An ADHD Journey

Some random and not so random thoughts ... due to my brain this blog will likely be updated whenever I remember it exists

Home: About Me

About Me

I'm a 40 something year old living in Leeds and currently doing freelance workaround disability theology. I have a PhD in the History of Science and am c training for ministry in the Methodist Church. All views expressed in this blog are my own and do not reflect on my training institution or the Methodist Church more widely.

As for the rest of it, that is very much what this blog is about but in some respects it all started with the question "who is Paul Coleman" I'm kind of curious to find out.

Learn More

When Even Avoiding Football Becomes Difficult

Getting away from football in the UK is difficult at the best of times, but the 2026 World Cup has become impossible to ignore before a ball has even been kicked. Reports from the United States raise serious questions about hospitality, authenticity and who is treated as welcome. Looking back to Berlin 1936, and more recently Qatar 2022, asks us to consider whether global sport can celebrate unity while exclusion, suspicion and fear shape who is allowed to take part.

Paul Coleman

Jun 107 min read

Wet Feet and Wider Choices: How Terry Pratchett’s boots theory helps us think differently about poverty and judgement

There is a passage in Terry Pratchett’s Men at Arms that has become one of his most quoted observations about poverty. It is Captain Vimes’ “Boots” theory of socioeconomic unfairness. It comes from the Discworld novels centred on the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Sam Vimes is not an economist or political theorist. He is a copper: cynical, tired, stubborn, often angry, but also deeply committed to justice. He begins as someone who knows poverty and even when his life later brings

Paul Coleman

Jun 44 min read

Drawn Into the Dance

At this morning's service I was challenged to think of the idea of the Trinity in a different way. Rather than trying to explain the Trinity we were instead encouraged to think about how we experience the Trinity. So here is my reflection drawing on this morning's sermon as well as some of my own reading and experience.

Paul Coleman

May 314 min read

Why I’m Still Into This God Stuff

Why, as an otherwise reasonably intelligent and educated person, am I still into this God stuff? In this video I reflect on a faith shaped not by certainty, but by questions, music, belonging, church hurt, and a growing understanding of myself. I am not a Christian because I have found all the answers. I am a Christian partly because faith gives me somewhere to bring the questions, and to keep discovering God in the mess and muddle.

Paul Coleman

May 283 min read

When Amazing Grace Becomes Difficult to Sing

Following a conversation earlier this evening I found myself reflecting on why hymns such as Amazing Grace can be difficult for disabled and LGBT+ Christians. ... This is a piece of writing I had originally begun last year but never managed to complete and I know there is a lot more that can and should be said, but maybe this will help start a much needed conversation.

Paul Coleman

May 287 min read

Listening for the still small voice

Pentecost is one of those Sundays I never quite know what to do with. In some churches I have been part of I was made to feel like a lesser Christian because I wasn't speaking in tongues or didn't get "slain in the spirit", I somehow stayed on my feet while being prayed for (despite all the attempts to push me over). Somehow the picture that was built up in my mind about what it was to encounter the Holy Spirit had me convinced that it had to be big, dramatic and visible (or

Paul Coleman

May 243 min read

Waiting Is Not Wasted Time

I think that waiting is something we have lost the knack of doing, we are so used to instant results, to having everything at our fingertips all the time. We give up on things because we try them and don't get an instant result ... waiting feels like wasted time in which we could have done so many things and yet I wonder if we are being called to wait for God and to see where They are moving.

Paul Coleman

May 167 min read

Of sheep and Shepherds

When I looked at the readings for this week, my heart fell, what is there to say about psalm 23 and Jesus as the good shepherd? I've heard so many sermons on these two readings ... that just feel a bit twee. ... I suspect there is nothing new here, and that's fine, but writing it has made me think again about these very familiar readings so hopefully this will do the same for others.

Paul Coleman

Apr 255 min read

Meeting Jesus on the Road ...

I used to wonder how these disciples, who had followed Jesus, who had eaten with him and listened to his teaching, could fail to recognise him on the road. Surely they would know his voice, his mannerisms. We are told they were kept from recognising him, but not how. ....

Paul Coleman

Apr 174 min read

Hosanna: A Prayer Before It Is Praise

“Hosanna” is a plea. It means: save us, we pray. And that changes how we hear the whole scene.

Paul Coleman

Mar 293 min read

The silence of Lazarus

This morning I found myself struck by the silence of Lazarus. In John 11, he is named, loved, mourned, raised… and then silent.

Paul Coleman

Mar 223 min read

Called by Name ...

"When identity is grounded in belonging rather than performance, the question “who am I?” becomes a little less frightening."

Paul Coleman

Mar 163 min read

Walking on Water (Badly)

This morning I find myself unemployed for the first time in years. It wasn’t my choice, and yet in some ways it was. The charity I have been working for has changed its strategy and created new job roles which I was told I was not qualified for. I could apply for the role, but I did not meet the essential criteria, despite the fact that much of the day-to-day work remains the same. My union representative advised me that I likely had a case for unfair dismissal, but that purs

Paul Coleman

Mar 53 min read

What can penguins teach us about the love of God?

At the beginning of February I led the monthly service for Pride Church Leeds. This is a community of LGBT+ Christians and allies from across Leeds and the surrounding area who come together to worship God in a place where we can bring our whole selves. This morning, as I read the news of the Church of England General Synod’s decision to halt work around same-sex blessings, I found myself reflecting on that service.

Paul Coleman

Feb 135 min read

A tiny flickering hope

The greatest gift we have as Christians and the greatest gift we can share with the world is the hope we have in Jesus.

Paul Coleman

Feb 33 min read

Clearing out music - having a theological clear out

OK so today's ADHD hyper focus led me to start tidying up my study. Before I knew it, I got distracted sorting out the immense piles of worship music taking up one of my shelves and realising just how much my theology has changed over the years. I've been playing church music almost as long as I can remember. I have a love hate relationship with songs such as Shine Jesus Shine, It is one of the first pieces of worship music I learnt and I have a distinct memory of inflicting

Paul Coleman

Dec 28, 20253 min read

Writing an Inclusive Carol - A Modern Magnificat?

Last night I took part in Queer Carols with Pride Church Leeds. We had an awesome time singing together and sharing some Christmas Joy with those who had come into the city centre doing their Christmas shopping. This morning, one of my colleagues pointed out how non-inclusive the words of many traditional carols are. Last night, I wrote an LGBTQI+ verse to 'God rest you merry gentlemen.' This morning, I wrote a few more verses, picking up on some of the themes from the Magnif

Paul Coleman

Dec 11, 20253 min read

Rushing towards Christmas ... An advent reflection.

This week I've been thinking about what it is we are preparing for in advent and what it means for us to repent.

Paul Coleman

Dec 7, 20255 min read

It's world diabetes day

To be honest I'm not sure I really need a day for this, I've had type 1 diabetes everyday since I was diagnosed in mid 1999(sorry I can't remember the exact day) , so to be honest I'd kind of prefer day off from dealing with it. Being diabetic involves rather a lot of maths, calculating the carbohydrates in anything I eat, figuring out how much I need to inject, remembering to include an injection for a cup of coffee (my favourite flat white has 6 grams of carbs) having a bee

Paul Coleman

Nov 14, 20252 min read

Reflecting on fear and hate Vs hope and love

I'm leading a remembrance Sunday service again. I'm aware that this is almost the last time that this will be a choice (assuming that both myself and the Methodist church conceive to agree that I should be ordained). This year, the massive upsurge in nationalism means that I am even more wary than I have been in the past. Over the last year fear of the other and hated for anyone who is different has become much more prevalent. As part of the service I will be sharing elements

Paul Coleman

Nov 9, 20253 min read

Home: Blog2

Home: Contact

Contact