part time priest

habits of retreat

At this time of year, people are kind enough to ask me ‘how did your retreat go?’ and I normally answer ‘very well thank you’. But what makes a good retreat and what do I gain from the habit of retreat? It’s hard to put into words, but it might be summed up in three…

exploring contemplative prayer

Sabbatical July-October 2024 July 2024. It is perishing cold swimming off Iona, even in July, but we gamely wade in, encouraged by two young American bathers from Colorado. The sheer physicality of cold-water swimming is good for clearing the head apparently. It is certainly invigorating. Iona abbey from the north end of the island,…

surprise, surprise!

It’s Ordination time again in the Church of England. A time when memories of that splendid day come flooding back for us old-timers, plus some perhaps more realistic reflections on the way we thought ministry would be, and the way it actually was – this strange ordained life that’s full of surprises. So, in no…

on pumpkins, super heroes & Luther

At this time of year I normally get an urge to carve a pumpkin. Something about the bright orange, the squishiness, the shapes you can make (mainly TEETH) and the fact you get to place a tea light inside…it’s all so glow-y and tactile and alluring. And of course, highly seasonal. But sadly, as an…

on being green and feeling blue

I knew something was up when I started to nervously avoid the weather forecast. This was in the summer of 2018. Before that (confession time) I cared IN THEORY about global warming but suffered from the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mindset that meant because I didn’t see the problem on my doorstep, I…

on being

Fancy being ‘paid to pray’! That’s what my life as a priest looks like, though, from one angle. I’m still trying to habituate myself to it, after many years of ‘unpaid’ (‘self – supporting’, aka non-stipendiary) ministry which essentially for me meant living off someone else’s salary. I used to think the C of E…

only joni

I’m not one for hoarding but there’s one cassette tape I’ll never throw away. It was compiled by a friend at Uni, from her personal collection of Joni Mitchell LPs and presented to me, beautifully filled in with handwritten lists on those paper inserts tapes had, so I would know which songs had been recorded…

are things getting worse?

I don’t know if it’s the preserve of religious people, but we do like to talk about how things were better in the past, or to flip this, how things are now getting worse. The Church of England narrative about financial decline (or to be more generous – let’s call it streamlining) is in full…