Recently I read a quote from a women's conference that said "feminism and other voices trick me into thinking that God’s design isn’t good. I want headship, I want control. Especially when men shirk their responsibility like Adam. Recognising my sin helped me to stop fighting my sin." I found this incredibly heartbreaking! Particularly as it makes such broad sweeping statements about what the purpose behind feminism is and, I think in the subtext, what egalitarianism is: That the sole reason for these beliefs is to make myself powerful, that it's all about me. What I can achieve and where can I get all the authority and control... and yet it so completely misses the point and so here is my
Favourite Bible verse There are lots, but one that I love is the verse in (of all places!) Zephaniah 3:17 which was shown to me by a beautiful godly woman in the last days of her life. It says “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” She said just imagine, Jill! God singing! And that verse always makes me smile. How do I keep my eyes fixed on Jesus? Well I fail just as often as anyone, but I do love to read the ways that Jesus spoke to people and listened to them. I trust him and love him, and I see his love in his people. I long to be more like him. What would I li
Tell us a little about you. I am a book worm turned law student, who is currently taking a gap year to work and travel. I love music, people and Jesus. Oh, and cheese - I really like cheese. What's your favourite bible passage & why? Colossians 1:17 says 'He is before all things, and in him all things hold together'. I've always loved this passage because it makes me feel so tiny. My fears, my problems, my pride - all so minute compared to the profound existence of Christ. How do you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus? I don't do a very good job of that, most days. His grace is the only reason that my eyes are fixed on him. But, in a practical sense, I guess I try to do three things to kee
I just found out from LinkedIn that I have spent a year in my job. That is a year of mentoring Christian women entrepreneurs. Here are seven things I have learned: 1. Women are doing great things I have been mentoring women heading up inspirational projects, including: running groups for the intellectually disabled, coordinating chaplaincy for a major new hospital, providing alternative income for women rescued from sex slavery, creating a community for people who want to explore what it means to live with purpose, helping people and churches to connect with recently arrived migrants from Arab and Asian countries, collaborating with the best of social sciences and theology to provide better
I'm sorry. To the women I failed to raise up because of fear, I'm sorry. To the women who felt displaced because I found my place, I'm sorry. To the women I saw as competition, and not as sisters in Christ, I'm sorry. A couple of years ago I was convicted of how the scarcity principle was driving my leadership when reading Jo Saxton's 'Influential'. Titled 'More than Enchanting' in the US, this book is mandatory reading for those I am investing in. It was Jo's chapter on Influential Relationships that broke me: "She's become the pioneer, the rare one who leapt over the brick wall, shattered the glass ceiling and navigated the labyrinth of choices and decision to get where she is. And because
My heart cracked into a million tiny fragments as I cradled my nine-year- old under my arm. I desperately wanted to tell her that it gets better, but my own experience tells me otherwise. She wasn’t sobbing because her body was in pain, even though it was. She wasn’t bemoaning her body’s lack of stamina, even though it does. No, this discussion was about something almost as painful as the illness itself; the isolation. Being surrounded by people who regard and love you, yet still feeling utterly alone. After years of watching my daughter’s health deteriorate with similar symptoms to my own chronic illness, I listened as she lamented her ability to make friends at her new school. It wasn’t be
I upheld my wedding vow. I’m not someone who would ever leave a marriage or break a promise. I would never knowingly allow violence or abuse to break up my family. I would never knowingly let sin take root in my home. I wouldn’t put my children through the trauma. So I had no choice but to leave my husband. My husband was emotionally and verbally abusive for many years. He would belittle me when I didn’t do things his way, humiliate me in front of my friends, and criticise my skills, my opinions, my family and my dreams. He would yell at me, then when I asked him not to yell at me he’d criticise me for that too. I found myself living according to “what will he say, what will he do?” rather t
This blog is from a sermon preached on the 30th April 2017 at St George’s Anglican Church Paddington in Sydney. The text for the day was 1 Peter 1:13-25. Thanks to my St George’s friends for their hospitality. "Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fea
Tell us a little about you I was born in Melbourne and now live in Melbourne. In between, I had six years in Sydney, fifteen years in Western Australia, a year on Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria and ten years in Hong Kong. I lecture in Old Testament and Hebrew at Ridley College Melbourne. I am an ordained Anglican minister and a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral where I work on Sundays at the 9am service. I have trained as a spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition and this impacts how I reflect on the Bible. I am married to Len who lectures at Ridley, ministers in Moreland, and is an Archdeacon in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne. We have three grown up children and three grandchi
