Hungry Bellies A few things have happened to me in the past few months that have made me want to write something on the fact that seemingly very few Christians are reading the Bible and engaging in theological reflection, why this might be the case, and what we’re doing about it. In doing this, I’m […]
Why Study Theology? Reflections for the evangelical charismatic church
A Charismatic Journey I remember very clearly, in my 30’s, realizing that I wanted to study theology at degree level. I had no idea that it would end with me doing a PhD, leading a college, writing books, and teaching. It hadn’t been a “career move”! I thought I was studying theology so that I’d […]
A Time for Minor Chords (Part III): Objections to Lament
[This is Part III of a series on lament. Part I is HERE, and Part II HERE] Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. (Jas 4:9) Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped […]
A Time for Minor Chords (Part II): Protest at the Divine Court
In my previous post I discussed the continued lack of lament in contemporary worship (of the ‘worship band’ variety). My point was that there’s been very little appreciable movement toward lament in the past decades among the major producers of the songs listed on the CCLI lists and the like. Because of that, the average […]
A Time for Minor Chords: The Costly Loss of Lament in Contemporary Worship
And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her [the Canaanite woman] away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ (Matt 15:23) Songs for Ash Wednesday The title of this post comes from Walter Brueggemann’s influential essay ‘The Costly Loss of Lament,’ written in 1986 (repr. in Psalms and the Life of Faith). In it, Brueggemann […]