Hello. You made it to the weekend. Well done.

You should read these

1. The third birthday
2. Spiritual union: why Gulf migrants are turning to evangelical Christianity
3. My Hundred Homes. Yes. This on hospitality.
4. Pair that article with this one by Mike Frost: The Lonely Crowd: Churches Dying Due to Friendlessness
5. 7 Reasons Why You Should Study the Book of Ruth. We recently preached through Ruth at Grace Church. Powerful book.
6. Some reflections from Liam Thatcher on what happened when a Twitter joke of his went viral.
7. The Swedish philosophy of lagom: how “just enough” is all you need – except if you looked at Swedish shopping habits, rates of burnout & so many other things that might show them all to be liars or at least unbelievers.

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You should look at this

There’s something about B&W photos which are powerful in a completely different way.

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You should listen to this

This is another song from Newday that I’ve been loving.

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You should watch this

When a friend told me about this, I honestly found it hard to believe. It definitely took a while to get my head around it but now there’s a Youtube video about it, of course I believe it! Actually the maths do that for me.

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This week’s posts

Wednesday: Nuclear war is a pro-life issue 

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Reading Colossians Remixed

I haven’t forgotten this series. New posts coming soon.

• Read with me: Colossians Re:mixed
• Colossians Remixed: Placing ourselves
• Colossians Remixed: Hearing with Old Testament ears
• Colossians Remixed: Do we live under an empire?
• Colossians Remixed: Growing in the Empire’s shadow
• Colossians Remixed: Dealing with postmodernism

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From the archives

The Swedish origins of ‘How Great Thou Art’: “It’s one of the most beloved hymns of the last hundred years and in many polls it ranks just behind Amazing Grace; yet the origins of O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder (or as it’s perhaps better known How Great Thou Art) can trace its roots back to Sweden. The hymn is the work of British missionary and evangelist Stuart K Hine and was popularised (like many hymns) during the Billy Graham crusades of the 1950s. However Hine took his inspiration from a poem by written by Swede, Carl Boberg.”

Have a prayerful and peace filled weekend.