"Liturgy is public poetry and art. You can make beautiful art by splashing paint on a wall, and you can also make art with the careful diligence of a sculptor. Both can be lovely, and both can be ugly. Both can be marketed and robbed of their original touch, and both have the potential to inspire and move -people to do something beautiful for God. So it is with worship. More important than whether something [...]
i write a weekly email message called 'Thort for the Week' and i thort this week's was an appropriate one to add here: Dear friends “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My [...]
like writing poetry but i haven't had the motivation to write something for a long time, but here is one i wrote a long time ago which i really like which a lot of you will not have read... TWICE PRODIGAL Have I walked this path? I can not remember having come this way before; Yet... strange feeling of familiarity haunts me As each step I take brings me closer to home... I still taste [...]
i am completely over the whole rob bell public bashing, public defending, long back-and-forth status comments thing and so i am hoping this will be my last post on the matter, but i think this is a valid point [and the title which i thort of as i came in here to write is pretty relevant as well] i recently read this comment at the end of another long rob bell - is he a [...]
just watching the rob bell furore that has swept up has once again brought something to the fore which i think needs comment and some thort by people who claim to be Jesus-followers... one of the accusations that has been made against rob bell is that he is a universalist which as i understand it is someone who believes that everyone is going to end up in heaven, and by definition no one ends up [...]
for all the rob bell haters and those who are asking genuine questions and those who may just be vaguely interested, this is a clip that came out after Velvet Elvis, his first book, was released (not the biggest fan, had moments, enjoyed his second 'Sex God' a lot more) - take a listen because he says some really great stuff... rob bell defending mars hill and while you're checking that one out here is [...]
i made my beautiful wife val a cup of coffee in bed this morning as i do most mornings... she thanked me for it and i said it was a pleasure, and completely meant it... in fact as i was walking down the stairs i was thinking that it is a pleasure every single time... and how that should be normal - i really dig making my wife coffee or tea or a glass of [...]
been wandering around the simple way page and reading thru a couple of shane's articles and really being inspired and challenged and challenged to inspire... here is an extract from 'Downward Mobility in an Upscale World', an article by Shane Claiborne "Over the years I have come to see how charity fits into — and legitimizes — our system of wealth and poverty. Charity assures that the rich will feel good while the poor will [...]
anyone who knows me even slightly well will know that one of my top three life-changing books is "The Irresistible Revolution" by shane claiborne who is one of my real life heroes - i met him briefly a couple of years ago when he was in J Bay speaking at an international Christian surf conference and got to chat to him for a bit and interview him for two magazine articles i was writing. i [...]
years ago a book called 'Velvet Elvis' came out by this new kid on the block, rob bell, and everyone was reading it and telling me it was the greatest book ever and blah blah blah... i eventually got hold of it [was going thru my phase of taking my time to rush to trending books] and read it and didn't particularly dig it all that much - it was ok and there were some [...]