prayers as prayed on Morning Service on BBC Radio Ulster this morning... from Fitzroy... Iran, Portadown, my soul... God, rend the heavens and come down...

tomorrow morning Fitzroy is the live service on BBC Radio Ulster... blending the apostle Paul and Paul Hewson... here’s the detail and wee snippet...

we lost Tom Petty on October 2nd 2017... It hit me as hard as any other rock hero death... I miss him still... here’s why...

a short spiritually explosive scene in Blue Lights 4 (no spoilers)... about the madness of acting in grace... Could Drumcree do with a bit of it?

October begins... for days of War, raging across our world, raging inside of our own souls... a U2 psalm to remember that when all the leaves fall off... when the history of nations is done... GOD.

October begins... for days of War, raging across our world, raging inside of our own souls... a U2 psalm to remember that when all the leaves fall off... when the history of nations is done... GOD.

my review and surmise on TV show Blue Lights that I think is the best TV out there at the moment... Belfast... songs... and faith are all here...

My Johnny Cash Reflection for an old ICON event in Belfast... from Elvis to Nine Inch Nails... middle finger gestures and the sign of the cross... mirroring all of us, all of the time...

as my wee country is back at it’s worst... standing off... breaking our hearts... hurting us all... a breath in the tension...

U2 are 50 TODAY. For the exact day I choose this song. Not their biggest BUT the one that I think takes us back into the very first meeting in Larry’s kitchen. A vocation begins. Pilgrims on their way

The day before U2’s 50th... the first U2 song I heard... the one I’d use if I was a boxer coming into the ring... rehearsed in Mount Temple... leading off October...

two days to U2 are 50... The song that Christians missed... misinterpreted... yet put Jesus good news at the top of the US singles charts for weeks... and my fav rendition... in South Africa...

In the week we celebrate 50 years of U2. I am surmising a few songs. Here’s Song for Someone, later 13 (There Is A Light) used cathartically after the Paris bombings... “don’t let it go out”...

For INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY... as our world lurches towards war... everywhere... I argue for the the priority of PEACE in God’s alternative Kingdom... invest in peace...

For INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY... as our world lurches towards war... everywhere... I argue for the the priority of PEACE in God’s alternative Kingdom... invest in peace...

for International Peace Day... and U2 turning 50... Sunday Bloody Sunday... I was there when they first played it in Belfast... it still resonates today, even far beyond our city...

U2 are 50... so 10 days of songs... Amazing Grace is a Bono favourite... here’s U2’s version... “name for a girl and a thought that can change the world”. Indeed!

the Half Marathon is one of our favourite Fitzroy Sunday mornings. Here’s how I moved from opposing it to seeing it as a way to love the city we are called to serve... See you runners in the morning!

the eponymous Buddy Miller record is my favourite since Universal International House of Prayer... stimulates the head... touches the soul... My Nashville record of the Year I’d say!

My favourite movie EVER raises all kinds of spiritual issues and dilemmas... “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies”.

where do we find our identity... our somebody-ness... how a chance watch of Tales of The Unexpected and a gun led me to an image of identity in Fitzroy...

Scottish trio of women Siskeen Green’s second album has all those gasp out loud harmonies in songs across faith, feminism and social change...

I wrote this days after 9/11... as we remember 25 years on... it’s still my advice to the war mongers..

Just a month after 9/11, on 10/10/01, U2 play South Bends, Indiana and attempt to be pastors of a shaken nation... 25 years on, we remember... an excerpt from my book, Walk On

I wrote this days after 9/11... as we remember 25 years on... it’s still my advice to the war mongers..

as our artists go to Stormont to protest the lack of arts funding... I suggest why it is so necessary and ask our politics to not just use arts events for photo opportunities BUT to fund more!

As used in last Sunday’s sermon... Wolterstorff leads us into Calvin with a nice little phrase to aid our discipleship and living out vocation...

This morning, I announced my intention to retire from being minister of my beloved Fitzroy next summer...

from the Seamus Heaney Centre some of the best Belfast poets, reading... on yellow vinyl... it’s better to hear than the read, I say... includes Mark McCambridge sonics and a Lisa O’Neill poem!

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a few Jesus thoughts for the Orange Order to consider as they consult over walking down the Garvaghy Road...

The Killers’ main man goes country on his third solo record and out of the family and friends of childhood asks the big questions of what life is about attaining...

Imagine draining Lough Neagh and creating a community of people on an archipelago of islands called The Ark... mad it nearly happened... but didn’t... so Jan Carson did. Funny, sad and on the money!

For a week we have listened, watched, read and reflected the life of Glen Hansard... we cried through his funeral service today... Here is my reflective surmise on a big life, gone...

For a week we have listened, watched, read and reflected the life of Glen Hansard... we cried through his funeral service today... Here is my reflective surmise on a big life, gone...

If you don't know... Tom Petty's guitarist and co songwriter Mike Campbell has a new band and Mission of Mercy their 4th record is just out... sorry for not saying earlier... my review here...