In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: skills of love

  • What is this world? What asketh men to have ?

    Posted:

    There was once a teacher whose words had unusual power. Crowds gathered wherever he spoke.  But somehow and at the same time, his mere presence seemed to threaten all order and decorum in the city.  With wonderful persuasiveness, he seemed to be calling a whole way of life into question. He was advocating change, astonishing…

  • I and Thou and Charlie

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    In the early 1990’s, I wrote a series of poems called “I hyphen Thou”. The poems explored the image of the hyphen and were suggested by a book by the philosopher/theologian Martin Buber called “I and Thou.” The idea of the hyphen is an old favourite of mine. In fact I run a small charity…

  • I See Everywhere the False

    Posted:

      I see everywhere the false, the masked, the sleek and hollow, the bought and the creatured.   Their words twist the wind tug at my mind and steal from me the hymns of my life the sacred.   True words die the moment they pass between these creatures’ teeth.   Humanity is on the…

  • Wedding words

    Posted:

    Two weeks ago, I gave a speech at a wedding which included this little homily : “In many ways and for various reasons I am not qualified to give advice on how to make a marriage work. But I will say what I have learned, that while delight in each other and caring for each…

  • Mental Health Witness – how to consult with people who have turned to you for help

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    Here is a version of a message just written to a mental health manager who recently sent me a draft-“user involvement strategy” being put together for the service where she works. I am soon to retire from a part-time post as free-lance consultant to a group of mental health service users. My task has been…

  • Mental Health Witness – malpractice in mental health consultation

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    Health and Social Services in the UK often run open meetings for people who use mental health services. Such meetings are seen as opportunities to give people information on new policy developments, as well as letting them “have their say.” By definition, an open meeting means anyone might come, in whatever state they are in.…

  • Shahada

    Posted:

    I have recently imagined myself standing before a man of good sense, deep learning and positive engagement with humanity, and professing to that person my basic beliefs. A profession of faith. A sort of Shahada. Once, in a much less comfortable public situation than mine, Martin Luther found himself setting out his position in similar…

  • A Statement of Principle in time for Christmas

    Posted:

    I suspect that many of us see “principle” as something we can just hive off and leave in airy-fairy land while we hurry out to do our Christmas shopping.  So I’ll say straightaway that, on the contrary,  true and meaningful principle may in the end be the only fact that counts, far more significant and…