If you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email but also would like to receive daily (Monday-Saturday) Advent email devotionals from the book of Ruth, you can subscribe to those separately by following this link.

If you want to catch up or get a flavour of previous reflections from Ruth chapter 1-2, you’ll find the links at the top of yesterday’s devotion here.

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Seven up…

1) Christmas: The Fairy Tale That Must Be True – Loved this from Scott Sauls. As Pascal said, communicate the gospel in such a way ‘that good men wish it were true’.

2) Hope does not disappoint – the way forward after the election – Gav Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance, shares his reflections after Thursday’s UK General Election.

3) Pastors & Burnout: A Personal Reflection – Because if there’s a time of year where pastors feel the pressure, Christmas is it – or perhaps as we collapse in a heap after Christmas.

4) New Music – Thought I’d share a few new tracks that have caught my eye recently: Alanna Glover from EMU Music has written Saviour in a Manger, perfect for Advent & Christmas. CityAlight and Colin Buchanan have teamed up for a new track, Jesus, Strong & Kind, which seeks to be a song all ages can cling to through different seasons of life. And I also loved this new arrangement of Sovereign Grace Music’s Behold Our God, with international voices and languages – a moving glimpse of the Revelation 7 picture of people from every tongue praising God.

5) Accusations emerge online that shocking depiction of Jesus in a manger was ‘staged’ by his mother – Can you believe it?!

6) Preaching at Christmas – Ian Paul and Glen Scrivener share their reflections on preaching at this time of year. Actually, Glen managed to get a second article out on preaching at Christmas here!

7) 52 things I learned in 2019 – For something a bit different, as lists go this is pretty eccentric – but fascinating too!

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If you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email but also would like to receive daily (Monday-Saturday) Advent email devotionals from the book of Ruth, you can subscribe to those separately by following this link.

If you want to catch up or get a flavour of last week’s reflections from Ruth chapter 1, you’ll find the links at the top of yesterday’s devotion here.

–

Seven up…

1) But That’s Just Your Interpretation – How often do you run-up against Christians saying something like, ‘Well, we just can’t know that for certain – it’s just your interpretation.’ The latest edition of online journal Themelios is out and this is fantastic from Don Carson.

2) 8 reasons to quit social media before 2020 – Ok, maybe now’s the time. Have a read. Convinced? Even if it’s not a wholesale ‘quitting’, I imagine many of us will read and acknowledge we could do with a serious stock-take on our social use.

3) Top 10 Books of the Year – Yes, it’s that time of the year when the internet seems full of book lists. Now here it can sometimes feel like people are trying to out-do each other in obscurity. I’ll focus on Christian lists (or at least lists by Christians): Russell Moore offers a rich top 10 (my score: 3 on shelf; 1 read!), as does Brit Andrew Wilson (3 on shelf, 1 read). Blogger Trevin Wax also offers his list (2 on shelf, 1 read). The Gospel Coalition also have their 2019 Book Awards with different categories (4 on shelf, 1 read). You might also like the perspective of the New Yorker (0 on shelf and 0 read, but I’ll argue that I tend to get to non-Christian books a year or two late!).

4) Tim Keller’s Moral Universe – The Atlantic interviewed and ran a feature on Keller – and I think it showcases well Keller’s ability to engage with and expose our culture, which is surely one of the things he does best.

5) Theos Annual Lecture: Sally Philips on Human Dignity, Different Lives & the Illusions of Choice – You may recognise Sally from her work as an actress and comedienne, having starred in Smack the Pony, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and more. Motivated by her own experiences raising a son with Down syndrome, she helped make a BBC documentary called ‘A World Without Down Syndrome,’ a few years ago, looking at the ethics of pregnancy screening for Down syndrome. She recently gave the annual Theos lecture reflecting on some of those themes. As you can imagine from Philips, it’s not your average ‘lecture’. I haven’t been able to listen to the whole thing yet, but from the sample I’ve heard I’d like to soon. Not dissimilar, you may also appreciate this talk from pastor Pete Jackson from a different conference: Why I teach my congregation about Abortion Once a Year.

6) One Man’s Mission – It was fascinating to see BBC online do such an in-depth piece on this guy’s endeavours to buy-up old Welsh chapels. What do you make of it?

7) The Piano Guys – All I Want For Christmas Is You (LEGO Music Video) – For something a bit different, if you like your Christmas movies you’ll love trying to identify the different scenes in this impressive video from the Piano Guys and Michael Hickox.

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Seven up…

Please note: if you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email and also want to receive the daily Advent email devotional, you’ll still need to subscribe to that separately by following this link. Thanks!

1) How I’m Planning to Vote – No magic answer here, but this from Andrew Wilson is worth a read, as is David Robertson who is doing a weekly round-up guide ahead of the General Election. The latest of his guides is here, which includes an article he did for Evangelicals Now, ‘How Should Christians Vote?’ Also worth checking out the Christian Institute’s page for a heap of resources. A letter was sent this week to Bishops of the Church of England urging them to respond to understood plans from some parties to extend the legal abortion limit. The Bishop of Newcastle and Bishop of Carlisle responded here.

2) Fourteen Christmas Resolutions We’ve All Made (in Cat Gifs) – One to enjoy when you need distracting.

3) Behold the Lamb of God Livestream – Andrew Peterson has recently released a new 20th anniversary recording of his epic Christmas album, Behold the Lamb of God. But you can also buy a ticket to watch a special live-stream performance on December 9th-10th.

4) The Secret to Enjoying a Long Winter – Ok, slightly left-field, but it caught my eye, so here you go!

5) New Atheism: The Godlessness That Failed – An in-depth take on what happened to the ‘new atheists’.

6) Poem for an Anxious World – Loved this from Glen Scrivener – print it out and stick it somewhere you’ll read it often.

7) Stephen Fry on recording the Harry Potter audiobooks before they were famous – For something a bit different, this is a great little story, told by one of the UK’s greatest living entertainers…

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