This recent photo caught my attention.
It is of 16-year-old Lucie Myslíková, a girl scout who is standing up to a rightwing demonstrator a May Day rally held by neo-Nazis in the Czech Republic’s second biggest city.
It reminded me of this photo also taken recently.
And now this iconic one.
Continue reading Practicing peace-making conversations in a polarised world
I had an emergency plumbing issue in my unit recently that meant I had to call a plumber to come out at two in the morning to fix it before it became a disaster.
I sat there waiting for the plumber to arrive and wiping the leaking water off of the floor at regular intervals, entertaining myself by scrolling through Facebook and thinking of every possible scenario that could happen in order to mitigate any potential emerging catastrophes. Continue reading The politics of letting an unknown man into your home at 2am in the morning.
My Easter week this year started badly.
Late at night my hot water tank blew up and so a plumber had to come at 2am Good Friday morning to take a look at it. It’s not exactly how I wanted Holy week to start off. A near disaster was avoided but it still left me stressed and annoyed that already early into the week, my plans were not going my way.
I love Easter. It’s a season when I look forward to God revealing something new. It sounds like magic, but I expect that God will show me something special about the beauty of God’s reign that week. Taking time to explore the humility of Jesus on Maundy Thursday, his sacrifice on Good Friday, the liminal space of Holy Saturday and the exuberance of Sunday is one of my favourite things. How could God not speak at this wonderful time in the Christian calendar? So the fact that something had happened to upset that sense of expectation grated on me.
But it’s through the disruptions that God speaks most clearly. Continue reading God who is with us: A reflection on the cross and a busted hot water tank.
Lately I have lost track of how many Christians I am meeting who ask me if I know of any churches in their area that they might be able to join. Some of them are not currently attending a church, others are at a church but find it unsatisfying. We know of course that this is nothing new. The Church in the West is struggling in the liminal space in which it is placed today. We are unsure of the purpose, relevance and level of engagement the church should have today. We turn to often used biblical images of the church such as temple of God, family, bride of Christ and we wrestle with how to apply these pictures today. They are still true, but what do those illustrations look like in a society that has virtually lost its memory of Christendom, where in some quarters Christianity is being used as a political tool and in a culture where there is deep suspicion of the church? So many Christians are affected by this in-between space that we are in. There is a sense of confusion and disorientation among many of us. We read statistics about how many Christians have given up on the church altogether, the millennials are leaving the church we are told, and other Christians quietly sit in the pews each week bored, numbed by religion and perhaps wonder what the relevance is of what is coming from the platform to their daily lives at work and play. Continue reading Why are so many Christians looking for churches?
My neighbourhood library has individual seats that line up at a long shared table which face those sitting there to a glass exterior wall letting us look out onto the street. It’s a busy street and a busier library. The seats are usually all taken by the time that I arrive at 10:03am, three minutes after opening time, to do my work. Whenever I do get a seat and take my place at the window, it’s sometimes hard to get work done because I’m addicted to people watching. My insatiable curiosity always gets the better of me and instead of getting that article written or that talk finished, I end up dreamily watching the fascinating people of my neighbourhood walk by and this leads me down trails of imagined stories about their lives. Continue reading In praise of people who pull faces at library windows
Yet again International Women’s Day is upon us and I start feeling that familiar sense of resignation, discouragement and mild annoyance.
Various social media discussions have been circulating around activities planned for International Women’s Day. The city of Melbourne has decided to install female pedestrian signals on the streets in order to identify and counter unconscious bias which perpetuates the thought that being male is the norm. However, the biggest complaint from men and women regarding this, seems to be that the act is of no real significance and moreover, the female figure is wearing a dress which is considered sexist. Continue reading Is International Women’s Day Tokenistic?
I came across an article today that sounded very encouraging. Female pastors are on the rise, I skimmed to the section where this was mentioned just to be sure that I had not read wrongly. I hadn’t. There are more females as pastors than ever before today. This means that more women are stepping into leadership.
But…
Today I was talking to a mother who shared with me a story that made me smile and cheer her on.
She told me that her teenage son was beginning to make friends with a girl at school who had a reputation for being a trouble-maker, promiscuous, badly behaved and connected with gangs. This mother pointed out to her son that he should be a little careful around her. So when this young girl asked her son out to the movies my friend, understandably, was seriously frightened. “Is this the beginning of my son mixing with the wrong crowd?” She wondered. Instantly she saw in her mind pictures of her son sitting in gaol because of some crime he had committed; graffiti, stealing and worse.
All of this because she had allowed him to mix with bad company. All because she had allowed him to go to the movies with a troublesome girl. Continue reading The Courageous Love of a Frightened Mother
Today I walked my neighbourhood with my six year old niece.
She took her phone and I told her that we would go on a photographic journey. “What’s that?” she said. I told her that we would walk the streets and she could take photographs of anything she wanted and that this would tell and record our story for the day. She thought it was a great idea.
Yesterday the second female Premier of NSW was sworn in and apparently it took only about 15 minutes for the press to get to this;
Journalist: Julia Gillard was prime minister and she copped a lot of questions about her marriage status and her child status, many of them unfairly. How prepared are you for those sorts of questions?
Berejiklian: I have been in public life for a long time. I have been a senior minister for six years. I am ready for anything.
Journalist: So was Julia Gillard and she did get questions about it, and there will be questions about it. Are you prepared for those questions?
Berejiklian: Sure, ask me one.
Journalist: The obvious question is do you think this is a disadvantage politically, because people have kids and they have families and people identify with that like they did with Morris Iemma…
Many people responded in surprise that this is still an issue today. Why should it matter if a female is single and childless? Doesn’t it just depend on her competence?
But I wasn’t surprised at all.
Single childless women, in my opinion, is still a taboo topic even in a progressive society like Australia. There are many people in our society including the media who simply don’t know how to box women who don’t have children. Where do they fit exactly?
I’m still not sure what is going on here. Are we a threat to the status quo? Do we disturb the normal rhythms of our world? Perhaps we are victims to be pitied? Or there’s that classic line, maybe we are just not “maternal” enough. My personal favourite however, is the suggestion that we have put our careers before our ultimate calling- motherhood and are now suffering the consequences. So we are seen as selfish.
Even the word “childless” has its difficulties. It implies a negative. We are defined by what we do not have. The more frequently used “childfree” has problems too because it conveys that children are a burden.
Of course our society sends out mixed messages on motherhood too. Mothers are made to feel guilty, they are dismissed and worshipped in our society all at the same time.
But single, childless women are just completely confusing according to many people.
What I am grateful for is that there has been a huge pushback in our community regarding this journalist’s boring and predictable question. I’m also glad that we have a premier who seems competent to handle the criticism that she will probably get around her status in the future.
This is criticism that Mike Baird never got even though the was announcing policies in NSW to mitigate violence against women. How does he know what it’s like to be a woman? Moreover, Bob Carr was not questioned about his childless status when he was elected Premier.
The newly appointed Premier’s response to the question put to her, centred around her love of family, a quick philosophical reflection on the way that life doesn’t always turn out the way we sometimes wish for, and a focus on her team who will complement her. That’s the way it should be. She’s smart.
When I saw her walk up parliament stairs with her father, mother and sisters, I enjoyed seeing an alternative to the usual nuclear family images that are constantly placed before our eyes. May we see more of people who have chosen or simply reflect different lifestyles on our public platforms because they have a lot to contribute. They can speak up for the segments of our society which are often marginalised.
I wish her all the best and hope she is judged and scrutinised for her ability to run our State with compassion, justice, wisdom and good leadership.
Because that’s what actually matters.
