Natalie Thinks

So yesterday I held the ninth birthday party of my third child, which for the record means it was the 39 th time I was staging some kind of birthday celebration, and by now, you’d think I must be somewhat of a pro at this. (Snorts) But it’s been a very rough month in a very rough year in a fairly rough life and I was feeling, to use a theological term, ‘fucking awful’. (Credit to Annie Lamott for that little gem) So I sent an invitation on Monday via whatsapp for Friday.  And what ensued was one of those tiny miracles whereby everything went off quite passably with the help of my two gorgeous older boys. Broken bicycle notwithstanding. My older two had half term so they walked to my youngest’s school and then walked a motley crew of 12 third and fourth graders home.  This involved taking on pretty much all their school bags half-way home, which are heavier than you could possibly believe (are these kids carrying dictionaries to school?), and consequently they arr...

A while back I asked a 30-something male pastor if he had a conscious strategy to empower women in ministry.  His answer was, “I just follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.” Mmm. Well that’s one of those unanswerable comebacks, but let me have a go anyway. If you think that you as a white, 30-something, male with a relatively privileged background are an uninterrupted channel for the Holy Spirit, then let's apply to the Vatican for sainthood straight away!  Am I really to believe the fact that every preaching opportunity in the last year was given to young, white men, was a move of the Holy Spirit?  But, YOU reading this are thankfully not that guy, so thank you for caring enough to find out what at least half your congregation needs! Firstly, open yourself up to the reality that you (like all of us) are prejudiced to favour what feels familiar, comfortable and relatable to you.  Then pray that God will open you up to notice those who don’t fit into t...