I linked it to another dialogue which simply takes some of the invitations of Jesus from different gospels and stitches them together. I'm not very original in my writing... And actually I had forgotten that it is for that very reason that I HADN'T published what follows on my blog, or indeed on Seed Resources where I send most of my stuff... It is actually based on a much longer piece by John L. Bell & Graham Maule of the Iona Community/Wild Goose Worship Group, the very first of their "Eh Jesus... Yes, Peter?" dialogues. My problem was that I di...

Last night I had the privilege of being at an event in the Waterfront Studio which was part of the Belfast Festival, but unlike other events I usually go to in this and other festivals it wasn't primarily an artistic one. There was a short, superb set by the Féile Women's Choir at the beginning, but despite the fact that my wife sings with them, that wasn't my main reason for going, rather it was to hear Professor Phil Scraton, one of the members of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, speak about the work of that panel, the tragedy that unfolded on 15th April 1989 and its aftermath, under the title of "Hillsborough: Speaking Truth to Power." This was an event not just for Liverpool fans or football fans, but for anyone interested in politics, power and the dignity of people in the face of injustice.  Whilst I was quite familiar with most of the material presented, to hear it all over the course of 90 minutes from a person intimately involved with the whole p...

The series continues... By the way, I should have said earlier, but this series of introductory litanies is designed to work in parallel with John Bell's "Christmas is coming, the church is glad to sing" which wouldn't be a particular favourite, but hey ho... We light this third candle... to give thanks for John the Baptist Drawing crowds out to hear him in the wilderness Preparing the way for the coming King Calling people to change direction Warning of judgment and punishment But offering forgiveness and cleansing We light this candle... May its light overcome the darkness.

Last Sunday was the 40th Anniversary of the stone-laying ceremony of the premises of my current church in Ballybeen, and I was preaching on the nature of the church as described in I Peter 2: 4-10 in the light of Jesus' response to Simon Peter's confession in Matthew 16: 17-18, and I was reminded of the following dialogue that I wrote on a previous exploration of these same passages: Peter: Eh... Jesus...? Jesus: Yes, Peter? Peter: Its about that church... Jesus: What church Peter? Peter: The church... your church... the one you’re going to build on me. Jesus: Oh that church... What about it? Peter: I was just wondering what it was going to be like... Jesus: That depends... Peter: Depends on what? Jesus: The building material... Peter: Oh right... See I fancied a big cathedral, a basilica... Made out of marble. I’ve been and seen the architect and he says... Jesus: No I think you misunderstand me Peter... Peter: Oh, you fancy something smaller... More cosy and comf...