Secret Women's Business

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus, John 8:12 The clearest revelation of the nature of God arrived in the most unexpected fashion. There was no writing in the sky nor blinding lights… God’s revelation came as a human baby. A living, breathing, flesh and blood human being, who experienced all the joy and difficulty and frailty of being human. This baby grew up to be an unremarkable human in an obscure pocket of the Roman Empire. And yet… he was remarkable in another way. He touched lepers and healed the sick and spoke words of grace to broken-hearted people. He cooked fish on the shore for his hungry friends, he washed their stinking feet, he graciously endured (and corrected) their interminable whining. He was remarkable in claiming “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (God). Remarkable in confronting hypocrisy, in courage, in integrity. Remarkable in teaching of love, even for one’s enemies an...

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Frederick Buechner One of the deepest joys of my life is helping others discover their vocations… what has God put them on earth to be and to do? What has God uniquely wired them for? What interests and passions and gifts has God planted within them? Not only does this quest give me great joy, but it releases great joy in others. It seems to me that living out one’s deepest call (or vocation) can release a deep sense of “rightness”. James and Evelyn Whitehead write that: “The delight of a vocation is rooted in a sense of its goodness and ‘fit’. I delight in the shape that my own life takes as I experience the way it fits my particular gifts and limits. It is not just the right thing for me to do with my life, it is good for me as well.” Terry Walling describes the mature Christian as involving “the coming together of ‘who’ God has shaped an individual to be, and a sense of ‘for thi...

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive” (Eldredge) One of the things that ignites a fire in my belly is the desire to see people step into their true vocations… to be authentically themselves, and to do the things they were put on earth to do. This feels to me like a win-win situation… the person living out their true vocation becomes alight with joy and purpose, and the world becomes blessed by their unique contribution. Whether that contribution is through the arts, science, business, education, community service, ministry, practical deeds, parenting, or through a million and one different ways… the world is a better place when people embrace and live out their God-given vocations. Assisting others in the business of vocational discernment releases deep joy for me. Many writers reflecting on “true vocation” suggest clues are often found in our early dreams and yearnin...

The early chapters of Genesis have caused endless debate over the centuries… was Adam more a saint who fell (Augustine) or an innocent who was deceived (Ireneus)? Are the creation accounts allegorical (Origen) or literal (St Basil)? And so on… please note these are names of early church fathers! The current squabbles between Creation Scientists (literalists) and those who view the first chapters of Genesis more as stories rich in theology, demonstrate there’s nothing new under the sun. But I shall bypass all of that, and leave those discussions to others more skilled in the dialogue between science and theology, the languages and norms of Ancient Near East literature, theological scholars, and so on. Because however else you interpret the creation accounts, they can ALSO be viewed as a universal psychological drama. We are all born naked, and unashamed. Most of us were born to a functional enough mother who was close, nurturing, warm, and safe… a god-like figure of intimacy and love....

The nature of God is probably the most important theological question of all. The New Testament comes up with a truly stunning answer to this most profound spiritual question: God is like Jesus. Jesus Christ claimed "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (God) (John 14:9). Jesus best friend on earth ("the disciple Jesus loved") walked and talked and ate and drank and spoke with and listened to Jesus constantly for three years. When reflecting on what God expressed in Jesus Christ looks like, he wrote a simple and profound phrase: "God IS love". (I John 4:16) God IS love. God is like the perfect parent. God is like the father in the prodigal passage, straining his eyes looking out for the longed-for homecoming of his son. God is the one who pours out abundant and amazing grace through Jesus Christ. I have just read a most thought-provoking blog post from the wonderful Rachel Held-Evans. She is absolutely right about this: while Christians might...

Good one Michael... I love this:  http://parentingideas.com.au/Blog/May-2013/Mother-s-Day-not-Parent-s-Day

Assigning motives to other people is a dangerous game... and suggesting psychological diagnoses for people is an even more dangerous one. But it is game I like to play from time to time, when the responses of others strike me as inexplicable. Call it part of the human quest to make sense of the world. Or perhaps call it imaginative play.  So let us imagine for a moment I am having a pastoral conversation with someone who said that "a man would be damaged and compromised by having a female boss"... just because she is female.  I'd have warning bells ringing in my heart. I'd be tempted to start gently probing about this person's experience of women in authority during childhood. Did this man have an over-controlling or abusive mother? Were there toxic teachers or carers in his life? Transference involving unresolved childhood pain is so common that pastoral carers always need to be on the lookout for it. If signs appeared he actually had been at the receiving e...