World Refugee Sunday

June 22nd is World Refugee Sunday. Check out the great resources at the Refugee Highway Partnership to enable you and your church to be more fully educated on this important issue so that the congregation can fully participate. This is one issue that I am really passionate about. Any time I see [...]

Ordinary Time is Extraordinary

The season of the church calendar after Pentecost is usually known as ordinary time not because it is dull and boring, but because it does not have a distinct theme such as the birth, death or resurrection of Christ. I prefer the less familiar term Kingdomtide reflecting the fact that this second half of the [...]

Disaster in Myanmar

This week I am teaching a course on spiritual renewal at the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven CT.  Five of the participants are from Myanmar which has brought the horrors of the devastation of the cyclone in Myanmar very close to me.  Most of these brothers are still unable to contact their families.  [...]

Earth Hour Prayer

Saturday evening at 8pm is the time that we are asked to turn off our lights for an hour for Earth Hour. We are thinking of hold a games evening by candlelight & firelight. I think that this would also be a good time for some quiet meditation. Here is a great Celtic [...]

More Reflections on Lent

Well we are now into the second full week of Lent and if you are anything like me then I suspect that the busyness of life and the tyranny of the urgent that your Lenten practices are slipping into the background. With our conference The New Conspirators, just over a week away and [...]

A Christmas Promise

Joy to the world our Saviour comes
Not in power, not in might
But in the tenderness of love
He comes as the promise of life
Hidden in a mother’s womb
Sing aloud and dance with the angels
God has sent his son to save the world
Love and faithfulness meet together
Righteousness and peace kiss each other
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth
Shout [...]

The Light Shines in the Darkness

“In him was life and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4,5). As I read these words this morning I could not help but remember my first trip to Norway when I flew from New Zealand at [...]

Advent - Hoping for the Promises of God

It is almost the end of the first week of Advent and I am struggling to focus on the hope of God. This has not been an easy week. Monday our basement flooded and we spent the day helping our Mustard Seed House companions Anneke & Peter try to dry out their basement. [...]

Overwhelmed by Advent Response

I am amazed by the how many people have viewed my advent video in the last couple of days. It is obvious that many of use are craving resources to help us live more intentionally into the events that are at the centre of our faith. so I thought I would try to [...]

Going to the Ballet

On Saturday evening I had a chance to go to the ballet.  It was a wonderful experience first because it gave me some very special time with my friend Linda but also because I have always loved the ballet but have had few chances to attend in the last 20 years.  In fact I think [...]