How to resist

After Ephesians 4:11-16 

To resist the deceit,

the forces arrayed

against us, the strategy

is simple: we speak

truth, the truth in love;

we grow up and into

the One who died for us;

we hold together as one,

one body, a unit working

as one, because we have

been equipped to function

as one, this body of many

working together to hold

itself up into love.

 

Photograph by svklimkin via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Hollow Men – poem by T.S. Eliot at Academy of American Poets.

 

The Truth of Beauty: Educating the Moral Imagination – Benjamin Lockerd at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Hobbits and Third-Culture Kids – Seth Porch at Desiring God.

 

Where Loss Leads: Why Grieving People Need a Theology of Giving – Pierce Taylor Hibbs at The Gospel Coalition. 

 

Prayer (1) – poem by George Herbert at Rabbit Room Poetry.

The forces against

After Ephesians 4:11-16 

We are surrounded and

targeted, nurtured by

those raised up for

that purpose, strengthened,

fed, encouraged, taught

so that we resist the forces

arrayed against us daily:

every kind of doctrine,

slyness and cunning,

craftiness and schemes

of deceit and falsehood.

We are strengthened 

against them all

taught to discern,

reinforced to resist,

to see these forces

for what they are.

 

Photograph by Joseph Sharp via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

From “Showings or Revelations of Divine Love” – poem by Julian of Norwich at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Every Idle Word – poem by Malcolm Guite.

 

The Consolation of Silence – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic.

The support team

After Ephesians 4:11-16 

We’re not thrown

onto barren ground,

left to fend for ourselves,

no more than a newborn

is placed outside the door

and wished good luck.

Instead, there’s a team,

a support team, people

raised up for the purpose

of raising us to the unity

of faith. There they are:

apostles, prophets, shepherds,

evangelists, teachers, each one

inspired to pour knowledge,

maturity, fullness into you.

They nurture the newborn,

turning children into adults.

 

Photograph by Tobias Mrzyk via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Wild of God in Waterloo Township, Michigan – Steven Knepper at Front Porch Republic.

 

How to Stay Married – poem by Jody Collins at Poetry & Made Things.

 

Watching the Sun Go Down – poem by David Whyte.

 

Christ as King – Robb Brunansky at The Cripplegate.

 

We can’t think or live Christianly – T.M. Suffield at Nuakh.