Sunday, December 03, 2017

Advent Thought 1 and Number 3

The first took place in 1975. The woman I've been married to for the last forty years told me that I needed to sort out my faith if I wanted to sort out my life with her. It was a brave thing for her to say. She didn't want to lose me but risked it. Amazed that for her there was something more important than me (I was an arrogant kid) I did the necessary thinking and sorting.

Three years later came the second. Challenged to wok out what I was going to do with my life I accepted the suggestion to offer for ordination. This has now been my path for thirty three years and, furthermore, has helped me psychologically to accept that I didn't make the decision caused by the first conversation just to get the girl. This one took place in a gym store cupboard.

The third was when a wise rector asked me, about three years into a second curacy, if there was anything else I wanted to do that I hadn't done yet. I said I fancied trying my hand at writing and he arranged for me to have a short project and the inside of a week to complete it. About 1990 that would be. I have considered myself a writer of sorts ever since and have had several years of employed ministry where that was the lead task.

Your words have immense power to change lives. So. Advent thought and spiritual (or non-spiritual if you don't share my perspective) exercise 1. What three conversations have been most influential in your life?

'The formula for heaven's very simple.'

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