We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
The Witness of Graffiti (Rocks Crying Out)
On this eve of Easter, we wanted to share something that fit the mood of the time between the crucifixion and the resurrection. D.L. Mayfield wrote this striking piece on the longing for the Kingdom of God in the midst of overwhelming brokenness. We thought it was the perfect reflection for this day suspended between grief and celebration.
From her reflection:
I think Jesus meant it all: that his coming, his way, his kingdom was marked both by celebration and anguish. He knew, more intimately and more deeply than we could ever imagine, the joy of his father’s heart and the suffering of what happens when we purposefully thwart it. He knows about me, my neighbors, this city—how the redemption is so real and good and possible (the rocks cry out) and how the hearts of the broken are barely holding on, while we keep trying to build our own safe fortresses high above the muck (the rocks cry out). He knows it all; and perhaps this is what he was thinking as he looked over Jeruslalem and wept.
In my neighborhood you can’t walk a block without seeing paint splashed on the walls. Some are joyful, hopeful and prophetic. Others are chilling, territorial, anguished. The rocks are crying out, just as Jesus said they would.
Related Reading
Lighten Up: My Favorite!
He always gives the best gifts.
Why Racial Reconciliation Matters
In Psalm 72, the author prays for a day when “all kings” would “bow down” to God’s anointed and when “all nations” would “serve him” (vs. 11). At this time, the Psalmist continues, God’s king will deliver “the needy who cry out” and save “the afflicted who have no one to help.” He will “take…
Why the Rapture is a Bad Idea
Is the Rapture really what you think it is? Most Christians believe that God will take his followers up to heaven before the really bad stuff starts on earth, but is this what the bible says? Is this view consistent with the loving God that Jesus shows us in the New Testament? View the full…
Look at Jesus
http://youtu.be/AO2VBoyruIM Here’s a lovely reflection by N.T. Wright for your Sunday. When in doubt, look at Jesus. You can’t go wrong.
Why Bart Ehrman Doesn’t Have to Ruin Your Christmas (Or Your Faith) Part 6
This is the sixth of several videos Greg put together to refute Bart Ehrman’s claims published in the article What Do We Really Know About Jesus? In this segment, Greg addresses the apparent discrepancies in the genealogies of Luke and Matthew and the implausibility of the idea that they were simply fabricated. We’ve been hearing that people are using…
How to Produce the Fruit of the Spirit
When the New Testament tells us to be loving, joyful, peaceful, kind and so on, it is not giving us a new set of behaviors that we are to strive to accomplish. Striving to attain them means nothing if they are sought as ethical ideals or to meet a set of religious rules. They have…