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 […]
A good listener is never short of friends. Some people are naturals at this popular skill, and you might be lucky enough to know one or two. Plenty of us have to learn the skill of being a good listener, though the kind intention does go a long way, too. The headline ‘act’ for the Do […]
If you’re a preacher, a parishioner, or someone fascinated by ye olde Puritanism, you may want to check this out. I’m a contributor to Kiwi-Made Preaching, and this week was my turn. The blog has been hibernating for a year, but has woken up alert, ravenous and ready for conversation. Feel free to check it out, […]
This was one of the big surprises of the Christmas season last year. Co-Leader of the Green Party, Russel Norman, outlines the good news of Jesus Christ – with well-developed incarnation theology and everything. In a speech in Parliament. Prefaced by his identification as an atheist. It’s extraordinary. Here’s an extract (but you really must […]
Nine months is a long time to wait, but thousands of years is longer. Week two of this year’s Advent in Art cycle places the Christmas story in context of a much larger narrative of hope and a longing for justice. As we meet them in today’s painting, Mary and Elizabeth, like all mothers around the […]
Christmas carols start wafting through shops earlier and earlier each year, but this year one thing about Christmas is later than usual. The church season of Advent runs for four or so weeks before Christmas, helping us to imagine life before Jesus, and anticipate the celebrations of his birth. This year it begins on Sunday […]
Ano te pai It is a good and beautiful thing O tenei huihuinga this gathering o nga teina me nga tuakana of those who are like younger siblings and those who are like older siblings I runga i te aroha pumau under the covering of love everlasting SBJ and I have just got back from […]
I don’t think I was a perfectionist at kindergarten, but certainly by my first year or two of primary school I had begun the fear-based behaviours associated with the word. I was afraid of trying new things in case I couldn’t do them. I never learnt to play elastics or skipping or handstands at lunchtime, […]
This is the fifth post in a series reflecting on my experience of postnatal depression. Feel free to head also to How It Is #1, How It Is #2, How It Is #3: What to Say and How It Is #4: On A Bad Day, and feel free to pass any of them around, if they’re helpful, using the share […]
So the story goes like this. The new, radical bishop in a South American city is due to preach his first sermon in the cathedral. At the signal, he rises, robed in splendour, and solemnly ascends the staircase to the lectern. He fixes the congregation in his eye. In silence he gathers everyone’s attention into […]