The world is awash in words. Like a tsunami when the righteous pronounce on X. Lyrical in poetry. Used like rapiers as lawyers slice through evidence. Hammered out in rap. Woven by authors to keep us hooked. Chanted in prayer.…
Category: Personal theology
Presented at Restoring Dignity Building Bridges, the 2025 National Restorative Justice Conference. We’re about to tip toe where angels fear to tread. In my reflections about restorative justice I raise the often-marginalised territory of spirituality and religion, wonder about remorse…
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus maintained that the only constant is change. Most of us understand this idea of universal flux but continue to find it destabilising. This was my experience over 15 years as a healthcare chaplain Palmerston North public…
The Spirited Crone blog is where I tangle with spirituality one word at a time. I do it because words matter. They wound their way into me through the stories from my childhood. First in Jewish and Christian scriptures, and…
Like other women, I’d been stunned and frightened when women’s voices were forcefully suppressed at the Auckland Let Women Speak rally in March 2023. The main speaker was to be Posie Parker, (Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull) a gender critical activist who uses…
I’d never heard of Kellie-Jean Keen-Minshull (@Posie Parker) until her Let Women Speak events in Australia unleashed a media storm. There were loud demands that this tiny British woman be shut up and shut out of New Zealand. So, I…
what, I wonderedlooking out the window for inspirationwhere the roses, in need of shapingbent to the breeze what a brief passageor excerpt would look likeperhaps a quote would be betterbrief, to the point, erudite or a poem, flowinglike a river…
The funeral had been everything hoped for, and more. The person honoured; hospitality shown. Words and music flowed. The one technical hitch wasn’t worth worrying about. But I felt done in. Ready to drop them from my repertoire. After 20…
Many of us live in a world without recourse to a god who bounces in and out of history at will or on demand. We have to take it straight, with no hope of eventual paradise. And salvation, if indeed…
Until I met Niki Harré I’d never heard of a secular priest. I was intrigued but also felt confused. The two terms, secular and priest, didn’t seem to fit. How could someone be a priest if there was no sacred…