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
How to Interpret the Law of the Old Testament
While there are multitudes of passages in the OT that reflect an awareness that people are too sinful to be rightly related to God on the basis of the law, there is a strand that runs throughout the OT that depicts Yahweh as “law-oriented.” This label is warranted, I believe, in light of the fact…
The Lessons of Job
Breno Peck via Compfight In his book Benefit of the Doubt, Greg argues that the lessons of the book of Job reassure us that God does not lie behind suffering, but he rather is a trustworthy friend who can handle our doubt and pain. If you’re in the midst of grief or suffering, we hope…
Does God Have a Dark Side?
In the previous post, I argued that we ought to allow the incarnate and crucified Christ to redefine God for us rather than assume we know God ahead of time and then attempt to superimpose this understanding of God onto Christ. When we do this, I’ve argued, we arrive at the understanding that the essence…
God is Like a Trojan Horse
Yesterday, I introduced a basic understanding of the Christus Victor view of Christ’s work on the cross. [Click here to read it.] Today, I want to expand on this briefly. Because God is a God of love who gives genuine “say-so” to both angels and humans, God rarely accomplishes his providential plans through coercion. God…
Reflections on Divine Violence in the Old Testament
As some of you know, for the last five years I’ve been working on a book addressing the problem of divine violence in the OT. (For alleged violence in the NT, see Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld, Killing Enmity: Violence in the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2011). It will be a highly academic tome, approximately 600…
On Mental Illness and Jumping from a Burning Building
seyed mostafa zamani via Compfight Ann Voskamp wrote this piece in the wake of the suicide of Rick Warren’s son. It’s disheartening to hear so many thoughtless and cruel comments by other Christians when tragedies like this strike. But here is a voice of knowing and compassion. Here is love. From Ann’s blog post: I…