Christians can’t be patriots, and certainly can’t be nationalists, because they always have a negotiated relationship with their state, country, and nation. They owe a higher allegiance to the Kingdom of God and the Lordship of Christ. This higher allegiance takes precedence over any other allegiance. Today, there are States, Countries, and Nations, which are…
The use of brass bands by the early Salvation Army became an iconic part of its identity and public image. It is commonly known that the use of brass bands slowly developed in the Army in response to its need to have sufficient volume of music to be able to draw attention and cut through…
We often feel pressure to know ourselves. We are told that one of the most important parts of our journey is discovering who we are, to find ourselves, to know our authentic self. I think this is by and large a waste of time. Instead of trying to find out our so-called authentic self, we…
The more we are aware of our own mistakes, sins, and failings, the more we are assured of our dependence on grace. As such, we learn not to judge others. The Desert Fathers For the first monks, those Christians who went to live in the deserts of North Africa during the 3rd to 6th centuries,…
What happens if we read the Exodus as a story of divine conflict? By reading the Exodus with an explicitly mythological lens, we can gain a new level of meaning. I’m going to briefly outline what that could look like. But it will only be an overview of a very complicated subject with lots of…
Flipping Tables is always a valid answer to what would Jesus do. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, following Jesus does not just mean binding the wounds of those who have suffered from injustice. Sometimes it means putting a spoke into the wheel that is grinding them down. After making his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus went to…
On Palm Sunday we are confronted by the revelation of King Jesus as he begins the revolution. An eternal revolution as the Kingdom of God takes form in the world. The mission of Jesus comes to a climax. The world holds its breath. The dark powers of the world are confronted, exposed and broken by…
The Salvation Army is known for its position on women’s equality in ministry. The Early Salvation Army’s Understanding of Masculinity was even more radical in its day. Equality? From the very beginning, women were given positions of authority and were appointed to be church leaders. They preached, taught, and evangelised just as any man, and…
The story of how The Salvation Army became conservative is a complicated one, but one which needs to be understood. It is the story of how one of the world’s biggest social service providers left behind its radical roots. Setting the Scene The Salvation Army began with a radical commitment to evangelising the people who…
The Bible as we know it today was not written by the original authors. The words are the same, subject to translation and transmission, but the way we read them is very different. When the Bible was written, it was not collected into one book. The individual books of the Bible did not have chapters…