In case you missed it … 10 things I’ve recently shared elsewhere.
(1) Justin Welby… Following the TV interview released on Sunday [30 March], I really hope he is able to move on. I’m reminded of two rather sobering articles from a couple of months ago. First, Ian Paul asks, What is Justin Welby’s legacy to the Church of England?
(2) … and second (linked from the first), from The Living Church: Editorial: A Very English Resignation.
(3) This looks quite solid. Some good news about church attendance in England and Wales…?! ‘The Quiet Revival’: huge increase in young people attending church (Religion Media Centre). Research undertaken by Bible Society
(4) Fascinating discussion about ‘The Quiet Revival’, reporting huge increases in church attendance among young adults (impressive cast on the panel!)
(5) What about the (‘imprecatory’) psalms that call on God to be nasty to our enemies? Helpful videos by Steffan Jenkins, showing that the whole book of Psalms is about God showing mercy to his enemies. View the playlist on YouTube, or on the Union website.
(6) This is helpful from Fred Sanders (a few years ago): ‘The eternal God, who always was Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, made himself known in the central biblical act of the Father sending the Son and sending the Holy Spirit. … if I know that the Father sent the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are God, then I actually know the central most important thing about the Trinity.’
(7) Jesus is ‘true God from true God’ … Many Christians say this frequently in church, but have you ever paused to think about it? Fred Sanders explains in this video how it gets right to the heart of the Nicene Creed, and right to the heart of who Jesus is as ‘Son of God’
(8) I had been quietly hoping the ‘Quiet Revival’ was on the mark, despite finding it a little hard to believe. Clearly, a lot of younger people are exploring and finding faith in Jesus - which is wonderful - but I’m becoming more sceptical about the scale on which this is happening. See this article by David Voas, who is very much an authority on this kind of topic (to put it mildly) … or listen to the latest episode of More or Less.
(9) Getting ready for driving in the Netherlands again in a couple of weeks. The basic rule is: traffic from the right has priority. Effectively, this means giving way to traffic emerging from side roads to your right (unless otherwise marked). Usually the markings are clear on major roads, so this only really happens on minor roads, but it’s still very confusing!
(10) Kemi Badenoch recently shared about how she lost her Christian faith after learning about the terrible abuse Elisabeth Fritzl endured from her father Josef, despite praying daily to be rescued. Here’s Graham Tomlin’s response to the problems of unanswered prayer and continuing evil in the world.