Video: Withnail & I & Willard on What is man: Between the dust heap and the heavens

This video clip is from the end of the film Withnail & I and is a quotation from Hamlet. What are we as humans? Psalm 8:3-6.

Dallas Willard puts it this way 'The poets as well as the writers of Scripture were vividly aware of the contrast. Humankind aspires to beauty and power, to purity and dignity, to knowledge and endless love. And yet we are wantering heaps of protoplasm - bits of "portable plumbing" as the poet Stephen Spender says. The sober truth is that we are made of dust, even if we do aspire to the heavens. And though the glow of youth will conceal that truth for a time, all of us will, if time allows, realize as the poet Yeats did in 'Sailing to Byzantium' that 'an aged man is but a platry thing, a tatterred coat upon a stick'. Clay, dust, powder - yes. But then there is the other side. What a spledor to it! Shakespeare makes Hamlet exclaim 'What a piece of work is a man! How infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals' but for all this Hamlet still concludes 'And yet, to me what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me.' Yet as creatures go we are different. We are made for highter things. Our aspirations hint of such a truth.

The Spirit of the Disciplines p. 46

We were made in the image of God. Genesis 1:26-27

Video: Sons & Daughters - Watch studio recordings of new album

My favourite songs of their's are All the Poor & Powerless and Your Glory. You can watch all 6 of the videos here. Or watch them right here in the post below. You can also download four of the live tracks from the sessions by going here. You can hear the original version of All the Poor & Powerless here and the original of Your Glory here. Your Glory is an amazing worship song that seems to help sense the beauty of Jesus.




1. All the Poor & Powerless


2. Your Glory


3. Alive


4. Let it Shine


5. Brokenness Aside


6. I am set free

Bible Teaching Mp3s: Biblical Theology -The Story of God

The Story of God - Soma Communities
For thousands of years, stories and oral traditions were the key means for Jewish and Christian people to learn about and experience God. Soma Communities interacts with the biblical narrative through stories as one of our primary ways of teaching and engaging the Word.

Beautiful: Beauty makes me long for You God

Walking through the park this evening and just had to stop to take in the beauty of the evening. The sky was pale blue fading gently into yellow glow as it neared the horizon. As i walked past the trees their trunks rose up out of the grass like shadows their dark branches reaching up and then shadow gave birth to life in dark green leaves set alight into spring green by the low orange sun shining like sunlight on the water appearing and then disappearing as i walked past the trees.

And You made this all Father. Why is this beautiful? How much more beautiful must You be? Are You actively creating beauty right now? Or have You created it this way, a canvas that paints itself. And this all holds together in You Jesus, all things were created through You and all this beauty holds together in You.

I stood in the middle of the park where it clears looking up at the clouds and just in awe of the beauty and yet also unable to enter into it fully, that familiar longing created by beauty, as if somehow there must be something more to it. I see in Your creation Father Your reflected glory, but it makes me long to commune with You directly. My souls longs for You God, it cries out for You directly. Psalm 42:2. To see You face to face. And I will. Revelation 22:4.

Video: Rob Bell discusses Hell & eternity with Adrian Warnock

You can watch the video here.

Reference Books Recommendations: A starter library for understanding God's word

I've put together a list of basic reference books for understanding God's word. A kind of starter library for reference. The aim is that you'd be able to pick up any book of the bible and get the basic answers to your questions. E.g. Where is the place, when was the book written, what else does the bible say on the topic of e.g. the kingdom of God, etc.

1. NIV Study Bible
Just brilliant. It's got all the basic charts, maps and dates you need as well as basic comments on each verse of the bible. I can't recommend this highly enough. I also have the ESV Study bible but if I had to choose I'd go with this one.

2. Essential IVP reference Collection 3.0 (Electronic edition - Logos) 
This computer based set is great. You get 17 books for this price. The main reason to get it is the 4 new testament dictionaries it comes with. They look at almost any new testament topic and look at it in each the gospels, then Paul's letters and finally the remaining letters of the NT. These are fantastic! It's also got a one edition bible commentary as well as interesting dictionaries. It includes an atlas. 
You can buy it from CBD for $120 delivered worldwide.

3. The Bible Speaks Today - Complete NT (Electronic Edition - Logos)
This set is edited by John Stott and he actually wrote many of the NT ones most notably Ephesians, Galatians, Thessalonians, Acts and Romans. The series is fantastic. It's got enough of the historical and cultural background stuff to know what it meant to the original heares, it's also great on theology and then gives some very helpful application. But above all they're written by men who really love God. I've found them very helpful in preparing sermons. 
You can get the complete NT set from CBD for $75 delivered worldwide.

4. Tyndale Complete Old & New Testament Commentaries (Electronic Edition - Logos)
These commentaries are relatively short but cover all the books of the bible. They are often recommended (especially the OT books). But for this price you get commentary on every book of the bible. 
You can get the complete OT & NT set from CBD for $160.

Video: Life in a Missional Community (Soma) - Radically rethinking small groups & church

Here's a video from Soma Communities church in the US on what life in a Missional Community is like.

I've been really challenged by their teachings on being in community on mission together. In terms of size the missional community is a 'small group' but what's different is that each missional community has as their raison d'etre, being on mission to a group of people e.g. soccer moms, parents of children from a local school, and so on. The group exists for mission, not simply to study the bible, or to grow, although those things will happen as the group is on mission together. If you'd like to know more you can check out their Soma Fast Track teachings website here. It's four sessions giving the basics of what Soma believes.


Soma Communities - Tacoma, WA from Verge Network on Vimeo.