For over thirty years Alan Neale has spoken with passion, relevance, authenticity and humor of themes that are profound and pressing; the profound he makes simple and accessible, the pressing he makes immediate and welcoming. All these years past have provided little time for Alan to write extensively and so now he begins a long-postponed desire and there are many themes waiting to be translated into books; the task is daunting and enthralling and he longs to begin in 2015
There has, without doubt, been a a truly “Papal glow” hovering and permeating the cities visited by Pope Francis. His magnetic and charismatic presence of authentic devotion, humility and service have astounded the cynic, inspired the faithful and brought hope to the doubtful. His words have been congruent with his person, truly “he has taught… Continue reading
Aesop and the Power of Story Newly ordained and fresh from seminary, thirty seven years ago, I was foolish enough to believe that I had “the power”. The power to change, transform lives by the dry and arid sharing of theology. Such power, I then believed, would only be harmed by stories. Given all this… Continue reading
How beautifully simple! Only last night I was telling the most useful way of remembering names that I learned in US, but not in UK. You will know the technique… once introduced to someone used their name as often as possible in the conversation. Not so often as to appear a dullard and automaton, but… Continue reading
In pre-marital conversations I will often raise the question, “What place have secrets in a loving and trusting relationship?”. Really this involves the presence and consequence of lying about the truth. The lying, deceiving partner must recognize that it will take some time, an incalculable time, for the other partner to regain confidence in the… Continue reading
So, rumor has it that the Pope met with Ms. David – he gave her a blessed rosary and urged her to “stay strong”. There are questions about the usefulness of the Pope entering into a “domestic squabble”. If the rumor is true the rosary gift and the words of encouragement indicate a dismissal of… Continue reading
The wisdom from holy writings (below) indicate the process by which a relationship/organization/conversation can be renewed and enlivened. #1 King Hezekiah was given the task of bringing renewal back to the relationship between God and the people. He “opened and repaired the doors”. He recognized the wisdom of paying attention to accessibility and visibility. A… Continue reading
“One of the priests came and taught them how they should worship the Lord” 2 Kings 17:28 “They worshiped the Lord but also served their own gods” 2 Kings 17:13 The defining role of a priest is that she/he portrays the divine in all glory so that worship is almost inevitable, immediate, spontaneous. But also… Continue reading
The purpose of the sermon is to show how Jesus sometimes uses “aggressive language” to seize our attention and stress the crucial nature of his message. Sermon Audio As it happens, the sermon also raises how we read the Bible and is a challenge to fundamentalist literalists (of any persuasion) to explain the criteria they… Continue reading
William/Katie ecstatic; Harry, well… not so much. I don’t think this will lead to a rebellion amongst the royals. Click: Healthy Family DIfferences – No real royal pains!
Only this morning I am writing about the need to place Bible verses into context; “a text without a context is a pretext for a proof text” – Dr. T. Anderson. Tired (or lazy) minds tend not to work to see the “big picture”, the context. In terms of inter-faith relationships, we do not do… Continue reading