profound thoughts

I find Marilynne Robinson's thoughts profound:

'The force behind the movement of time is a mourning that will not be comforted. That is why the first event is known to have been an expulsion, and the last is hoped to be reconciliation and return.'

'Memory is the sense of loss, and loss pulls us after it.'

'He even restored the severed ear of a soldier who came to arrest him - a fact that allows us to hope the resurrection will reflect a considerable attention to detail. Yet this was no more than tinkering.'

'Being man he felt the pull of death, and being God he must have wondered more than we do what it would be like.'

2015 catalogue

The new 2015 Paternoster catalogue is published and is on our website at Authentic Media. Here's how I introduced it in the catalogue:

'I’m proud to introduce our new catalogue. Writing just days after Wolfhart Pannenberg has passed away, it is sobering to think how important good, clear and challenging theology is for today’s church and world. Pannenberg was an exceptional theologian who gave u...s a clear lead, demonstrating that our theology should be public, Christ-centred and always doxological. This year’s catalogue shows our continuing commitment to both the church and the academy. Here is a list of titles whose foundation is thorough research and academic rigour and whose purpose is to see people and church communities developing and being transformed in their thinking, mission and personal lives. Welcome, then, to our catalogue for 2015. I trust you will find it helpful in your ministry and academic pursuit.'

Jesus, God's Word

'Even for Christians, overlooking Jesus is easier than falling off a log, it seems'

'And so, as God's outgoing Word, as the Son filled to bursting with his Father's love, he became the Logic behind the creation, 'the beginning,' the foundation of it all - and the one it would all be for (Col 1.17-18). Then in the power of the Spirit who hovered over the waters, the Word went out. God spoke, and through that potent Word all things came into being' Michael Reeves, Christ Our Life 9 & 12.

God is faithful

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord' Lamentations 3.19-26.

Amidst devastation the writer calls to mind and says to himself - the goodness of God in times of plenty will fuel our faith in times of need. God is faithful in good times and in trouble: that's grace!

Theology applied to the heart

'Let us be rid of that horrid, sly idea that behind Jesus, the friend of sinners, there is some more sinister being, one thinner on compassion and grace. There cannot be! Jesus is the Word. One with the Father. The radiance, the glow, the glory of who the Father is. If God is like Jesus, then, though I am sinful like the dying thief, I can dare to cry, "Remember me". I know how he will respond. Though I am so spiritually lame and leprous, I can call out to him. For I know just what he is like towards the weak and sick' - Michael Reeves, Christ Our Life, 3.

Tremendous read - good theology applied to the heart as it should be. Here we see Jesus in his beauty and grace and are reminded of his centrality to our lives and faith.

Christ is our life

Brilliant new book from Michael Reeves, Christ Our Life. One reviewer: 'This is how to write Christology: biblical, theological, historical, pastoral and spiritual! Theology at its best from one of today's best theologians.' Another: 'Mike Reeves has done it again. This is another rich, deep, simple, joyful, thrilling book: theology that does what theology should, in pointing us to Jesus, marvelli...ng and celebrating.' Yet another: 'Michael Reeves has written a simple and yet elegant introduction to the work of Jesus Christ - stimulating the mind as well as the heart.' Following on from his terrific, The Good God, Mike Reeves demonstrates warmly that Jesus is the centre of our faith, he is the gospel, he is our hope and our life. Just a wonderful read!

 

The old joke that 'Jesus' is the answer to any question the preacher asks has a ring of truth in it. I just wish today's church would preach Jesus in all his fullness for us: our wisdom, our salvation, our hope, our life, our Lord, our freedom, and so much more. He has been made known by God: Christ in you, the hope of glory' (Col 1.27).

personal manifesto

'I will be careful to live a blameless life - when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart. I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. The perverse in heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil' Psalm 101.2-4. Not a bad personal manifesto - one that begins 'I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise.' But you don't hear it preached that often these days! We need the Holy Spirit and lots of grace!

God's coming to earth

'But will God really dwell on earth with human beings?' 2 Chronicles... 6.18. The New Testament has something to say about this, surely! We sometimes lose the awe and wonder of such a divine move, though!

Mission

'One of the most gratifying aspects of the contemporary church is its rediscovery of its identity as a body in mission. Mission in the world is not just one aspect of its being; it is the very heart of its existence. The relevance of the church is identical with the relevance of its mission. Understanding and carrying out God's objectives in the world is its highest calling' - Andrew Kirk, from his latest book, The Church and the World. Superb and unique examination of this significant subject.

Foreigners

George Orwell, 1984:
'If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate.'

 

Unbelievable truth

I just heard a preacher say, 'This passage is so full of truth it's unbelievable.' That's unbelievable! What are we doing to Scripture for goodness sake?!

The practice of the love of God

"My sole occupation is love.
All my occupation now is the practice of the love of God, all the powers of soul and body, memory, understanding, and will, interior and exterior senses, the desires of spirit and of sense, all work in and by love. All I do is done in love; all I suffer, I suffer in the sweetness of love. There is nothing better, or more necessary, than love." - John of the Cross
Thanks Graham Hill for the quote

on the day of Mandela's death

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” —Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela 

The defining feature of our generation

The defining feature of our generation is not technology, medicine, invention or discovery. The defining feature of our generation is choice, and we are woefully unprepared for it.
Peter Drucker

19th Century Christianity

It was fatal for the evangelical Church and for Christianity in the 19th Century that theology in the last analysis had nothing more to offer than the “human” the “religious”, mystery and its noncommital “statements”, leaving the faithful to whatever impressions and influences from outside proved strongest.

- Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology in the 19th Century

(Thanks, David Bunce for this quote.)

Believing in the Church

The Church is an object of faith. In the Apostles' Creed we pray: "I believe in God, the Father ... in Jesus Christ, his only Son - in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." We must believe in the Church! The Apostles' Creed does not say that the Church is an organization that helps us to believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No, we are called to believe in the Church with the same faith we believe in God.

Often it seems harder to believe in the Church than to believe in God. But whenever we separate our belief in God from our belief in the Church, we become unbelievers. God has given us the Church as the place where God becomes God-with-us.

The success of failures

 Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success - C.F. Kettering.

good friends

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
George Eliot

C.S. Lewis nails it

"He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand." C.S. Lewis, Screwtape letters. Once again Lewis nails it.

Christ's victory

The signs of Christ's victory are all around us. They can be seen in the conversions that take place daily, in the healing of lives and homes, in the faithful and sacrificial service of millions of Christians, in the renewing of old churches and the planting of new ones, the groth of trust and confidence, the thoughtful engagement with the world. There are indeed setbacks and failures, but Christ is building his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. . . . The time will soon dawn when Christ's victory will finally be revealed and the power of darkness will have had its day - Nigel Wright