Genesis | Daddy’s angel, mummy’s devil

Notes on sibling rivalry. (Listen here.)

A perceptive young girl said to me once, ‘I’m daddy’s angel, and mummy’s devil. But my sister’s mummy’s angel, and daddy’s devil. It’s a bit difficult, really.’ Then she shrugged dismissively, but I thought ‘difficult’ was the understatement of the year. Those sisters fought every day in every possible way as they lived out their assigned roles and competed for their parents’ affections. Things were more than a bit difficult.

Continue reading “Genesis | Daddy’s angel, mummy’s devil”

Genesis | Deep in the weeds with Jacob

On weeds, seeds, scoundrels and descendants like dandelions. (Listen here.)

What wonderful promises! God will give Jacob land to plant roots and descendants to spread across the earth like dandelions. God will ensure the earth will be blessed by him and his countless offspring. And God will bless him, protect him and stay with him until these promises are fulfilled. I should be all starry-eyed, but quite frankly this story annoys the hell out of me. Because Jacob is a complete schmuck. Whatever is God thinking, to grant such glorious gifts to a grifter like Jacob?

Continue reading “Genesis | Deep in the weeds with Jacob”

Psalms | My grandparents’ breakfast table and other stories

Another week, another family story – this time, about lifelong faith. (Listen here.)

My grandparents’ breakfast room opened off the kitchen. It had a brown sideboard, brown scratchy chairs and a brown shag pile carpet. Whenever my sister and I stayed with them, we participated in their morning ritual. First, we held hands and said grace. Then my sister and I would gobble up our breakfasts while our grandparents were still fussing around assembling theirs. Cornflakes. Sultanas. Bran. A bit of sugar. Milk. Yawn. My sister and I would sit swinging our legs, discreetly itching where the chairs scratched and waiting impatiently for our grandparents to finish eating. But even then, we couldn’t get down from the table for, after breakfast was cleared away, it was time for morning devotions.

Continue reading “Psalms | My grandparents’ breakfast table and other stories”

Luke | A rollicking romance, revisited

How following Jesus nearly tore my family apart, then brought it together again. A story from the archives with a new interpretive movement for a new context. (Listen here.)

I’d like to introduce you to a very shocking man: my father. But to understand why he is so shocking, first you need to know a bit about my mother. Like me, my mother grew up Baptist. Unlike me, however, she was raised in a fundamentalist household. Her family of origin rejected infant baptism, evolution, smoking, divorce, and many other things. Because my mum was super-smart and good at languages, and because everybody knew that no man would marry a super-smart woman, she had been groomed from an early age to be a Bible-translating missionary spinster. So away she went to university to study anthropology and linguistics: but there she met the man who became my father.

Continue reading “Luke | A rollicking romance, revisited”

Mark | How Satan casts out Satan

When Satan casts out Satan, he grows stronger: but in Christ we can unmask and bind him. A reflection on Mark 3:20-35 given to Westgate Baptist Community Church on 9 June 2024. Listen here.

I have a beloved friend whose church said she had a demon, and so they tried to bind and exorcise it. In the name of Christ, they said, she must be straight, yet over the days and years of fasting and praying and shouting and weeping they utterly failed to cast the demon out.

Continue reading “Mark | How Satan casts out Satan”

Matthew | Like a scandal

God demands Joseph wake to a deeper reality, where love takes priority over obedience to God’s law, and scandal forms the womb of grace. (Listen.)

He thought he could do it quietly. Provide money for an abortion and never see her again. Or book the distant clinic; send her to the asylum; lock her in a nunnery. Whatever. No need to make a big fuss. He’s a righteous man. He knows the law; he knows his rights. He knows he could call for an inquiry and have the betrothal publicly annulled, the woman stoned; he knows the first stone should be thrown by her father. But he doesn’t insist. Instead, he decides to do it quietly ‘for her sake’. Continue reading “Matthew | Like a scandal”

Matthew | The confusing cousin, and all the rest

Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another? (Matthew 11:3).

Surely John knew. Jesus was his cousin, and people were talking of Messiah. Yet John wondered. Jesus didn’t look like the Messiah he expected, so John sent a message and asked, ‘Are you the one?’ Like the confusing, annoying cousin that he was, Jesus replied ambiguously. ‘Look at the fruits of my ministry,’ he said. ‘People and communities are healed and restored. Am I the one? You decide.’ Then for good measure he threw in a zinger: ‘And BTW – blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me!’ For the faithful prophet John, the implication that he is offended must have felt like a punch in the guts. Continue reading “Matthew | The confusing cousin, and all the rest”

Luke | Slow reading | Stilling the storm

This week, let’s reflect on one of the Jesus-stills-the-storm texts. In Luke’s account, the story is surrounded by conflict. Immediately before Jesus and the disciples get in the boat, Jesus claims as his family those who do the word of God, even as his biological family stand at the door. Then he suggests that he and the disciples cross the lake to the other side i.e. the Gentile side. Continue reading “Luke | Slow reading | Stilling the storm”

Hosea | Gomer, the face of God

God is not seen in a violent man, but in a woman known for her love. (Listen.)

Like so many women, I know what it is to receive unwanted attention and even assault. The comments about my breasts in primary school and, later, the wolf whistles; the propositions. The unsought gawkings and strokings and gropings. The encounters where consent was murky at best. And given what so many of my sisters have experienced, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Continue reading “Hosea | Gomer, the face of God”

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑