Sure, everyone outside the church is just as ugly, just as sinning, just as broken, but the church, the bride of Jesus, is supposed to be perfect and beautiful. Or so says the world. But that’s not what Jesus says. Jesus loves the church, loves his bride, whatever the world says about her. And he is not surprised and disgusted by her brokenness. In fact, if he was, we would think he was a bad husband, which he’s not. So there you are. In everything, the reflection is always back to Christ, who is beautiful, and perfect, who loves his bride, even though she is broken down and left bereft by the wayside. He picks her up and takes care of her.
"What Is ECUSA Spending on Lawsuits?": Speaking of broken . . .
"Being a Go-Getter Is No Fun":Why should you do more work for the same reward, while your less capable coworker coasts along with lower expectations and work?
"The Shield Failed, the City Endures":
It is easy to list the errors of the Christian Empire and, thank God, the Empire is not returning. We have learned much since that time in 1453, but we have learned the lessons in part because the City saved the texts, the education, and the vocabulary that allow us to reject some of what that City did. We stand on the intellectual foundations of Constantinople behind the long intellectual walls she defended, constructed, and preserved. That City of words has never fallen and can never fall as long as one modern Christian endures.
"What Shakespeare Plays Originally Sounded Like": Very Northern!
"Well-Planned, Hard, Sweat-Inducing Prayer and Work":
Prayer is the first and most important thing you are called to do. “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed,” John Bunyan writes.“Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan.”
Finally, a video. I already thought Sia's "Chandelier" was a sad and haunting song, but this cover of it is just amazing:
