Soul Pilates with a Spirited Crone
‘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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Crying into my muesli was familiar territory in the days when hormones were more rampant, usually activated by the loss of some love or a response to the all-encompassing despair that used to dog my footsteps. The loves are gone…
Last time I saw Sam Hunt perform I was drunk in a pub in Wellington. We all were, him too most likely. It was what you did at those gigs where poetry and plonk were like riding a bicycle for…
no matter how much we protest about rape (haven’t women been experiencing this forever, remember Dinah in Genesis and when we thought our marching might take back the night) no matter how many rape laws are drafted, enacted people imprisoned,…