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Jesus in the Tabernacle II The tabernacle instructions continue with a table made of the ubiqutuous Acacia, of tabernacle wood. This is again overlaid with gold with a moulding around the edge (Exodus 25). It also has rings to allow it to be carried with poles. The tabernacle furniture is not for touching in the… Continue reading The Table of Bread
In my review of the year, I mentioned Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve. It’s a strange book, about the science of leadership. The book is terribly written and probably needs a modern explainer writing. This post is an attempt not to summarise it but to highlight some things that stood out to me. These… Continue reading 7 Leadership Lessons from Friedman
Over the next eight weeks I’m going to explore the tabernacle in Exodus and the way we find Christ represented in it. The conviction that this is appropriate comes first, because Jesus is described as ‘tabernacling’ amongst us in the incarnation (John 1), second because he refers to himself as the Temple—a later, larger, developed… Continue reading The Ark of the Covenant
It’s Epiphany today, Christmas is over, the new year doesn’t start today but it’s as good a day as any for reflecting on the last twelve months. It’s become my tradition to celebrate the anniversary of nuakh with a review of the previous year of reading and writing on Epiphany. Below are a bunch of lists, including… Continue reading 2024 in Review: Year Four
Autumn’s final blast of anger against Winter’s unthinking hate is over, every leaf that cannot cling to life has lit the match to self-immolate in protest. We have enjoyed the beauty of that unconstrained rage. This is the story the seasons tell—or one of them at any rate. Snow lay on the ground earlier this… Continue reading Winter’s Story
This is a time full of feasting. Everywhere you go it seems you’re offered a plate of mince pies or piece of stollen, perhaps with a glass of mulled wine. You can’t escape it—biscuits and coffee at church become wine and cake week after week. Or at least that’s normal in the UK, I’m told… Continue reading Christmas is for the Church
I wonder if you’ve ever cut down a tree? I’ve done a few small ones over the years, and it’s a hard job. We’ve mostly gone the route of chopping off all the branches with a big pair of loppers or a reciprocating saw, so that you’re left with a tall trunk in the ground… Continue reading The Axe is Laid at the Root of the Tree
Advent is a time for silence. Or, to put it a little better, Advent is a time for facing up to the silence of God. We don’t like to admit it. This is the time of year for declaring the Emmanuel—that God is with us—and for saying that God is the one who steps into our world… Continue reading When God is Silent
I’m experienced at waiting. I know how to wait with God for things that feel like they’ve been promised and haven’t come. Well, I say I know how to, and what I really mean is that I know what it feels like to live in the between, hanging suspended between hope and hurt. If I… Continue reading On Waiting
I’ve spent six months now blogging about what I’ve dubbed the discipleship crisis: our collective Christian mind is poorly formed and our lives don’t look that different from everyone else around us. We’re meant to be Christians in everything we do. We live in a particular moment where in the UK the cultural power of… Continue reading The Discipleship Crisis Part 2
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