Mount Vigil

The Church is the Bride of Christ, and that, more than any other dimension of Church life, is an eschatalogical reality. It is a fact that anchors the purpose of the Church in the bodily return of Jesus and the final union of Heaven and Earth. In this episode, Blaine and Anthony discuss Bridal Theology, sexual ethics, covenant, and the culmination of God’s design for His free creatures.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

“If the Church is really supposed to be yours, you’ll have to make that much more obvious than it is at present.”
Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict XVI, paraphrasing the temptations of Christ

The Church is a vital step in the Story of God. It hearkens back to Eden; it picks up the role of Israel. It is military, and it is political. It recalls themes from King David’s time. It prophesies the Return of Jesus. In this episode, Blaine and Anthony begin a conversation on God’s people, discussing in particular the many names given to the followers of Jesus, names that weave together themes from the story so far.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

In this episode, Anthony and Blaine discuss the Ascension and Pentecost, linking those events as two sides of the same coin in the story of God. In the Ascension, Jesus has anchored our humanity in the heavens. At Pentecost, the Sermon on the Mount and the Old Testament promises of covenant renewal have been fulfilled. Also in this episode: ancient representations of the creator God, dating Biblical events, Jewish calendars, the unfulfilled Sermon on the Mount, and events from the Second Jewish Roman War.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Mentioned in this Episode

• The Gebel El-Arak Knife
• The Wars of the Jews by Josephus
• The Apostle’s Creed by Ben Meyer
• Dating Jesus’s Birthday
• Karl Barth quote from Church Dogmatics in Outline (PDF)
• An Ascension liturgy from Anthony (PDF)

In this episode, Anthony and Blaine discuss suffering, surrender, and incarnate spirituality as Jesus’s solution to the World and the Flesh. This is the third installment in a three-part series on Jesus as the crescendo of the Story of God.

Also in this conversation: dying to become human, the devil’s counterfeit power, the spiritual life lived in the body, and eros and agape fusing together in the form of the human being.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Mentioned in this Episode

• The New Testament translated by David Bentley Hart
• Simply JesusHow God Became King by Tom Wright
• The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
• On the Incarnation by Athanasius
• Becoming Human by Fr. John Behr
• Love that Satisfies by Christopher West
• The Religion of the Apostles by Fr. Stephen DeYoung
• Invitation to a Journey by Rober Mulholland

In this episode, Blaine and Anthony continue their conversation on the work of Jesus: How, exactly, does Jesus deal with the problem of spiritual oppression? Why does it matter that Jesus reigns supreme over the council? Where is the gate of hades, and what would it mean for Jesus to build a church there? The life and work of Jesus specifically overthrows the spiritual powers of this world. Join the Mount Vigil team for a conversation on the faithfulness of Jesus, the recapitulation of the story of Israel, and more.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Mentioned in this Episode

• Jonathan Pageau’s depiction of everything
• The Origins of Evil Spirits by Archie Wright
• Eden The Bible Project
• Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes – Kenneth Bailey
• Arise Oh God – Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
• Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI

In this episode, Blaine and Anthony continue their series on the Story of God by arriving, at last, at Jesus. In particular, this show addresses the way in which Jesus deals with sin and death so that the story of Israel, with its law and sacrificial system to manage sin and its prophetic promises to manage death, is brought to its climax.

This show is the first installment in a  3-part conversation on the work of Jesus.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Mentioned in this Episode

• How God Became King and Matthew For Everyone by NT Wright
• The Mediation of Christ by Thomas Torrence
• Pilate the Priest Peter Leithart
• The Book of Akathists
• Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
• Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist by Brant Pitre

Why did God choose to create the nation of Israel? How was God’s decision to create a people where there was no people part of his plan to deal with sin, death, and spiritual oppression? How does the story of YHWH and Israel prepare humanity for the ultimate revelation of Jesus the Anointed? These are the questions we go after in this next installment in our Story of God series.

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Mentioned in this Episode

• The Prophetic Imagination – Walter Brueggemann
• The Mediation of Christ – Thomas Torrance
• The Seer in Ancient Greece – Michael Flower
• That the World May Know – The ministry of Ray Vander Laan
• What is Atonement – The Bible Project
• The Dead Sea Scrolls Psalms

In this special episode, Blaine and Anthony discuss self-examination. Self-examination, or Examen, is a practice that followers of Jesus have used for centuries to see their lives as God sees them, and, therefore, as they really are.

The 5 steps of Examen

1. Center yourself
   Place yourself in God’s presence. Give thanks for the gift of this day and the gift of God’s love for you.
2. Ask for light
   Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life. Ask for the ability to hear clearly and for covering from warfare.
3. Review the day
   Let the Holy Spirit guide you as you carefully review the day just completed. Pay attention to specific moments and your feelings at the time.
4. Reflect, express gratitude, and confess
   For those moments the Spirit highlights, reflect on what you did, said, thought. Were you drawing closer to God or further from him? What is the Spirit saying about these moments? Pay attention to moments of beauty; thank God for his provision.
5. Look forward to the new day and seek out spiritual friendship
   What is the Spirit prompting you to ask for in the day to come? What is he calling you to do? Who can you seek out to discuss the themes and questions the Spirit is raising?

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Mentioned in this Episode

• Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton
• Stories of the Saints by Carey Wallace
• Building Your Permaculture Property by Rob Avis

In this episode we continue our Story of God series by talking about the Fall, or more accurately the Falls. We explore the origins of evil in the world, including the first human sin, the role of depraved spiritual powers, and the descent into darkness that forms the backdrop for Jesus’ salvation project.

Some of what we cover:

• How the “Fall” is better described as the “Falls”
• We take a survey of the three big problems: Sin, Death, and Spiritual Rebellion
• We look at the three big sources of corruption that shape our lives: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
• We end by talking about some of the provision Jesus has made for us given the above

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Mentioned in this Episode

• Renovating the Heart by Dallas Willard
• I Am a Strange Loop
• Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Thomas Cole
• Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body
• Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament
• Confronting Old Testament Controversies by Tremper Longmen III
• Religion of the Apostles by Fr. Stephen De Young
• The Origin of Evil Spirits: The Reception of Genesis 6:1-4 in Early Jewish Literature by Archie T. Wright
• Noah movie
• Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
• Renovated: God, Dallas Willard, and the Church That Transforms by Jim Wilder
• The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil by C. S. Lewis
• Back to Virtue: Traditional Moral Wisdom for Modern Moral Confusion by Peter Kreeft
• The Bible Project’s Bad Words Series
• The New Testament: A Translation by David Bentley Hart
• Unhurrying with A Rule of Life: Developing a Rule of Life – John Mark Comer

In this episode we pick up where we left off in telling the Story of God. We ask the big questions like: What is the meaning of life? Why did God create is? What are we here for?

Some of the things we cover in this episode:

• How babies are like rainbow trout
• How regenerative agriculture reflects God’s design for people
• Edens within Edens
• The trees at both ends of the scriptures
• Why people are idols
• Fractal geometry

Where to Connect
Mount Vigil has come to an end but you can still connect with Anthony and Blaine at their respective blogs:

• Anthony - Sun Tongue
• Blaine - The Paradise King

Additional Notes

• Practical Permaculture by Jessi Bloom
• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
• The Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis (PDF)
• Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament
• Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power by Andy Crouch
• Fractals: The Colors of Infinity  Documentary about the work of Benoit Mandelbrot