Virtual Methodist

A few months ago I got involved in an online spat with a friend of a facebook friend, breaking my self-imposed etiquette of  not negatively engaging with someone I don't know on someone else's thread... But what had pressed my bells was that she was sharing some fairly awful anti-vax stuff about MMR on a thread read by people who have autistic children. Having worked both with autistic children and their families AND with children and families whose lives have been radically affected by rubella and measles I get a bit hot under the collar about such things, particularly when the people posting such things have no medical or scientific training... But anyway, the unpleasant dialogue ultimately resulted in me saying something like "I'm going to stop because it's clear I'm not going to change your mind..." To which she replied along the lines of "LOL No! Your not... But then were all entitled to are own opinions." (Smiley face, smiley face.)  ...

28 years ago I headed off to university in Edinburgh kicking the dust of Northern Ireland off my proverbial sandals, never intending to return, like many of my generation, particularly on the Protestant/Unionist side of the divide. I had had enough of the Troubles in my native statelet... they had been going on for most of my life, and by that stage I felt, quoting the words of my least favourite Shakespeare play "A plague on both your houses." 3 years later, however, a group of people some of whom I knew, most of whom I didn't, came together as Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland (ECONI) to draft and release a document entitled "For God and his Glory Alone". The title was a conscious and direct challenge to the motto of the UVF and mental framework of many Ulster protestants brought up on the mythologuy of Carson and the Somme etc - "For God and Ulster", which too often got reversed in practice with people putting Ulster (or at least the s...

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...

Okay... Here are a few questions for preachers prompted by this post by John Byron : How many of these "pulpit legends" have you promulgated in your time? Who did you hear them from? 1. The “eye of the needle” refers to a gate outside Jerusalem. 2. The high priest tied a rope around his ankle so that others could drag him out of the Holy of Holies in case God struck him dead. 3. Scribes took baths, discarded their pens, washed their hands, etc. every time they wrote the name of God. 4. There was this saying among the sages: “May you be covered in your rabbi’s dust.” 5. Voltaire’s house is now owned by a Bible-printing publisher which is ironic given that he was famous for saying, “One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.” 6. Gehenna was a burning trash dump outside Jerusalem. 7. NASA scientists have discovered a “missing day” which corresponds to the Joshua account of the sun standi...

Emotionally I'm feeling a bit fragile this week... Probably just exhaustion after a busy few decades... but if anyone were to say anything negative to me at the moment I'd probably burst into tears and run away and hide... That's not my usual state of mind... normally I appreciate robust debate and intelligent critique... always have done, whether in the theatre, in science or in ministry... but at the moment, I'm not too sure I could take it. Which is why I'm encouraged, and inspired, by an unexpected act of grace and humility that I became aware of late on Sunday night... A few weeks ago our book group finished its latest project, "Total Church" by Tim Chester and Steve Timms , and, as is my practice, I subsequently posted a "review" on the "LivingSocial" site and in the side-bar of this blog... To say that it wasn't complimentary is an understatement, as there were parts of the book and its general tone than left me as angry as I...

Just before Christmas I was very taken by the description of the incarnate Word coming full of "grace and truth" (John 1: 14), and used that stick to liberally beat anyone who happened to transgress my view of how to graciously stand up for truth in the face of someone that you fundamentally disagree with. But recently I have found myself falling into that deep dark hole... Won't bother with any kind of justifications, medically, psychologically, socially or spiritually, I have simply been horribly graceless... Both in the virtual and physical forms of reality. Pot-kettle... Kettle-pot... But here's a question that came to me while I was reading a rather famous episode in the life of the Word made flesh (John 2: 13-16). When is it OK to adopt the use of a "rope of cords" to beat all round you and still be regarded as full of grace and truth? He didn't do it to the misogynist hypocrites who accused the woman (but not her paramour) of adultery (John 8: 1-1...

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 (ANIV) It’s sad that truth and grace come as a surprise to us… Or even as an annoyance! I was getting diesel yesterday and found that the tills in the service station kiosk (curious word that give the size of these places now) were staffed by two of the least competent assistants on the face of this earth… They will have many other laudable qualities but manning tills is not their thing… But just as I was finally getting to the head of a very long queue, a woman who had just left the shop came back in and squeezed ahead of me to inform the assistants that she had paid the wrong amount… a smaller amount than she should have, and that the older lady in front of me was going to be hit for her much larger bill… This of course sent the assistants into a tail-spin, and me, the fine, gracious, truthful Methodist minister that I am, into a huge huff of annoyance that this lady’s honesty was going to hold ...