Either everything I’ve been told about Ireland is a lie, or we have been able to visit at a particularly opportune time. It has been 20°C (70°F) and perfectly sunny every day since we arrived. It’s perfect!
If you shop for younger readers, you may want to take a look at this week’s sale at Westminster Books.
Today’s Kindle deals include lots of good books, as always. We are spoiled for choice.
A Reflection on the Role of Dancing in Christian Worship
Having spent time in various contexts in which (thoughtful, conservative, non-charismatic) Christians include an element of dance in their worship services, I was interested in this article. I would like to read more on the topic!
A Community for Broken Homes
“It is difficult for a body of believers with limited resources to begin to tackle all of the unique situations that could come through the doors of the local church. Some describe American culture as postmodern, post-Christian, and post-family. Therefore, the people showing up at our churches have limited resources and significant needs. Where do we start?”
‘Why This Waste?’: Our Reason for Missionary Risk
Tim Keesee writes about the “waste” of missionary risk. “The risk-taking, cross-bearing, gospel-proclaiming path before us is well-worn — first by our Savior and then by saints without number. The way is marked by blood, sweat, tears, and untimely graves. Long-past accounts of Christian martyrdom have entered the land of legend — heroic and distant. But newer accounts of missionary death and danger are fresher, the color more vivid and — to many modern minds — more puzzling.”
The Longings of the Human Heart
“May we be ever attentive to the longings of the human heart, and may we pray for the story of stories to be close on our lips, to lead wandering hearts to hope. And maybe next time you have the chance to visit a modern art exhibition, you’ll find a few unexpected stories to tell…”
I’m Not a Handyman
I could echo this: “I have great respect for plumbers, electricians, and HVAC workers. I respect their arcane knowledge and skills. If they are any good at what they are doing, then they too have found the gifting that God has given them and they are exercising it with excellence, just like me. And that is lovely. I am not less of a man for allowing them to exercise their gifts. By doing what I am good at I can afford to pay other men for what they are good at. Each person is dignified by their labor.”
Affluence, Regret, and Identity Crises
Justin speaks of the sort of “inward confusion, pain, and self-doubt” that “is the unique gift of being human. Congratulations. The problem is that these crises have become far more frequent and widespread than they were even a hundred years ago.”
Flashback: Fast from Food, Not Facebook
We begin to pray before we know an adoration from a supplication and we begin to read the Bible before we know an epistle from an apostle. But somehow when it comes to fasting we allow ignorance to breed inaction.
Many of us fail to understand that our limitations are a gift from God, and therefore good. This produces in us the burden of trying to be something we are not and cannot be.
—Kelly Kapic
