Thinking about the forty years since I was ordained in 1982, I was wondering about how the pastor’s work ethic has changed over that time. I write at a time when there is lots of talk about the value, or otherwise, of working from home. …

Not sure if you noticed, but there has been a two-week break in the blog. This is not because I ran out of ideas or merely forgot; I have been on holiday. This has been my longest holiday since starting to work for the School of Preachers. …

Always nice to be back preaching at Lancing Tab, where I served as pastor for 22 years. I was assigned the text Mark 8:22–38. This contains the first clear signal of the kind of death that Jesus was going to die. This announcement comes immediately after Peter’s ground-breaking confession, “You…

In a year or two most people will not remember who won an Oscar in 2022, but everyone will remember that punch! As it happens, it was the winner of the best actor award who threw the punch, but it will be the swing on the stage rather than the…

March 2022 marks the second anniversary of the start of the School of Preachers Trust. It is also exactly two years since these the first ripples of news concerning Covid 19 began to hit the shores of my consciousness. I was on my first overseas trip as the Training Director…

“It’s striking how much more vivid the Psalter becomes when you have friends in a war zone.” (Andrew Wilson, Think Theology) I have certainly found that being in Riga at this time has brought the reality of war in Ukraine much closer. It was the lens through which I read…

Last Sunday I was preaching in Hove (actually). This week I was preaching in Riga. Two very different contexts but in both there was a sense that we are living at a difficult time and in both I preached on the same text: Mark 9:14–29. I wrote about that in…

While listening to the 8am news on BBC on Sunday morning I glanced out of the window and saw a reflection of light from a mirror that formed what looked like a tiny rainbow. It reminded me to pray for the miracle of peace in Ukraine. A few days earlier…

I received an interesting question from a student at a preaching class this week: “How can we avoid sugar coating our sermons?” Sugar coating sermons can be a temptation for the preacher who wants to be liked. Mary Poppins suggested that, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…