↓
 

For the fainthearted . . .

  • Home
  • Comments Policy
  • Ian Poulton
  • This blog . . .

Monthly Archives: September 2005

Post navigation

← Older posts

Going home

For the fainthearted . . .

The news over the past days of the final end to ‘the war’ in Ireland brought back many memories, some of them strange.

I remember in the summer of 1988 driving on a road out of Galway city heading westwards. Having been an impoverished student not so long before, I was in the habit of feeling sorry for hitch hikers and picked one up on the outskirts of the city.

It turned out that he was an artist, making a few pounds by selling pictures of Galway scenery. He lived …

By what authority?

For the fainthearted . . .

Sermon at Saint Matthias’ Church on 25th September 2005:

“By what authority are you doing these things?” Matthew 21:23

I spent the first ten years of my ministry in diocese where the bishop placed great emphasis upon clergy studying. In his scheme of things, mornings were meant to be spent reading and studying, afternoons were for pastoral care, and evenings were for meetings. It was never an easy pattern to follow. There is always the feeling that you want to be seen to be doing things; if you are out …

Belongingness

For the fainthearted . . .

Back in July, we had a group of Filipino friends for supper; it was a great evening. There was a buzz, a sense of laughter and togetherness that there used to be with people here, before Irish people became rich and serious. (On the latest UN figures Ireland has the second highest GDP per capita in the world!)

I wondered what it was that the Filipinos still possess that the Irish have lost. When I came across this definition at www.blogkadahan.com/blog/, I think I understood.

‘barkadahan, a Filipino way of …

Were it not that I have bad dreams

For the fainthearted . . .

Seven years ago today I boarded an Amsterdam-bound flight from Belfast; from there it was a long haul flight with KLM down to Dar Es Salaam, landing at Kilimanjaro on the way.

It was no tourist trip; rather as secretary of my Church’s world development appeal, I was going with two colleagues to visit Christian Aid partners in Tanzania.

I remember the details with a clarity that makes it all seem last week.

There were few bright spots: a country ground down by poverty, burdened with international debt, where there …

I've been a Rover for many's a year . . .

For the fainthearted . . .

Time and again I have read that we live in times where people are not prepared to make commitments. We have lost our ‘social capital’ we are told; ties of community have broken down; no-one is prepared to take on voluntary roles. I wonder.

I was studying in Bristol during the past week. The course, which included the ethics of genetic selection and abortion, was fairly heavy going.

On Tuesday evening I decided to take a break from the books and to walk from the college where I was staying …

The trouble with Nicky Gumbel . . .

For the fainthearted . . .

On Tuesday evening I watched a video of Nicky Gumbel. If you haven’t heard his name before, he is the man behind the Alpha Course. After the Pope and Billy Graham, Nicky Gumbel is possibly the most famous full time Christian alive today.

The video was made in 1999 and was the first in a series on Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, one of the books near the back of the Bible. It was filmed in Holy Trinity Church at Brompton in London. The church was packed. I know …

Post navigation

← Older posts

Recent Comments

  • Anthony Crouch on Wallander’s half-finished heaven
  • Musana Ronald on Sermon for Saint Peter’s Day 2014
  • Beth Siders on An A-Z of Hymnwriters: Thomas Kelly
  • Harvey Davies on Heathercombe Brake School Photographs
  • Paul Pope on Young people have become boring
  • Susan Wilson on An A-Z of Hymnwriters: Katharina von Schlegel
  • TERENCE TURNER on An A-Z of Hymnwriters: Katharina von Schlegel
  • Paul Pope on Heathercombe Brake School Photographs
  • Vince on Not cancelling
  • Robert Andrew on Heathercombe Brake School Photographs

Blogroll

  • A Rambling Rector (Retired) The blog of Dr Stanley Monkhouse
  • A Somerset Lad – my other blog: part memoir, part diary, part whimsy
  • Head Rambles Ireland’s most cantankerous auld fella
  • Joakim's God Talk
  • Mixed Messages
  • Póló

Categories

Archives

©2025 - For the fainthearted . . . - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑