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The end of the matter
Off and on for the past several years I have “picked at” the idea I have called “Living in Babylon.” It has been a deep stirring in my heart to say something or write something about this shift we are experiencing in American Christianity. For the past several months I’ve tried to consolidate my thoughts and begin to write something…
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Spiritual formation in the public life
“Evangelicals have often been presented with a false choice about our role in public life. We either completely withdraw from trying to influence things, or we initiate ‘takeover’ programs. There is an alternative pattern, thought, one that I believe is mandated by Scripture: in the present time, where the fullness of Christ’s kingdom is not yet with us, we are…
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Dwelling with the Shepherd even in the Shadows
Psalm 23 “Our lives are lived in the company of both the Shepherd and the shadow.” — Eugene Peterson
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The way of holiness
“But holiness is in wild and furious opposition to all such banality and blandness. We are introduced to it through the stories of the burning bush in Milan, the mountain on fire at Sinai, the smoke- and angel-filled temple in Jerusalem. We find ourselves in the presence of God alive, with life far in excess of anything we imagined. This…
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I long for the Word Incarnate
“Too often the living Word made flesh is desiccated into propositional corpses and then sorted into exegetical specimens in bottles of formaldehyde. We end up with god-talk. T.S. Eliot put it like this: Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word…Where is the Life we have lost in living?— Eugene Peterson, As Kingfishers Catch…
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What faith DO we need?
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. (Lk 17:5-6, NIV)
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Renouncing all to follow Christ
33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (Luke 14:33) Christ can’t have me following him with all the junk I want to carry. He knows I won’t make it, so he calls me to jettison my junk to obtain his treasure.
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Furious Hours by Casey Cep
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Freedom, religion, control
“Egypt was a thoroughly religious society, and Egypt was a thoroughgoing slave society. If you want to control a person or family or society, there is no better way than through religion. And that is just as true today as it was in ancient Egypt.” — Eugene Peter, As Kingfishers Catch Fire
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We seem to like having enemies
I am re-reading Eugene Peterson’s As Kingfishers Catch Fire. He helps me to reimagine the work of preaching. He reminds me that we have done a fine job of taking apart a text historically, grammatically, and textually. We’ve also done a poor job learning from the text.
