easter

By johnnydouglas|2015-04-11T11:12:50+00:00April 5th, 2015|church life, discipleship, faith, leadership, personal, theology|

Easter Day celebrations are the best and truest. To join with others. To be caught up in the joy of Jesus is the best thing! And here's a prayer written for our Easter Day, evening worship.... "When everything was dark and it seemed that the sun would never shine again, your love broke through. Christ is risen! Your love was too strong, too wide, too deep for death to hold. Christ is risen! The sparks cast by your love dance and spread and burst forth with resurrection light. Christ is risen! Gracious God, We praise you for the light of [...]

five on Friday

By johnnydouglas|2015-02-25T22:54:57+00:00March 6th, 2015|church life, coaching, discipleship, faith, leadership, personal, theology, writing|

“Cowards live for the sake of living, but for heroes, life is a weapon, a thing to be spent, a gift to be given to the weak and the lost and the weary, even to the foolish and the cowardly” Empire of Bones by N D Wilson 1 Dark nights provoke dark questions. The care of the soul matters. 2 Fiction writing that will shape your theology. A great list here. 3 Questions that lead us well to Easter Day. Provocative stuff. 4 Confessions of flawed pastoral leadership. Wise stuff. 5 Seven things that keep life simple. Helpfully so!

bigger

By johnnydouglas|2014-04-25T09:10:44+00:00April 28th, 2014|church life, discipleship, faith, leadership, theology, Uncategorized|

death, failure and struggle! These would not make a compelling conference title?! Right. Yet its the unavoidable way of the New Testament. It's the fruit of Easter-life. That death proceeds life, that yielding gives way to glory. Maybe we don't need a turnaround church. A prevailing this, or a successful that. Maybe we need a dying church, one that is heeding Jesus' call to die to itself, to take up its cross, and to follow Him. It's never clearer than in John 12: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; [...]

truly

By johnnydouglas|2014-04-17T11:17:23+00:00April 19th, 2014|church life, discipleship, faith, leadership, personal, theology, Uncategorized, writing|

Bob’s thought*

By johnnydouglas|2014-04-17T08:16:55+00:00April 17th, 2014|discipleship, faith, leadership, personal, theology, Uncategorized|

"This Sunday is Easter Day. It is a bittersweet truth that Jesus needed to die in order to live again. My walk through Holy Week will be in the company of Pope Francis who has talked of churches needing to go through a process of discernment, purification and reform. Discernment is on Maundy Thursday. For Jesus this was the realization that as he walked towards his death one of his own would betray him. For me it is the recognition that in the life of the church I have often hidden behind a grey pragmatism. Purification comes on Good Friday. [...]

Eastertide prayer…..

By johnnydouglas|2012-04-26T16:56:25+00:00April 21st, 2012|discipleship, faith, leadership, personal, theology|

God Almighty, The world is infused with the power of Christ’s resurrection. The seed that was sown is now blooming. The bulb that was buried is now blossoming. All of creation is transfixed by the beauty of new life. The tiniest of birds sings the mightiest of songs as the morning sun rises. Come everyone, meet the dawn of all creation! Be warmed by the comforting light of Christ. Amen

the ‘ta-dah’ effect!

By johnnydouglas|2012-04-14T22:31:09+00:00April 10th, 2012|church life, discipleship, faith, fun, theology|

In my Easter day talk, I shared about a teacher telling her eight-year old pupils about the resurrection story. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the empty, she asked: "And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus first words." And then extending her arms [...]

between

By johnnydouglas|2012-04-26T17:29:09+00:00April 6th, 2012|church life, discipleship, faith, leadership, personal, theology|

Between cross and resurrection* There is only silence A body dead in a closed tomb Between cross and resurrection There is only sorrow Grief caught in the horror and the loss Between cross and resurrection There is only looking For a sign of hope, a sign of life Between cross and resurrection Is where we find our lives Trapped in the space between death and living Struggling to believe another world is possible Seeking to make sense of the whys and the wheres Between cross and resurrection Is where we wait Wedged in the space between despair and hope Where [...]

at the foot of the cross

By johnnydouglas|2012-04-09T14:40:26+00:00April 6th, 2012|church life, discipleship, faith, leadership, personal, theology|

I had the privilege of leading a last hour,.....at the foot of the cross. Good Friday 2012 I led a journey in a company of Mary Magdelene, Salome, Mary the mother of Jesus and John, the beloved disciple. Different format, different space altogether at the foot of the cross.  At the foot of the cross,  where I kneel in adoration,  And I lay my burdens down  I exchange all my sin  for the promise of salvation  And Your name across my brow. At the foot of the cross,  I give up my vain ambition  And I leave my selfish pride  In the peace that is there,  will You restore my [...]

trauma unit

By johnnydouglas|2012-04-08T21:56:07+00:00April 5th, 2012|church life, discipleship, faith, fun|

I read this in our Maundy Service,.... "It was never meant to burst from the body so fiercely, to pour unchanneled from the five wounds and the unbandaged brow, drowning the dark wood, staining the stones and the gravel below, clotting in the air dark with God’s absence. It was created for a closed system–the unbroken rhythms of human blood binding the body of God, circulating hot, brilliant, saline, without interruption between heart, lungs, and all cells. But because he was once emptied, I am each day refilled; my spirit-arteries pulse with the vital red of love; poured out, it [...]