Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland and lifelong Catholic, is religiously disruptive. She says that people are tired of ‘old men trying to beat the drum of obedience, being obedient to teaching that is long past its sell-by date and…
Category: Festivals
If I was producing a nativity play, I’d pick a young black American woman called Orpah to play Mary. You probably know her as Oprah Winfrey through her television talk shows, Oprah and Oprah Soul Sundays. Vanity Fair magazine said…
On resurrection morning, Kate glanced at the crumpled grave clothes and cautiously opened the door of her tomb. The sun shone; new life beckoned but did she have what it took? The descent to the tomb began on the Ides…
About this time every year my old friend Anxiety shows up as an obnoxious Christmas goblin. I swear it’s HER decorating shops for Christmas in early October. HER drenching my email in targeted advertising now that Google has my purchasing…
A resounding hallelujah ended the Easter singing marathon I’d promised myself. As I staggered out exhausted into the night, I was musing over what had arisen in me. No question, there was great joy through being immersed in music. Quickly…
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust makes real sense at the end of someone’s life. People get it. Somehow, without saying much, the words shout out the truth of mortality. It’s a popular phrase at funerals, especially when separated out…
This Shrove Tuesday I’m gathering up the leftovers from three years in the spiritual wilderness and seeing what I can begin to make of them. To be honest, it was a strange feeling when my role as an Anglican priest…
By 9am on Boxing Day thousands of Kiwis were touting their unwanted pressies on Trade Me or searching for bargains amongst someone else’s discards. Practical, but a tad tragic given that gift giving can be an art form full of…
You’ve got to hand it to the blokes in the church, for their ability to keep mansplaining Godde for our own good. Recently, the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a theological slap to Ariana Grande, she of the God is a Woman…
No matter how hard I trydespite the theology I’ve doneI can’t separate God from the bloke in the skysomewhat disinterestedremoved and impenetrablein league with earthly patriarchy. If I say Goddeis it different?Sometimes, but not always. What I mean is thatat…