Bigdaddywhale | navigating through faith, mission, community, media & technology

Refusing to give up social media for lent.

February 24, 2012 in Discipleship with 1 Comment

Right from the start let me say I am refusing to give up social media for lent but it doesn’t bother me if you do. At all. And if you have given it up then you probably won’t be reading this anyway!

Also this isn’t an anti “giving-up-social-media-for-lent-rant”

I have previously fasted from social media before and I found it incredibly helpful to put aside distractions and make sure that I actively spent time with my bible when I would be otherwise engaged. But this year feels different.

In fact this lent I’m making an active decision to engage more with these forms of media than I have before.

A reflection on Ash Wednesday: a beautiful language

February 23, 2012 in Spirituality with 1 Comment

For the first time in a very, very long time for me, and the first time ever for Esther we went to an Ash Wednesday service. Firstly, for this particular church it was a break from the norm. As a baptist church I don’t get the impression that they regularly embrace liturgical practices or indeed silence.

Quite simply, I loved it.

The part that really stuck out to me more than any other was at the end during the Blessings of the ashes:
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Moving on: Kore

February 8, 2012 in Journey with 0 Comments

At the point that Esther and I realised that I would be leaving my youth and community roll at Rochford Community Church and together start to explore LOSSuk we realised that there would have to be a few changes.

One of the first decisions that I had to make was a very sad one indeed. To step down as a trustee of KORE.

I had been a trustee since its early days and from the start loved the creative spark of the founders Matt & Juls Hollidge. They explored faith, culture, media and engaged people in a blend of these in ways that I just had not seen before.

Yoga – good for the back, bad for the soul?

January 11, 2012 in Spirituality with 20 Comments

It’s been nearly a year since I “put my back out” Or as I now know it by, discovered I have a bulging disk! After months of waiting I’ve now started to receive treatment. Something I am very thankful for. One thing that I have been told by my physio has been that yoga can be very beneficial to the back if done correctly. I.e. following some cyber character on the Wii fit does not exactly count.

Phenomenology and the approach of God

January 4, 2012 in Discipleship with 6 Comments

If anyone has ever studied counselling you may have encountered Phenomenology (phe·nom·e·nol·o·gy). This is an interesting look at how you would approach a client and work with someone in a counselling setting. To be honest it’s something that you can use in any setting. Phenomenology focuses on three related principles: