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In sum, there is no hard evidence to support the received wisdom that a wide range of behaviours that we associate with particular genders are actually biologically predetermined. The implication of this is that we need to look very hard indeed at how we reinforce stereotypes that diminish the potential of the boys and girls and the men and women around us. You may not think this is relevant in the church but ask yourself this: when a girl between the age of 5 and 12 comes up to you in the coffee lounge after the service, what are most adults, whether male or female, likely to say to them after a general greeting and inquiry as to how they are? Let me tell you, because I've watched myself, and I've watched scores of people talk to my daughter and I've asked lots of adults. The answer almost always relates to something she's wearing or some aspect of her appearance. 'That's a pretty top.' Or, 'I like the way you've done your hair.' Well, in an a...

'faith is the courage to face into our illusions and allow ourselves to be disillusioned about them, the courage to walk through our disillusions and dispel them' The Christian conception of disillusionment is deeply conditioned by courage. Facing up to our thinly veiled stories about reality is not easy, but it is our calling. Faith means we do not flinch in the face of disillusionment, papering over the cracks with other myths, but choose to live in the face of truth. The call to 'live with unveiled faces' (2 Corinthians 3:18) defines not only our approach to God, but also our approach to the world and ourselves. Faith is, we must acknowledge, often more uncomfortable than comforting.

Sometimes, it is enough simply to take notice of such things, and allow them to speak to us, as deep calls to deep. 'Consider the lilies of the field,' said Jesus (Matthew 6:28). He didn't say this just to illustrate the important point, 'Do not worry'; but because it is a crucial spiritual discipline in itself: to observe, and contemplate, the way the natural world simply 'is'.