I thought it would be nice to sprinkle songs through the blog, to help it come alive a little.

Here (thanks to Bethany who sends her Dad all sorts of good stuff) is something to set the tone for a season of spiritual exploring.

One glimpse of that hipster beard, & you know it’s going to be great :

Here is the awe-inspiring biblical text the song refers to, making clear there is so much more going in the heavenly realm than any merely personal desire for self improvement might ever imagine …

The mountain of fear has become the mountain of joy - but still we approach our holy God with humble and reverent obedience, knowing that holiness is the deep & eternal calling we share with all creation :

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it...

So this is putting pen to paper because I finally want to get serious about what it means to be holy.

The context is a 3 month sabbatical in Canada, starting next month for Jebs and I. We kick off with a scenic drive across the Rockies, then have fun with friends exploring Vancouver Island together, and I wind up for a month or so in Regent College library (an Anglican seminary in Vancouver).

Before all that adventure, next week we are also back at the Lee Abbey community, where I was chaplain some 25 years ago. I’m due to give five conference talks on the Beauty of Holiness, reprising and developing a sermon series I gave my congregation in Horsham earlier this year.

My hope is that the beauty of the landscape on our travels - whether tracing the familiar, majestic North Devon coastline or following spectacular routes through mountains & glaciers in British Columbia - will lend a...