Posts Tagged ‘gospel’

The Home I Haven’t Found

[Guest Post by Lucas Shipman:]

I recently co-wrote a spoken word poem with Paul Gould. There is a line in this poem that says,

“I feel like there’s a home I haven’t found. My heart aches for something deeper, more profound.”

My Favorite Books from 2016

Stories awaken. They draw me into another world. They help me see reality through another’s eyes. As C. S. Lewis aptly put it, “in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see.”[1] So, stories rattle me out of my slumber. They also teach me. I learn about space and time, hope and aspiration, human longing and evil, goodness and beauty, truth and hope. I learn—especially when reading philosophy or theology—how to think better as I pull the curtain back and peer into the depth of God or the world he has made. I am challenged to live a heroic life and to push away the temptation toward sloth. All of this, and more, from reading!

C. S. Lewis on the Practical Value of Friendship

A mark of the digital age is a dearth of genuine friendship. Relationships today are largely mediated through pixels and measured by the length of a Snapchap streak or the number of Facebook “likes” received. The plague of superficiality spreads as we forget how to look others in the eye, carry on a conversation, and simply be together. The end result is an epidemic of loneliness.

The Illusory Freedom of Pop Culture

Western culture is changing at an astonishing speed today. Twenty-five years ago, when I graduated from college, cell phones were barely a known commodity. Today smart phones are a staple of contemporary life. Al Gore had not yet invented the internet. Today our family panics if the Wi-Fi goes out. Socially the country was largely conservative and the values were largely biblical. Oh how things have changed. The guiding principle today is “freedom”—freedom to do and be whatever one wants. Casting off the shackles of a repressive morality—anything goes. An important question to consider, however, is this; does the new “anything goes” morality work? In other words, does the pursuit of unfettered freedom really make one free?

Get off the Religious Treadmill

(Guest post from Lucas Shipman, see video below) What is the “religious treadmill?” It is works based salvation; the lie that we can earn our way into the presence of God. Billions of people are stuck in this false system with no hope of going anywhere. They are spiritually running in place. 

Christianity Is Not “Us Versus Them”

Guest blog from Lucas Shipman, Spoken Word Poet (see video below):

Election years can be frustrating for followers of Jesus.  This election is set to be one of the most divisive we have seen in recent history.  Christians have been widely misrepresented by both parties.  Politicians throw around the word “evangelical” to somehow describe every person who votes and has ever sat in a pew or darkened the door of a church. Is that who we are as Christians in America, just another voting block?

Politics, Hatred, and Leeches

You might hear around our house: “Monkey see, Monkey do.” So often children learn by watching. If I burp at the dinner table, our nine-year old, without missing a beat, summons a guttural barrage of belches. As he grins from ear to ear, is hard for the rest of us (my wife excluded) to keep from laughing. This reinforces his conviction that burping at the dinner table is acceptable. The point generalizes. What is modeled in the home, the athletic fields, and in the public square finds expression and embodiment in a watching generation of young men and women.

God the Most Joyous Being in the Universe

We humans are a bit cranky. We upset easily. To share some painful examples from my recent past: I pick the wrong line in the grocery story causing me to become impatient and resentful. An unexpected meeting invades my plan for the day. Anxiety fills my heart. I feel unjustly attacked and return the favor by being rude to some undeserving victim. There is a daily struggle in my heart, a tug-of-war between self-assertment and surrender to Another. I long for wholeness. I long for the “fullness of joy” in God’s presence (Psalm 16:11). More often, my heart wanders from God, seeking solace in small things, created things, which will not ultimately satisfy.

Two Questions about Story

Story draws us in. When life becomes too difficult or we need a break from its monotony, we escape to some other story (hence the strength and all-pervasiveness of the entertainment industry). For me, it is a real treat, after a long day of teaching, relating, studying, and writing, when I pick up a book or Ipad and lose myself in Gilead, Iowa (Marilynne Robinson), medieval Germany (Novalis), or modern day Gotham (following the exploits of a younger James Gordon and Bruce Wayne). These are the cities and towns I currently walk through story. Next week, no doubt, I will have moved on to other times and places, losing myself in tales of adventure, intrigue, injustice, hope, longing, and love.

How To Cultivate a Quiet Soul in a Busy World

Busyness masks our insecurities. We rush. We want the quickest line in the grocery story, instant access to our news and movies, information at our fingertips, and food served hot and fast. We hurry to accomplish things and when we do, we don’t have time to savor the triumph because we’ve got to hurry to prove ourselves again. (I particularly relate to this with respect to academic publishing. By the time an article publishes I’m already researching the next project, needing to demonstrate again my prowess as a philosopher).