Everyone carries secrets. Not necessarily the kind that titillate, but the ordinary, everyday ones that rise to trouble us like a recurring virus. The pain of regret, of knowing that our lives are not perfect, not even close but sometimes a chaotic mix of halfway rational choices and haphazard mistakes. Knowing that this life may […]
on rainbows, chaos, Prof Dawkins and the tail end of an elephant
like rainbows that never reach the pot of gold there’s a kind of beauty in the unrealised the unfinished, the chaotic omnipotent god (the one Prof Dawkins fights with good on him but it’s limited, like only seeing an elephant from the tail end) as I was saying, omnipotent god might feel frustrated in that […]
Absent God
Absent God missing in action, always guardian of open space blankness in my life. Sad? Perhaps but more than this the blankness is for me a symbol of what God might be rather than what God is not. There’s never been a time, God when I’ve felt your presence the kind of presence, people talk […]
Religion for atheists
‘Oh, I’m not religious’, is one of the first things people say to me when they know I’m a priest or chaplain. ‘That’s interesting’, seems the only reasonable response, which inevitably prompts a fascinating conversation about spirituality, the meaning of life and yes, even God, or more properly put, what on earth we mean by God. […]
Waru the movie: questioning patriarchy?
Waru is powerful and uncomfortable. Eight stories all linked by the death of a boy. On the surface it’s about child abuse, confirmed by the co-producer Kerry Warkia who said the project was, ‘born out of heartache, love and passion to protect our children.’ Even so, after seeing the movie my friend and I had to […]
Turning compassion fatigue upside down
Research is all very well, but what if the results force you to rethink existing beliefs and behaviours? I’ve just been challenged like that about a compassion course I co-tutor. The course emerged out of hospital corridor conversations where staff talked about how exhausted, stressed and burnt out they felt. My colleague and I responded […]
Unmixed attention: the lifeblood of professional spiritual care
The conversation had rippled and sparkled. My doctor friend and I juggled theological ideas as they tumbled out and into the space between us. But as he got up to leave my heart sank. ‘Oh no’, I thought, ‘after all that he’s going to say he’ll pray for me.’ I’m ultra sensitive, you could say […]
Divine dance partners: theology, compassion and interconnectedness in health
Reading Divine Dance: the Trinity and Your Transformation reconnected me with the insightful 20th century Trinity of The Matrix movie when she announced to the chosen, but reluctant Neo that ‘it’s the question driving us’. Like, everyone, he faced the choice of awakening to reality or believing other’s certainties. Reality, says author Richard Rohr, is […]
Reflection on Spirituality Demystified: Understanding Spirituality in Rational Terms
I didn’t expect to find myself humming the old hymn Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise at the launch of Spirituality Demystified: Understanding Spirituality in Rational Terms. But, as I listened to Rohana Ulluwishewa talk about our inner and outer realities as conscious energy, the words and music embedded in me seemed to reach up from […]
Hospital Chaplains too Christian for Nones?
She sat beside the bed, tears brimming. ‘Mum’s dying.’ ‘Yes.’ We sat in silence for a bit. ‘I’ve lost my faith.’ ‘Uh huh.’ ‘When my friend died.’ ‘Mm.’ We held hands and Mum’s too, wondering in our own ways, about God and faith and people dying and what the universe meant, if anything. As we […]