Open Air Work
I really liked this reflection on open air work, and some thoughts on his late father, from my friend Jeremy Marshall. I think you’ll like it too, whatever your views on open airs.
Greek word order and nuance
I always enjoy Bill Mounce’s short blogs on Greek. This is a particularly interesting one.
Is God good?
‘That’s the question. And it’s the question behind so many of our questions. We are tempted to believe that lie that God is not good because he hasn’t given me this or that or the other. God isn’t good because his kingdom doesn’t fit with my kingdom. Or he isn’t good because of these circumstances, or this suffering, or … fill in the blank.’
Studying the doctrine of God – some concerns
Robert Strivens, while being grateful for the focus on the doctrine of God, has some concerns. I think his concerns extend to any and all theological study. I’m not quite as worried about “jaunty tones” as he is, but I do share his view that we might be more concerned with being right in our doctrinal precision than we are about proper worship of God in spirit and truth.
After disruption
‘Disruption is the experience of the majority of Christians in the world, and the majority of the Church’s history. From the earliest chapters of Acts the church was scattered, removed from the old certainties and dependencies so that new and wonderful things might be accomplished by the God whose sovereign hand lay behind each setback.’
To stay and serve: why we didn’t leave Ukraine
‘We will shelter the weak, serve the suffering, and mend the broken. And as we do, we offer the unshakable hope of Christ and his gospel. While we may feel helpless in the face of such a crisis, we can pray like Esther. Ukraine is not God’s covenant people, but like Israel, our hope is that the Lord will remove the danger as he did for his ancient people.’
From the archive: Doctrinal stomach problems
‘We may enjoy short devotional quiet times with a little thought, but if that’s all we ever have for din, we are basically going to give ourselves the doctrinal equivalent of stomach ache. Blog posts are nice and easy to read and can help clarify our thinking on stuff – I believe in the medium and think blogging is valuable – but if that’s the only place we get our theology, it’s like we’re eating nothing but the spiritual equivalent of sweets all day long. We may enjoy short video sermonettes online, but if that’s all we’re feeding on we will soon be malnourished.’