word | spirit | world | church
Jesus in the Tabernacle V The Altar is another box, though not a perfect cube this time. The acacia wood—tabernacle wood—is made into a box slightly shorter than the square on its top is wide. It has horns on its corners, but made of one piece with it. That’s skilled carpentry. The whole thing is… Continue reading The Altar
I’m a charismatic, and an occasionally whacky one. It’s not uncommon for people in my circles to highlight the importance of a 'spiritual realm' to how we understand the world. That’s where it can start to go off the rails. There are many mad things said under that heading, but it’s having a resurgence in… Continue reading Seen and Unseen
Jesus in the Tabernacle IV After the lampstand, the instructions given to Moses turn to the tabernacle itself, the tent in which ark and table and lampstand are placed. It’s made of ten curtains, with entwined blue and purple and scarlet yarns, woven with fine white linen. It’s made a very specific size. The intricacy… Continue reading The Tent
As I write the UK Parliament has voted ‘yay’ to the second reading of a bill to legalise assisted suicide. It’s been wildly reported internationally as being legalised, which is a slight misunderstanding of the system as another vote is required, but it seems likely it will continue to pass. Assuming it does, this is… Continue reading The Church After Assisted Suicide
Jesus in the Tabernacle III Next, Moses is instructed to build the lampstand, which sits in the holy place with the table for bread. The lampstand is shaped like a styilsed almond tree. Picture a menorah, but with the cup each like an almond flower, seven of them. It is made of pure, hammered gold… Continue reading The Lampstand
This is a guest post from Aaron Stead, responding to my post about a Theological Vision for Ministry, which was inspired by the book Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls. Aaron is studying for an MTh with Union School of Theology. Some time ago I was talking to a vicar who after 50 years… Continue reading Against Executive Pastors
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
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