Here’s a great video from the Crowded House:
I’ve been challenged in a good way by the book explaining this vision. I’d give a much bigger place than the authors do to what they call the “Gathering”, but with that caveat, I’d encourage you to check out Total Church.
Challenging and convicting words from Peter Leithart:
My Protestantism, my reformed catholicity, isn’t at all in conflict with that passion for church unity. There is no tension at all. On the contrary, it’s because I am so passionate to see the church reunited that I, not grudgingly but cheerfully, stay where I am. My summary reason for staying put is simple: I’m too catholic to become Catholic or Orthodox.
Read the whole thing here.
Poignant comment on apostasy from Marilynne Robinson:
There are people who, for one reason or another, have a bad experience with religion. They drop out at the age of 12—this seems to be characteristic of most of religion’s major critics. And then they spend the rest of their lives attacking a 12-year-old’s conception of religion.
Read the full interview here.
N.D. Wilson’s last thought in his review of The Hunger Games is worth more than any other whole book I’ve read on worldview and pop culture:
One final thought: never read or watch a story like a passive recipient, enjoying something in a visceral way and then retroactively trying to project deeper value or meaning onto the story you’ve already ingested. Such projections have been making authors and directors seem more intelligent than they are for decades. As you watch, as you read, shoulder your way into the creator’s chair. Don’t take the final product for granted, analyze the creator’s choices and cheerfully push them in new and different directions. As we do this, the clarity of our criticism will grow immensely. Which is to say, we’ll be suckered far less often than we currently are.
Read the whole thing here.
Maybe your battle this morning was getting the kids ready, or getting breakfast ready, or just getting out of bed. Or maybe everything went quite well, and every step of your 72 point plan called “Getting To Church” was executed perfectly, and here you are, cheerful and ready. But whether you are complaining or thanking God for how this morning went, you should be amazed that you are here at all. Think for a moment about what it took for God to get you ready for church this morning. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. You once followed the course of this world, and only woke up on Sunday mornings in order to worship yourself. God in Christ had to forsake the glory of heaven, spend His royal life as a servant to sinners, and undergo a brutal death in order to prepare you for this moment. You, here, now, preparing to worship, are the result of plans made in eternity past, and carried out over thousands of years. Multiply all the factors that went into your preparation this morning by infinity, and marvel at the God who governs every detail in the universe, and uses them all to bring glory to Jesus Christ.
…allow me to suggest two simple reasons why homemaking isn’t esteemed by our culture. First, there is a general ignorance of what homemaking entails. And second, more importantly, we don’t value children.
An excellent and important article on motherhood, full of helpful links for further reading.
I chuckled. And then chuckled some more.
ht: Marc Cortez
