Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 56 (May 2013)

A brief plug before this outing. Someone asked how I keep track of various internet things. My secret is the wonder that is Pocket. People send me stuff or I see stuff on my RSS reader (NetNewsWire if you’re interested), and then I click pocket in the browser – and can then check them out off-line on my phone on trains and tubes etc. Simple really – so there you are.

Sacred Treasure

• This is a wakeup call – a global rich list tied to an appeal to donate to the world’s poorest. Very simple, very effective.
• A more interesting conversation now that “Richard Dawkins has lost…”
• A brief but pastorally important response to suicide amongst believers.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 55 (April 2013)

Oooooops – this is seriously late!! Many apologies. Been rather a busy week and completely forgot to post this!

Sacred Treasure

• Shhh!! Chris Green on introvert preachers and introvert lightbulb changers
• Eddie Arthur quotes the wonderful Oscar Muriu on the traps of western (though here, particularly American) missionaries in E. Africa.

Thistles by Ted Hughes

Came across this highly evocative reflection on the archaeological secrets hidden under fields, in a sublime little book from Eland, The Ruins of Time (in their lovely Poetry of Place series).

This is what editor Anthony Thwaite has to say about it:

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 54 (March 2013)

Sacred Treasure

• Is there a new US-style religious Right in the UK – Theos argues no
• Research shows that if you ‘survive’ first 10 years of marriage, you’re more likely to last the course as divorce rates for that stage haven’t shifted much
• This is a bit of a surprise for this particular blog: 10 reasons why Creationism should be taught in schools

The Prince of Wounds by Siegfried Sassoon

Picked up a Sassoon anthology this week. Had forgotten the visceral humanity of his poetry, but also the theological framework of his vision. This is a case in point, even though it leaves one in a real lurch.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 53 (February 2013)

Sacred Treasure

• Great stuff from Keller: Preaching in a Secular Culture
• This is good: 8 ways preachers harm the depressed
• Fantastic news: Proc Trust makes its audio archive available for free download.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 52 (January 2013)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Here’s to a great 2013!

Sacred Treasure

• Law and Grace in Les Miserables
• Important booklet on Prosperity Gospel made available by the Theology Network
• Why CSLewis’ Mere Christianity should have bombed… and the lessons we can learn
• It’s done the rounds – but no less fun for that: Higgs vs Dawkins on Atheist fundamentalism

Christmas realism and keeping dying faith alive

It is rather a tired Christmas cliché for preachers to go on about how we need to get beyond the tinsel and trimmings to the heart of Christmas – but one that sadly needs repeating. And while I love what Christmas is all about it, perhaps even more now than ever, it is interesting how different aspects strike home amidst all the familiarity and form. There’s no predicting what it’s going to be, if anything. But this year, I’ve been struck by how often the tradition pierces through the vacuous, trite and superficially jolly to engage with even the deepest hurts and doubts.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 51 (December 2012)

Sacred Treasure

• Eddie Arthur has provided some important updated stats on Bible Translation.
• An interesting response to voting in a presidential election
• Barnabas Piper on 7 things a kind wants from his pastor dad – really helpful stuff here

The malice of time and the flowers of the field…

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time recently with a dear friend, Malcolm, who is dying of cancer. In fact, he has already lasted a lot longer than many predicted, despite not having eaten anything for several weeks. He has been an inspiration to me and others, and so have his family. He came home from the hospice a few weeks ago or so, and has been hanging in there. Most striking has been his resilient faith in the face of his inescapable mortality (about which we talk often). Which has inevitably got me reflecting on the subject further.

So Tired – some post-vote, not particularly comic, doggerel

I’m not going to get into all the ins and outs of synodical votes this week. It’s all very sad, and for a whole range of reasons, and I’m frankly fearful of the future. Obviously, things can’t remain as they were.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 50 (November 2012)

Wow – how about that!? The 50th map of monthly treasure!

Enjoy…

Sacred Treasure

• Rowan Williams’ recent interesting Theos lecture on The Person and the Individual
• Tim Keller has been involved with creating a new catechesis – looks very interesting indeed
• In case you missed it, here are the links to the recent, interesting series at All Souls: Great Lies of our Time
  

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 49 (October 2012)

Sacred Treasure

• A heart-rending 16thC letter of grief from a pregnant widow to her now buried husband.
• Very interesting interview in Third Way with Tanni Grey-Thompson (Britain’s greatest paralympian)
• Covenant Seminar in St Louis have put some great free courses online in their Worldwide Classroom
  

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 48 (September 2012)

Sacred Treasure

• Bart Ehrman is a  widely respected atheist NT scholar – this is an important site that engages with many of his controversial (though not particularly original) assertions
• The complexities of translation: you never realised John 3:16 could be so complicated – a great little video from Wycliffe
• Phillip “Red Tory” Blond has a very interesting piece on Western Political Bankruptcy and what ‘is coming sooner than you think.’

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 47 (August 2012)

Sacred Treasure

• Nick Spencer writes the new Cambridge Paper on The Bible and Politics
• Catherine Weston has an interesting blog here reflecting on her experiences working across cultures.
• Threads is a pretty cool initiative by some media folk at EA – definitely worth following 

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 46 (July 2012)

Sacred Treasure

• Religious people are psychotic apparently… Interesting article by Jules Evans from Wired – a classic sign of the prevailing culture that values pragmatism over truth.
• A very interesting critique of the US Christian right from a member of the US Christian right (HT Carl Trueman)

Facing up to Depression: so now it gets personal

It seems that mental health issues have been making headlines. The House of Commons even debated it a week or so ago, and Michael Wenham responded with a great little piece on EA’s Friday Night Theology. “Tell it how it is”, he simply concluded. And bizarrely enough (without the slightest inkling it would coincide so much with public square events), we had  our next Christians Facing Issues service planned for last Sunday on the very issue. Having tackled all variety of things in the past (the Credit Crunch, Celebrity culture, Pornography, Euthanasia etc), this time our theme was Facing Up To Depression.

Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 45 (June 2012)

Sacred Treasure

• For fans, this will be a huge treat. Abraham Kuyper’s legacy is online c/o Princeton. For others, definitely worth a browse…
• Amazing story: The Passion Play in ‘Angola’
• This sums up SO much of where our culture has come to – with Bertrand Russell’s new Liberal Decalogue, his personal 10 Commandments from way back in December 1951. Fascinating. There is a lot of practical wisdom here too.

Friday Fun 20: The Poet’s Schadenfreude

Humourist, polymath and wordsmith, Clive James has written this rather glorious articulation of the Schadenfreude felt by a writer at a rival’s failures. But as the poem concludes, it is clear that, as ever, there is more than simple consolation motivates him.

Towards an Integrated Christian Imagination

It was a joy to be able to spend a couple of hours with members of the CU at London’s University of the Arts on Thursday evening, giving a talk on this subject. Sarah Dargue has already done a really good job at summarising the key points over at the Interface Arts page (if you’re an arts student, definitely worth keeping an eye on that blog). But here is my talk outline, so that you can get some of the key quotes and references, plus my slides.