WHEN I STARTED this blog two months ago my aim was to create and keep a space to express creativity and share my story. Life began to get in the way, so this month I aim for daily bite-size chunks not weekly essays – though I may still do one or two of those too! …
Make time for peace: A call to action
SEPTEMBER 21st is the United Nations International Day of Peace, created in 1981 as an opportunity for ‘commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.’ Two decades later, …
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- 21st September 2025
- Christianity, Coming Out, Hate Crime, Human Rights, identity, Kindness, Liverpool, Methodist, Open Table, relationships, Spirituality
- abravefaith
Garden of Peace: A reflection for the Season of Creation 2025
LAST SUNDAY, as part of my training as a Methodist minister, I shared this brief reflection on the Season of Creation, which runs from 1st September to 4th October, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment.
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- 2nd September 2025
- Christianity, Methodist, Spirituality
- abravefaith
Transfiguration and Hiroshima: A reflection on peace
LAST SUNDAY, as part of my training as a Methodist minister, I shared this reflection on the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, which falls on the Feast of the Transfiguration (6th August).
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- 6th August 2025
- Christianity, Methodist, Spirituality
- abravefaith
Encouraging words build community spirit
LAST MONTH, as part of my training as a Methodist minister, I shared this reflection about the inmportance of sharing encouragement when we can, not waiting until someone leaves or has died to say how we really feel.
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- 4th August 2025
- Appreciation, Christianity, Gratitude, Kindness, Meaning of Life, Methodist, relationships, Spirituality
- abravefaith
Joy, freedom, kindness: A spiritual exercise
LAST SUNDAY, as part of my training as a Methodist minister, I shared this reflection during an all-age service. The service included children and adults with learning difficulties. The readings for the day were Psalm …
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- 5th July 2025
- Christianity, Kindness, Methodist, Spirituality
- abravefaith
‘My cry is to all that live’ – Wisdom’s inclusive call to love and be loved
TODAY, as part of my training as a Methodist minister, I shared this reflection on Trinity Sunday. This feast falls eight weeks after Easter. This year it coincides with Father’s Day in the UK. This …
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- 15th June 2025
- Christianity, Methodist, Spirituality
- abravefaith
‘Will it be Open Table?’ The question that started a movement
FEBRUARY is LGBT+ History Month,an annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and non-binary history. The Methodist Church in Britain has published resources for LGBT+ History Month since 2022. This year they asked me, as Director of the Open Table Network to share the story of how Open Table began and has grown from one to many communities.
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- 10th February 2025
- Christianity, LGBT rights, Liverpool, Methodist, Open Table, Pride, relationships, sexuality, Spirituality
- abravefaith
National church shares LGBT+ History Month prayer
FEBRUARY is LGBT+ History Month, an annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and non-binary history. This year, the Methodist Church in Britain asked me to write a prayer which will be shared with churches for the month.
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- 3rd February 2025
- Christianity, identity, LGBT rights, Methodist, Open Table, Spirituality
- abravefaith
Good news of great joy – for whom? A Christmas reflection
LAST SUNDAY, as part of my training as a Methodist minister, I shared this short reflection during a carol service at Wesley Church Centre in Chester: ‘Do not be afraid; for see – I am …
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- 24th December 2024
- Christianity, Christmas, Spirituality
- abravefaith
Hush the noise – and hear these angels sing!
CHRISTMAS is loud, isn’t it? So much expectation. So many voices. Telling us how to celebrate, what to wear, what to eat and drink, what to watch and what to buy.
Instead, the Methodist Church in Britain invites us to ‘Hush The Noise’ and listen to THREE new Christmas singles!
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- 17th December 2024
- Christianity, Christmas, Methodist, Spirituality
- abravefaith
On the road again – My surprising journey continues
TODAY I said farewell to the church which has supported me for much of the last three years. Now that I have started training to be a Methodist presbyter [from the Greek word πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) …
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- 29th September 2024
- Christianity, Liverpool, Methodist, Spirituality
- abravefaith
‘Burn down their hatred with hope’ – Responding to racist riots in Liverpool
LAST SUNDAY, as part of my training as a Methodist local preacher, I led a service at a Black majority church in inner city Liverpool, about half a mile from a mosque. I had planned the service the week before, but as I woke to news of protests, riots, violence and destruction in the city the night before, I knew I had to respond somehow.
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- 8th August 2024
- Christianity, Hate Crime, Liverpool, Methodist
- abravefaith
Nov 01
Photo A Day – November 1: The candle #FMSphotoaday
- By abravefaith in Artist's Way, Photo A Day
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1st November 2012
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/11/01/photo-a-day-nov1-the-candle/
Oct 12
Come out, come out, whoever you are… Why we need National Coming Out Day
- By abravefaith in Coming Out, LGBT rights
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12th October 2012
NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY (NCOD) has been celebrated on 11th October in the US and increasingly around the world, since 1988. NCOD celebrates individuals who publicly identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT) and coming out about sexual orientation and/or gender identity as a cultural rite of passage for LGBT people. It marks the anniversary …
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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/10/12/comingoutday12/
Sep 28
SEEN and not heard? Why I am inspired to work for my community
- By abravefaith in Coming Out, LGBT rights
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28th September 2012
ON OCTOBER 12th SEEN, the LGBT community magazine for Merseyside, will host the second annual SEEN Awards. This year there are several new awards, including ‘Inspirational Person of the Year’. When the shortlist was announced at the end of August I was pleasantly surprised to find I am on it. Am I inspirational? Clearly someone …
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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/09/28/seen-and-not-heard/
Sep 23
The scared and the sacred – Wrestling with identity
- By abravefaith in Christianity, Coming Out, LGBT rights, Spirituality
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23rd September 2012
THIS is a detail of Jacob Wrestling With The Angel, by Alexander-Louis Leloir (1865). I discovered this image as I began writing my coming-out-in-faith story. I believe the story which inspired it has something to teach us about our identity, which may explain its popularity as a source of inspiration for artists, and why it speaks …
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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/09/23/the-scared-and-the-sacred/
Sep 15
Jack-with-no-box – Why I have come out of the church
- By abravefaith in Christianity, Coming Out, LGBT rights, Spirituality
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15th September 2012
IN MY LAST POST I explained how I began to find my voice while contributing to The Exuberant Church by Rev Barbara Glasson. As Barbara and I discussed the coming out process, I had a strong sense that I needed to help her write her story and, in doing so, I began to write my …
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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/09/15/jack-with-no-box/
Sep 07
Coming out of the Church
- By abravefaith in Christianity, Coming Out, LGBT rights, Spirituality
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7th September 2012
I BEGAN to find my voice and share my story in 2009 when an author friend approached me to talk about ‘coming out’ – she wanted to get an understanding of this extraordinary process of identity-claiming to see what it might reveal to those people of faith who struggle to accept diversity of sexual orientation and gender …
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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/09/07/coming-out-of-the-church/
Aug 31
The ultimate question
- By abravefaith in Christianity, Coming Out, LGBT rights, Meaning of Life
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31st August 2012
TOMORROW I turn 42. In the first novel and radio series of Douglas Adams‘ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to …
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- BBC Television, Christian, civil partnership, coming out, Deep Thought, Douglas Adams, Gay community, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, LGBT, Liverpool, Merseyside, Personal development, Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Roman Catholic Church, Same-sex marriage, Sexual orientation, sexuality, spirituality
- 8 comments
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/08/31/the-ultimate-question/
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