word | spirit | world | church
Small details matter in the Bible. They often tell the story that’s under the story, or draw out a minor aspect or theme in a greater whole. One of the details that can often matter is what a scholar might call cosmic geography. Which is the idea that some of the geographical references in the… Continue reading An East Wind
I’m going to let you in on a secret that I’m only getting to grips with myself, it’s simple, but oddly revolutionary: hope is an action. We learn it. Hope is not an emotion, as though we summon it up and have a bright day looking at the future. We can certainly feel hopeful, but… Continue reading Hope has to be learned
There’s this odd moment in the midst of our Easter celebrations, you might call it ‘Holy Saturday’ or just that day in the long weekend that doesn’t have a name. It’s that strange day caught between Friday’s sorrow and Sunday’s joy, where ‘nothing happened.’ Or maybe, an awful lot happened. There are I think three… Continue reading Holy Saturday
The Christian life feels precarious, sometimes. Do you feel like that? We’ve all seen dear brothers and sisters who we thought were following Jesus wholeheartedly—and perhaps they were—disappear from the scene and seem to abandon their faith. Putting aside how we should read these occurrences it can make us feel like we’re one step away… Continue reading We Did Not Build the Fortress
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Dr Pepper asked us repeatedly—since I don’t like it, I always assumed that drinking it was punishment enough. They also printed this under the ingredients which is wonderfully self-aware marketing, if a little dark. Though, I read that this was not their slogan outside of the UK, so perhaps… Continue reading Taking the Long View
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. I’ve been writing here at nuakh for about a year now. I’ve written 94 posts, almost exactly 100,000 words of work, some of which have been shared and… Continue reading One Year In: 2021 in Review
You’d be forgiven for thinking I was speaking of January, named after the Roman god Janus who had two faces to look forwards and backwards in the year. Rather, Advent—the first season of the Christian year—has two faces. One face is a face of joy, the face we associate with our Christmas traditions, with chocolate… Continue reading The Month with Two Faces
Advent is a season of questions. Which is good, because I’ve got plenty. Have you? Sometimes people act like you can’t ask questions in church life, as though you just have to ‘have faith’, which is true but not in the way that people who usually say it mean. I think they act like this… Continue reading Questioning God
In Psalm 81 we are confronted with a strange phrase: “But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Honey from the rock? Honey doesn’t come from rocks, I think we’d all be happy to confirm. There's a moment of surprise here, of confusion, that we shouldn't gloss over quickly. It seems to be a reference to… Continue reading Salted Honey
The gathered church sings. That’s what we do. It’s not the only thing we do, but it is what we do. For millennia, since song joined sacrifices in Israel’s worship at the dedication of Jerusalem’s Temple in David and Solomon's liturgical reforms, the people of God have sung. In innumerable styles, with words sublimely profound… Continue reading Sing when you’re losing
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