Soul Pilates with a Spirited Crone
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…
I used to love the story of Little Red Riding Hood. There was something deliciously appealing about getting dressed up in an elegant red cape and sauntering off into the world alone. Grandma turning into the wolf didn’t bother me,…
My Mum always said we shouldn’t wash our dirty linen in public. Secrets, lies, and doubts about anything, particularly the godstuff, were for the privacy of our own kitchen and closed down before they got too heretical. What mattered was…
Joy to the world, the angels at Statistics New Zealand are singing a new song . Anglicans and Protestants are on the eve of destruction. We’ve got about 20 years left. By 2054, (my 100th birthday!) Christianity, except for Roman Catholicism, will probably not…
New Zealand’s ‘rape culture’ is in the news after a group of teenage boys allegedly had sex with intoxicated underage girls and then bragged about it on Facebook. The report triggered memories of my own. As a young mum, I…
Sometimes truth is so hard to stomach that even though it stares you in the face and shouts itself hoarse trying to be heard we remain oblivious to its presence. This may be because the emerging truth demands much of…
Rainbows are a universal sign of hope, although they only exist in the eyes of the people who see them and sometimes in their photos. How intriguing then that biblical storytellers saw this trick of light as the sign of…
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…
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,…