A couple of thoughts on childlessness

Nothing very profound, but Emma and I write about childlessness here after thinking about my sermon on Hannah here. Basically some more thoughts on 1 Samuel 1.

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Two Articles to Help You Understand the Human Condition

Shame and Strength by Emma Do you ever feel ashamed? Not embarrassed.  Not ‘oh dear, that was awkward’.  Not discomfort. Shame.  The sort of word you lift out of the vocab box with kid gloves.   The real deal.  That deep, burning in the pit of your stomach, I want to turn myself inside-out and climb into the [...]

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Male anger – Female anger?

Emma’s got a great post up contrasting Amy Winehouse and Anders Breivik: One person couldn’t cope with fame.  The other couldn’t cope with ignominy.  One person’s life was out of control.  The other was extremely disciplined.  One was full of self-doubt.  The other was certain he was right.  One revealed her problems to the world [...]

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Eyes to see

When you go shopping do you see it? Intense, bowed young women, pacing the lanes. Picking up lettuce and putting it down. Desperately scanning the shelves, searching the labels like fortune tellers reading tea-leaves. The furtive, sudden movements. Emaciated arms, hugging the empty basket. If you know what to look for you’ll see it everywhere. [...]

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An utterly sublime use of the word “Yes”

Emma on bonkers beauty treatments.

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Our God is too small, your problems are too big

If as a church, we don’t respond to brokenness and mess, then here’s what we’re preaching: ‘Our God is too small.  And your problems are too big’. So begins one of Emma’s best posts…

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She doesn’t want to share

One of Emma’s finest angry comic confessionals… The reality looks more like this.  A gradual, painful retreat,  from friends, loved ones and perhaps from your own growing sense that this is getting out of control. You see, that eating disorder doesn’t want to share.  She wants all of you. Read the whole thing

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It’s ok to be drunk, it’s not ok to be fat

In the world’s eyes, it’s okay to be blind drunk, but it’s not okay to be fat. From my favourite blog in the whole world    

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A Sick Note For Life

I hate my struggles and I want them.  Both at the same time. They act as a sick note for life. Incredible post from Emma! . Some day every blog will be a Scrivener blog…

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Knowing her. Really knowing her.

What does it take to truly know your spouse?  I mean really.  Deep down.  In  those secret places.  How can you explore the complicated splendour of your soul-mate? Beloved, I have one piece of advice. Get her to write a blog.  Then.  Read her blog.  And marvel. For instance…. Here Emma reveals her inner monologue [...]

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Rights language sounds a lot like anorexia

Emma blogs about the dilemmas involved in force-feeding an anorexic. A rights-based culture finds these issues almost impossible.  Can we really violate a person’s sovereign sphere and force them to eat against their own free will!? It made me think of John Stuart Mill’s account of freedom in On Liberty: In the part [of the [...]

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Emma ‘Getting Real’

I think my wife manages to get most real when she gets most surreal. From her latest post (on the new blog!) Perhaps it’s human nature to feel that our neighbour’s grass is greener and more carefully maintained. Singles imagine that all couples are locked in some kind of rom-com loop, playfully nibbling each other’s toes [...]

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Blogging Beauty

Emma’s posting some wonderful stuff.  Try… 12 tips for getting through Christmas or… Helping with OCD or, a personal favourite… Encouragement Ping Pong And stay tuned for her imminent debut on a proper blog hoster (i.e. WordPress!).  

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Husbands love, Wives respect

From Emma’s Blog: Just before my hubby and I got married, we met up for dinner with a vicar friend of ours, what’s known in the trade as a ‘wise old chief’. He’s just finished saying grace when, mid-fork, he grabbed Glen and I by the wrist and eyeballed us in a steely glare. ‘Emma’, [...]

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A plastic, disposable body

From Emma’s blog: “Scripturally, sex is not whambamthankyouma’am. It’s a covenant promise, part of a total self-giving of which the body is the final handshake.  Where, within the safety of the marriage relationship, two people are emotionally, spiritually and finally, physically naked and – crucially, without shame.  Where men step out in strength and gentleness [...]

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I thank God my wife is not nice

From Emma’s blog: …This reminds me of a conversation I had recently with a friend. We were discussing what it is we pray for and she suddenly dropped a conversational bombshell. ‘Every day’, she said, ‘I pray to be nice’. You might think, well, what’s wrong with that? But ‘nice’ to me… is what Kyrptonite [...]

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Those who worship them will become like them…

…and those who want to become like them will worship them. Here’s a gob-smacking ‘prayer to Ana’ from Emma’s blog Dear Ana: I offer you my soul, my heart and my bodily functions. I give you all my earthly possessions. I seek your wisdom, your faith and your feather weight… Read the whole chilling prayer… [...]

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Good Girl, Party Girl, Tough Girl

Really great post from Emma, drawing on a model of Dan Allender’s – femininity goes awry in three directions: good girl, party girl, tough girl. After describing the types, Emma offers a way forwards: .   Redemption, however, is not sweeping aside every aspect of our good/partying/tough personalities but making us more of our true [...]

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