Being Authentic

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Perception is reality. Lee Atwater, who was an advisor to the US Republican Party in the 1980s, lived by this mantra.  He was a master of ‘negative politics’, hired by George HW Bush for the 1988 Presidential campaign, and helped to turn around a massive deficit to bring Bush Snr to the White House over […]
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A celebration of ceremony

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Recently at Ignite we were all part of a very special event where five people from our community were baptised or reaffirmed their baptisms. We had a fun trip to the beach, watched our friends get dunked and heard their stories. But it wasn’t just a nice day to give you a warm and fuzzy […]
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Freedom

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Freedom. It’s a very popular concept in America. It gets tossed around a lot. Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. And of course, everyone’s favourite for pursuing their own agenda: “It’s a free country.” It’s something we love to talk about as if we invented the concept, and yet other than a nationwide picnic and […]
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A Letter of Sister Fiona to the Ignite-ations

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Fiona, a follower of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, To God’s people in Blackrock and beyond, the faithful community in Urban Junction: Grace and peace to you. I always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when I think of you. For you have faithfully, with perseverance and enduring patience, served […]
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Words are Powerful Things

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Words are powerful things. They affect how you think. Even in tiny ways, in the days’ outlook and approach. ‘Love’ is one I’m always careful with. This is probably due to the Anne of Green Gables books, where I think I remember a redoubtable old woman disapproving of the usage of the day: ‘love’ being […]
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Janey, I’m exhausted!

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The gym. It strikes fear into any person. The thoughts of running and weights and machines and sweat and pain and suffering! It’s an awful experience really, yet I pay for it! It is a real struggle to go to the gym, so recently I decided to mix things up and start attending a boot […]
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Words

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I sensed the crumbling of a dream in the one-sided phone conversation which I overheard.  I watched the face wilt as words delivered the difficult advice to step down.  They weren’t going to make it.  The Points were now out of reach.  The race for that dream was over, and they’d have to let it […]
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The Power of Music

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I was in the car sitting at a red light listening to the radio, when the dj said he was going to play a song that was guaranteed to make you turn up the volume and sing along. Pffft, I thought, stretching out my hand to change the channel in a fit of musical cynicism […]
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Have you got the time?

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I’m sure you don’t feel too busy, right? You have plenty of time for everything you want to do? You’re on top of it all, right? What’s that you say? You don’t feel like that? Well, it’s hardly surprising, I think it would be tough to find someone who does feel this way. We all have […]
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Spiritual Arrogance?

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This week a pastor and several of his followers were sentenced to 30 years in prison for a “fatal exorcism” in Nicaragua. The accused testified that they believed the 25-year-old victim was possessed by the devil (or some reports say “demons”). They reportedly tied her up without food or water the chapel of an evangelical […]
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