Monthly Archives: November 2013

The Sacrament of Breastfeeding #3: Delicious!

Breastfeeding is a team sport. One of the delights of breastfeeding a toddler is how our communication about feeding has developed. SBJ has gone from saying ‘Brr!’ to ‘Bee!’ to ‘Feed!’ Now we’re in the land of full-ish sentences, though the syntax is often, shall we say, idiosyncratic. Tonight, here was our conversation: Me: Honey, […]

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Matters of Life and Death: Euthanasia

‘It is a tragedy when the human spirit dies before the body. But the answer is not to kill the body too, but to revive the spirit.’  So said Prof Margaret Somerville at a conference on euthanasia held in Wellington a couple of years ago. On Sunday I tried to canvass the arguments on both sides of […]

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Matters of Life and Death: Dementia and Ageing

I read some of Sandy’s story on Sunday: I am 57 and was diagnosed in 2004 with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. I was a bank manager and was very active in my community and church. One afternoon, I left work and did not know how to get home. This was the start of a “downhill no return” into the Alzheimer’s world. I am […]

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(Hopefully Not) Passing on Rape Culture

[Trigger warning: if you have experienced sexual assault, please just be aware that rape and rape culture are discussed in this post. Many of the links similarly lead to pages that need a trigger warning.] Sad, sickened, shocked, triggered, appalled, horrified, not-actually-that-surprised. Most New Zealanders could tick most of those boxes this week as our […]

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Matters of Life and Death: Disability

Some of you will know that I’m living with postnatal depression. It’s hard. What I said on Sunday about disability is stuff I believe both in my head and because of my own experience: We think life should be perfect and comfortable. But God comes to us in the imperfect and the uncomfortable. We think life is […]

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Advent in Art 2013: Shall We?

    Probably my favourite season of the church year is coming up soon. Advent, the four weeks before Christmas where we prepare ourselves for celebrating Jesus’ arrival in our world. There’s lots to like about Advent (even if you don’t have calendars filled with chocolate). It’s not often we engage deeply in old-fashioned anticipation, […]

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Matters of Life and Death: Facing an Unplanned Pregnancy

My sermon on Sunday and the accompanying blog post were mainly directed at the ‘neighbours’ of an unborn child: those who have the opportunity to support a little family in crisis.  What I also want to say loudly, and separately, is that if you have experienced a crisis pregnancy, for any reason, in any circumstances, […]

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