Everything, Everywhere, All At Once is a wild ride. I couldn’t figure out what I was watching half the time – was it a comedy, a family drama, a sci-fi adventure, a spiritual fable? By the end I found it was all of these and much more. The film asks questions that are often left unaddressed by formal religious institutions, but which certainly fall under the umbrella of existentialism and thereby spirituality. As a Christian, I found its core question... Read more
One of Jesus’ most treasured ambitions was to see true oneness among believers. John 17:21 I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. To be clear, this is a record of Jesus praying for you and I. He wants us to go way beyond unity of purpose and become one as he is one... Read more
At every level of relationship there is the inevitability of disappointment. Everyone gets let down in life’s more transactional relationships such as employer/employee, business/customer, but the same is true of personal connections. Even the very best of friends hurt each other from time to time, and it can be tempting to erect defences and keep a friend at a distance when this occurs. The problem with reacting this way is that it turns our social group into an ever decreasing... Read more
Isaiah 55 is a particularly beautiful and oft-quoted passage, but is its message well understood? In what context do you hear this verse quoted? Isaiah 55:9 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Most often I hear this stated by a well-meaning brother or sister, trying to offer comfort to a person who is struggling with a difficult circumstance, the message being –... Read more
Lacklustre spiritual lives are the result of confusing theology – if believers know that God is truly good, all the time, they will be grateful and generous vessels of love, joy, and peace. Tragically, many do not know about the goodness of God because their theology denies it. Such theology – that God sometimes blesses and other times tests us with suffering – leads to cognitive dissonance and the inability to trust God, making it impossible to draw near. This... Read more
I’m a Brit, which means I’m currently drowning in a sea of hype about King Charles’ coronation. Boy do I want it to be over! As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan of the monarchy. Watching the coverage makes my guts twist and my bones ache, and I’ve been wondering about the strength of these feelings. Surely it’s just a good old British knees-up, a little pageantry, a chance to gather and watch an opulent spectacle? ... Read more
A recent, comprehensive survey by Skylight and City Square Associates sought to take a measure of the nation’s practices of prayer. The sample of adults questioned (aged 18-64) delivered a fascinating and in-depth set of data, from what folk pray about to where they pray, to whether they pray for their favourite football team’s victory, and my favourite – which Star wars character they would most like to pray with if offered a choice of Obi Wan, Ben Solo, Yoda,... Read more
Some of the most breath-taking places in the world are places of transition – where boundaries we often think of as defined become blurred. A beach is a place of transition, where the ocean meets the land. From the window of an airplane, the dividing line might look clear, but down on the beach it’s a different story, where spray and breakers churn the sand, surging forward, sucking back, endlessly eroding and depositing. I remember night-swimming on a beach... Read more
Christian Nationalism is an attempt to spread Christian values through legislation and force, thereby expanding the Kingdom of God. There is only one country in the world where this is a serious movement, and that is the United States. I want to demonstrate that Christian Nationalism is a sin, an idol, and the antithesis of the Gospel. When Jesus was seized by the mob in Gethsemane, Peter attacked, cutting off the high priest’s servant’s ear. Jesus’ rebuke is revealing.... Read more
Years of writing in discursive forums has given me a sensitive nose for impending excrement. I hope to be wrong about this, but in recent days I’ve had three strong whiffs of dangerous deceit, emitting (sadly but not surprisingly) from fellow evangelicals. I’ll get straight to the point. There’s a line of thought being propagated that aligns two ideas: That lying isn’t always a sin. That the US justice system is inflexible and, wait for it, legalistic (d’uh!)!... Read more
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