Rosemary Lain-Priestley – författare

Gender: The Inclusive Church Resource is written to help your own church to be equipped to welcome all people regardless of their gender.It contains stories of different people's experiences of issues related to gender, a Theology of Gender by Rosemary Lain-Priestley and a resource section containing addresses, websites and practical advice.It also includes the full text of ‘The rise and fall of Default Man’, an article by artist and broadcaster Grayson Perry.Other books in the Inclusive Church Resource series include Ethnicity, Mental Health, Disability, Sexuality and Poverty.

God can act in and through you in a way that God cannot act in and through anyone else.' - From Chapter 5.To live deliberately rather than by accident requires great honesty. It means looking human experience fully in the face without glossing over the difficult bits. It means realizing that while God is not unconcerned with the intimate detail of our lives, we are expected to use our God-given gifts to get on with the day-to-day stuff like grown ups.Only by living deliberately will we fully explore who and what we really are.Drawing on her own experience and the stories of other individuals and communities, Rosemary Lain-Priestly vividly communicates in this stirring, often witty, book, the importance of honesty, freedom and the courage to 'be real'.

In the spring of 2008, Rosemary Lain-Priestley began to reflect on the themes of the unfolding year (little realizing quite how momentous a year it would be!) In this wholly engaging book, she helps us ponder our own lives, thoughts and feelings through the exploration of recognizable and resonant issues and events, and points beyond those issues and events to the God who is within all of us. 'We need to live the so-called ordinary stuff of our lives in such a way that when we look back there are as few moments as possible when we failed to pay real attention, to share our thoughts freely with one another, to wonder at the sheer wonder of it all. Because if we prepare well for our dreams and live them with courage, imagination and understanding, water can become wine . . . ' from Chapter 12 , 'The sublime in the ridiculous'.

There are big questions in life that most of us come up against at some stage or other. They may look something like this: Does my life have a point? Do things really have to change? Am I happy enough? Will I ever be 'in' with the 'in crowd'? Where on earth is home? It's up to us to choose how we deal with these issues. We can push them away by letting ourselves become so busy and distracted that we drown them out. Or we can face them full on, and start exploring the deepest possibilities of our lives. The latter is what Does My Soul Look Big in This? aims to help us do. Warm and accessible, it's a book for a generation unafraid to be vulnerable; for people longing for a spirituality that is relevant and real.