Mary’s gaze

During Advent we get to ponder the women in the Christmas story - Mary and her older cousin, Elizabeth, (as well as the five women named in Jesus’s genealogy). And Dürer painted the mystery and touching faith of these women.

Violence against women in the place they should be safe – their homes

There is a terrible mismatch between 'domestic' and 'abuse': in the place we should feel safest, there is terrible abuse for too many women

Weeping for women in Afghanistan

A wise man once wrote, “When the righteous become numerous, the people rejoice, but when the wicked dominate, the people moan.”[1] How we moan and weep for the nation of Afghanistan this week as the Taliban swept into the capital city Kabul. Bent only on violence against the innocent, the Taliban certainly qualify as wicked. … Continue reading Weeping for women in Afghanistan →

Sport’s double standards

It’s the Olympics and in a year of confinement, millions of us are finding special enjoyment in watching the grace, strength and endurance of competitors. Clothing should help sportspeople perform to their best. There are rules that cover things like high tech running shoes so that the playing field is fairly level. But some sports … Continue reading Sport’s double standards →

Women and Men as co-workers

There are two key ideas here. Division and argument weakens our good news – we set off landmines in the fields rather than growing crops of goodness.

Dignity + Truth = Hope

I have been struck by a quietly remarkable story of dignified strength this month. A story that shows how ordinary women are capable of extraordinary resilience. Communities in Mexico suffer from terrible gang fighting and killing. The drug cartels control vast areas of the country and are responsible for political corruption, assassinations and kidnappings. Full … Continue reading Dignity + Truth = Hope →

Good neighbours

A church called Jesus House was in the news in the UK this week. Two high profile politicians – the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition visited the church which belongs to the Redeemed Christian Church of God denomination. Both leaders were there to encourage the church’s work in hosting a COVID vaccine … Continue reading Good neighbours →

Some days I feel like knitting

Today is International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate the amazing (often unsung) women of the world. But in a pretty German town, the local Christian bookshop was vandalised last night – windows were broken and “Down with the Patriarchy” was daubed on the door, in the name of feminism. It is the sixth … Continue reading Some days I feel like knitting →

Foolishness and Falsehood

I was just about to log on for an early morning conference when into the What’s App chat of the organising team came an odd message from one of the team. There was a picture of Kamala Harris swearing her oath as the next vice president of the United States. She had her right hand … Continue reading Foolishness and Falsehood →

Disagreeing well

We all yearn to live in unity and lots of us seem to think that disputes won’t happen because we are trying to be ‘nice Christians’ or ‘tolerant’ or ‘woke’. But we do disagree on lots of things from personal taste to political attitudes to ethical issues. It is inevitable that my cultural upbringing in … Continue reading Disagreeing well →