Go ahead and help yourself to this week’s generous helping of inspiration, perspective and creativity:

1) My Friendship with a Murderer – A remarkable interview with an Australian pastor, Simon Manchester, who has struck up a friendship with a repentant murderer who remains behind bars.

2) Tim Keller: How I Prepare My Sermons – NY pastor Tim Keller is interviewed about how much time he spends preparing a sermon. To his credit, he is not trying to give a theology of preaching, nor a step-by-step guide to preparing a sermon, as much as responding to a request for the practical details of his weekly diary.

3) Being single shouldn’t mean being alone – Eve Tushnet – An inspiring piece in the Washington Post from Tushnet (a gay but celibate Catholic), who challenges the idolatry of couplehood and offers a compelling vision for deep and necessary friendships.

4) Sorry, we can’t ban everything that offends you – A great little video from Julie Bindel at The Guardian, responding to instances like the call to ban Donald Trump from the UK. Rather than banning people from speaking, she urges us to instead hold people to account for their ideas.

5) Dan Walker’s creationism shouldn’t disqualify him from breakfast TV – The Spectator provides some sensible reporting in response to the ridiculous media hoo-haa at the appointment of a Christian, Dan Walker, as the new face of BBC Breakfast. The most antagonistic response is probably this Telegraph piece (incidentally you can vote at the bottom of that article to indicate that of course you don’t mind that your TV presenter believes in a Creator God!). Pastor David Robertson makes the point that this media storm also reveals something sinister about where our culture is at the moment.