https://thejoyofrachel.com/ Writing to think things through: faith, money, the world we share, and the ordinary turns of a life. en-gb https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/10/04/the-badgers/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/10/04/the-badgers/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:00:00 GMT **The Badgers ** To imagine a community garden, and people growing food together, and nobody being lonely, and the earth becoming a little more like heaven -… Poems https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/08/22/year-4-cherry-tree-house/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/08/22/year-4-cherry-tree-house/ Sat, 22 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT A book I read this year referred to the "noisy sunshine and showers" of children's emotional lives - a wonderful, instantly recognisable characterisation! In… Years https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/08/18/leaving-church/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/08/18/leaving-church/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT On grief, belonging and learning to tell the truth about the places that shaped us. Learnings https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/06/22/an-ending/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/06/22/an-ending/ Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT I go on caring for you the way a person keeps walking toward a house that isn't there anymore. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to. And I don't know if the love I… Learnings https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/06/15/world-cup-2026-segregation-by-another-name/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/06/15/world-cup-2026-segregation-by-another-name/ Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT An event like the World Cup is totemic. Our collective arrangements, exclusions and beliefs about who matters in the world get concentrated into a single… Power https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/04/05/your-hands-are-full-of-flowers/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/04/05/your-hands-are-full-of-flowers/ Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT The church I went to this morning had two trumpeters, a choir, and a cross of gold. Stripped of language, there was gesture and posture and light. I wondered… Faith https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/03/15/what-makes-debt-bad/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/03/15/what-makes-debt-bad/ Sun, 15 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT In January 2026, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the BBC that some now believe "the power of law should be replaced by the law of power." He was… Power https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/01/25/living-through-1-5c-degrees/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2026/01/25/living-through-1-5c-degrees/ Sun, 25 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT My memories of bonfire night as a child are of being bundled up in a hat, scarf and gloves. I remember huddling in the cold of my grandparent's garden… Climate https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/12/29/thoughts-on-2025/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/12/29/thoughts-on-2025/ Mon, 29 Dec 2025 12:00:00 GMT The best part of this year has been Anna and Joe arriving to the house. There's a list of Anna-isms on the fridge, a glut of tupperware in the freezer, and a… Years https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/12/21/bus-stop-nativity/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/12/21/bus-stop-nativity/ Sun, 21 Dec 2025 12:00:00 GMT Where should we go looking for God? Advent means the "coming" or arrival of God. It's a season of fasting in the church, one of waiting and anticipation. We… Faith https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/11/21/growing-up/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/11/21/growing-up/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 12:00:00 GMT I was hanging out with a three year-old last week. He came into the kitchen to make an announcement. In a manner that my choir director calls excited in a… Learnings https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/10/18/amsterdam-to-london-with-bart/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/10/18/amsterdam-to-london-with-bart/ Sat, 18 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT **Amsterdam to London with Bart ** Bart is 98. His cells are leaving "in droves," but he's still signing card numbers to a man across the aisle, helping him… Poems https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/09/20/the-art-of-crying/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/09/20/the-art-of-crying/ Sat, 20 Sep 2025 12:00:00 GMT I borrowed a short zine book from Kristin to read on the train the other week. Called "The Art of Crying", it's a series of observations around the role and… Learnings https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/08/15/10-things-i-hate-about-cars/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/08/15/10-things-i-hate-about-cars/ Fri, 15 Aug 2025 12:00:00 GMT I still associate long car journeys with the excitement of going on holiday as a kid. I remember the fun of going to McDonald's in sixth form because a friend… Climate https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/07/20/year-3-cherry-tree-house/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/07/20/year-3-cherry-tree-house/ Sun, 20 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT Earlier this year, Lucy sent me 'Metaphysical Animals' in the post. It profiles the philosophers Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Mary… Years https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/17/living-in-a-world-of-systems/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/17/living-in-a-world-of-systems/ Sat, 17 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT I've just finished reading Donella Meadow's seminal work 'Thinking in Systems'. It's excellent. The book goes through systems principles in a thoughtful and… Power https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/14/what-holds-the-swifts/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/14/what-holds-the-swifts/ Wed, 14 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT The type of bright sunshine which gives grass an extra sort of lurid dimensionality is the same sort of sunshine which has been pouring through the attic… Poems https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/06/the-financial-system/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/06/the-financial-system/ Tue, 06 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT “Money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns” Bill McKibben (Consider reading The Economy before you read this post) The financial system is… Power https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/05/the-economy/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/05/05/the-economy/ Mon, 05 May 2025 12:00:00 GMT "The sign of a healthy economy should be a drinkable river." Li An Phoa We talk about "the economy" as if it were a single coherent thing. In reality, it is… Power https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/04/13/pink-carnations/ https://thejoyofrachel.com/2025/04/13/pink-carnations/ Sun, 13 Apr 2025 12:00:00 GMT They filled the chamber with pink carnations that July day in 2013. A fragile splash of colour against the dark wood and red leather of the House of Lords… Power