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Continue reading →: The Jesus of the Dalai LamaA Thangka – sacred wall hanging – given by H. H. the Dalai Lama to Fr. Laurence Freeman and the World Community for Christian Meditation in December, 1998.
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Continue reading →: Logic Isn’t EverythingThe ancients spoke of “faith seeking understanding”. Need this always be interpreted in terms of rational understanding though? What of intuitive understanding? Is this not desirable also?
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Continue reading →: Parable of the Rich Man by RembrandtParable of the Rich Man by Rembrandt (1627) I’ve been thinking about Rembrandt’s Parable of the Rich Man (1627), and it really pulls me in, every time I look at it. It’s not a massive painting, but it speaks volumes. There’s this sense of quiet greed that fills the scene.…
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Continue reading →: The parable of the talentsClick here for an interesting counter-capitalist interpretation of the ‘parable of the talents’ from Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat. It’s from the 19th Annual Wheaton Theology Conference on “Jesus, Paul and the People of God: A Theological Dialogue with N.T. Wright“. Hat tip to Mark Hurst from the Anabaptist Association of…
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Continue reading →: Witnessing to our own self righteousness“As we bring the gospel home to our family, we dare not do so as a self-righteous older brother. Even if our family members are out squandering their inheritance with prostitutes or wallowing in the mud with pigs, if we’re pointing to our record of good behavior while condemning their…
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Continue reading →: Community Building Prayer Exercise“Remember the gifts of love you have received through the body of Christ. Give thanks for these gifts. Ask the Spirit to bring to mind those failures of love in which you or your congregation have taken part. Confess your sin and the sin of your people. Ask God to…
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Continue reading →: Equipping disciples in pluralistic suburbsMany of you are no doubt familiar with the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus gathers his disciples to him and says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father…
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Continue reading →: Contextualising the gospel – what it is and what it isn’tI’ve been reflecting on the practice of contextualising the gospel when communicating cross-culturally. How contextualisation is misunderstood by some Christians as a form of compromise; as a “watering down” of the Christian message. But contextualisation is really the opposite of that. It’s not about diluting Christ’s distinctiveness, but about finding…
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Continue reading →: God is always in seasonIf we Christians sometimes seem indifferent to the rhythms of the seasons it is not necessarily due to some anti-nature bias. On the contrary, environmental concern is thoroughly compatible with Christianity (even if it’s not universally practiced). The reason is to be found elsewhere, in our understanding of God. It…
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Continue reading →: The Inner Poverty of Prosperity PreachingEven the social gospel, which made sin more of an offense against our fellow humans rather than first and foremost against God, at least recognized it as a failure to give to someone else the love and service that I owe. In the increasingly pervasive message of preachers like Osteen,…
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