It’s bank holiday weekend, which is just as well because some of this week’s links are more long-form than Buzzfeed-esque. Naturally, they’re all worth the effort.

1) Bono & Eugene Peterson on The Psalms – You wouldn’t necessarily imagine that a rock-star having a chat with an 83-year old Bible translator would make for an engaging short film. And yet when Eugene Peterson, who crafted the popular paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, meets with the U2 frontman, it’s fascinating. Their subject is the Psalms, which have obviously had a big impact on U2’s music, not least because of their honesty – and Peterson’s insight and love of the Scripture is also a joy to behold. This piece follows up with some interesting data on the popularity of the psalms online.

2) Five Awkward Conversations Every Teen Needs to Have with Their Parents – 18-year-old Jaquelle Crowe, editor-in-chief of TheRebelution.com, reflects on five conversation topics that she’s glad her parents broke through the ‘awkward-barrier’ and initiated.

3) The modern crisis of identity by Glynn Harrison – This is a long piece, but it’s good – very good. So much of what we see going on in the culture(s) around us relates to the issue of identity – and who gets to decide where it comes from – so this is valuable reading.

4) Beautifully True – Check out this gripping video and mini-site. How can we know the Bible is true? For all the historical evidence, ultimately God opens our eyes to his unique beauty on the canvas of Scripture itself.

5) The Art of Imperious Ignorance – Do we sometimes use the line, “the Bible is unclear on this,” as an excuse or a power-tactic? Mike Ovey on top form: “Why should something that is, allegedly, subjectively unclear to me be judged by me as unclear for you too?”

6) Ten tips for leading church well – I find it so easy to get complacent about something like leading a church service. An older friend once told me that he thought leading a service well was actually a harder task than preaching well, even though the time that goes into prep is probably hugely stacked the other way. Here’s 10 nuggets of wisdom to make us think.

7) The Queen Says Boom – No doubt the chances are you’ll have already seen this video after it was tweeted by the Kensington Palace account on Friday morning. If you’ve just turned 90 and you’re the longest reigning British monarch, then why not let your grandson put together a 40 second viral video in which you say “boom,” to the POTUS & FLOTUS. From this we can also conclude that Prince Harry is probably harbouring worrying ambitions to be the next David Brent. I suppose if you know you’re not gonna get the crown, then it’s the next best thing, right? Watch and enjoy.

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Seven links for the weekend, just in case you’re bored of pictures of Obama shaking hands with Prince George in his dressing-gown:

1) 10 brilliant things the Queen has said about God – Happy Birthday, Your Majesty. You might also like this piece listing 6 things to appreciate about ER and one apology we should probably make to her too.

2) Rethinking the Stumbling Block: Christian Culture as a Barrier – Sometimes those of us who have identified as Christians for a while can be blind to the Christian ‘culture’ we adopt and implicitly can be seen to be encouraging others to adopt. This article offers a strong argument to distinguish between Christian community and our Christian ‘culture’, urging us to consider the negative impact of giving the impression the latter is as necessary as the former.

3) 5 Ways to Make It through a Difficult Season – Some sage and self-aware advice here.

4) Come Down! – Rachel Jankovic practically muses on what it looks like to receive Jesus joyfully in the messiness of motherhood. We were nodding our heads at this over a Cheerio-littered kitchen table.

5) Like Any Prince – Jon Bloom reflects on the death of the creative legend and artist formerly known as…

Here we go, fresh from the oven. Seven links from the last seven days:

1) When Sharing Isn’t Caring – Social media revolves around sharing. That’s just how it works. Yet how often do we consider our motives when we share, or even the effects of doing so? Gervase Markham dares to look beyond the screen itself and suggests we also examine our own hearts.

2) Red Carpet Treatment – Esteemed rapper Lecrae, also a Christian, reflects upon his recent time at the Grammy awards, as well as offering some wisdom on what to do when following Jesus leaves you feeling like the odd one out.

3) Will I Be Single Forever? – A friend shared this, commenting that as a single person its challenging and often unheard perspective had been a blessing. That said, it’s certainly applicable whatever our ‘relational status’.

4) The New Catholic Truce – After Pope Francis’ recent letter on marriage and family, Ross Douthat offers some perceptive observations in his New York Times Op-Ed. As he points out, Roman Catholicism’s position of “deliberate ambiguity” is the only way it can find to straddle an increasing gulf between doctrine & practice, between its traditional teaching & the changing climate of late-modernity. Of course, Roman Catholicism is starting from a very different place to protestant Christianity, which deems God’s word, the Bible, alone to be its authority. And yet Reformed churches should still take note as to where this straddling takes you.

5) The gay Anglo-Saxon warrior – “Just be yourself,” is now just about the least controversial thing you can ever say to anyone. And it’s certainly a lot less controversial than asking how much our view of ourselves is actually a product of the culture around us. This Tim Keller paragraph attempts to illustrate and prod this state of affairs, and now the creative Adam4d has provided accompanying illustrations.

6) So what if Zac Goldsmith doesn’t know what comes next on the Central Line? – Grace Dent responds with a blast of fresh air and common sense to the recent furore over London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith’s failure to identify London tube stops. We often demand that our leaders are ‘real’, but what does this really mean and are we really prepared for it?

7) Stott Bowdlerized – John Stott’s little book Basic Christianity has deservedly earned the label of ‘classic’, seemingly playing a part in countless individuals’ journey to faith. And although Stott died in 2011, the book is still popular. But, as Barton Swaim has discovered, if you pick up a new edition of the book you’ll find something that’s quite different from the original – and Swaim thinks that’s worrying. An interesting piece.

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