Sermons And Gubbins

This poem was written for our monthly church poetry group. The theme was 'Regret'. I hope you enjoy reading it! Things I have Regretted  The promises I've broken; The promises that were wrong; The times I should have spoken; The times I should have held my tongue. The follies of my youth; The reserve that comes with time; The times when I have told the truth  when a lie would have been more kind.  Foolish ways I spent my money; Trying too hard to be cool; The jokes I thought were funny  when really they were cruel. The times I should have had more grace; Times I should have taken stands; The times I tried hard to save face  when I should have held up my hands. The times I should have gone to bed; The times I should have not; The times the things that were in my head  were better I forgot. The window glass; the help not lent; That extra glass of wine; The words I said and that I meant; Believing I had time. The late night kiss that never was; The flight I ne...

This sermon was preached at our Sunday morning service on 27th July. The Gospel was Luke 11:1-13 . I hope you enjoy reading it!   This morning, I want to talk about prayer. In our gospel this morning, Jesus’ disciples heard him praying and they wanted in. “Teach us how to pray”, they asked, and Jesus gave them a formula; a very famous formula, but one that seems a bit different from the Lord’s Prayer we pray today. It’s the TL;DR version, if you like (“too long; didn’t read”).   <at some point during the above, Miriam, my daughter, interrupts to ask for promised sweets>   Oh, I’m sorry Miriam, I did say you could have some sweets during my talk – here you go. You go back and sit down now.   <passes Miriam a sweet>   Absolutely shameless that child!   Anyway, Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer (though not completely as we know it). Luke’s version goes like this:   “ Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom c...

I ended up writing two poems for the pub poetry group this month. This one was based on my own prompt - "put it on the back burner", as I had this, and the next line of the poem running around my head. Language warning in this one, but I hope you enjoy reading it anyway! Burning Issues  I cannot deal with this right now. You know how much is on my plate! I have fires left, right and centre. Yours will simply have to wait. So put it on the back burner  And we’ll burn the fucking house down. And then, maybe, some problems won't exist.      The damp, the plumbing, re-hanging the door,      Repainting the walls, and sanding the floor      And the mortgage - won’t be problems anymore I can at least cross those things off my list. Other things will take their place though. If I've burnt the fucking house down. And then some other problems will have to give;      I'll have new issues to sort, and they'll be tough;  ...

This poem was written for our monthly pub poetry group at the Barking Dog. The prompt for this poem was from Jo - "Don't live half a life". When I wrote it, it took itself in a slightly different direction! Half Life In the pub the other night,  Jeff told me that the half life of carbon is about 5730 years. They use that information in carbon dating,       he said. I never asked Jeff about carbon dating. I don't remember asking Jeff about anything at all,       to be honest. I think about 5730 years is how long it has been since Jeff last dated anyone.      Or anything. Carbon-based       or otherwise. I'm seeing Jeff again tonight.

This poem was created for our July church poetry group. The theme was 'music', and so I had the daft idea to write it as a rap... if you know my accent, you would know this isn't something necessarily in my wheel house! I hope you enjoy reading it though - if you catch me in person, you might actually be able to persuade me to read it out! Through the Music Mu sic is what I’m always thinking of. Music; they say it’s the food of love.     And love is God  from heav'n above: The  C omposer, the Song and the Holy Dove. Music is life, this is how we use it; God is creating me through the music. God is creating me through the music.     God is creating me through the music. Music.     It'll feed my soul,     So give me Rock and give me Roll.     Yeah gimme rhyme and give me rhythm;  Gimme a big bit o' bass go with 'em.     Gimme Jazz and give me Funk.     Mash me up Mozart and Punk. Give me synthesised ...