lions!

I can't remember where I saw this but it's a great line:

If you’re getting chased by a lion, you don’t need to run faster than the lion, just the people running with you.

(TIC)

the end of the line

A bus with the printed destination, 'Nowhere'? A coffin with the slogan, 'Too fast to live, too young to die'? It can only be the funeral of Malcolm McLaren.

divorce & remarriage

I think we all realise it's a tricky subject, biblically-speaking (& otherwise, too). Dick France has, imo, given a great summary of the subject in his little commentary on Mark in the People's Bible Commentary series (it qualifies as being termed 'little' when you compare it to his huge tome in the NIGTC series).


Commenting on Mark 10:10-12, he says:

"Mark therefore offers us an unqualified and total rejection of divorce by Jesus. Marriage is 'till death us do part.' But divorces do in fact happen, and Moses had already provided legislation to deal with what follows from a divorce. Are we then to say that Moses was wrong even to countenance the possibility? According to Jesus he provided for divorce 'because of your hardness of heart' - and human hearts are still hard, and marriages do break down. Should those who follow Jesus simply close their eyes to this reality? Or should they sadly accept that Jesus' ideal teaching, wonderful as it is, simply does not fit the way things are?


There is a way between these two extremes, but it is a difficult one to define and to practise without inconsistency. It is to insist both that God's standard is absolute and that divorce can never be good, and also that in a world which is characterized by human weakness and failure it must be possible to find ways of coping with a broken marriage (as Moses found that he had to). In that case divorce and remarriage, while it can never be good, may be the least bad of the options available. It may thus be the right thing to do in the circumstances, but can never cease to be a cause for regret and sorrow that God's standard for marriage has been violated."

(page 133)

koester: the theology of john's gospel

I can't speak highly enough of the Kindle app's sample chapter facility (I know you know that, faithful reader). There are times when it really comes into its own and here's another instance:

Having read a review of Craig Koester's The Word of Life: A Theology of John's Gospel, I downloaded the Kindle sample and will shortly be making my way over to the Kindle store to get the full book - it's a wonderfully promising read: richly suggestive, very well-written (not the least of my considerations) and illuminating.


The price will work-out the same as getting a paperback copy ordered but I'm at least as happy to have a book like this in electronic form. And to have it in a jiffy, rather than a jiffy bag.

paul's theology

Tom Wright (according to Michael Gorman) has suggested that Paul's theology is a

"christologically re-shaped and pneumatologically re-energized Jewish monotheism."

Seems good to me.

gentle; uplifting; healing

is the album, The Breaking of the Dawn, by Fernando Ortega.


You'll not regret giving it a listen.

mark dever's advice to pastors

Your main job - in order to reach the world for Christ - is to know God yourself, to know his Word, to faithfully preach and teach that Word to your people and, so, be used by God to create a community that does far more than you can ever do just by a cleverly-planned service - you know, the people that I preach to every Sunday are going to see far more non-Christians than we could ever fit in our building, so if I can equip them, if we can create a culture of evangelism where we're not trying to have an event that draws non-Christians to our gathering....

(And there the tape ran-out - argh!!)

themelios 35-1

Here ya go.


Public Service Post No.329

the great albums (vi) - on the beach

One of the hardest things about this list has been which Neil Young album to put on it - maybe I ought to just give in and fill it with his work? This could easily be After The Goldrush, Harvest, Comes A Time, Rust Never Sleeps, Freedom, Sleeps With Angels and so on. Even something like Landing On Water is impressive, despite coming during one of his leaner decades.


Anyway, I've opted for On The Beach. Released after the nightmare recording of Tonight's The Night (which still awaited release) and the events that birthed it, this album still sounds desperately sad and cynical, and yet it does have notes of optimism, buried deep under its weight of sorrow and anger. Well, maybe optimism is too much to claim - perhaps the defiance that preceeds optimism is about as far as the album can go. But at least he was back to caring enough to defy.

The world is turning
I hope it don't turn away

Some lovely guitar work, too. What's not to like about it?

how transformation occurs...

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind...
continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

Philippians 2:1,2; 12,13

depeche mode: violator

I remember their arrival onto the New Romantic/synth pop scene of 1981; they were duly poppy and synthy. Then Vince Clarke left (for the glories of Yazoo) and, whilst they continued to figure in the charts, I never took them seriously. Then it sounded like they went all dark and strange and - well, who needs that?


But they've lasted and often to great acclaim. So I've decided to give a listen to one of their most vaunted albums, Violator.


And I have to say it's rather good - yes, dark & strange it is but with a certain something that demands a more sustained hearing.

But their own original version of Personal Jesus isn't a patch on Johnny Cash's version.

looking in the mirror

What does James have in mind when he speaks about looking in the mirror (James 1:23)? Is he wanting us to see our sins and come away from the mirror humbled and deflated?


The person who doesn't do what the word says is equated to the person who forgets what he saw in the mirror (v.24). What that person saw in the mirror is not repeated and worked-out in obedience to the word.


It seems to follow, then, that looking into the perfect law of liberty (v.25) is seeing something other than their own sinfulness. They're seeing Jesus and they're seeing who and what they are in union with him.

No doubt they also, therefore, see their imperfections but they see them atoned for, they see them as antithetical to who they now are in Christ. And, so, in that liberty, they're to go into the world not forgetting who they are and, thus, be equipped for keeping the word.

a heart for the people who sinned

Numbers 16 is a fascinating anatomy of a rebellion and a sober account of judgement. It holds so much that is worthy of prolonged reflection, but I just want to point to one aspect here: the heart of Moses (& Aaron) for the people who sinned.


The rebellion was a personal slight on Moses and he was rightly angered (v.15) by the refusal of Dathan and Abiram to face the issue they had created. Yet on two occasions here, Moses pleads for God to be merciful (v.22 & v.45) and directs Aaron to make atonement for the people.


When he could be indignant with the community's repeated arrogance and folly, he places their security above his own feelings of betrayal and justice.


In that, he is clearly a (pale) reflection of what Jesus would himself do, especially when he prays that the Father forgive his enemies, who knew not what they were doing. But he is also a model for all leaders whose service is undermined and challenged.

self-condemned

Paul writes to Titus of people who are divisive, that they are wilful, sinful and "self-condemned" (Titus 3:11).


I've never really stopped to think what 'self-condemned' (αὐτοκατάκριτος) might mean. I guess I imagined it to mean something like 'their own conduct has brought them condemnation'.

Then along comes the NET translation: "such a person is twisted by sin and is conscious of it himself".


That seems to me an interesting - and helpful - translation.

gina welch & what's expected of us

Maybe you've heard of Gina Welch - she pretended to be an evangelical Christian, spent time with a church and then wrote a book about her experiences. I think she's a-theist.

Well, Trevin Wax has interviewed her (great interview, TW) and in response to his asking if there things about evangelical belief she'd like to be true, she replied:

There are plenty of ideas in evangelical Christianity that appeal to me. It would be nice to know that even the most hideous acts of violence and destruction happen for a reason. It would be nice to know that this short life isn’t the end, that there’s something better on the other side, and that when I lose someone it’s only temporary. It would be nice to know what’s expected of me. It would be nice to know when I have dark thoughts or do something I know I shouldn’t it’s because that’s my natural sinful wiring, that I shouldn’t feel guilty about it. I think that’s why evangelical Christianity is such a popular formula–because it answers our common longings.

What really struck me were her words, It would be nice to know what's expected of me. The need for boundaries, for purpose, for structure, for significance - all testify to a Creator who has made humanity in his likeness and for displaying his image in the world.

a pauline epistemology?

No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him. Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he will not be crowned as the winner unless he competes according to the rules. The farmer who works hard ought to have the first share of the crops. Think about what I am saying and the Lord will give you understanding of all this.

(2 Timothy 2:4-7)

resurrection letters

A nice album by Andrew Peterson (a group, not a guy - although the group contains a guy called...Andrew Peterson).


Anyway, you might like to listen to Resurrection Letters Volume 2.

credit where it's due

I am thankful to God, whom I have served with a clear conscience as my ancestors did...

(2 Timothy 1:3)

the truth within creation (john 4)

Jesus asks for a drink, then speaks of a deeper thirst and living water. The disciples come back and talk about food - and Jesus speaks of better food: doing the will of God.


Food and drink: just handy illustrations? Or maybe the whole created order points us, inexorably, to the Creator and to our need of him, as the one from whom every good and perfect gift comes down.

the epicentre of church

Fried & Hansson make the point that the epicentre of your business is what really matters, To locate the epicentre, they suggest you ask the question, "If I took this away would what I'm selling still exist?"


So: church. What is the epicentre? What can you can take away and it's still church? What can you not take away because it ceases to be church?