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Quite Literally The Most Loving Thing

Discovering you are wrong and are committed to the wrong people and ideas is painful. So painful that each of us resist it to the outermost parts of the sea. But even there the Lord can go and snatch a creature out of the clutches of Satan. This is technically the most loving thing that can ever happen to anyone, even though it might be unpleasant in the moment. But how comfortable is it to get your cheeks pierced and your kneck tattooed? I feel like having to chat with a Christian in the beauty section of Marshalls wouldn’t even barely compete.

#195: No Longer Against the Grain: A Conversation with Shane Morris

Jady and Nick welcome Shane Morris of the Colson Center to the podcast. They consider the supposed difference between private faith and public discourse, talk about life “with the grain” of God’s good design, and discuss the new creation mandate.

#194: The Heart of the Matter: Men and Women, Body and Soul

Matt, Jady, and Nick consider the Diocese of South Carolina’s recent convention as a microcosm of the ACNA as a whole, talk about diocesan interrelationships, and discuss the importance of discussing men and women at the creation-order level.

But God…

“And you,” explains Paul, “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…” Isn’t it disappointing, though, that the sons of disobedience would have to be church clerics? Oh well.

#193: Sorry Not Sorry: Christ, Culture, and Apologizing for Evangelism

Matt and Jady talk about the Church of England’s recent report calling for an apology for their history of ministry in Africa. They discuss the biblical view of false gods, evangelism and the early church, and the benefits of Christian “imperialism.”

Features

That Pitiful Strength

That Pitiful Strength

Your sensitivity to beauty becomes so deep that, when you react to something ugly, it might take you a moment to articulate the assumptions that formed your response. You remake, in other words, your emotional and intellectual world long before you ever encounter Wither or the Fairy or the N.I.C.E.

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You shall no more be termed Forsaken

You shall no more be termed Forsaken

So I was quite astonished to be wandering around the lections for this morning, and hear with fresh ears the verse that the current age loves to take and use as a cudgel of affirmation under the guise of unity and togetherness, but serves instead to diminish the close spiritual bond Christians do share, even when they don’t quite know it. I’m sure you’ve heard the verse—how could you not? “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” says Paul to the Galatians, for I can do all things by a verse taken out of context.

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You Needed A Miracle

You Needed A Miracle

The cynic in me might think he is just trying not to be canceled, being, at a glance, on the lowest rung of the hierarchy of “miracles.” What does he really have to offer, being a white man and probably cis? What sort of love does he have to give that might transform the darkness into light, the dry stream bed into a river, the hopeless into someone able to laugh at the days to come? If it’s anything like this sermon, I’m sorry to say that the effort falls far short of a “miracle.” What’s the opposite of a miracle? A desolation? Ordinary life? Making things worse?

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Please Light All The Candles

Please Light All The Candles

Sometimes, truth be told, the darkness is kind of comfortable, easily endured with half lights by feeling around for familiar comforts and existential salve. But sometimes the darkness is so great that it can be felt. I think we are in such a time, where the darkness appears to be overpowering, the shadow has lengthened and stretched as more and more people stumble and grope for themselves.

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When He Came Down

When He Came Down

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash I've noticed a lot of different kinds of Christians talking about Advent in the last week who, I'm pretty sure, weren't contemplating such mysteries about ten years ago. It seems like a sort of social contagion, of the best kind....

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Let Me Tell You About Human Flourishing

Let Me Tell You About Human Flourishing

But the third one is hunched over in some dark post soviet office block feeling angry. That line, “I knew you to be a hard man,” is so haunting. How did he know? Is that even true? Is the master “hard?” Does he really reap where he doesn’t sow?

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Enough For What?

Enough For What?

That is, they say they are deconstructing, or opening up the question, or showing you a way forward into some new, bright thing, but they are really only bending the path back, twisting it round so that you can’t see to climb up that dark hill to grasp the feet of that naked, cursed, alienated Man hanging on the tree. The work of “deconstruction” turns out to be the usual old-time religion, the one where you–not Jesus–you have to save the world.

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Podcast

#173: Yearn and Burn: Desire, Sex, and Marriage

#173: Yearn and Burn: Desire, Sex, and Marriage

Matt, Jady, and Nick discuss recent online conversations about “same sex attracted” people and marriage, talk about God’s power to change us, consider biblical reasons for singleness, and remember that, in Christ, we are promised redemption.

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#162: Another Stand Firm Mailbag

#162: Another Stand Firm Mailbag

Matt, Jady, and Nick tackle some more listener questions. This time: whether or not Anglicanism is Calvinist, female deacons, regenerate church membership, and becoming an involved layperson.

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