Happy Jesus day everybody. i know [and understand] why a lot of you are not big fans of Christianity, but i encourage you to let go of all the negativity you feel towards it and the concept of God you might have [if it's a doesn't exist or vengeful wrathful angry God or uninterested puppetmaster or only loves white people or something else] and spend a little bit of time simply looking at Jesus... [...]
To 2017 and beyond... i imagine this might come as a surprise to some people... or maybe not. But in the last week or so i've had a strong sense that God has been telling me that i need to get a little more hectic in 2017. You might not agree with this if you were one of the people who responded with a strongly worded response to my 'The Passion of the Chris' blog [...]
Christmas is not so far away... which means the big feast planning will soon be well and truly underway... The other day i was playing a Twitterer Hashtag Game with the tag #TheGiftYouGive One of the stunning things about Hashtag Games is that many of them can be incredibly fun or funny, but also often really serious as well. The game i just blogged about - #2016WasTheYearThatIFinally - was one of those as many people jumped [...]
"Always give someone else the best slice." Wow, that doesn't sound like me. Except maybe sometimes when i'm with my wife. But also even sometimes not. And actually it's not me, it's my good friend Dalene Reyburn, who wrote this super helpful piece, 'How to feast and not get fat this festive season: 20 small ideas.' There is some really good stuff in there, like: If you can, determine to give away at least half [...]
Last night we hosted another Deep Dive Conversation Dinner, this time at someone else's house. This was a dinner that has been in the planning for months and one that i've been super excited and anticipationary about. Getting some leaders from St Johns Anglican church [where i currently hang out and am preaching on Sunday in the am actually if you want to come and hear!] to meet around food and conversations about race, with [...]
For months i've been speaking about the idea of #NotOnOurWatch as a movement worth joining. i know a lot of people have been challenged by that and in their own ways are joining in [i know because i am having conversations with some of them and assume there are a lot more] But i think it's helpful to clarify something. Just read an article that suggested calling someone racist isn't helpful at all in terms [...]
When it comes to things about race, i have been on a journey for just over two years. i have certainly not arrived and assume this will be a life long journey. But i did realise that i couldn't ignore it any more or choose to get involved if, when and how it suited me. Living in South Africa right now means that issues of race, justice and poverty have to be forefront in my [...]
i've been wanting to do this for a while now. Three books up for grabs: [1] 'i, church' - my first book talking about how church is much more than simply that meeting at that place on that day with those people... for any of you who love Jesus but are having some difficulty with the idea and concept of church, this might be the book for you. [2] Free by Mark Scandrette - with [...]
You'd hope that being the weekend these University protesters would give it a break. But no, last night they were definitely at it again i had just returned from performing an Improv show as part of the MamaCity Improv Festival [You should totally go by the way - i'm playing again on Monday but they're doing shows all weekend and it is good!] and i was hungry so my wife tbV and two friends and i [...]
i was driving to a university campus to do a Peace Justice Witness shift and listening to the band Bastille on a cd in my car. And the walls kept tumbling down In the city that we love Great clouds roll over the hills Bringing darkness from above And i thought to myself, "Wow, that seems like familiar imagery. i wonder if this is the #FMF theme song?" But if you close your eyes, Does [...]
