Archive for June 2017

 With God on Mission: Inbound Exiles

The book of Isaiah contains some of the most beautiful imagery in all of Scripture, of the unfolding prophecy of a redeemed people. The message of salvation and hope to people at the ends of the Earth affirm the saving nature of our Heavenly Father. Except these words also serve as prelude to the imminent unravelling of Israel. It's exile. The Israelites had forgotten their true calling - the failed to look towards the one true God and failed to be a blessing to all the nations, in doing so, failed to reveal the creator of the Universe to all...

 With God on Mission: Faithful Exiles

Accounts in the scriptures like the ones we find in Daniel, show us the faithfulness of our God. They reveal a lot about the nature of our ancestors and how they viewed the world, and even more, about the saving, redemptive nature of God. The Israelites who are in exile, chose to disobey the Kings orders and bow down to an idol - who are then are thrown into a fire, and SURVIVE the flames, all because of their faith in the God, Yahweh. However, this account is in stark contrast to the stories we find in the New Testament....

 With God on Mission: Unfaithful Israel

There are some stories in the Bible that are easier to remember than others. Stories about Floods & Arks, Towers that reach to the heavens, divinely sent Fish to swallow men - it’s these stories that we pass down to our kids and teach with affection because of the attachment that we’ve had with them growing up. We pass them down because of their redeeming values and the way it helps shift our child-like understanding of who God is, to a bigger, more inclusive awareness of the Divine. If, however, we only look at these stories as nothing more than...

 With God on mission: Faithful Gentiles

The story of Jericho is often fondly remembered as one of those stories that we’ve grown up with as children - a story about how a God provides to his faithful, wandering children. Trumpets, fanfare, hype, drama, battles, sieges - what’s not to like? Except, if you read this story on a parallax - from outside of it’s original culture and intended audience, distancing yourself from the child-like bias that we have grown up with - it can be a little unnerving, even barbaric. If you are reading this story for the first time, you could ask what type of...

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