Tanya Marlow – on the Bible, suffering and the messy edges of life
Posted in Bible, Culture and Society, suffering, theology on May 22nd, 2013
I don’t know what to write without it sounding trite. Sometimes silence is better, and I hesitate to add my noise to the mix. But sometimes the words can help us pause. **** Bangladesh For the last couple of months, I have had Isaiah 3 rattling around my head. It is a [...]
Posted in Concrete words: childhood and maturity on Mar 4th, 2013
The car pulled up to the church, and the driver helped me out. I stepped onto the path, my silk-white high heels making the tiniest crunch on the gravel. And then I looked down at my dress. My dress! At some point on the journey it had turned yellow. It was bright yellow. My dress [...]
Posted in God and suffering - Our Story on Jan 15th, 2013
Ruthie Davies shines with a passion for Jesus in everything she writes. It is a passion that goes deep, that has been tested in the considerable fire of grief. She has a beautiful Welsh accent that can be heard in this moving interview. Here is her story: For me, suffering cued neither the beginning [...]
What will it be like when Jesus returns? I’ve really enjoyed this Advent series following Mary’s journey. We’ve considered the parallels between Christ’s first coming and His second coming: the waiting, the homelessness, the groaning. But it has all been building up to this: the arrival. I don’t know about you, but I [...]
Posted in Bible, Spirituality and discipleship on Dec 12th, 2012
I didn’t really know much about labour and childbirth when I first went to visit my friend who’d just given birth. We were in the car park outside an NHS hospital, the sun was shining and the windows of the hospital were open. As I strolled towards the door, carrying flowers for the new Mum, [...]
Posted in Bible, Spirituality and discipleship, suffering on Dec 5th, 2012
Advent means ‘coming’. For ages I really didn’t understand Advent. Then a few years ago, a preacher explained that traditionally Advent preaching would focus not on the incarnation but on the return of Jesus; not on his first coming but his second coming. It was meant to be a penitential season, a time to pause [...]
Posted in Bible, Five minute Friday, Spirituality and discipleship on Oct 12th, 2012
You always run faster when there is a crowd cheering. I noticed this at the Olympics – how many personal bests were achieved, records broken. Some of that will have been from the thrill and challenge of competing, and beating others. Some of that, I suspect, is from the volume of the cheers, and [...]
Posted in Art and Story and Writing, Concrete words: childhood and maturity, Emotions, Life on Sep 24th, 2012
I remember sitting on the stairs, halfway up the stairs, in my childhood home. In a family that was bouncy and exuberant, full of colour and noise, it was important to me to spend some time half-way up. There I would sit, bony knees touching my chin, hand resting on the white paint of [...]
