Recent content by revjohn

That depends on what she wants her status to be following retirement. Some retain connection to the region so that they continue to be eligible for Retired Supply. Others disconnect because they are no longer interested in serving the wider Church in any formal capacity.

This is really important. Our friends and loved ones know who we are and what we are about. They know our strengths and our weaknesses. They know fact from fiction. As long as we have them on our side we can stand against a storm. They will also tell us when we can and should do better. John

It certainly is not an easy task.

I am reminded of Miroslav Volf's book "The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World" and his central argument that the proper goal of remembering in non-remembrance. Which seems counter-intuitive and probably doesn't work well outside of a Christian perspective. In remembering...

Not going to lie. There have been days when walking into the ocean and seeing if I could learn to breathe the saltwater seemed like a saner agenda. I may or may not be on my way out of that murky valley. Maybe it is just a reprieve. And I am not alone. I am blessed to have some truly...

God is good. Everything else might fall well or slightly short of good. God is, nonetheless, still good. Reminds me of one of my favourite parts of the Book of Daniel has Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego on the hearth stones of a blazing furnace. They will be forced inside if they do not bow...

We'll see if I can sustain it. I am not rushing towards retirement. Foot dragging might be more appropriate. The last two years have been perhaps the hardest I have had to cope with professionally. There is still a lot I need to debrief and unpack and that comes with knowing that at the end...

Coming late to the party I can only point out that I planned to observe Lent this year and on the personal side of things I have managed those observations. It was the corporate liturgy element that Mother Nature impinged upon. I am in a part time appointment. Prelude to retirement though my...

I'm sorry about that. I think I may have announced I was heading off on vacation once and then just had stuff happen (life) stuff that got in the way of coming back. Friends on FB have seen some of the shenanigans but I haven't been completely candid with how some of those life event hit me...

Thanks. Nice to be seen. Sorry I have been away. Maybe someday I could enumerate the number of distractions from WC2 I have had to deal with over the last four years. I don't even know if I can step back into where I was. There is a lot of stuff to catch up on if I want to get back in...

Work my way through the bewilderment and listen to what it is that I have done that makes such anger a reasonable response. Examine my words, thoughts and deeds that are lifted up as the genesis for the anger and consider what is valid and what is not. Sometimes I am just the last straw so I...

This is not a healthy way to fight. As we store the stuff up we can never store it neutrally. Over time the injury is multiplied and the one who has injured us becomes increasingly evil. At some point we shift from "storing" an injury into "creating" a larger one. I try very hard not to do...

I regret that this is so I also regret that this be so. i hope that this want will be fulfilled. And why not be proud. This little one will be a part of your legacy upon the earth. The wisdom and love that you have shared will continue to shape her life through the family you have given to...

Please identify the lie and your proof that it is a lie. There have been bigger and more recent reads of scripture that make much hay from skimpy bits of text. The Prayer of Jabez and the Rapture come to mind. Doubtful either will last as long as the Trinity have. The doctrine of the Trinity...

Not confident that is a correct representation of Ehrman. Ehrman accepts the long reading of Matthew 28: 19 which includes an explicit Trinitarian reference. Detractors of the Trinitarian formula in Matthew 28:19 frequently cite Eusebius (who is known to abbreviate texts when citing them)...