Author Archives: repairerofwalls

Last week I blogged about the theology of posture in worship – how do we enable everyone to worship God with the whole of their bodies, even though almost all of us experience some kind of limitation on our bodies at some point in our lives, and some of us experience that permanently, or longerContinue reading “Worship, Posture & asking people to stand, a postscript: online church”

In almost every church service I have been in (apart from the ones I have led), the congregation have been invariably asked to stand to sing, affirm their faith or say the liturgy. As someone for whom standing can be difficult, I think we need to explore why we do these things in our services,Continue reading “Worship, posture and asking people to stand”

This morning I had the honour of preaching at Leicester Cathedral, as part of their Lent season theme “Salt of the Earth”, focusing on social action. Here is the text of what I shared (the recording is available here). We live in a broken world. That much is clear from the news, from our ownContinue reading “Reconciliation for a Broken World: responding to God’s grace”

Here is a kind of poetic reflection that I wrote for Epiphany… What King is this, That the stars have changed their course? What King is this, That the heavens should shift? What King is this, Born to be king of the Jews?   We must go and search for him, Bow down and worshipContinue reading “An Epiphany Reflection…”

It’s been a while since I’ve written. Today I had the privilege of preaching on Isaiah 35 – a wonderful poem about the hope of restoration. I share an amended version (in the sermon I invited people forward for prayer for healing, so I have changed some of it to make sense online), in theContinue reading “Promised restoration”

Where do we turn to meet our thirst – our spiritual thirst? We have a choice: 1) the spring of living water, ever fresh, always renewed, rich in the minerals as it flows continually from its source OR 2) We can dig cisterns to try to hold water. These cisterns must not break, crack orContinue reading “The Spring of Living Water”

A brief reflection on disability, independence & identity, originally written as an entry for Theology Slam 2018. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139 is my favourite psalm, and yet, this truth can be hard to hold onto in the midst of the frustration, pain and suffering from disabilities. One of my biggest frustrationsContinue reading “Celebrating weakness”

It’s been a very long time since I wrote, but today, on the 17th anniversary of my baptism, on a year when the date of my baptism is, once again, Remembrance Sunday as well as Remembrance Day, it feels like a good time to start again. I remain always thankful that the church I grewContinue reading “Sharing Our Stories”

This week has been a week which is beyond the imagination of many in the West. A week of violence, death and barbarity, which has seen a Christian singer shot dead whilst signing autographs in Orlando, a policeman and his wife shot dead in France, 49 people killed by one man at the Pulse nightclubContinue reading “When violence seems all around”

It’s been quite a while since I last wrote. Since then I have moved home, started a new job and settled in a new church. It has been a strange and challenging time, of finding my feet in ‘proper adult life’, finding a routine and trying to listen to God in the midst of allContinue reading “Life”