I'm a minister in the Uniting Church in Australia, with two congregations: one in Northcote / Chalice, which now includes Cafechurch Melbourne, and one up the road in Reservoir, confusingly known as Preston High Street. I am
I recently listened to Rob Bell’s podcast, the Robcast, and was struck by the story he told about his a very unsuccessful book tour which he made. The context was that he had recently written his very controversial book Love Wins – see here and here for a few sample reviews. In his previous book tours […]
One of the controversies I often find myself embroiled in is my use of business style language when I talk about church. This is especially true when I use words like “entrepreneur.” So, I wonder: can a church be entrepreneurial? What, in other words, does Donald Trump have to do with Jerusalem? The resonances of […]
I’m generally pretty topic-focused in this blog, a bit shy to share details about what I’m up to and so on. I’m not sure why – I always like to read that sort of thing in blogs I follow – it helps me to feel a bit more connected. Plus I haven’t quite gotten it […]
I was recently blown away by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty. From the huge, decadent party in the opening scenes during which Jep Gambarella, writer and aging roué, is revealed grinning mischieviously at the camera, king of the high life, through the crisis caused by the discovery that the only woman he ever […]
I’ve been struck this week by reading Chris Lowney’s book Heroic Leadership, which is all about the style of leadership pioneered by Ignatius of Loyola, and, at least to some extent, mirrored by the Jesuits in the following 450 years. One of the points he frequently makes is that Ignatius saw his business, and that of […]
Generally I’m not huge fan of New Years resolutions. Things which seem like a great idea in a late-night-champagne induced fit of enthusiasm often vanish in the cold light of day, and it just seems like setting myself up to fail. However. Having said that, I have made a resolution to start this blog again. […]
So I’ve been even busier than I thought – I always bite off more than I can chew – but the dynamic site for Spiritus et Locus is up. Missing a few features? Clunky? Far from perfect? Perhaps all these things. But, nonetheless, it’s up, and you can now register, and start adding images. Let […]
It’s been quite a while since I blogged last. The reason? I’ve been very, very, very busy putting an exciting project together for Cafechurch and Carlton Church of All Nations, called Spiritus et Locus. It’s an interesting challenge – how do you reimagine the ancient practice of the examen for today’s distracted, wired, socially-connected generation? […]
A nun of my acquaintance (actually, I think she might be a sister) told I class I was taking that “your restlessness is what is right with you.” That really struck me because it is so counter-intuitive. The idea that this uncomfortable feeling of restlessness, of always wanting more was in any sense a good […]
This post is about the experience of doubt – what it can be like to question deeply held beliefs about what the world is really like, what makes life living, what the universe is ultimately about. What we might call existential doubt, when you find your whole faith-commitment challenged. A lot of different things can […]
Alister Pate