Last week Ted Gioia posted another portion of his book Music to Raise the Dead about ‘the power of song as a change agent in human life’. He makes a fascinating point, and although I would steer clear of ascribing agency to non-animate forces,* I support vigorously the argument t … | Continue reading
The last two days I’ve run the morning two miles. Both days I’ve felt all right. Coffee, then Morning Prayer, fruit yesterday, hot breakfast today, various odds and ends of responsibility. I’ve been working on a blog post riffing on some observations by Ted Gioia, but haven’t rea … | Continue reading
So, I dinnae run yesterday or today (might have done today, but I had to catch an early bus and I couldn’t be sure I would run, shower, dress, and catch the bus in time), but I’m planning to run tomorrow. Yesterday was church day, and (as I had not leadership responsibilities) we … | Continue reading
Well, not full-on ‘sick’, lest Rishi Sunak denounce me as a participant in ‘sick note culture’, but definitely down with a cold, and too unwell to run in the mornings. Thursday night I did go to the annual parish meeting, where my team rector announced his paln to retire by the e … | Continue reading
Yes, as it turns out, I do have a cold. So, no running, very little activity at all, unless you count snuffling and coughing as ‘activity’. I showered, made myself a hot breakfast, read Malter Moberly’s The Bible in a Disenchanted Age, napped, stared blankly at social media, doze … | Continue reading
So, Monday and Tuesday I got up and ran my miles, on Monday especially satisfactorily. I rode the people’s limousine into Oxford and helped my charges at Oriel with their revision for collections at the end of the week (and ultimately for their final exams in a few weeks); I ran … | Continue reading
I ran my miles this morning, coffee and fruit breakfast, Morning Prayer, shower and dress for the service at St Nicolas’s, went to Waitrose for particular groceries (gluten-free and veg, since the small Cooperative location doesn’t devote much of its space to our dietary oddities … | Continue reading
Last night, Margaret — whom all will agree is a fine cook — was preparing a spicy roast vegetable dish, when it became clear that she needed to deploy two separate roasting pans. That, in turn, mean preparing two separate batches of spices… (You may see the plot twist on the hori … | Continue reading
Ran my morning two in lovely weather (I am going to be so relieved when spring/summer settles in), fruit breakfast, washed up, Morning Prayer, ran some errands in town, returned and settled in to close out my backlogged marking. In the meantime, Margaret had taken Flora and Minke … | Continue reading
Yesterday was a very full-on working day, with my usual run first thing, coffee, hot breakfast, shower, Morning Prayer, coffee, Chapter Meeting, Pastoral Care Committee meeting, home for writing a blurb for the weekly pew sheet, implementation (including a mind-creasing interacti … | Continue reading
Two miles in chilly, windy drizzle, coffee and fruit, shower and dress, Morning Prayer, second coffee, reading and transcribing Mieneke Cox’s guide to St Helen’s. Marking this afternoon (making headway). | Continue reading
Two miles at a non-demanding pace, fruit and coffee, cleaned up, Morning Prayer with particular intercession for Holly, then in to town for coffee and a pastry with Margaret and Fr Paul. Grocery shopping, a tutorial (cancelled, as it turns out), and marking in the afternoon. It’s … | Continue reading
Two miles at what would no doubt have been a decent pace if it weren’t for the blustery wind — at one point it felt as though there were a hand on my chest holding me back. Coffee, Morning Prayer, fruit breakfast, then Margaret came home after weeks in the US (first and last to… | Continue reading
A pleasant two miles this morning as Storm Kathleen brings 14° temps and clear skies (before wild winds and, no doubt, downpours, since every change of weather somehow has brought rain this winter). Next, Morning Prayer, then hot breakfast, then I’m determined to finish marking a … | Continue reading
I only took the short route this morning, and waled most of that, because as I turned onto the first main road on my morning run, I felt a little flutter in my lower back, as though my back muscles were warning me ‘Just give us an excuse, mate, and we’re going to coil up… | Continue reading
Two miles this morning, fruit and coffee, Morning Prayer, sermon prep, and developing prayers for an Easter service of Lessons and Carols… and I still haven’t gotten to the backlog of work that’s threatening to topple over and flatten me. | Continue reading
Two miles in the morning, coffee and Morning Prayer, hot breakfast, midweek Mass at St Helen’s, lots of time answering emails and editing an obituary… End-of-Life Hack: write your own obituary. Your survivors can edit it anyway, but give them as much as you can to work with. Save … | Continue reading
Obituary in MR magazine I’ll fill this post with a proper fraternal obit when I’ve gathered up the requisite facts and details, and composed my own reflections. For now, suffice it to say that I’m overwhelmed by the flood of testimonies to Holly’s friendships, her longstanding co … | Continue reading
A couple of days of radio silence here — first, because Easter Sunday was as busy as usual, and then as relaxing as possible. Then, because my sister Holly died yesterday morning, and I’ve been by turns paralysed and wobbly as that sank in. So I’m trying to recharge from the spir … | Continue reading
St Helen’s doesn’t have its Good Friday service till evening, so I’m working through the day. Ran this morning at about 6:00, two miles in light drizzle, coffee (no fruit — it’s Good Friday), Morning Prayer, work work work, hope I don’t forget the fast and have a snack before sun … | Continue reading
Most important, keep my sister Holly in your thoughts. She’s having a hard time; Margaret is on her way to sit with her, but there doesn’t seem to be any particularly good news on the horizon. Yesterday I sat down to clear out some backed-up (but not forgotten) marking, when a sm … | Continue reading
Two miles this morning, cup of coffee, Morning Prayer, stop at Post Office, hot breakfast, a little reading, then as I was settling down to mark, Flora developed diarrhea. Whee. | Continue reading
Ran my two miles (plus a wee bit extra), coffee and fruit, Morning Prayer, a cup of coffee and pain aux raisins (why raisins? These are clearly (US/UK) raisins, French raisins secs), home to do some liturgical proofreading and email clearing. I’m getting that Holy Week feeling… | Continue reading
Steady rain during running time this morning, which (along with the 6° chill) kept me indoors this morning. Coffee, fruit, Morning Prayer (in a few minutes), and a Palm Monday service latert this afternoon for some congregants who couldn’t get to church yesterday. | Continue reading
… but only after running your two miles, coffee and fruit breakfast, Morning Prayer, cleaning up, Palm Sunday procession and Mass. The sermon went down well — even I liked it — and now I’m winding down, though I’ll have some errands to run, and have a couple of errands to run. An … | Continue reading
…as Ric Ocasek and the Cars would say. You might think that Saturday would be a day of relief and relaxation — but you would be forgetting that I am a clergyman and this is the day before Palm Sunday and the onset of Holy Week. No rest for the sacred! This will be a… | Continue reading
Chilly drizzle? A drizzle chill? The temperature was not unreasonable this morning, but the air was just past the saturation point with ultra-light drizzle. That brought the perceived temperature down considerably, especially once one had run a bit more than half of one’s two mil … | Continue reading
I’m reading some Paul de Man these days for a particular project, and however culpable his Nazi collaboration and his self-reinvention are, he certainly hits some important marks. ‘Literature, instead of being taught only as a historical and humanistic subject, should be taught a … | Continue reading
Margaret needed to take an early bus this morning, so I walked with her to the High Street stop and started my run from there this morning — meaning that I ran the opposite direction from my usual. It was a startling reminder of how great a difference that perspective makes. Up t … | Continue reading
Somebody asked in an email, ‘What makes you feel alive?’ I’ve been writing an essay on drop-dead deadline, but the pressure hasnb’t felt as vivid as has the excitement of putting thoughts together, and ;looking into what other people have thought on related topics. That makes me … | Continue reading
Ran my morning two miles (more than a mile before a couple of my relevant muscles, whose names I don’t know cos I’m not that kind of runner, loosened up), coffee and fruit, Morning Prayer, quick stop for groceries, second cup and then throwing myself headlong into writing. I pled … | Continue reading
Ran my morning two miles with heavy legs, but not at a lugubrious pace. Coffee and fruit, I’ll go to Morning Prayer in a few minutes, and the rest of the day I’ll try to devote to marking, editing, and writing. | Continue reading
I ran my short route this morning cos it was raining (lightly but steadily); then coffee and Morning Prayer, fruit breakfast I’m changing my hot breakfast regiemn to Sunday and Wednesday, today was a transitional day), morning Mass for Passion Sunday, then the Annual District Com … | Continue reading
Very leisurely two miles this morning, running and walking and even stopping for half a mo, giving my muscles and joints a chance to relax. Then coffee and Morning Prayer in my study, hot breakfast, a morning catching up on this and that, and a little bit of work. I have a vague … | Continue reading
Ran both of the last two mornings: Last morning, very heavy legs and a slow run, and this morning a good pace and limber legs. Coffee and fruit breakfast, shower, and Morning Prayer. Yesterday I came home and leaned into some academic business, t(hen a meeting about fund-raising … | Continue reading
No rain, so I ran my two miles (musing about how I imagined, once upon a time, that it would get easier and easier), coffee and fruit, Morning Prayer, then will stay at church for midweek Eucharist, then home for the afternoon, probably. | Continue reading
Yesterday I dismounted the X3 at St Aldate’s and hastened toward Oriel, where in a half hour I would meet a guest for lunch. As I turned the corner into Blue Boar, I heard someone shouting after me: ‘Bro, Bro, Bro, I need…’ to which I half-turned and waved and called, ‘Sorry, I’m … | Continue reading
When I write about spirituality, I will have to stress that I’m talking about one way, not the only way, and not to the exclusion of other ways. I may have criticisms of other ways, but I will try not to deprecate ways that benefit other people. My point, at every turn, will be t … | Continue reading
No run this morning — steady rain. | Continue reading
One, I really must do something about FB and Twitter, and even BlueSky. My current plan involves taking an interval (initially a day or two, building to longer times) off, peering in, and taking another interval off as soon as practicable. Maybe one medium at a time, not lukewarm … | Continue reading
Following on from yesterday’s post, today my legs felt a bit stronger — not strong exactly, nor limber, but neither did they feel as heavy as yesterday) — and I ran to a plausible, if not particularly exciting pace. Coffee and grapes, Morning Prayer, then to a café for working al … | Continue reading
Having been running daily for years now, I always marvel at how unpredictable the experience will be. Yesterday I made the run at what is for me a decent pace, despite my legs feeling as heavy, leaden, as they ever have; today they were a bit livelier, but my pace was a bit slowe … | Continue reading
Ran my two miles, despite 3° temps and complaining muscles. Coffee and fruit, cleaned up, off to Morning Prayer and a collegial meeting with Prof. Barton before I traipse up to Ox for the last New Testament Seminar of term. Last of term, ah! | Continue reading
Thursday of Eighth, so there are two days left of full term. I have two tutes today, some marking and reports to write, and I have some make-up tutes to arrange, but beginning Friday I will not be receiving any more essays to mark, and everything I do will move me forward to an a … | Continue reading
Ran my two miles in 2° (did I report yesterday’s run? Same deal), coffee and fruit, Morning Prayer, off to the bus stop to just barely miss the X3, eventually got to Oxford to lead tutorials with my four lovely first-years, back to Abingdon, afternoon appointment, and various ema … | Continue reading
The mornings have been lighter and lighter, thank heaven, though the zero and subzero temperatures have been disappointing. Two more miles this morning, anyway. David Weinberger reports his extended interaction with ChatGPT which pivots on the topic of cultural situatedness. He e … | Continue reading
It wasn’t raining this morning, so — why not run my two miles even though it was -1° out on 2 March? I made adequate time. I had spent yesterday working on two sermons (two different congregations, two different sorts of ethos). I was knocked out, then; and it knocked me out agai … | Continue reading
Steady rain this morning, so I doubt that I’ll go for my morning run. At any other point in my life, I would just roll my eyes and marvel at the rainiest spell in memory; now that I live in a low-lying house between two rising rivers, my feelings about a protracted rainy spell ru … | Continue reading