The myth of the Hydra is an awkward metaphor for the study of Scripture. Hercules discovered that every time he killed one head of the multi-headed monster, two more grew in its place. Similarly, every time we think we understand of a passage of Scripture, two more possibilities emerge. This is the case when Abraham goes to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

Scripture is all about God. But on the way to revealing who the God of the Universe is, Scripture messes with our preconceived notions and our knee-jerk reactions. In revealing God, the Bible, at times, reveals our biases about who God is supposed to be.

For the love of links is a compendium, a mash-up, a random conglom of interesting bits of internet goodness. Enjoy at your own risk.

We proclaim it every week. We proclaim to the world, to one another, and even to ourselves. Maggie Dawn, with some help from Kurt Vonnegut(?), reminds us why.

In case you thought it was simple, this CT piece highlights how complicated relationships in the Middle East really are. It also demonstrates the hope that comes from worshiping and serving one’s neighbor. — A Lebanese Worship Song Called for Peace. Again. And Again.

Ragan Satterfield and Nathan Foster talk about encountering God in God’s good creation. “I like words and birds.” — Eyes To See

A nod to the day when then-President Obama held a press conference in a tan suit. — With a wink, Obama’s tan suit is back

This is an old interview with Jason Jones, whose account of the loss of his son is moving and strangely encouraging. His answer to the interviewer’s final question is worth the wait. — A Father Wrestles with God after the Death of his Child

There are many odd symbols for the Christian faith. The Pelican is another. — The Pelican In Her Piety and Le Pelican: Serving in Afghanistan

If you don’t know Mychal Judge’s story, you’ll enjoy learning about the priest who served the NYFD on 911.

In Romans 6:1-11, the Apostle Paul makes a connection between our baptism and Christ’s death, reminding us of how Christ has drawn us into his very life.

Two arrows, one pointed down and one pointed up. Christ comes down, into our condition. Into our experience of sin, evil, and death. As the Creed says, “he descended to the dead” – in addition to whatever else it may mean, it certainly means that Jesus experienced whatever we do when we die. That’s the downward arrow — where we are “buried with him in baptism.” The upward arrow symbolizes a movement from being “united in a death like his” to being united in his resurrection.[1] In this double movement, he goes down into our experience so that he can take us up into his.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. - Romans 6:5

We enjoy his life because he experienced our death.

On one hand, let us remember that we are God’s children. We belong to him, but not as slaves, not merely servants, but his children. He loves us so much, and our attachment is so close that we call him “Abba.” (Papa) And this is exactly what God wants. Romans 8:14-17 says,

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

On the other hand, we can’t ignore his transcendence. It is true that God is not like us at all. He is creator and we are creature. He really is “wholly other.” Yet God comes close to us in Christ. Romans 11:33-36 says,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Our God is simultaneously “wholly other” and “closer than a brother.” It is in Christ that these two, the transcendent and intimate are held together. C.S. Lewis reminds his “imaginary” friend Malcolm how God will not be merely close without, at the same time, being far above all our imaginings.

I fully agree that the relationship between God and a man is more private and intimate than any possible relation between two fellow creatures. Yes, but at the same time there is, in another way, a greater distance between the participants. . . . We ought to be—sometimes I hope one is—simultaneously aware of closest proximity and infinite distance. You make things far too snug and confiding. Your erotic analogy need to be supplanted by “I tell at his feet as one dead.” (Malcolm compared prayer to making love to one’s wife.)

A few formal, ready-made, prayers serve me as a corrective of—well, let’s call it “cheek.” They keep one side of the paradox alive. Of course it is only one side. It would be better not to be reverent at all than to have a reverence which denied the proximity. (Letters to Malcolm, Chp. 2)

Jesus told his disciples to “go.” Their calling, their new vocation, was to proclaim that “the kingdom of God has come near.” And to make sure the point got across, Jesus empowered them to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, and cast out demons. Jesus’ word to his disciples is the same for us as it was for them.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. ~ Frederick Buechner

Unlike the characters of The Poisonwood Bible, we are not worried about producing results. We trust that God is going to work and that we get to participate in God’s work in the world. Faithfulness to the calling on our life does not come from a need to count converts, or a need to defend our right to do this work. Faithfulness to God’s call is bound up in Jesus incarnation in our world.

People assume that if God really wanted to change the world he would use raw power, he would send in the tanks, … send the bad guys packing. But I’ve come to read the Sermon on the Mount as God’s agenda for how the Kingdom comes, that when God wants to sort things out, he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the meek and the brokenhearted and the hungry for justice people, and by their very ordinary below-the-radar work, they actually demonstrate to the wider world what it looks like when God becomes King on earth as in heaven. ~ N.T. Wright

Our Tuesday night group is reading Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by C.S. Lewis. One of his lesser-known books, it is filled with reflections about the Christian’s ongoing dialogue with God.

He begins by “picking” on professional clergy and people responsible for changes in the prayer book and worship services in England in the early 60s. He comes off like a stick in the mud. He is the theological equivalent of the old man shouting, “hey, you kids, get off my lawn!!!” Yet, his complaint reveals something important.

They (your average church-goer) go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do these things best—if you like, it “works” best—when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.

It turns out, thinking about the service less may help us worship more. Rote prayers and repetition are not the enemy of true worship. Knowing the words of the prayers and the songs, not wondering what is coming next, may contribute to us being present to God in a way we wouldn’t if we were busy wondering how to do the next thing in the bulletin.

As it turns out, Christian worship is joining in a dance and not just “counting the steps.”

Developing a scriptural imagination involves hearing the echoes and resonances of Scripture from one part to the other. The Apostle Paul’s scriptural imagination allowed him to see that the faith he describes in Romans was the same kind of faith that Abraham had in following YHWH. In this sense, faith is a response to God’s action.

Likewise, the two daughters in Matthew 9 are healed because of the response of faith. In one case, it is the faith of the one healed; in the other, it is the faith of the father who asks Jesus to heal his daughter.

Submitted for your approval: For the Love of Links (a compendium of the good, the bad, and the edifying from the inter-webs.) Enjoy!

Lynn Cohick is a New Testament scholar, seminary professor, and university administrator. Her podcast explores subjects from the Bible, spirituality, and contemporary Christian life. It is excellent; check it out! Here series on I Corinthians is really, really good. — The Alabaster Jar

One of Warren Farha’s favorite poets, and a close friend, Scott Cairns. A little poem on certainty — Against Certainty

Ever incisive, Russel Moore names a phenomenon in our cultural discourse we’ve all seen. — A Different Kind of Darwinism is Winning

While he’s at it, here’s Moore’s regular column called “Office Hours,” where he randomly comments on an item in his office. It’s better than it sounds, a lot better. — Office Hours: Bonhoeffer, Johnny Cash, and the Pillar of Fire

What kind of question is that?! One some of us have probably asked. Couldn’t the Bible avoid some of the more odd, or even offensive, subjects it brings up? Brian Morykon from Renovarē tackles this in his weekly newsletter. — Couldn’t God Have Done Better with the Bible?

… chiefly on prayer. Our Tuesday book club/Bible study is reading C.S. Lewis’s book, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly About Prayer. In the book, Lewis interacts with his “imaginary friend,” Malcolm, around subjects of prayer, worship, and God’s providence. It is clever and deep. Join us starting this Tuesday at 6:30!

Here is a recording of “C.S. Lewis” reading the first two chapters. (I am almost certain it is not actually him, but maybe a slightly Americanized A.I. version?)

You’ve heard it said, “one part of the Bible sings to the other.” A more academic description of this is “intertextuality.” This little website has numerous passages of Scripture laid alongside others, so one can see the way these texts “sing” back and forth. — Intertextual.Bible

Ben Sasse has terminal cancer. He’s done a few interviews, and in each of them he demonstrates his trust in God’s faithfulness. He has words of wisdom for those of us with less knowledge about how much time we have left. — Ben Sasse, on Uncommon Knowledge

Nathan does a tremendous job describing not just the doctrine of the Trinity, as heady as that can be, but highlighting how essential knowing God as Father, Son, and Spirit is for our life of prayer. How do you say God’s name? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

“The work of theology is to say God’s name rightly.” ~ Stanley Hauerwas

These are a few modern renditions of Rublev’s famous “The Visitation of Abraham” or Old Testament Trinity.

For the love of links is a collection of sometimes sublime and sometimes profane bits of internet goodness. Dig in!

It’s hard to beat any advice we get from Mr. Rogers. This little post reminds us how God works simply, through the important people in our lives. All with assistance from Taylor Mertins and Malcolm Guite! — Who Loved You Into Being?

Scott Cairns is a poet. I highly recommend his book, Endless Life: The Poems of the Mystics. In it, he takes some sayings of the desert fathers and mothers and translates them into poetic lines. Like all of his poetry, it is beautiful.

He was a dear friend of 8th Day’s Warren Farha. Here he reflects on Warren’s life and funeral.

Here’s another artful tribute to everyone’s best friend. — Memory Eternal, And Forever A Blessing

The first American Pope has released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. In it, he addresses the important calling on Christians to guard the image of God found in every human person. He warns against that technology and science are to serve people, not the other way around. It reminds one of Thomas Merton’s quote, “Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God.” — Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV.

Russel Moore’s take on MH — All Christians Should Listen to Pope Leo on AI

Kenneth Tanner is a gifted writer, a blessing to all who take the time to read him.

I can’t tell if this is a short story or sermon. Either way, I think the Gospel is proclaimed, even with the phrase, “warthog from hell!” — Flannery O’Conner’s “Revelation”