word | spirit | world | church
A little over two years ago the Prime Minister got on our TV screens and told us we had to stay at home. We crashed into our first lockdown that we all thought would last a few months and then slowly began to realise was a two-year waking nightmare. If you don’t live in the… Continue reading After the Plague
We struggle to understand the concept of rest. You might think it’s pretty obvious, but we live in cultures that are so formed away from the ideal for human life that we often get rest backwards. I’ve argued here at nuakh that rest is about the enjoyment of order, about stopping to be with the… Continue reading The story of rest
We live in an age of individuals. Which doesn’t sound like it’s saying very much because we can’t imagine anything else. For all the philosophers and critics say we are 'expressive individualists', we might not believe it fully. You’re not so self-centred that you only act for yourself, after all? But we’re so inculcated by… Continue reading Individualism goes deep
A friend contacted me recently to say that she’d re-listened to a message I preached a couple of years ago on idolatry from Exodus 32, when the Israelites built themselves a bull to worship. You can listen to it here if it takes your fancy. She then asked me an intriguing question, “what does idolatry… Continue reading Idols in Lockdown
The last year has upended our lives, to say the least. Most of my friends have been reflecting on how it has upended our emotions as well. Have you noticed that? There’s a generalised malaise in the air. Sure, there’s ambient anxiety caused by the way we consume news like there has been for decades,… Continue reading Naming the Hydra
The cultural commentator’s big question at the moment is what will the world be like in the magical hereafter: post-Covid. How will this change us? Perhaps—as Mark Sayers suggests—this will quicken the move that was already happening as globalism gives in to the networked society (this seems plausible), or—as many have commented—we will see the… Continue reading AC: After-Covid
We have been told that Covid-19 is the “great leveller” as plague puts us all in the same position, reduces our power and places us at the mercy of tiny particles. As many commentators have pointed out, this has been demonstrably false. Covid disproportionately affects ethnic minorities, the poor, the elderly and those with a… Continue reading The Exposer
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