word | spirit | world | church
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
How do we deal with being angry at God? Is that a legitimate emotion? It’s tempting to just point to the book of Job and encourage you to meditate there—which is not bad advice, though it’s a complex book—but it is an experience that we have all had at some point I imagine. Life under… Continue reading Being Angry at God
The seed that dies is the one that bears fruit. That’s what Jesus said in John 12, Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12.24 A biologist might take issue with us saying… Continue reading Bearing Fruit
There is one truth in the glorious panoply that is the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) that is particularly special to me. One that stands out as a shining beacon on the darkest of days, one that daily speaks to my heart and revives me in the truth.… Continue reading Resurrection is Inevitable
Have you ever noticed that in Genesis chapter one, the days are the wrong way around? When I say the wrong way around, I mean backwards to what we expect, and before you rush off to compare the order of creation and question whether it means anything meaningful that the sun and moon come so… Continue reading Evening, then Morning
There’s a sort of language in charismatic culture that love the word ‘freedom.’ That’s great, right? Who wouldn’t like our freedom? Who would want to give up our freedom (cue William Wallace memes)? Who would want to live in… unfreedom (the opposite of freedom is ‘bondage’ but people really get the wrong idea these days)?… Continue reading Freedom isn’t a thing
There is no greater unknown, no more difficult question that we can face, than whether we are ready to die. Matthew Lee Anderson, Called into Questions, 35. I think he’s right. We are scared of death. We live in a culture scared of death. It’s much commented on that the Victorians seemed prudish (to us)… Continue reading The art of dying
In Matthew 16 Jesus declares to Peter that he is the rock on which he will build his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. What does that mean? In popular piety it’s most often quoted when we feel under attack by the forces of the Enemy. We’re most likely under… Continue reading The Gates of Hell
Christianity is weird. Really weird. In middle-class western churches we seem to have forgotten that in the name of respectability. That isn’t actually why, of course, though it’s an easy accusation to throw. In the evangelical world we’ve shuffled away the weirdness because it’s not easy to explain. We’re keen to get a hearing ‘for… Continue reading Making Christianity Weird Again
Honestly, so does everything worth having. We always have to die in order to rise. The scriptures command us to rejoice with those rejoice and weep with those who weep (Romans 12). That’s a lot harder than it sounds. It is, I think, almost impossible to rejoice with those who rejoice until someone has wept… Continue reading Joy requires sacrifice
nuakh 