We preach Christ crucified!

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach[b] to save those who believe. 

22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,[c] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 

27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being[d] might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him[e] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The grace of God!

Thank you Jesus for your grace and mercy on us!

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,

Titus 2:11-12

Who Were the Inklings besides C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien?

There’s been a certain amount of confusion about what defined an Inkling. To clarify, the Inklings were a group of British writers/scholars who met on Thursday evenings to read their work at Lewis’ rooms at Magdalen College, Oxford. 

The Inklings also had less formal Tuesday morning meetings, usually at Oxford pub The Eagle and Child (or as they called it, “The Bird and the Baby”). Lewis started the Inklings in the early 1930s, taking the name from a disbanded Oxford group. Most of the Inklings were Oxford scholars (some, like Hugo Dyson, taught at other institutions, then moved to Oxford). The Inklings stopped meeting in 1949, apparently due to lost momentum. Some members continued meeting in other contexts.

Humphrey Carpenter’s seminal study The Inklings lists 19 men who are considered canonical Inklings (David Bratman's “A Handlist of Books by the Inklings” lists their works). Occasional or one-time attendees included writer Roy Campbell and fantasy novelist E.R. Eddison (the Mythopoeic Society’s overview of the Inklings defines them as guests).

Alongside guests, various people met the Inklings in other contexts. Roger Lancelyn Green and W.H. Auden knew individual Inklings but didn’t attend Inklings meetings. T.S. Eliot knew one Inkling, Charles Williams, and befriended Lewis in 1959. Before that, Lewis saw Eliot as an enemy (or at least a representative of trends he disliked).

Similarly, Dorothy L. Sayers was friends with two Inklings (Lewis and Williams). Joy Davidman married Lewis in 1956 and knew his brother Warnie. These women certainly had a great impact on more than one Inkling. However, scholars usually refer to them as part of “the Inklings’ circle” or “the Inklings and their associates.”

There is none good but One, and that is God!

Mark 10: 17-22 The rich young man!

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.

Good teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus said unto him, "Why do you call Me good? There is none good but One, and that is GOD." You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother.

20 Teacher, he declared, all these I have kept since I was a boy.

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. One thing you lack he said, Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.

22 At this the man's face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.

The prodigal sons Luke 15:11-32

Surely this man is... | Mark 15:33-41 | Good Friday Easter Service

Jesus defeated death!

The Good News of Easter | Isaiah 25 | Sunday Sermon

God Will Swallow Up Death Forever

25 O Lord, you are my God;
    I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
    plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
2 For you have made the city a heap,
    the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners' palace is a city no more;
    it will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
    cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor,
    a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
    a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
5     like heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the foreigners;
    as heat by the shade of a cloud,
    so the song of the ruthless is put down.

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
    a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
    of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7 And he will swallow up on this mountain
    the covering that is cast over all peoples,
    the veil that is spread over all nations.
8     He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
    and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
    for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
    “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
    This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
    and Moab shall be trampled down in his place,
    as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.[11 And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
    as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
    but the Lord will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill[b] of his hands.
12 And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
    lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.