Ragamuffin ramblings

I remember one Pentecost Sunday at church I felt prompted by a still small voice to write a resignation letter and stand up and declare it.  I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it and you can imagine the look on the faces of my friends and co-leaders as I opened up my sermon with it.  This wasn’t a gimmick or an illustration, I was on a journey and I desperately needed to do this. I recently found the letter from 2012.  Here’s an excerpt.  Dear church, I’ve thought long and hard about this announcement today.  It comes on the back of probably one of the most challenging and difficult seasons that I’ve faced as a leader and certainly the last 12 months have probably been the most challenging of all.  I can honestly say that I have tried my very best to act with integrity, to serve you and to hear and discern what the father has in store for us. But the last few weeks there has been a dawning realization on me that I can’t d...

A Pilgrim Song 131  God , I’m not trying to rule the roost,      I don’t want to be king of the mountain. I haven’t meddled where I have no business      or fantasized grandiose plans. 2  I’ve kept my feet on the ground,      I’ve cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,      my soul is a baby content. 3  Wait, Israel, for  God . Wait with hope.      Hope now; hope always! What a song to sing while on your pilgrimage to the temple.  What a confession to make while you're ascending up to the temple.  I hope by the end of this blog you'll see why it's been so important to me. We all know too well how events can take over our lives.  Nothing prepares you for 1 in 100 year pandemic bringing months of isolation, financial uncertainty and a very real threat of catching a highly dangerous virus.   Add to this...

Matthew Chapter  5   6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,       for they will be filled. Blessed? This is much more than just the idea of happiness or fortune.  Another way of describing the word Makarios is, ‘God is with you’.   God is with the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst. Righteousness? But what is righteousness? If like me you’ve kind of hung around church circles for a while, you’ll have picked up the phrase that righteousness means ‘ right standing’ with God , which is true, it does, but it also carries within it a much broader picture.   Jesus follows in the footsteps of the prophets, who revealed that God’s number one desire is for everything that's been warped and twisted to be in its right place .    Hunger & thirst? Jesus says, God is with you who hunger and thirst for that kind of world.  But what does he...

You've heard the expression, 'the elephant in the room'.  It simply means  something important or that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to  discuss  because it makes (at least some) people uncomfortable or embarrassed. We've all been in those situations right?  Over the years I can recall all shapes and sizes of elephants, obvious and conspicuous in many diverse settings  The singers that can't actually sing, the man who started singing, "Love...love changes everything" during communion, the lady who would 'in the spirit' ride an imaginary stallion down the aisle. I can also recall more serious and more intimidating elephants that were ignored for fear of rocking the boat or looking foolish.  It's here that I want to focus in on.  I'm certain that along with preaching the good news, healing and redemption Jesus could have added the title 'Revealer of elephants.' Let's go back to Luke 15 ...

I left you last week wondering whether you'd recognise the post-resurrection me or in turn I you.  The feedback I had last week was encouraging and it genuinely boosted my belief that the Father was waking me out of my slumber.  Have you ever noticed though that during that fragile moment of birth and infancy there appears a voice, an opposition that would seek to snuff out  what has been given life? That voice isn't necessarily the accuser, the devil however, it does carry his DNA.  The voice I'm talking about is that inner voice called shame.  When you've made a mistake or been made to feel you've made a mistake you have to wrestle with feelings of guilt.  Shame is different, it acts in a more subtle but sinister way because shame says, 'You are a mistake.'   Guilt says you lied, shame declares you're a liar.  Guilt penetrates the heart, shame infects it leading to self-isolation and separation from sources of true lo...