Aug 19
THIS WEEKEND the Bishop of Liverpool, Rt Revd Paul Bayes, will join the celebration of 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 a more inclusive Church. It’s not his first visit to Open Table. We originally …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/08/19/we-should-extend-the-table-bishop-of-liverpool-to-lgbti-christians/
Aug 13
I’M TAKING a risk in sharing this – it’s perhaps the most personal thing I have ever written here. Last weekend, I spent the evening with two dear friends who have lived with chronic illness for many years, and still find such joy in life having come so close to death. One of them was …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/08/13/take-me-to-the-place-where-your-heart-hurts-most/
Aug 08
IT’S BEEN almost five years since I started this blog – but in the last five months I have been unusually quiet. It has been an exceptionally busy time with the unprecedented growth of my voluntary work with the Open Table ecumenical Christian community, alongside other commitments. Not only that, but the company which was hosting …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/08/08/a-moving-blog/
May 08
In April each year, many Anglican churches have an annual meeting to review the past year and look forward to the year ahead. St Bride’s Liverpool is host to the Open Table ecumenical worship community for Christians who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) and all who believe in an inclusive church. This post is adapted from the Open Table report at the St Bride’s annual meeting last month.
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/05/08/a-year-in-the-life-of-open-table/
Apr 30
LAST MONTH I gave a reflection at St John’s United Reformed Church in Warrington, the home of the first gathering of Open Table outside Liverpool, which began in July 2015, seven years after the Liverpool community first met. My reflection, adapted here, was inspired by a blog post I wrote in September 2013 on the …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/04/30/an-outpouring-of-the-spirit-searching-for-a-more-inclusive-church/
Feb 21
Last Tuesday, on the eve of the General Synod debate on marriage and same sex relationships, I was heading for the launch of OneBodyOneFaith (a merger of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and Changing Attitude) when I saw this slogan on a poster on the Underground: Take me as I am, or watch me …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/02/21/what-a-difference-a-day-makes/
Feb 15
February is LGBT History Month in the UK – an annual festival to celebrate the lives and achievements of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people past and present. The Open Table community at St Bride’s Church in Liverpool, which my husband and I host, is honouring the occasion in its gatherings this month. LGBT History Month began …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/02/15/be-welcome-at-this-table-a-liturgy-for-lgbt-history-month/
Feb 10
Yesterday afternoon I visited a secondary school to discuss what more they could do to support their LGBT+ students. Last night I dreamed I travelled back in time and saw myself as a teenager. My younger self recognised me, approached and gave me a hug. I may have been watching too much science fiction lately, …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/02/10/being-the-change-i-wanted-to-see-as-an-lgbt-role-model/
Jan 27
TODAY is Holocaust Memorial Day – the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz which marked the end of the extreme prejudice and discrimination which led to the extermination of millions of Jews and other minorities. Or did it? The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust also commemorates other genocides in more recent …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/01/27/the-rise-of-trump-where-are-we-now-hmd2017/
Dec 24
AT A carol service last Sunday, hosted by Open Table, an inclusive Christian community in Liverpool, I read one of the readings, which I found moving, inspiring and too good not to share. Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses. Flood waters await us …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/12/24/amazing-peace-a-poem-for-christmas-by-maya-angelou/
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