Faith, transformation & social justice
After a challenging year, we're all adjusting to new expectations of Christmas. The year has taken its toll and even as we rally for the celebrations, many of us are exhausted. The run up to the end of 2020 has been incredibly hard, impacting our emotional and mental wellbeing as we struggle to respond to… Continue reading Finding Light in Deepest Dark – by Corin Pilling
Tell the truth to the person you share your life with. About what you think, how you feel and what you want. Tell the truth about what you do when no one is looking. Tell the truth to your children. About the big things and the little things. Help them not to be afraid of… Continue reading Tell the truth
Covid-19 has ruined many things. It has taken loved ones, destroyed livelihoods, damaged mental health, disrupted education and suspended much of the family and community life we hold precious. But there has been some silver linings. And for me, one of these is how much more time I have spent with my oldest group of… Continue reading Blokes, beer & banter. But can we talk about things that really matter?
"There are two types of pity. One, the weak-minded, sentimental sort, is really just the heart’s impatience to rid itself as quickly as possible of the painful experience of being moved by another person’s suffering.” The novel Beware of Pity was first published by Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig in 1939. I have just read the… Continue reading ‘Beware of Pity’: an old story with a timeless message
(*with apologies to Reni Eddo-Lodge, author of Why I’m no longer talking to White people about race) An open letter to other White people in the UK... Dear fellow faded Africans, On the 25 May 2020, the death of George Floyd rocked our White world. In the following weeks, global protests even reached the bastion… Continue reading Why I’m no longer talking to Black people about race (the way I used to)* – by Adrian Lock
It is my birthday this week, so with lockdown easing, our family all got in the car to visit my parents yesterday. It was our first trip together for months. My three children were especially looking forward to a slap-up (if socially-distanced) Sunday lunch cooked by their Granny. As a bonus, we were also going… Continue reading The petrol station Samaritan: how ‘Namaste Man’ saved my birthday
On Windrush Day, today, we celebrate the contribution of so many from the Caribbean that responded to the UK government’s request for help to rebuild post-war Britain.They came, suffered ongoing racial abuse, but struggled through, becoming part of the nation’s backbone, fulfilling so many of our keyworker roles, which many of their children and grandchildren… Continue reading Something YOU can do on Windrush Day – by Adrian Lock
No-one I know wants to be called a racist. Do you? All my White friends would be horrified by the accusation. We would all sign up to a ‘progressive’ set of values that would say diversity is ‘a good thing’ and racial discrimination is a ‘bad thing’. We are all horrified by the killing of… Continue reading Confessions of a racist – by Adrian Lock
“Unless you’re part of the solution, Adrian, you’re part of the problem” said my Black female colleague. It was a statement that felt unfair and shook my sense of identity to the core. The year was 1999 and the government body I was working for was still digesting the MacPherson Inquiry Report into the death… Continue reading The Silence of the Leaders – by Adrian Lock
‘Never ask, "Why were things so much better in the old days?" It's not an intelligent question.’ (Ecclesiastes 7:10) There is often no shortage of people in churches who look back fondly on the past. In times gone by there always seems to be more vision, more energy and more faith. A similar tendency affects… Continue reading Nostalgia just ain’t what it used to be…
