Every week I’m (trying to) post links to things I’ve read this week that I think you might find interesting too,

…If you read something you think should be featured here submit it here, starting your message LINK LIST SUGGESTION.

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What I’ve posted

• Why Evangelicals LOVE Donald Trump

• Part 1 – Defining Codependency by our good friend Christina Bacino

• Part 2 – 4 Ways forward from codependency

In other news we have had our last few weeks of summer here in the southern hemisphere, which means seeing live shows outside;

Beatenberg

Seeing @beatenberg_band & @johnwizards at #Kirstenbosch tonight with @mrsrachelbyrnes @natechen94 & the Johnsons. Also Rachel reckons I get more likes with my mouth open wide.

A photo posted by Liam Byrnes (@byrnesyliam) on Mar 27, 2016 at 8:03am PDT

and Of Monsters and Men

Of Monsters and Men w/ @mrsrachelbyrnes | Last concert at #Kirstenbosch for the summer #OMAMSA

A video posted by Liam Byrnes (@byrnesyliam) on Mar 30, 2016 at 1:18pm PDT

and then some other fun stuff that keeps life fun..

After spending much of last week in hospital we promised Nana we’d take her to the movies. She put the 3D glasses on a little early, but when the film started she was amazed saying with innocent amazement “it’s like they are really here!”. She kept lifting them up to make sure this weren’t actually flying in her direction!! Haha love it. @monelisa_mqhathane was of course playing it cool ;).

A photo posted by Liam Byrnes (@byrnesyliam) on Mar 20, 2016 at 10:29pm PDT

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Theology and Christian Life

• Christ is our life – Living Lord from FirstThings | Leithart

Paul says, Christ is our life. Not, Christ gives us life, or Christ defends our life, or Christ supports our life. No: Christ is our life.

• The thoughts outlined here – You Are What You Love from FirstThings.com are becoming the defining paradigm change in the last two years in my thoughts on discipleship.

• A push back to Universalism in Love Wins… Not from Jesus Creed

“Tell me how much you know of the sufferings of your fellowmen and I will tell you how much you have loved them.” – Helmut Thielicke via Empathy from Experimental Theology

• Last year we spent some time in Istanbul thinking about early church father John Chrysostom who was famed for his ‘Golden-mouth’ preaching – here is what he has to say for an Easter Sermon via SKYE JETHANI

• We spent Easter Sunday reflcting on the Syrian Refugee crisis here in SA, and this pointer towards Richard Flanagan on Syria’s great exodus via Jason Goroncy is a helpful reminder;

‘that terrible river of the wretched and the damned flowing through Europe is my family. And there is no time in the future in which they might be helped. The only time we have is now’.

• I enjoyed these Meditations on the seven words of Jesus on the cross simply because they are so unlike any other sermon or reflection I hear around Easter via Faith and Theology

• What purpose does Easter Saturday have? – Blankness….. from revkennyblog

• What We Mean When We Talk About Sin from Nomad Podcast, was an interesting conversation around Alan Mann’s book ‘Atonement for a sinless society’ which looks to use Brene Brown’s work on shame to see how we might understand sin sociologically and therefore articulate the Gospel in ways that address modern societies felt sin.

• Happy Monday! – On our inability to find happiness as a modern malady from Think Theology quoting Roger Scruton.

The result of this religion of rights is that people feel unendingly hard done by. Every disappointment is met with a lawsuit, in the hope of turning material loss to material gain. And whatever happens to us, we ourselves are never at fault. The triumph of sin thereby comes with our failure to perceive it…That is why the psalmist enjoins us to direct our thoughts outwards, in praise and gratitude. ‘O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name.’ Once we have made the decision to turn back to the ways of duty, gratitude will flow naturally into us, and – so the psalmist reminds us – gratitude is the precondition of joy. Only those who give thanks are able to rejoice, for only they are conscious that life, freedom and well-being are not rights but gifts. A gift is a reminder that others care for us. The doctrine of human rights is prompting us to forget that truth. And that is what it is leading to a world without joy. For if the good things of life are mine by right, why should I be grateful for receiving them?

• Reflections on Worship from SKYE JETHANI

• Marriage: Maybe It Was Meant to Kill You from A Place for the God-HungryA Place for the God-Hungry

• An intersting summary on how to do theology in Jenson as teacher: an almost-review of A theology in outline from Faith and Theology

• Some thoughts on cultural ism’s making their way into our theology in “What’s for you will not go by you…” from revkennyblog

• I am always impressed and fascinated at how people compress narrative and thought, none so much as when you can do that for a biblical passage. This is an interesting summary of Philippians in 1,000 Words from Think Theology

• This somewhat critical review on a book about a possible third way in the complentarian vs. egalitarian gender debate has some helpful moments –Kingdom Challenges to Leadership from Jesus Creed. The writer of the book says that complementarians are focussed on hierarchy and egalitarians on rights, and argues for an alternative vocabulary that might open up the conversation.

• This is an extraordinary list in its breadth, but also that it is focussing on the much negelect voices of the majority world – read it here – Global Church Missional Reading List Thanks to mbjones for posting this!

• The Archbishop of Canterbury discovers who his biological father is and Kenny Borthwick reflects on identity in – I am who I am to I AM…. from revkennyblog
  

• It is not only Christianity that struggles with syncretism, Leithart summarises a book on Boko Haram in this post – Islamic Syncretism from FirstThings.com | Leithart

• Hell was a hot topic (couldn’t resist) in past years – here is a review of the Eternal Conscious Torment section of “Four Views on Hell” from Jesus Creed

• The Theology of Thrift Stores from Experimental Theology

Miscellany

• Andrew Jones posted about a re-write of George MacDonald’s Lilith Redeemed – I noticed in the footnotes was a related post that was from a long while ago when Andrew stayed with me in Aberdeen!

• Obama’s Historic Visit to Cuba from Flickr Blog

• A great quote On Vision from mbjones

• I like this Colour Thesaurus via brett jordan

• A picture paints a thousand words – Attacks in Brussels from Big Picture

• This is troubling because of it’s truth – World Tragedy Map from mbjones

• My Brother-in-law released his album this week – check it out here-So Much More By Jake Mason from The Circuit Rider

• This Warka Water Tower looks like a fascinating solution to drink water via brett jordan

Productivity and Habits

• Apple invented a product recycler and named it after me (kind of) – take a look Inside Liam from Federico Viticci – MacStories

• A while ago I played with Instashare and Command-C, neither of which ended up being solutions that worked well enough to stick. DeskConnect Brings Fast File Transfers Between iOS and OS X may be a way forward via Federico Viticci – MacStories

• Day One Adds IFTTT Integration from Federico Viticci – MacStories which opens up lots of new possiblities for this journal keeper. Brandon Jones also lays out a simple overview of Day One 2 here

• Our friend has been learning Arabic for the last two year and begins a series on Language Learning Hacks from Change Writer

• Live Slowly;

As we sat there continuing our conversation, at times marked by quiet yet welcoming pauses, I started embracing the message she was trying to convey, about living life more slowly. There’s a peace in the mundane and the silence and the immediacy of the moment that brings about questions I never thought to ask myself, having always been caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern life. I stopped making time to take life more slowly, to see things more clearly, to spend time more casually. I stopped living at the cost of my happiness. Why do I always need to be going somewhere? Why do I always need to be doing something? Why is it that I never slow down every once in a while to enjoy my life?

• I’m always fascinated by productivity hacks, and Cal Newport: Focused Success in a Distracted World seems like the coming together of both focus from a productivity standpoint and presence as a theological standpoint from via Jesus Creed

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