Gathering SpaceMay 31, 20202 minLetter to my teenage self: LizHello from the future… the year is 2020 and so much has changed for you: you struggle to sleep past 7am at the weekends (inconceivable I...
Gathering SpaceMay 29, 20202 minLetter to my teenage self: SallyWhat would I tell my teenage self? I went to school in the 80s. Gay people were like John Inman on “Are you being served?”, my Dad called...
Gathering SpaceMay 27, 20202 minLetter to my teenage self: MerindaDear worried young teacher, Thank you for your worries of 4am, but do try to sleep as the days at study and at school will all be easier...
Gathering SpaceMay 25, 20202 minLetter to my teenage self: Rachel HHiya honey, Someone wrote to us at Two:23 the other day and said they were glad they'd seen we didn't all have three heads. It reminded...
Gathering SpaceMay 23, 20202 minLetter to my teenage self: JeremyFirstly I want to say that I love you so much and I really hope you can listen to what I have to say with an open heart and mind. I know...
Gathering SpaceMay 21, 20202 minLetter to my teenage self: ZoeHello friend You do know, don’t you, that you’re a good friend to many people and over the years this will continue in work and in your...
Gathering SpaceMay 19, 20202 minLetter to my teenage self: Rachel GDear Rachel, So you’re 14; you have so much to learn and so much to experience. There will be sadness, hurt and rejection, but also so...
Gathering SpaceFeb 18, 20202 minGravityThe strangest things can spark memories, can't they, and as I was making my way home from meeting a friend the other day, I realised I...
Gathering SpaceFeb 14, 20202 minLove in the mirrorIf someone responds to one of my profiles on (many!) dating websites and tells me I’m handsome I simply reply, “Yes, I agree!”. Some...
Gathering SpaceFeb 7, 20202 minLove delayedI recently found an old diary and this entry stuck out to me: “All I know is when I think about dating, I like the thought of dating a...
Gathering SpaceFeb 2, 20202 minInvisibleI tell you I feel invisible in the church. Invisible in the ‘traditional evangelical’ churches and conferences. Never spoken about,...
Gathering SpaceJan 15, 20202 minI was born a lesbian: I choose to follow ChristWhen I moved into a new place a while ago, one job was to display a collection of my photos on one wall. While getting sucked into a...
Gathering SpaceJan 13, 20202 minOnce upon a timeOnce upon a time there was a little girl who was a bit different; everyone thought that she was a boy. She was a very kind and caring...
Gathering SpaceJan 11, 20201 minOut of the ashesMy new beginnings started on bonfire night in 2014 when I wandered back to the smouldering bonfire at the end of the night to pray alone....
Gathering SpaceJan 9, 20202 minBeauty in brokennessI realised my sexual orientation from age seven when I fell for my Year 3 student teacher, and was fixated with other boys at school and...
Gathering SpaceJan 7, 20202 min“And so each venture is a new beginning …”T S Eliot, throughout his ‘Four Quartets’ has some pretty deep things to say about experience as a sentient being within time, and many...
Gathering SpaceJan 4, 20202 minEvery timeEvery time it’s like the first time. Every time I drop the words into a space that seems to fit them, stand back, and wait to see what...
Gathering SpaceJan 1, 20203 minWonderfully madeImagine, if you will, a gay teenager in a vicarage on a council estate in South Bristol in the early 90s. No internet, virtually no out...
Gathering SpaceDec 24, 20192 minNew beginningsA new year, a new start. We find one of the biggest obstacles to LGBT people being accepted in UK churches is that Christians aren’t...