The Sunday Refill – 7 Links for the Weekend (15/5/16)

Ok, calling them ‘seven wonders of the digital world’ might be going a bit too far, but here’s hoping there’s something that catches your eye:

1) The Story of the FA Cup Final Song: Abide With Me – A great little video to share and use ahead of next Saturday’s cup final, from the guy behind the John Lewis Christmas advert re-make.

2) Food, energy, and a Christian’s plate – When was the last time you thought about what you were eating? Because we’re more than just brains on sticks.

3) One-by-one One-to-ones: Evangelism in a culture that can’t commit – People just don’t want to come to courses anymore, so there’s not much point running them, right? Barry Cooper offers a way forward when it feels like no one wants to commit to ‘six evenings in the church hall’.

4) Vicars urged to rein in the jokes and rambling anecdotes in sermons – Reading this reminds me of that one time when I… oh, wait, sorry. Point taken.

5) Ed Shaw: Why your church shouldn’t sign Steve Chalke’s charter for gay marriage – Ed Shaw, who describes himself as experiencing same-sex attraction, responds to Steve Chalke’s call for churches to offer same-sex marriages. Shaw explains why he believes churches shouldn’t – and why being ‘inclusive’ isn’t as straight-forward as we might be led to believe.

6) 10 Reasons to Love Ryle – It was the 200th anniversary of J.C. Ryle’s birthday this week. A former Bishop of Liverpool who wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade, I remember his classic book, Holiness, being thrust into my hands when I was twenty. Although it was probably one of the first Christian books I’d read, I can so vividly recall being impacted by it. Never heard of him? Well, here’s ten reasons to give him a look.

7) How to Create the Perfect Eurovision Song (Måns Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede – Love Love Peace Peace) – If you missed Saturday night’s cheese-fest, then you missed out! Not only was there an unusual winner (a song packed with a serious political message), and dramatic new voting processes, but also the hilarious Swedish hosts Måns and Petra definitely stole the show. This was the song they performed at the interval, with tongue-firmly-placed-in-cheek.

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