The Threshold of Joy – Eric H Janzen
The Threshold of Joy
It was night, but they dared not sleep In the starlit darkness, they watched The wind caught the sound of their sheep Resting as though the world were at peace
These soul-weary shepherds all wondered Would the blind ever see once more? Would the deaf ear ever open? Would a broken body ever leap with joy? Would the mute ever sing a song?
We wait like shepherds for heralds Watching for bright angels in the dark Whose voices our despair destroy We stand in the threshold of joy
—eric h Janzen
In Matthew 11, John the Baptist sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the One. John is part of a long tradition of prophets who have carried the burden of waiting for the Messiah’s arrival. It has been so long, and so agonizing, that while hopeful, Jesus is the One, he can’t allow himself the joy of fully believing it lest his heart be broken. Jesus, a fellow prophet, does not answer straightforwardly, such as: “Yep, tell him I am indeed the One.” That’s not the way prophets talk to each other.Instead, Jesus gives John a far more profound confirmation: he sends the message that he is the long-awaited One because he is fulfilling prophecy. read more…
Chris Green’s “BEING TRANSFIGURED: Lenten Homilies” narrated by Boyd Barrett
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“Rime of the Ancyent Marinere” (Part 1-7) – Ron Dart
David Bentley Hart via Kenneth Tanner
Courage shielded her brother until the rescuers arrived.This is from David Hart’s moving argument for the gospel’s God, The Doors of the Sea (2005). Read it when you are ready for something beautiful to take hold of your heart forever. “In the New York Times this...
Mark Braverman with Bradley Jersak
Mark Braverman is a Jewish author, activist, and organizer for Palestinean rights in Israel. He is the executive director of Kairos USA. In this interview with Bradley Jersak, he discusses his journey as a young Zionist, through deconstruction, and through his...
Bradley Jersak’s “Out of the Embers” – Review by Ron Dart
Bradley Jersak, Out of the Embers: Faith After The Great Deconstruction (Whitaker House, 2022) Out of the Embers, like the perennial wise and far-seeing Phoenix, knows the...
Bill Morgan’s “Thomas Merton & Lawrence Ferlinghetti: and the Protection of All Beings – Review by Ron Dart
Bill Morgan, Thomas Merton & Lawrence Ferlinghetti: and the Protection of All Beings (Beatdom Books, 2022) As to the U.S. Beats I am more in sympathy with them but in most cases I do not respond to them fully. Thomas Merton letter to Stefan Baciu (1965): p.77 I...
Stray thoughts on Christian Nationalism – C.E.W. Green
CEW Green 1. Whatever else “Christian nationalism” is in theory, in practice, it turns out to be a way of talking about Jesus so that no one, including him, can keep us from doing the evils we think we need to do to save our way of life. So far as I can see, that...
The Mystic & the Lawyer – the Nature of Redemption – Lazar Puhalo
The Orthodox concept of redemption may be briefly epitomized as follows: the meaning of "atonement" is really "to remove (or overcome) the cause of separation." In other words, man is alienated from God by sin (by his constant "missing of the...
The World’s True Story Told Well – Kenneth Tanner
Icon: Copyright Oleksandr Antoniuk - UPB to KT When we tell the story of the world well, it is converting, not condemning. The world’s true story gives life.And we cannot tell the world’s story well—we cannot tell our story well—if we do not tell God’s story...
Deconstructing Deconstruction – Felicia Murrell (w/ Bradley Jersak)
Deconstructing Deconstruction – Felicia Murrell (w/Brad Jersak) Editor’s Note: The following interview is a partial transcript of one for four forthcoming podcast interviews on “deconstruction” at Stephen Backhouse’s Tent Theology Podcast. Bradley Jersak will be...