Tag: Personal development

Kindness Calendar – Do Good December

‘Together we can change the world, just one act of kindness at a time’ – Ron Hall Let’s spread more kindness this festive season! This Do Good December kindness calendar from Action For Happiness has daily suggested actions to do throughout December 2018 to help you spread a bit more kindness in the world. The festive season should …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2018/12/01/kindness-calendar-do-good-december/

Liverpool LGBT-affirming church studies ‘Queer Virtue’

This Lent, our inclusive church in Liverpool city centre offered a six-week course to explore the ‘queerness’ of the Christian tradition. Participants read and discussed Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People Know About Life and Love and How It Can Revitalize Christianity (Beacon Press, 2016), written by the American Episcopal priest Elizabeth Edman. At the launch of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2018/04/08/liverpool-lgbt-affirming-church-studies-queer-virtue/

The Examen: Practicing an attitude of gratitude

As part of St Bride’s Liverpool‘s Lent reflection series on ‘Holy Habits’, I shared my experience of the Examen, an invitation to daily thankfulness: In St Paul’s letter to the Colossians (3: 12-17), he tells the church in Colossae to ‘Always be thankful’ in everything they say or do, giving thanks to God in the name …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2018/03/01/the-examen-practicing-an-attitude-of-gratitude/

A Handful of Hope – Gratitude As A Way Of Life #Thanksgiving

THIS MORNING on Facebook I shared a quotation that seemed appropriate for today: ‘If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.’ – Meister Eckhart Meister Eckhart, the 14th century German theologian, philosopher and mystic, was referring to gratitude as a spiritual practice. As chaplain to Liverpool YMCA, which provides 170 beds …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/23/a-handful-of-hope-gratitude-as-a-way-of-life-thanksgiving/

The theology and spirituality of Open Table – A person-centred approach

OPEN TABLE – an ecumenical Christian worship community which offers a warm welcome to people who are: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer / Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) and all who seek an inclusive Church – began at St Bride’s Liverpool in June 2008, meeting once a month for a communion service. Since July 2015 we have been growing beyond …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/20/the-theology-and-spirituality-of-open-table-a-person-centred-approach/

Are we there yet? From homophobia to equality

TEN YEARS AGO this month, the UK’s longest running LGBT youth group* produced a short film about their experience of being lesbian, gay or bisexual in Liverpool. The 18 minute film aimed at 13-19 year olds uses drama, animation, original music and research to present issues around coming out, bullying at school, harassment at work, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/07/are-we-there-yet-from-homophobia-to-equality/

How little did I know – Blogging five years on

FIVE YEARS AGO today I began this blog – little did I know then that: having ‘come out of the church‘ in 2011, I would return to a different church where my husband and I would be accepted, encouraged and authorised as lay leaders (though still with limitations because we are married) little more than …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/08/31/how-little-did-i-know-blogging-five-years-on/

Who is my neighbour? A reflection on the 170th anniversary of Liverpool YMCA

This year Liverpool YMCA celebrated its 170th anniversary, and this year I became the chaplain to this extraordinary community. My role is to listen, support, care and gently question – to be there for everyone in the organisation regardless of faith or belief. At the anniversary celebration at Liverpool Parish Church last month, I read …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/12/01/who-is-my-neighbour-a-reflection-on-the-170th-anniversary-of-liverpool-ymca/

What is a ‘shared conversation’?

WHAT IS a conversation if it’s not shared? Talking to myself? Enjoying the sound of my own voice? Only hearing views I agree with? This odd phrase was chosen by the Church of England to describe its facilitated listening process to seek some reconciliation, or at least ‘good disagreement’ over diverse views on sexuality and same-sex …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/26/what-is-a-shared-conversation/

Reflecting on our identity as LGBT people of faith and as an LGBT faith community

BY POPULAR REQUEST, members of the community that meets monthly at St Bride’s Church, Liverpool for the Open Table LGBT service spent a day away again this month, six months after our first away-day last October. Following the theme of identity and individuality we explored in last month’s service, we developed and deepened this at …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/03/23/reflecting-identity-lgbt-faith-community/

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