word | spirit | world | church
It’s common these days in church circles for people to suggest that we need to see ourselves represented in order to fully participate in something. On the face of it, there’s something very true there. However, I think it’s often confused. What’s true Those who lead us do represent us; this is a key Biblical… Continue reading Do we need to see ourselves represented?
We’re here to make disciples. Much popular preaching in the section of Matthew 28 that we’re taken to calling ‘the Great Commission’ gets my goat. It can amount to an exhortation to get the punters in by any means necessary as though the most important thing we’re doing is introducing new people to Jesus. Here’s… Continue reading We’re not here to make converts
In the last few months lots of people have left X/Twitter. Most of this is driven by their distaste for the new American administration and Elon Musk’s role in it. I like Twitter. I’ve made friends there. It’s one of the two primary routes that people have discovered my writing, which I’m thankful for. It’s… Continue reading Changing Ecosystems
The Bible is full of little details and comments that don’t seem to mean very much. You can feel all at sea and wonder what’s going on. Perhaps it’s tempting to think ‘this is a cultural reference I don’t understand.’ That could be true. However, I’d like to suggest a different approach to Bible reading.… Continue reading Let the Bible interpret the Bible
There are two church leadership offices described in the Bible, the elder and the deacon. Deacons provide material (or operational) support to elders, and the only character qualification that’s distinctive between the two offices is that elders need to be able to ‘teach.’ That tells you something about the distinct thing that elders do. However,… Continue reading Pastor vs Elder vs Bishop
The Garden of Eden is presented to us like God is the Host at a dinner. We’re explicitly told of the food that’s laid out for Adam and Eve. In fact, what Adam does in his sin is, in essence, a rejection of hospitality. Rejecting hospitality is a big deal in the ancient world. To… Continue reading God the Host
Jesus’ parable of the four soils (Matthew 13) shows an unexpected truth about the way the kingdom of God grows: most things we try aren’t successful. Did you catch that? There are four soils and one is good; the sower’s job is to sow the seed. The quarter, or so, that falls on good soil… Continue reading Hit and Miss
In a previous post, one of my most read, I explored what happened between Noah and Ham in Genesis 9. There are two particular possibilities, both plausible, though I come down on one side in that post. However, I’d like to nuance what I said previously, by exploring Noah’s relationship with wine. Noah sometimes gets… Continue reading Noah’s Vineyard
That’s the sort of sentence to bring in the clicks. Of course you want me to caveat that, surely I can’t mean all technology? On the face of it, obviously not. Does a pencil dehumanise us? It’s not clear how that would be a sensible thing to say, and your definition of technology has to… Continue reading Technology dehumanises us
There is no chance after. This line, emblazoned on the wall above my desk, comes from the undisputed best of C.S. Lewis’ fiction: Till We Have Faces. It may seem a strange book to many Christians, the retelling of a Greek myth that you’ll only be very vaguely familiar with (Psyche and Cupid) from the… Continue reading Die before you die
nuakh 