After enough unexpected detours, delays, and challenges, even a single trouble-free day can feel like a small miracle. Good companions, beautiful surroundings, and a memorable seafood feast become occasions for gratitude as much as celebration. With warmth, self-deprecating humour, and the joy of a pilgrim finally catching a welcome break, this reflection explores how God’s grace often arrives in ordinary moments of peace, reminding us to savour the gifts that sustain both body and soul along the journey.
Category Archives: Humour and Clergy life
Walking the Camino Episode 1B: LORD, GIVE ME PATIENCE… AND I NEED IT NOW!
Patience is one of the virtues we most admire and one of the hardest to practice—especially when travel plans unravel, technology refuses to cooperate, or life refuses to keep our schedule. With warmth, self-deprecating humour, and a pilgrim’s growing wisdom, this reflection explores the spiritual gift of patience, reminding us that God’s timing is often slower than our own, but almost always richer in grace than we could have imagined.
Walking the Camino – Episode One: The Journey Begins
The first day of the Camino is filled with anticipation, excitement, and the quiet realization that months of preparation have finally become reality. As each step carries the pilgrim farther from the familiar and deeper into the adventure, God’s presence begins to reveal itself in unexpected ways. With warmth, humour, and gratitude, this reflection marks the beginning of a life-changing journey, reminding us that every pilgrimage starts with the courage to take the first faithful step.
Walking the Camino The Prologue: On the Eve of the Journey
The night before a pilgrimage is filled with a unique mixture of excitement, gratitude, nervous anticipation, and quiet prayer. Bags are packed, plans are made, yet the greatest preparation is taking place within the heart. With warmth and the hopeful spirit of a pilgrim about to begin, this reflection explores the sacred stillness that comes before the first step, reminding us that every journey of faith begins by entrusting tomorrow into God’s loving hands.
Let Your Blisters Bless You
Blisters are rarely anyone’s goal on pilgrimage, yet they often become unexpected teachers. The discomfort they bring slows us down, humbles us, and reminds us to accept help, extend grace to ourselves, and trust the journey one careful step at a time. With warmth, gentle humour, and the wisdom of the Camino, this reflection explores how even life’s painful places can become blessings, revealing that God often shapes our deepest growth through the very challenges we would have preferred to avoid.
Repentance in Real Time: What How to Be an Antiracist Taught Me About Discipleship
True repentance is more than feeling sorry—it is allowing God to reshape our hearts, our assumptions, and the way we live in relationship with others. The lifelong work of confronting prejudice, listening deeply, and growing in justice is an essential part of Christian discipleship. This reflection explores repentance as an ongoing practice of grace, reminding us that the Holy Spirit continually invites us into greater humility, courage, and love for all our neighbours.
Seeing Christ in the Everyday: The Sacred Hidden in Plain Sight
Christ is often encountered not only in extraordinary moments, but in the quiet beauty of everyday life. A familiar conversation, a shared meal, a walk through creation, or a simple act of kindness can become a window into God’s presence. This reflection explores the sacred hidden in plain sight, reminding us that the eyes of faith learn to recognize Christ already at work in the ordinary rhythms of each day.
Fore! Golfing with Crazy Print Pants
Sometimes the Gospel meets us on the golf course as readily as it does in the pew. With a smile, a colourful pair of golf pants, and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humour, this reflection discovers that joy, humility, and good companionship may be just as important as keeping the ball on the fairway. Faith, like golf, is often less about perfection than about learning to enjoy the journey.
Our Hearts Burn within Us – Finding Jesus Christ in the Everyday
The disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize the risen Christ at first, yet something within them stirred long before their eyes were opened. This reflection explores those quiet moments when our hearts begin to awaken to God’s presence, reminding us that faith often grows through conversation, companionship, and the surprising ways Christ walks beside us on life’s ordinary roads.
On Maintenance and Mission
Churches can easily become preoccupied with keeping the lights on and the building maintained. Yet Christ continually calls us beyond preserving what we have toward sharing the hope we have been given. This reflection explores the vital difference between maintenance and mission, reminding us that congregations truly come alive when they turn their attention outward and become indispensable servants of their communities.