Seven up…

1) What Clouds Cannot Alter – What are we to think during those seasons of life when it feels like the clouds of our circumstances are blocking our sight of Jesus? I found this short reflection helpful.

2) Weinstein, Spacey and the hypocrisy of the current moral panic – David Robertson is on point as he reflects on the last couple of weeks.

3) Purgatory! – If you haven’t seen the brilliant A Monk’s Tale – Relics, Revolt & Reformation, then enjoy this teaser song (you may recognise it…), and then get your tickets for one of the remaining shows.

4) Thought for the Day – The British press broke the story this week that – shock, horror – Radio 4 presenters John Humphrys and Justin Webb found the 2 min 40 seconds ‘religious’ guest slot on their Today show, Thought for the Day, “deeply, deeply boring”. Now, I’m not a regular listener, but I think if someone accuses a Christian communicator of being dull, it’s always worth us listening to that feedback and seeing if others agree. I wonder if Humphrys’ damning summary (“We are now going to hear someone tell us that Jesus was really nice.”) is sometimes pretty close to the money. But it’s also worth reading Giles Fraser’s piece that pushes back and calls out the BBC for having an anti-faith bias. Similarly, Bishop Nick Baines makes the point that there’s no neutral ground anyway, so we should stop pretending ‘secular humanism’ offers that. Amen to that.

5) Can The West Be Converted? – Some really interesting stuff on mission and planting here in this post from Eddie and Sue Arthur of Wycliffe Bible Translators, including the linked post by Harvey Kwiyani.

6) In Their Shoes – Good piece on how we can help outsiders and guests, especially non-Christians, feel welcome and helped in our church meetings and services.

7) Defying Gravity – It’s one of those tracks I feel I could listen to endlessly, but what makes this classic from the musical Wicked such a brilliant song?