‘Why on earth do people use crosses to mark road deaths,’ asked my friend as we were setting the world to rights over a glass of vino. ‘It seems strange,’ she said, ‘it’s not as though they’d all be believers.’ Her question penetrated. I turned to talk to her but instead found myself looking back Read more
A bunch of blokes were gathered in a holy huddle at the back of a cathedral, worried that no one seemed to be listening to their good news anymore. Par for the course now but this was Paris during the Second World War. A world in turmoil meant people were thinking for themselves, taking up Read more
How ironic that as the Church of England was voting against women bishops, I was trying to buy Divine Women; a series for television by historian Brittany Hughes who dares to consider when God was a girl. Whilst some must have been celebrating at the result, others were distraught. ‘I’m ashamed to be part of the Read more
Ed Miliband, leader of the British Labour Party, took the risky step of talking about faith at his party’s annual conference. ‘Not a religious faith,’ he was quick to point out, ‘but a faith nonetheless; a faith that I believe many religious people would recognise.’ ‘I believe we have a duty to leave the world a better Read more
Rainbows are a universal sign of hope, although they only exist in the eyes of the people who see them and sometimes in their photographs. How intriguing then that biblical storytellers saw this trick of light as the sign of God’s promise. Talking about the God that was nowhere to be seen before science discovered the unsettling Read more
There’s more to art and spirituality than meets the eye, ear or intellect. More is what lingers, soothing the troubled soul, leaving a bad taste, irritating beyond belief or what we thought we knew. More is about our interaction with that which is not obvious, a process that inadvertently engages us in co-creation of the Read more
I heard about a kid who used to burn palm crosses whenever sex sauntered across his mind. He was a normal adolescent but confused about one of the most powerful drivers in his life. He ‘s not alone in that confusion. Whether you’re a princess, bishop, rubbish collector, nun, teacher, bus conductor, judge, or prime Read more
Just because your life’s fallen down doesn’t mean there’s nothing left I thought as I gazed at the skeleton of Knox Presbyterian Church in Christchurch. Instead of being desolate, this space had a stark kind of beauty. On the whole, space, silence and nothing are discomforting. So much so that we try to fill space, Read more
Chaplains in hospitals are expected to talk of spiritual things but for clinical staff it is different. While a holistic approach to health care is much talked about, “spirituality remains a bit hazy; hard to find words for in a world dominated by scientific method”. “Making meaning is seen as one of the important elements Read more
Maybe the election of the Bishop Justin Duckworth as bishop of Wellington says much more about the grey heads ‘hungry for Justin’ than it does about the Rev’d Duckworth. For no individual, whatever their dream or commitment to a better world has been able to significantly change an institution, and it’s not for want of trying. Organisations have a Read more