Speaking Out
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
November 2012
From an early age there are the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ – this sense of being on the right or the wrong side of a situation. Played out through toddler television shows, to seemingly every Disney animated film, computer games and the endless ranges of toys for both boys and girls – it is about those that we’re rooting for and those that when they get their comeuppance it’s what they deserve.
Act.
October 2012
Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you’ve just suggested an idea, only by suggesting it you’ve also put yourself forward to action it? It’s that sinking feeling of why didn’t I keep my mouth shut, why did I have to speak up, now I’m going to have to actually do something about it.
As easy as falling off a bike?
September 2012
As we set off, heading along the path the storm clouds of ‘what am I doing’ were fast setting in. It had seemed like such a great idea, one that would be so much fun, the highlight of the holiday, a grand day out for ‘the boys’, but all I could see was disaster on the horizon. We’d done 100 yards and we had 100 yards less of 17 miles still to go.
My son Ewan and I had ventured out for a day’s cycling together. Nothing too adventurous there one might think, but take in to account that prior to this outing Ewan had only ever ridden a bike with the help of stabilisers…
The Choice is Ours
May 2012
Life is full of choices; big ones, little ones, those that have no real impact and those that have earth-shattering consequences. For the church in terms of its engagement with and ministry amongst children, there are many questions to consider. All of which are impacted, I believe, by the reality that the time we have the privilege of working amongst them, will shape who they are right now and the part they play within the church as it heads on in into the time to come.
A recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development suggested that Britain has one of the worst social mobility rates in the west. In other words, the study seemed to suggest that by the time a child is three.…
Singing for your Supper?
March 2012
“You don’t want me to sing do you?” According to Andrew Stanton, the director of award winning animated movies such as WALL-E and Finding Nemo, when the team at the Pixar Animation Studio met with the actor Tom Hanks, (who was to voice the character Woody in their first feature film Toy Story, co-produced with Walt Disney Pictures) that was one of his first questions.
At the time the animated films that were successful were the likes of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Working with Pixar to produce Toy Story, from Disney’s perspective there was the expectation that certain elements would be required to make it a ‘hit’ animated movie. Whereas the team at Pixar said, ‘no songs, no ‘I want’ moment, no happy village and no love story’, Disney apparently wanted to see songs, specifically an ‘I want song, a happy village song and a love story’.…
Indoctrination of the Word?
February 2012
As I tore off the wrapping paper it was with sheer excitement that I held in my hands the 9 disc box set, containing all 32 episodes of the original series. In that moment a whole array of childhood memories flashed before my eyes; from sitting in front of our TV engrossed, wondering whether ‘they’ had finally met their match, to the night I attended ‘An Evening with Gerry Anderson’ back in 1993 at the then newly opened Plymouth Pavilions. If you haven’t guessed, as a child, I jumped with both feet into the cultural revival for what was one of the aforementioned Mr Anderson’s most favoured TV series – Thunderbirds!…
Communication and the hour-glass of time
October 2011
It was one of those ‘Kodak moments’. The piece of cake was massive, the icing gooey and he loved it! As we celebrated my son’s fifth birthday recently I was reminded of similar scenes when I was celebrating the birthdays of my childhood. However vivid the memories though, I am no longer the little boy filling his cake with as much chocolate and E-numbers as possible, how the times have changed and the years passed…
Excellence in Simplicity
July 2011
In life I believe it can be all too easy to constantly be comparing ourselves to those around us. Whether it is in the way we act, the words we say, the choices we make or the things we do—there seems to be that unwritten rule that we must always be striving for more. In a similar vein, when it comes to ministry amongst children and the opportunity of reaching out to the children of our communities, it can so often seem that there is a level we must attain, a service we must offer and something new we must provide…