A million years or several months ago I started a ‘series’ (of one item so far…) on Magic Words, the brilliant and amazing phrases we use with kids that are particularly excellent at getting something or other across. I have notes of a dozen Magic Words I want to write up, but to get the […]
This handy rule for when to complain and to whom has buzzed around my Facebook feed this week, with lots of passionate commendations: When Susan had breast cancer, we heard a lot of lame remarks, but our favorite came from one of Susan’s colleagues. She wanted, she needed, to visit Susan after the surgery, but […]
The writer Dorothy Parker famously said ‘I hate writing. I like having written.’ On Saturday night I said to Jody, ‘Please remind me next time I’m considering a preaching engagement: I don’t actually like preaching.’ On Sunday morning I preached at North Porirua Baptist Church. I loved it. I hate the anticipation of preaching – […]
Is ‘bossy’ a sexist term? When did you last hear a boy or man get called ‘bossy’? Thomas (father of a wonderful little girl) put me onto this article by Kathleen Deveny which argues that: We ask girls to walk a fine line between being strong and being likable. It’s a line we typically allow […]
Many thanks to Dr Tim Bulkeley who today wraps up his series based on his book,Ā Not Only A Father, looking at gendered language for God. For more on Timās background, seeĀ the first post. Theology is only real when we live it. So chapter 6 of Not Only a Father tries to suggest ways we can […]
A warm welcome back to Dr Tim Bulkeley who is posting this series based on his book,Ā Not Only A Father, looking at gendered language for God. For more on Timās background, seeĀ the first post. Speaking the unspeakable: mother-language before the reformation People I talk with about using motherly language and pictures to talk about God […]
I first encountered Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty a few years ago with this striking video showing the (tenuous) relationship between a billboard photo of a woman and her face without the hours of work on her and her photograph. The neck-stretching is particularly astonishing. Dove’s recent addition to this series is doing the rounds […]
What do people need to know about postnatal depression? I have been asked to speak at a Mothers’ Day service at North Porirua Baptist Church. They are inviting parents from their community and want me to speak about PND. I’m going to tell some of my story, perhaps structured around some key headings: PND Surprises […]
Welcome back to our guest poster Dr Tim Bulkeley, and welcome, readers,Ā to perhapsĀ the most controversial bit of this series (see the debate on today’s subject in the comments on the previous post)! I’ve argued that we need to talk about God as motherly if we are to speak in pictures about God at all, and […]
A warm welcome back to Dr Tim Bulkeley who is posting this series based on his book, Not Only A Father, looking at gendered language for God. For more on Tim’s background, see the first post. In the previous post I started with an assumption: …[t]he One True God is beyond human understanding. God is […]