#PavementsForPeople 1902 edition

Come to @sarumcollege.bsky.social for an empowering retreat 17-18 Oct with Prof Gillian Ahlgren, recognised authority on the Christian mystical tradition. Discover your potentiality & engage deeply with God & others through #TeresaofAvila's Interior Castle. Book now! www.sarum.ac.uk/short-course...

Happy Methodist New Year! New circuits and districts have launched. Ministers, well travelled and newly minted have landed in their new locations. But what does this year mean for you? With Covid era fading, and new places launching this should be a year or two of bold confidence. Confidence that

This morning I do the Sunday sermon in Iona Abbey. Oh my. The words look so feeble....

Here is hoping for a better tomorrow

To address the crisis of displaced people, we need not to 'stop the boats', but to 'stop the wars'. This is our calling. - Inderjit Bhogal #MethodistConf @methodist.org.uk @cityofsanctuaryuk.bsky.social @publicissues.bsky.social @refugeestogether.bsky.social

appalled by news today. The continued spread of violence and war is like a virus spreading throughout the world. It's time to vaccinate ourselves by investing in nonviolence, international diplomacy & democracy. Nobody wins from the latest escalation of conflict, everyone looses.

Job alert at CCS Durham! Three year funded postdoc in Catholic Social Thought and Practice. More info here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio... #catholicism #skystorians #catholic #academia

And so the tail end of another tricky week is passed. The continued militarization of faith and society is so painful

Oh my

We tried to offer him some money, to at least let up pay for the cabling and switch he installed to make the electronics work right. He refused. Firmly but kindly. Said he found friends here, and that was payment enough.

Why bother?

A challenge and privaledge to address Churches Together in England forum today on “a call to peace”. Very nerve wracking but seemed to go well as some fascinating conversations afterwards

Tomorrows sermon is written. Gorbachev. Jesus. Jerusalem and Couch to 5k....

Today i’ve been listening to stories about Eileen Power and Virginia Woolf. Wow!

Bless the peacemakers…. #prayer #peace

Beautiful stained glass road cyclist at the Glassworks Gallery in Bath #cycling #art #cyclingart

Keith Haring died of AIDS aged 31 on 16 Feb 1990. One of his last works, Unfinished Painting, was deliberately incomplete, reflecting the devastating, unquantifiable loss to the arts due to AIDS. #LGBTplusHistoryMonth

All I'm gonna say is that it's recognised often that St Nick's is incredibly important to the ecosystem of the diocese, both missionally and pastorally, but we've been told unless we increase our parish share to 70k (an amount that's more than double our annual income) we won't get another priest.

Hear @jhoncooper.bsky.social Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation @forpeacemaker.bsky.social speaking on Peace in Ukraine? 19.30 GMT Wednesday 28th January livestream at us02web.zoom.us/j/4101021617...

If you live in and around Norwich, UK, check out @jhoncooper.bsky.social speaking about the possibility of peace in Ukraine. Free admission but booking recommended @forpeacemaker.bsky.social @anglicanpacifists.bsky.social @cnduk.bsky.social @peaceandjustice.bsky.social @dioceseofnorwich.bsky.social

I love @canongate.co.uk as they always have such interesting books and their paper is beautiful to touch. This book from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social is exquisitely laid out which adds to joy! Thank you

Fuck yes. “Starting Sunday, most drivers will have to pay $9 to enter the busiest part of Manhattan.” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/n...

buytickets.at/stcatherines... Faith, Peace, and Justice Forum are delighted to host @jhoncooper.bsky.social Director of @forpeacemaker.bsky.social to speak on Peace in Ukraine? Free admission but booking essential.

Farage would have us believe that he's hugely popular with young men. Seems that young people have a rather different view on the matter. Hilarious stuff from @privateeyenews.bsky.social

Spotted in the wild in Harborne... @tomflood.bsky.social

From a space for cars to a place for people in one of my favourite client cities, Groningen Netherlands. Another powerful before-and-after transformation 1960s vs 2021. In recent years one of the city’s biggest challenges has been where to park all the bikes Seriously. A good problem to have.

Good work from #wallace&gromit tonight - lots of laughter in our house

Some holiday reading

On 5 - 6 June we're supporting a Multi Faith Peace Theology conference at Wesley House, cambridge. A call for proposals/abstracts is out. So if you are an academic or activist, thinker or doer then don't delay and submit your paper abstract today: bit.ly/peace2025

Campaigns and Church Engagement Officer role being advertised. Interesting role. jpit.uk/work-for-us/...

Off for a few days looking at #justpeace with church folks from around Europe

I remember when you could just buy a computer program like Microsoft Word or Photoshop and just have it on your computer forever without having to pay monthly or yearly. What a time that was

🇳🇱 In the 1970s, #Utrecht built a 12 lane road on top of one of the historical canals. 🛥️ In 2020, the Catharijnesingel canal was restored removing the blight of the highway from the city centre. 🏗️ It's not impossible to undo the #UrbanPlanning mistakes of the past with the political will.

It's beginning to look a lot like #christmas

Where a child lives - the built & natural environment around them – is crucial to giving them the best start in life. Our report reveals how better planning & urban design can help to raise the healthiest generation in history. www.tcpa.org.uk/resources/raising-the-healthiest-generation-in-history/

The number of humanitarian workers killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war has reached 341, says the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. 🔴 LIVE updates ⤵️

Exciting moment where key people at church do not talk to you even when you greet them. Why? Mainly because I called out a decision and some control freakery. To think this is a community of love!

A brief guide to my desk.

Attending the Theos Annual Lecture to find out "does the future have a church"

In December I'm heading down to Cornwall for the first time to do some poems at the Cathedral... Wanna come? www.trurocathedral.org.uk/whats-on/car...

Christ is King of all justice, love, forgiveness, and equality. His Kingdom is not from this world. that is not to say, as many have, that his Kingdom is a far off reality to which we blindly aspire. His kingdom is not from this world in that its love has no borders, its justice is unbounded.

This is one of our oversize plan books of London properties owned by St Bartholomew’s Hospital 1848-1927 (normal sized archivist for reference) #EYAHuge #Archives [SBHB/HC/55]

A fascinating book. It examines in some detail the silence of Wesley on Slavery and raises awkward questions that some Methodists would rather avoid.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel" Maya Angelou She was right. As true of institutions as of people.

The International Criminal Court has officially issued arrest warrants for Israel's PM Netanyahu & former defence minister, as well as Hamas's military commander over alleged war crimes

Todays conundrum. Volunteer lead organisations rely on people with time / energy to run them. However the world - including technology - is moving at such at pace that those with time and those with knowledge are not the same people. What top tips do you have on bridging that gap?

I'm studying for a DTh; here's the blurb for my fee payer's website, in case you're interested: Rachel Summers is a pioneer priest based in a forest in East London. She's interested in the links between neurodivergence and outdoor worship, and how these wild ones might rewild the church. ✝️⚓