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Monthly Archives: August 2012

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The mindset that fails rural Ireland

For the fainthearted . . .

The following letter appears in this week’s edition of the Irish Farmers’ Journal. The title above is that applied to the letter by the Journal’s editor.

 “On Monday, 13th August, the ‘Irish Times, ran a column by Jim Clarken of Oxfam Ireland in which Mr Clarken commented, “Thankfully, in Ireland just 7 per cent of household incomes goes on the weekly shop”. Nowhere in the column did he ask why the weekly shopping bill was so low.

Ministering in a farming community, where the past summer has created huge

…

Unexpected continuity

For the fainthearted . . .

The houses have all changed now, of course. Perhaps they are no longer even separate houses, perhaps they are all part of a single dwelling; the high stone wall that has appeared prevents inquisitive minds from knowing the answer.

Mrs Fisher used to live there, but in which of the houses, it is hard to remember. The only clear memory is passing the window of the house that adjoined the road. It was a summer’s evening and the theme tune of Roald Dahl’s ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ floated into the …

Sermon for Sunday, 2nd September 2012 (Trinity 13/Pentecost 14/Proper 17/Ordinary 22)

For the fainthearted . . .

“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.” Mark 7:8

Have you ever been sat in a church service and wondered that you might be out doing something more useful instead? It’s not that you don’t believe, not that you don’t feel that God is present in your life, but that you wonder if the church has anything to do with your faith. There are occasions when such thoughts have crossed my mind, perhaps it was a failing on my …

There will be no next time

For the fainthearted . . .

There are things better expressed by writers, poets and playwrights particularly. They find words for those emotions, those ill defined feelings, those thoughts that slip beyond grasp, that refuse to be articulated, or are become unrecognizable as anything we have felt when they are put into words.

There was a play we did for A level at Strode College in Somerset, Tom Stoppard’s ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’. It seemed a piece of fun when we did it, light relief from the gloom of ‘Hamlet’, from which …

Summer sermon series: 11/13 The Bible – The Letters of Saint Paul to Individuals

For the fainthearted . . .

‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’. 2 Timothy 3:16

The New Testament has four letters attributed to Saint Paul written to individual people: The First and Second Letters to Timothy, the Letter to Titus and the Letter to Philemon.

The first three of these letters are often grouped together as what are called the ‘pastoral epistles’. They are written to people in pastoral roles; we are seeing the beginning of an organised church.

In the early years after the day of …

Walking familiar roads

For the fainthearted . . .

How many times had I ever stopped in a hamlet a mile from our doorstep?

The visits recalled could be numbered on the fingers of one hand. There had been a cycle ride to a farm to buy vegetables from a local farmer. There had been a call to a thatched cottage where the conversation of the adults allowed children to go unattended until long past the usual bedtime. There had been a Christmas carol service in the medieval church that stood in the middle of a farmer’s field. And …

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