At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus; and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist, he has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, for the sake of Hero′di-as, his brother Philip’s wife; because John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Hero′di-as danced before the company, and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it; and they went and told Jesus.

–Matthew 14:1-12

It's Cauldron Falls in #Bishopdale for #WaterfallWednesday 💚 This pretty waterfall can soon become a torrent after rain! It was one of the spots painted by Turner on his travels in the #YorkshireDales in 1816.

📸 @ChrisMBurgess pic.twitter.com/n1VTwG085c

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) June 5, 2024

I, too, had dismissed No Country as another affected, self-consciously “cinematic” Coen brothers’ dead end, but Holloway’s careful reading converted me. The mistake is to see No Country as being about the bad guy. Instead, it’s about a traditional Hollywood good guy, the local sheriff, Bell (Tommy Lee Jones): “a kind of traditionalist conservative, … a lifetime lawman, a proud member of a line of lawmen.” But when this old-fashioned guy is confronted with radical evil in the person of Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who possesses not “an inordinate attachment to some real good” but a sadistic need to show everyone who crosses his path the utter worthlessness of their existence, Bell is lost.

Why? The lawman is unable to contend with Chigurh’s perverse brand of lawbreaking because he fears God has abandoned him and that “he may somehow be drawn into this evil.” In the end, Bell “quits” the fight because a “low estimate of himself arises from a vain aspiration to self-sufficiency.” When you believe you’re in a fight against the odds all by yourself, that you’ve lost God as your backup, what else is there to do but turn tail and run? (Contrast this with Franz Jäggerstätter’s exemplary fortitude, ably explicated in Thomistic turns by Jennifer Frey in her essay on A Hidden Life, a more-or-less true-life story of an Austrian farmer’s steadfast resistance to pledging allegiance to Adolf Hitler.)

As I hope I’ve conveyed, Film and Faith is smart but never obtuse, entertaining but never frivolous, and thorough but never overstuffed. It will leave the reader, religious or not, with an enhanced critical vocabulary, better able to espy the spiritual depths even of those films that on first viewing appear to be thoroughly secular.

Hollywood's shift from classic religious portrayals to exploring deeper, sometimes critical themes of faith reflects a changing societal engagement with spirituality in cinema.

On the harrowing of Hollywood with @amsacramonehttps://t.co/llwRGVIEb5

— Law & Liberty (@LawLiberty) May 31, 2024

The bishop is married to Rachel, an Occupational Therapist, and they have four adult children. He was born in Bolton and is a passionate supporter of Bolton Wanderers football team, as well as being a beekeeper, keen cake baker and fan of live comedy.

He said: “I have long-standing connections with Devon – we used to holiday in North Devon every year as a child, I courted my future wife in Exeter when she was a student at St Loyes College, and I discerned a vocation to the ordained ministry while worshipping at Exeter Cathedral and a local church.”

“As Bishop for the whole of Devon, I am looking forward to providing oversight, pastoral care, prayer, fellowship, and partnership in the gospel across the whole breadth of the diocese. We are a broad church with a diversity of traditions and views, and I am committed to working together and being united in our shared mission to grow in prayer, make new disciples and serve the people of Devon with joy.”

Read it all.

"I’m looking forward to working with Devon’s amazing churches and their communities to share the gospel message of hope, joy and wonder…"

Dr Mike Harrison is to be the new Bishop of Exeter in @CofEDevon.

Read more at https://t.co/puu66J3gh8.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) June 4, 2024

The American worker is making peace with a longer ride.

Big shifts in the way people live and work are making commutes of over an hour into the office more common—and even more palatable. Rising housing costs have prompted many to move farther away from city centers, while the staying power of hybrid work means they don’t have to drive into work every day. 

The share of super commutes—those 75 miles or longer—have grown the most and are up by nearly a third since 2020, according to new research from Stanford University. 

Craig Allender’s family of four felt they had outgrown their three-bedroom home in Novato, Calif., and wanted to upgrade. They found a five-bedroom one 30 miles north in Sonoma County where lower housing costs put a 3,000-square-foot house in reach. 

America’s Commute to Work Is Getting Longer & Longer: "The share of super commutes—those 75 miles or longer—have grown the most & are up by nearly a third since 2020, according to new research from Stanford University" https://t.co/dfQsXWei1x

— Jim Russell (@ProducerCities) June 4, 2024

Lord of all truth and peace, who didst raise up thy bishop John to be servant of the servants of God and bestowed on him wisdom to call for the work of renewing your Church: Grant that, following his example, we may reach out to other Christians to clasp them with the love of your Son, and labor throughout the nations of the world to kindle a desire for justice and peace; through Jesus Christ, who is alive and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Pope Saint John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in a stone farm house on November 25, 1881 in Sotto il Monte, a small country village 40 miles from Milan. His father was a sharecropper who had saved enough money to buy a plot of his own. https://t.co/GT5WMEW6V6 pic.twitter.com/hauvrILoO7

— Trivia Encyclopedia (@edpearce080759) November 25, 2019

O God, the God of all goodness and of all grace, who art worthy of a greater love than we can either give or understand: Fill our hearts, we beseech thee, with such love toward thee that nothing may seem too hard for us to do or to suffer, in obedience to thy will; and grant that thus loving thee, we may become daily more like unto thee, and finally obtain the crown of life which thou hast promised to those that love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ealdwulf, archbishop of York from 995, died #OTD in 1002. Wulfstan II succeeded him. ©Paul Lakin pic.twitter.com/rA7DEurujh

— North Ages (@NorthAges) June 4, 2024

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up by revelation; and I laid before them (but privately before those who were of repute) the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, lest somehow I should be running or had run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false brethren secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage— to them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who were reputed to be something (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who were of repute added nothing to me; but on the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for the mission to the circumcised worked through me also for the Gentiles), and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised; only they would have us remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do.

–Galatians 2:1-10

Summer sunrise over @Bamburgh_Castle…#Northumberland #photography pic.twitter.com/4aZxJWHA2b

— Jim Scott (@jimscottphoto) June 4, 2024

The status of the clergy as office-holders “must not be used to place increasing demands and expectations on clergy without offering reciprocal support structures and accountability of those making the demands”, the chair of Church of England Clergy and Employee Advocates (CEECA) has said.

The Revd Sam Maginnis, who chairs CEECA, part of Unite the Union’s Faithworkers’ Branch, is the Team Vicar of Horsham. He was responding to a letter in today’s Church Times requesting a discussion about “whether parish priests really are ‘office-holders’ with less job security than most secular workers, or whether it is a convenient management fiction”.

The letter, from a parish priest who requested anonymity, lists working conditions for the clergy, including: working “on average longer hours than most employees”; being “canonically obliged to remain within certain forms of wording in carrying out certain duties”; and being “compulsorily subject to both a draconian disciplinary system and a system of particular action outside that system without any appeal or redress rights”.

The status of the clergy as office-holders “must not be used to place increasing demands and expectations on clergy without offering reciprocal support structures and accountability of those making the demands”, the chair of CEECA has said https://t.co/Zh6JBVTnv1

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 3, 2024

Never has it been so cheap to inflict a world of economic pain.

That stark point was underscored last week by Maximilian Hess, a principal at London-based Enmetena Advisory, a political risk consultancy. Speaking to a webinar of supply-chain managers, he showed a slide of a canoe-size naval drone and said such jury-rigged weapons have the ability to redirect world trade.

“Nowhere is this more clear than in the conflict in the Red Sea,” Hess said, referring to attacks launched from Yemen toward commercial ships trying to use the Suez Canal.

Nearly six months into the Houthis’ relentless campaign to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, the economic fallout is widening. As ships sail around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, their unpredictable schedules are clogging major Asian ports, creating shortages of empty containers in some places and pileups in others. Delivery times to the US and Europe are getting longer, and freight rates are surging.

🌎 Ships Diverted From Red Sea Send Ripple Effects Across the Globe – Bloomberghttps://t.co/1A8HVOJVKX pic.twitter.com/6fFCf9asLJ

— Christophe Barraud🛢🐳 (@C_Barraud) June 3, 2024

Coastal areas up and down the East Coast are sinking at the same time sea levels are rising. Parts of Beaufort, Colleton and Charleston counties sank more than 2 inches since 2007, and some areas on St. Helena Island sank more than 3 inches, The Post and Courier previously reported.

Sinking land — a problem also called subsidence and settlement — can make flooding worse, cause septic tanks to fail, damage underground infrastructure, and cause buildings and bridges to crack.

So can we slow it down? Here’s what we found out.

Parts of South Carolina are sinking, and quickly. Can we slow it down? https://t.co/xVQX3VRcFk

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) June 3, 2024

Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Dr Stephen Kaziimba invited Ndukuba as the guest preacher at the Anglican site as the Church marks the 2024 Martyrs Day.

He thanked God for the 45 Uganda Martyrs from both Anglicans and Catholics and the opportunity for the Church of Nigeria to take part in this year’s Martyrs Day celebrations. He asked Christians to emulate the martyrs because they did not forsake their faith.

“The Church in Uganda is because of God’s holy word and also on the sacrifices of those who were killed for their faith in God. I have been shocked by the many people who have travelled long distances to come here and worship God. The reward for sin is death, but the strength of God is seen in righteousness,” he said.

He equated the Uganda Martyrs to the Biblical believers Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3:8–30 who chose to be thrown in the Lake of Fire rather than denounce God.

Nigeria archbishop celebrates Uganda Martyrs, decries persecution of Christians

DETAILS: https://t.co/S3POimeVkU #VisionUpdates pic.twitter.com/XgdjLjQoPQ

— The New Vision (@newvisionwire) June 3, 2024

O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: Grant that we who remember before thee the blessed martyrs of Uganda, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they gave obedience even unto death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Happy Martyrs’ day.

The Uganda Law Society joins the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s Martyrs' Day.

‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ ~Mathew 5:10. pic.twitter.com/BIRAPizLHZ

— Uganda Law Society (@ug_lawsociety) June 3, 2024

O God, the protector of all those who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy, that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Wishing you a happy new week from Stokesley, North Yorkshire 😊 pic.twitter.com/Z2VW35bQcV

— Nicky (@Nicky13Johnson) June 3, 2024

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what he has already done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that one fate comes to all of them. Then I said to myself, “What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity.

–Ecclesiastes 2: 22-25

New week, new possibilities. pic.twitter.com/Z2ZbidkaOb

— 🌳Tree-lined🌳lanes🌳 (@LanesTree) June 3, 2024

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

I hope you can FEEL the sunshine oozing out of your screen right now! I'm sad that May has zoomed past already in a blur of hawthorn blossom and cow parsley, but now June is swaying in with her arms full of foxgloves and poppies and I know she'll be a beauty. #peakdistrict pic.twitter.com/Ttpt0GjfBv

— peaklass (@peaklass1) June 2, 2024

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

–John 4:19-26

Stunning shot of a mature supercell thunderstorm, illuminated at varying heights from the setting sun in West Texas

[📷 Laura Rowe] pic.twitter.com/Ug5RdUe44R

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 2, 2024

Almighty and everlasting God, who didst find thy martyr Justin wandering from teacher to teacher, seeking the true God, and didst reveal to him the sublime wisdom of thine eternal Word: Grant that all who seek thee, or a deeper knowledge of thee, may find and be found by thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England celebrates Justin, Martyr at Rome, c.165

Image: Justin depicted in a clerestory window in Great St Mary's Church, Cambridge. Photo: Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via flickr pic.twitter.com/BP2BVcKJGv

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) June 1, 2024

O God, who hast made thyself known to us as Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, in order that we may be informed of thy love and thy majesty: Mercifully grant that we may not be terrified by what thou hast revealed of thy majesty, nor tempted to trespass upon thy mercy by what we know of thy love for us; but that by the power of thy Spirit we may be forever drawn to thee in true adoration and worship; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end.

Happy Trinity Sunday! pic.twitter.com/Gepm8HeQf9

— Ascension (@AscensionPress) May 26, 2024

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

To the end that [my] glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

–Psalm 30:11-12 (KJV)

The Saturday Fireworks at Navy Pier started early today. This morning's sunrise in Chicago. #weather #chicago #news #ilwx pic.twitter.com/JrL2XRqa3z

— Barry Butler Photography (@barrybutler9) June 1, 2024

[Henry] Sacheverell’s analysis was clear: the Church had taken into its bosom, or — worse — given positions of power to, people who were totally inimical to the worship, doctrine, and position of the Church of England itself. It had got into bed with a governing class that, in fact, hated it and sought its destruction. A misplaced attempt to broaden the Church’s appeal meant giving place and precedence to those who in their practice were antithetical to how the Church had always acted.

They were now calling the shots, and were dismantling from the inside all that had, “in living memory” — a reference to the horrors of the Civil War — been fought for so painfully. She had taken “into her bowels” those who “neither believe her faith, own her mission, submit to her discipline, or comply with her liturgy”. As he put it, “if the Church can’t be pulled down, it may be blown up.”

What Sacheverell found particularly repugnant was the dishonesty of those who sought to do this. While there was a certain grim integrity to Roman Catholic or Presbyterian attempts to do down the Church of England, Sacheverell viewed the “religious Trojan Horse” that he discerned at the heart of early-18th-century Anglicanism as wicked first and foremost because of its dishonesty: “What they could not do by open violence, they will not fail by secret treachery to accomplish.” Nobody could accuse him of not being plain-speaking, and it was the verbal dissembling of the powers that were which so riled him.

I wrote a piece about the most important celebrity Vicar you’ve never heard of, who died 300 years ago this week. https://t.co/diESz7aRS2

— Fergus Butler-Gallie (@_F_B_G_) May 31, 2024

For more than a year, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray has warned about a wave of election interference that could make 2016 look cute. No respectable foreign adversary needs an army of human trolls in 2024. AI can belch out literally billions of pieces of realistic-looking and sounding misinformation about when, where and how to vote. It can just as easily customize political propaganda for any individual target. In 2016, Brad Parscale, Donald Trump’s digital campaign director, spent endless hours customizing tiny thumbnail campaign ads for groups of 20 to 50 people on Facebook. It was miserable work but an incredibly effective way to make people feel seen by a campaign. In 2024, Brad Parscale is software, available to any chaos agent for pennies. There are more legal restrictions on ads, but AI can create fake social profiles and aim squarely for your individual feed. Deepfakes of candidates have been here for months, and the AI companies keep releasing tools that make all of this material faster and more convincing.

Almost 80 percent of Americans think some form of AI abuse is likely to affect the outcome of November’s presidential election. Wray has staffed each of the FBI’s 56 field offices with at least two election-crime coordinators. He has urged people to be more discerning with their media sources. In public, he’s the face of chill. “Americans can and should have confidence in our election system,” he said at the International Conference on Cyber Security in January. Privately, an elected official familiar with Wray’s thinking told me the director is in a middle manager’s paradox: loads of responsibility, limited authority. “[Wray] keeps highlighting the issue, but he won’t play politics, and he doesn’t make policy,” that official said. “The FBI enforces laws. The director is like, ‘Please ask Congress where the laws are.’”

Gift Article
Why this year’s election interference could make 2016 look cute
The first big AI crisis isn’t some hypothetical far off in the future. It’s coming on Election Day.
Opinion By Josh @Tyrangiel
May 30, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. EDT https://t.co/tVtkR6qJMe

— K_Conner (@kvconner) May 30, 2024

Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, Poppy Allonby spent more than twenty years at Blackrock, predominately in equity investment roles and latterly as Managing Director, Head of Global Product Group, EMEA & APAC. Between 2014 and 2022, she was on the Church Commissioners’ Board of Trustees and a member of its Assets Committee.

“I am delighted and honoured to join the Church Commissioners as its CIO, an organisation globally recognised as a leader in sustainable investment,” said Poppy Allonby. “My focus will be on delivering strong, consistent returns to meet the Commissioners’ core purpose, which is to support the mission and ministry of the Church of England – and to do so in an ethical, sustainable way.”

The Church Commissioners has provided the Church with over £3.5bn in funding since 2009, with £1.2bn to be distributed during the current 2023-2025 triennium – a 30% increase on the previous triennium, thanks in large part to the excellent investment returns generated by the Commissioners’ Investment team. The fund has delivered 14 years of positive returns, while building a reputation as a global leader in responsible investment.

Exciting news @ccsforengland! Poppy Allonby is their new #endowment CIO. Poppy brings +21 years of expertise to the #CIO role. @Matttoledo1 @ChiefInvOfficerhttps://t.co/XCcQDVITtG#alts #privatemarkets #energytransition #duediligence #compliance #ESG #Vidriofinancial

— Vidrio Financial (@VidrioFinancial) May 31, 2024

Twenty-two percent of Americans describe current U.S. economic conditions as “excellent” or “good,” down slightly from the prior month, marking the lowest figure recorded since December’s 22%.

Since early 2022, Americans have consistently been most likely to describe the economy’s current conditions as “poor.” The latest measure finds 46% of Americans viewing the economy this way, only slightly higher than the April reading but the highest since November.

The net effect of these changes is that the index’s current conditions component dipped to -24 from -20 in April and is the lowest score for this component since November (-31).

GALLUP POLL: Right now, do you think that economic conditions in the country are getting better or getting worse?

May 2024
Getting better: 26% [-7]
Getting worse: 70% [+7]

October 2020
Getting better: 42%
Getting worse: 53%

[+/- change vs March]
—
% who described the… pic.twitter.com/q8YoBY1L9C

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) May 31, 2024

Father in heaven, by whose grace the virgin mother of thine incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping thy word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to thy will; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England celebrates the Visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth

After the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary (the Annunciation), she herself visited her elder cousin, Elizabeth, who was already expecting a child, a boy later known as John the Baptist pic.twitter.com/ZwdwzUFmhw

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 31, 2024

O Lord God Almighty, eternal, immortal, invisible, the mysteries of whose being are unsearchable: Accept, we beseech thee, our praises for the revelation which thou hast made of thyself, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three persons, and one God; and mercifully grant that ever holding fast this faith we may magnify thy glorious name; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end.

Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was, and who is to come. (Revelation 1:8)
Alleluia, Alleluia
On this Solemnity of the #MostHolyTrinity, we give thanks and praise to God’s salvific design. #TrinitySunday pic.twitter.com/3srqVAHG8J

— Diocese of Camden (@camdendiocese) May 26, 2024

Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was beset as in a besieged city.
I had said in my alarm,
“I am driven far from thy sight.”
But thou didst hear my supplications,
when I cried to thee for help.

–Psalm 31:21-22

First light at Tewkesbury Abbey this morning.. pic.twitter.com/qGlJzKUfyC

— Andy Marshall 📸 (@fotofacade) May 31, 2024

Most bishops and safeguarding professionals in the C of E oppose the outsourcing of church safeguarding work to an independent body, according to the results of a survey commissioned this spring.

The Church Times has obtained the unpublished results of a survey on the future of church safeguarding, which was commissioned in March (News, 25 March). The findings from the survey are due to form part of a paper which will be debated at General Synod in July.

The 2003 responses show that — while there is strong support for the creation of a body that would provide independent scrutiny of safeguarding — Professor Alexis Jay’s chief recommendation, outlined in her report (News, 21 February), that day-to-day safeguarding work should be completely handed over to another independent body, has not found widespread support.

Read it all.

Most bishops and safeguarding professionals in the C of E oppose the outsourcing of church safeguarding work to an independent body, according to the results of a survey commissioned this spring
https://t.co/16xJN366rj

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) May 30, 2024

What if most of the stories in the Bible are designed to primarily evoke a worship encounter with God rather than a self-improvement task list? We would do well, particularly those of us in production-based cultures, to be suspicious of our relentless need to improve and grow. If we’re reading the text with our minds always thinking we have something to work on, we may be missing the heart of God. Maybe God is less concerned with our improvement and more concerned with our worship.

The text clearly shows we can stay in the boat, watch our friend almost drown, and still end up worshiping Jesus. Now there is a sermon waiting to be preached! “Friends, this week, I don’t recommend stepping out in faith. I recommend staying in the boat and watching your friend take steps. You’ll end up worshiping Jesus either way!”

Thinking about God inspires risk-taking for believers. “Those who believe God will protect them from negative consequences feel more confident in pursuing potentially dangerous or uncertain activities because of a perceived safety net.” https://t.co/txVid49FsT

— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) December 17, 2023