Healed by wound

After I Peter 2:18-25

A slap, a punch,

a spitting upon,

a beating, ridicule,

chains on wrists

and ankles, jeering,

stripped bare, laid

against wood, nails

in hands or wrists,

display for the mob,

the terrible thirst,

the stain of blackness,

the turning away,

the piercing of the side,

the fleeing of friends,

the death. It is 

by these wounds that

we are healed. 

Nothing else suffices. 

 

Photograph by Soheyl Dehghani via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Why a Jealous God is the Best Kind – Sani Langston at Becoming Rooted in Your Identity.

 

Biblical Theology Is for Nerds – Joe Carter at The Gospel Coalition.

 

The Quiet Time Kickstart – Tom Challies.

 

Death Is But a Passing – poem by Roy Peterson at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Exemplary – poem by Glenn Arbery at First Things Magazine.

Do good, and suffer

After 1 Peter 2:18-25

It is inevitable, and 

time will come or

has already, that you

do good or you do

right and you suffer

as a result. Or you say

no, this is wrong. Or

you speak against

an evil committed or

contemplated. Even

an ungodly man 

might protest evil,

but it is the godly

man who counts 

the cost and protests

evil anyway. Faith

is suffering; the world

demands it.

 

Photograph by Emiliano Vittoriosie via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

The Prosperity Gospel We Sometimes All Believe In – Tim Challies.

 

Recognition – poem by John Leax at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

We’ve Won. Now What? – Andrew Klavan at The New Jerusalem.

 

A Famous Poet, KFC, and Peace with My Past – Rebekah Matt at Great and Noble Tasks.

 

Please don’t sing ‘Imagine’ at funerals – Murray Campbell.

An act of love

After I Peter 2:18-25

An act of love,

an act of obedience:

the act is submission,

and not to the just master

(an easy thing to do), but

also to the unjust.

Submission to the unjust

does not mean you

acquiesce in doing wrong

or engage in injustice

yourself. It does not mean

you approve of the evil

inflicted. It does mean

you are willing to submit

to the suffering that will

result when you simply

say, "This is wrong."

 

Photograph by Larm Rmah via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Haunted by Home: Rediscovering Auden the Englishman – James Chappel at Commonweal.

 

Where the Magic Doesn’t Happen – Andy Crouch at After Babel.

 

Flop Sweat in Edinburgh – Andrew Osenga.

 

A Doctor’s Depression: How God Became My Healer – Kathryn Butler at Desiring God.

 

Emergent Occasions – poem by Maura Harrison at Society of Classical Poets.