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New Jerusalem - Pastor's pen for 6th December 2020

Nov 30, 20202 min read

New Jerusalem - Pastor's pen for 6th December 2020

Twelve colourful stone foundations for the walls of the New Jerusalem —detail of painting by Joan C. Thomson Last week on Sunday we spent...

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Pastor's pen 29th Nov 2020 Running with the Psalms: a marathon in four parts

Minister

Nov 23, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen 29th Nov 2020 Running with the Psalms: a marathon in four parts

#1 - the first 23km Psalm 104:3 'you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the...

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Pastor's pen for 22nd November 2020 - Running with Jesus, and other prayers...

Minister

Nov 18, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen for 22nd November 2020 - Running with Jesus, and other prayers...

I was talking to a colleague about the prayer practice of Ignatian Contemplation, which engages the imagination by focusing on a gospel...

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Minister

Nov 11, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen for 15th November - Cost

Jesus, in Luke 14, asked the gathered crowd; 'For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the...

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Pastor's pen for 8th November 2020 - The art of not knowing what to do...

Minister

Nov 4, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen for 8th November 2020 - The art of not knowing what to do...

I get discouraged with the tone of so many polarized debates online. Virtually every political, environmental, moral, religious,...

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Bandwagons - Pastor's pen for 1 Nov 2020

Minister

Oct 27, 20203 min read

Bandwagons - Pastor's pen for 1 Nov 2020

As a young man I learned a valuable lesson about which wagons to get on board. For the only time in my life I had gone lame with a really...

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'for the rest of us'.....Pastor's pen for 25th October 2020

Minister

Oct 20, 20202 min read

'for the rest of us'.....Pastor's pen for 25th October 2020

I found this gem of a book in a charity shop in Cambridge for a couple of bucks the other day; Evangelism for the Rest of Us: Sharing...

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Pastors pen 17th October 2020: Politics and religion around the dinner table...

Minister

Oct 13, 20202 min read

Pastors pen 17th October 2020: Politics and religion around the dinner table...

Today (Tuesday) I rang my Dad on the occasion of his 80th birthday. We'll be doing lunch on Thursday in Cambridge. I clearly remember his...

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Pastor's pen for 11th October 2020 - The Interior Life

Minister

Oct 5, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen for 11th October 2020 - The Interior Life

2020 seems to be the year we cancel events in a much more relaxed manner without the customary hand-wringing and false guilt of previous...

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Steps to Compassion - Pastor's Pen for 4th October

Minister

Sep 30, 20202 min read

Steps to Compassion - Pastor's Pen for 4th October

It troubled me to hear on the lunchtime radio news on Wednesday about the demise of free speech in India. India, a nation born of protest...

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Way-markers: Pastor's pen for 27th September 2020

Minister

Sep 23, 20202 min read

Way-markers: Pastor's pen for 27th September 2020

'The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them...

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Minister

Sep 16, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen 20th Sept 2020 - Limbo

If we set aside any reference to Caribbean dance moves or Roman Catholic theology, the word Limbo has come to us from Middle English and...

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Pastor's pen for 13th Sept - with sober judgement

Minister

Sep 8, 20203 min read

Pastor's pen for 13th Sept - with sober judgement

'For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think...

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Pastor's pen for 6th September 2020 - Father's Day

Minister

Sep 2, 20203 min read

Pastor's pen for 6th September 2020 - Father's Day

These are interesting times in which to be both a father and a pastor. One is supposed to have firm opinions about stuff in both roles,...

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Pastor's pen for 30th August 2020 - Prophecy

Minister

Aug 25, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen for 30th August 2020 - Prophecy

Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash Speak, Lord, in stillness or storm, in circumstance or sign, in scripture or word, in conscience or...

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Fake news and pointless power games - Pastor's pen for 23rd August

Minister

Aug 17, 20202 min read

Fake news and pointless power games - Pastor's pen for 23rd August

Croatian theologian Miroslav Volf wrote this yesterday: We are drowning in fake news and often complain about it. But it’s ubiquitous...

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Pastor's Pen 16th August 2020 - A touch of Déjà vu

Minister

Aug 12, 20202 min read

Pastor's Pen 16th August 2020 - A touch of Déjà vu

I write this to you having just had a zoom meeting with Ian, our proposed guest speaker / film introducer for Sunday. His business in...

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A stitch in time saves nine... Pastor's pen for 9th August 2020

Minister

Aug 7, 20202 min read

A stitch in time saves nine... Pastor's pen for 9th August 2020

"The 'stitch in time' is simply the prompt sewing up of a small hole or tear in a piece of material, so saving the need for more...

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Pastor's pen for Sunday 2nd August - Progress at hyper-speed...

Minister

Jul 27, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen for Sunday 2nd August - Progress at hyper-speed...

Photo by Holger Link on Unsplash I read with some dismay of President Putin boasting about his new hyper-sonic Avangard glide vehicle,...

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Pastor's pen 26th July 2020 - Retail Therapy?

Minister

Jul 23, 20202 min read

Pastor's pen 26th July 2020 - Retail Therapy?

I found an anthology in the Salvation Army charity shop today, and here is one of the poemsit contained, something suitable for us as we...

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