Author Archives: Gerry Lynch

Our Experience of Secret Church in Salisbury

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

This is a bit of a brain dump after the Secret Church event I helped organise in Salisbury last night. If you aren’t interested in the background to our church and our advertising programme, just click down to find out … Continue reading →

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Thoughts Occasioned by the Sunday Morning Long-Path Opening to Australia and New Zeland, 9th March 2008

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

I will go to forty metres On this sunny BERU morn Where the strong Antipodeans Make me glad that I was born. Signal bearing polar flutter From the town of Christchurch fair, Lands upon this Irish meadow Answering my silent … Continue reading →

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A Journey of the Mind to Ancient Antioch

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

A reflection on Acts 11:19-26 for Diocese of Salisbury staff prayers. Try to imagine the world of Antioch as the refugee disciples in our reading would have known it. Antioch was the third largest city of the contemporary Empire, after … Continue reading →

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Praying for Ian Paisley’s Soul

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

Crossposted to Slugger O’Toole… I have prayed for the happy repose of the soul of Ian Paisley. Initially almost to make him turn in his grave, but then with sincerity. The Book of Common Prayer says that Christ died as … Continue reading →

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Jesus Went to Birmingham. Did the People Let Him Die?

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

Every Eucharistic service, in whatever Christian tradition, is a recreation of the Last Supper. I’m at a work conference in Birmingham at the moment, staying in a hotel bang opposite the Cathedral, so I joined the 8 a.m. congregation there … Continue reading →

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Two Ceasefires and A Coming Out: A Memoir

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

Cross-posted at Slugger O’Toole… I’ve been thinking about coming out. There have been a few horror stories doing the rounds recently: Vicky Beeching’s harrowing life and those of Lyra McKee’s friends. It’s made me think about how it was for me, all those … Continue reading →

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Is Paddy Ashdown right? Is it time for an end to Sykes-Picot?

Posted on August 16, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

Paddy Ashdown had an unusually courageous article in the Guardian on Thursday calling for the West to accept that the 1920s-era boundaries of Middle Eastern countries should be redrawn. Courageous doesn’t mean sensible. How does his argument stack up? “This … Continue reading →

Posted in Global, Middle East | Comments Off on Is Paddy Ashdown right? Is it time for an end to Sykes-Picot?

Nobody loves themselves a conspiracy theory anywhere in the world like they love themselves one in the Middle East

Posted on August 14, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

The latest conspiracy theory doing the rounds in the Middle East: ISIS is a front established by the USA to legitimise a reinvasion of Iraq, and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is actually a Jewish actor called Shimon Eliot. (Of … Continue reading →

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BBC News Report – Good Friday Agreement Referendum Results

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

BBC News report from referendum results day 1998. A very youthful me briefly appears in in the background 34 seconds in. Paisley being a bad tempered bad loser in denial is particularly choice. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORZDh30BYLw&w=560&h=315]

Posted in Northern Ireland, UK | Comments Off on BBC News Report – Good Friday Agreement Referendum Results

Feast of the Transfiguration: Thousands Face Death on the Mountain

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Gerry Lynch

#Yezidi refugees from #Shingal. Children, women and old people without water, food and safety! #TwitterKurds pic.twitter.com/RhqhbmmWLg — êzîdîPress (@EzidiPress) August 3, 2014 Mountains are somewhere apart from the mainstream of the world. They are often gorgeous, above the general fray … Continue reading →

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