Musings (Page 2)

I was privileged to talk through and around how we might experience God with a 13-year old this past week. It was a detailed and lengthy conversation that explored emotional versus  rational experiences of (and responses to) God, and whether one is more ‘valid’ than the other. Participating in the conversation allowed me to reflect on my own varied God-journey: from (a few) sensory and emotional oments and events, to (many) times where my responses have been more logically reasoned.…

I’ve been slowly working my way through the book of Isaiah with a group of friends.  One of the things that has helped with my this journey is the understanding that large sections of Isaiah are poetry, not “predictions about the future” as we can commonly think of prophets/prophecy.  One of my friends pointed out that it’s interesting think of the prophets as the poets of their time, holding up a mirror to society and seeking to express God’s heart…

In the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about IBY Limitless – the youth group on Thursday nights. It’s a great group to be a part of, full of fun and energy, and the “kids” (who are mostly taller than me!) are enthusiastic and pretty much up for anything. We generally joke around playing some silly games for an hour and then have a shorter chat or “God slot” before supper. Last term we were telling “seed stories”…

I really enjoyed the service on Sunday about Waiting and it really resonated with me and the stage of my life that I have been in. I have been waiting for an opportunity to do more and not really knowing what that looks like, a job, more study, carrying on volunteering. I have been applying for jobs, relieving, filling in for Andrea while she’s been away and doing voluntary work. I have also been patiently waiting on the Lord. I…

I recently read a story in the Guardian about the Yazidi people. The Yazidis live on the edge of Iraq, and have been a target for ISIS because their brand of Islam isn’t pure enough. The story in the Guardian, like many of the recent stories from this area, is bleak and horrific. ISIS take over a village, kill the men, and sell the women into slavery. The story follows the life of one woman, Nour, as she is sold…

Last semester I battled my way through a paper on the Pentateuch. Last week I had the opportunity to preach about Saul and David from 1 Samuel 17: 55 – 19: 24. It has been an opportunity for me to wrestle with parts of the bible I find really tricky to know what to do with. God seems mean and violent and many, many people (who are God’s image bearers) die as the Jewish nation is formed and founded as…

This week, after the America’s Cup win, we heard how close Team NZ were to giving up. After years of training and racing, rethinking their strategies, watching the rules change, getting so close to victory and failing… I bet they thought it was all for nothing. I’ve been writing now for six years, sending out manuscripts, logging rejections, revising, starting over, resending… for five years. Last year I started working with a literary agent but a year on we’re still…

Development is trying to find better ways for people to relate to each other and the environment we share, and then figuring out strategies for how we get there. Complex and challenging – I love it. I work at many different scales that this year have included:- a mental health system of Western Afghanistan, response to climate change at global and local scales, a district level integrated development programme in Cambodia, Community mental health in India…but where is God in…

On Sunday morning, near the end of the service, we had the beginnings of some good conversation around the area of government … what it could, or should look like; what system of government can deliver the best and most just outcomes for the people; with a general election looming ahead, who will be leading our country for the next three years; what part do we need to play in voting in the next government. There is lots of fuel…

In the past couple of months I have felt a little overwhelmed by the enormity of evil and general chaos, environmental damage, social injustice that seems to prevail in every direction I look. I have been thinking about how two key Biblical teachings on personal disciplines, turn out to be also very sound advice endorsed by the ‘evidence’ base of scientific studies. The first of these is in Philippians 4:8 – “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable,…