This Sunday I had fun chatting with my old mate Simon Holt at Collins Street Baptist Church. Watch it here, or read a rough transcript of my part below. Simon introduced the story of Jonah, with context and commentary, then moved onto these questions …
Continue reading “Jonah| #blessed when life is unfair”What is the whale?
It’s the fish god of Assyria and Babylon and empire; no one escapes its appetite.
It’s dark and acidic and stinking and grinding; it’s the abyss; it’s vulnerability.
It’s the site of desperate prayers and promises, and a life given over to God.
It’s the thing you have crossed the oceans to find, when you realise it’s been cradling you all along.
It’s the tomb, it’s the womb, it’s the site of rebirth, it’s the convulsion which spews you to shore.
Jonah | Ministry without reservation
The book of Jonah is a powerful, difficult, and demanding book, more relevant than ever: for it shows a man walking into the epicentre of globalisation and military violence, unarmed, to preach the end of the age. Christians often think they should feel warm, fuzzy, loving thoughts towards the other; but, like Jesus, Jonah shows us that love means placing our very bodies among those we fear, hate, or simply don’t understand. Whether this means the extreme of walking into Mosul, the modern-day Ninevah, and preaching God’s word; or whether it means crossing the barriers of religion, age, class, or cultural, gender, or sexual identity in relationship, this radical enemy-love lies at the heart of the gospel – and it is terrifying. Continue reading “Jonah | Ministry without reservation”
Alison and the whale 