Tanya Marlow – on the Bible, suffering and the messy edges of life
Posted in Bible, Spirituality and discipleship on Mar 14th, 2013
It is hard for the rich to be generous. This sounds counter-intuitive. Surely it’s harder for the poor to be generous? When you have so many extra resources you can spare them, you can afford to be more generous than those who have little. This is true, yet it’s often the poor who [...]
Posted in Bible, Spirituality and discipleship on Mar 7th, 2013
With all the action in the first chapter of Ruth – the deaths and disasters and beautiful friendship of Ruth and Naomi – this is a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ verse: “The Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them.” (Ruth 1:6) I stare at that one [...]
Posted in Emotions, Spirituality and discipleship on Feb 6th, 2013
If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly. Sitting on a leather sofa, sipping water and wiping tears, I presented her with my angsty questions. I looked at her proper grown-up mantel piece and knew that I was supposed to be grown up by now, in my mid-twenties. She pulled her fingers through [...]
Posted in God and suffering - Our Story on Dec 4th, 2012
Micha Boyett (aka Mama Monk) is someone I would choose as a mentor or spiritual director. Rooted in scripture, she is always considering the spiritual in the everyday. Her writing is compelling and digs deep. I’m excited to share her God and Suffering story with you here: We’re at the doctor’s office (again) because [...]
Posted in God and suffering - Our Story, illness on Oct 16th, 2012
Alastair Roberts is a PhD student (Theology) at Durham University. I really appreciate his thoughtful approach to pretty much everything and his encyclopaedic Biblical knowledge. (If there’s ever a Bible passage you’re stuck on, do ask him what he thinks – his perspective is always helpful.) I’m delighted that he’s sharing his story here. At [...]
Posted in Bible, Five minute Friday, Spirituality and discipleship on Oct 5th, 2012
It is hard for a good girl to know when she is walking away from God. The bad girls and boys do it clearly. They ask for their inheritance straight up, off to gamble it away and say ‘ciao for now, I’d actually rather you were dead, God.’ I don’t tend to do [...]
Posted in God and suffering - Our Story on Oct 2nd, 2012
This week’s post is from Penelope Swithinbank, ordained minister and spiritual director. I love her pastoral, mothering heart, and I am honoured that she is sharing her story. Over to her: It’s been a tough time – 24 months of coping with loss, depression, stress, emotion, exhaustion. “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome,” diagnosed the [...]
Posted in Bible, Five minute Friday on Sep 21st, 2012
We sit upstairs, eating our breakfast, watching as the people walk past our house. From this vantage point, we can see a snapshot of people’s lives – and they, rarely looking up, can’t see us. Sometimes it feels like we should be sitting there with popcorn, my boy and me, as we look and [...]
Posted in Bible, living with M.E. on Sep 11th, 2012
“…And then a light clicked on for me. I thought of the chains of my disability. I thought of Paul, imprisoned in his house, unable to preach the gospel openly. I thought of his goal to go to the far nations, to preach where the gospel had not gone before. I thought of his love [...]
We crawl down to the vulnerable, the dirty, the ones in society who aren’t like us, who make us feel a little uncomfortable, because Jesus descended far deeper than we can ever get our heads around. I read Luke, and made an amazing discovery that totally changed the way I think. I’m really excited [...]
