Reflections and Stories

OCD in Faith Spaces: OCD Awareness Week

17 Oct 2024

CW: religious OCD, but no specifics of obsessions or compulsions

When I was about 14 I remember telling a friend that it felt like I couldn’t control my mind. These thoughts that I didn’t like would stick around, and I couldn’t do anything but give in to their demands if I wanted to get...

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Germany Pilgrimage '24: Reverence, Reflection, Relationship

20 Aug 2024

by Jasmine Friend 

 

Home ---> Coventry 

It all kicked off in Coventry. Okay, I know what you're thinking; a city neither in Germany, nor what you'd typically consider a hotspot for pilgrims- not a great start. But underneath the initial impression of the city...

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Meeting Jesus in Psychoanalysis: Lent 2024

27 Feb 2024

Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ

 Galatians 6:2

Psychoanalysis is an intensive therapeutic treatment invented by Sigmund Freud (1857-1939), that aims to make unconscious processes conscious.

I started...

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Remember the Dead, Fight Like Hell For The Living

20 Nov 2023

Trans Day of Remembrance gives space for the grief, anger and pain that comes with being trans in a world that attempts to stifle our joy and flourishing. This year, two of the youngest names on the list of transgender people who have died due to transphobia leading to violence or suicide will...

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Reflections from the Transgender Theology Conference

9 Nov 2023

I attended the first day of the Transgender Theology Conference from home via Zoom. The Zoom quality was excellent, making it very accessible to me as someone with an energy limiting condition. The premise of the conference, “The pastoral care of transgender, intersex, and non-binary people”...

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Elijah's Berlin Adventures Part Two: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

30 Aug 2023

One thing that I loved and truly valued about the Berlin trip is the diversity of perspectives and interpretations shared amongst the group. It is easy to forget that not everyone sees the same way as you do, nor do they perceive, experience, appreciate and understand in a standardised way. So,...

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Elijah's Berlin Adventure Part One: The walls we encounter, maintain, and resist.

22 Aug 2023

On the first day of our time in Berlin, we were taken on a tour of the Berlin Wall Memorial. It was poignant to be able to physically stand in the chasm – the no man’s land – between what was once West and East Berlin. I couldn’t help but be truly thankful for the physical ease and safety with...

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Blessed Are The Queer, Doubtful, Anxious People of Faith: Beatitudes for the SCM National Gathering

12 Jul 2023

After a weekend of discussing what it means to walk ‘humbly’, Ashwin Thyssen, our keynote speaker, left us with a reading of Nadia Bolz Weber’s version of the Beatitudes. Nadia wonders if, instead of being a list of...

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Vocation, Vocation, Vocation: Christianity and Careers

28 Jun 2023

Almost three years on from finishing university, I find myself working for a university careers service. I certainly didn’t imagine that I would be in this position back when I graduated – in fact, I never used the careers services at either of the universities I attended (don’t tell my boss...

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Tips for SCM Group Outreach!

2 May 2023

Words like 'outreach' and 'evangelism' can be taboo words in the progressive Christian world (and for good reason!) We don't want to be seen to be manipulative or coercive, so we can feel a bit wary or unsure of how to go about attracting new people to our SCM groups. As part of this year's...

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