"And God said, ‘Let there be light - and there was light. God saw that the light was good…."
There was light - not sun-and-moon light (that came later) but the light of order and meaning, of deep harmony and wisdom. Light that births life; light that is a true beginning and the beginning of all that is true in the cosmos. Light that would one day radiate from the being of God, in the face of a man.
Let there be light: Amen.
The true purpose of the historical study of the New Testament…is not to reveal what isn’t there in the text, but rather to focus our eyes properly to see what is there.
“[A major] theme in emerging adult culture [18-23 year olds] is that they very much want to profess to have no regrets about their lives.”
The ideas of ‘shared space’ and ‘loose reins’ have ramifications for church life, too.
Bill Mounce on the helpfulness of ‘healthy’ as a translation and the use of medical metaphors in the Pastorals.
Skye Jethani making the point that “Christ’s sheep need a shepherd. They already have a Lord.” No doubt it needs nuancing but lots to think about here.
This is a thought-provoking article - not church-oriented but still applicable. Also of interest to school governors.
Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.
John Calvin, Institutes 1.1.3
The Holy Spirit formed it to be a colony of heaven in the country of death…Church is the core element in the strategy of the Holy Spirit for providing human witness and physical presence to the Jesus-inaugurated kingdom of God in this world. It is not that kingdom complete, but it is a witness to that kingdom.
Eugene H. Peterson, Practise Resurrection, p.11f
I often find Seth Godin stimulates thought about ministry, albeit unintentionally. His conclusion in this piece - to eschew the rush for the new and to build longer arcs and to focus on what really produces long-term change - is surely appropriate and resonates well with the kingdom parables of Jesus.
Al Mohler on leadership and why he’s written a book on it.
Matthew Lee Anderson writes really well and thoughtfully. His latest piece on Thanksgiving is no different.
You could apply this to thinking about pastoral ministry.
Carl Trueman ruminates on reactions to the CofE vote on women bishops.
There is a gap between our love for the gospel and our love for godliness. This must change. It's not pietism, legalism, or fundamentalism to take holiness seriously. It's the way of all those who have been called to a holy calling by a holy God.Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in our Holiness, p.21
The point of this post–and Schnabel’s point–is not to overstate Paul’s strategy. For the most part he didn’t have one. He went where people were, where people needed to hear the gospel, and where he had opportunity to share the gospel. That led him to cities, but also smaller towns and villages too.