We are often tempted to think in terms of formulas when it comes to healing. You can see it in all the self-help books out there: “7 steps to total enlightenment” and “How to avoid making any mistakes ever again.” I jest, but you get the point. After a period of intense and prolonged lamentation, […]
Counter-culturalism
Counter-cultural challenges to the modern church and to society in general
True Lamentations – Part 3: More Joyful Grief
After talking in my last blog about repentance, I’ve decided to continue exploring this intriguing mixture of joy and grief. Here are 3 more ideas to unpack. Love Lost. Many of us know what it is to lose someone or something precious to us. It is difficult to know how to celebrate something which is […]
True Lamentations – Part 2: Joyful Grief
Feeling joyful or hopeful when one is in the midst of grief can be difficult, if not impossible. I am going to write about a few examples of how grief can yield joy, or how the two may be mixed together, like combining light with shadow. Today I will focus on one example in particular: […]
True Lamentations – Part 1
“Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak whispers the o’er-fraught heart, and bids it break.” – William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 3, Line 242. Shakespeare, a man after my own heart. Shakespeare was famous for taking the tragedy of human souls, defeated and discouraged, and applying words to give way to expression […]
Happy holidays
Like most of the world, I recently went on holidays over the Christmas/New Year period. It never ceases to amaze me the difference that a little respite can make. Sometimes I become so accustomed to the ordinary pace of working that I forget about that whole other pace of rest. I am the first to […]
Lives on the Line – Part 2: My Day with the Homeless
If you have seen the lyric video for Lives on the Line, you will have noticed that many of the photos are of homeless people or people in difficulty. While I sourced some of these photos from iStock, I also took a lot of these myself. What follows is the story of the day I […]
Lives on the Line – Part 1
Lives on the Line – Part 1 See the lyric video here: https://youtu.be/qjJ88xHpIoc He was covered in tattoos. His face was gaunt, worn and appeared older than his age. His clothing was tatty and an odour hung about him like flies in an Australian summer. He told me stories of poverty, drug use and hunger, yet […]