Going into a restricted Lent, how might we best reemerge into freedom on the other side? Jesus’ time in the wilderness holds the key.

“...the player who looks least engaged may be the most committed member of the group. A cynic, after all, is a passionate person who does not want to be disappointed again.”

As I wrote the inaugural post of this blog (available here), I felt a little discouraged. My abilities to miss the point, pursue the form not the substance, and live life head down to the plan rather than up to the horizon had been brought to the surface again. There was comfort in that correction, but even that was eclipsed in what happened as I wrote.

What does the church in the first centuries after Christ have to teach us today about forming disciples, reaching new people, and seeing the church thrive? A reflection and review on Alan Kreider’s The Patient Ferment of the Early Church.

Sometime around the second or third week of the Covid-19 lockdown in the UK, I started to put my finger on something going on in me. There was an underlying sadness, and while grief seemed like an inappropriate word to use given the level of suffering so many were experiencing, that’s how it felt.