Every Sunday, we’ll be posting articles and links that are saying something important about church, culture, and mission. Here’s what resonated with us this week on the web:

Church & Theology

Pastor Brian Zahnd reflects on the Old Testament, Transfiguration, and Jesus-centered interpretation:

I’m a Christian, not a Biblicist. Yet I love the Old Testament. I read it everyday. I call it Scripture. Sacred Scripture. But I never read it without Jesus. Jesus is my sponsor for admission to the Old Testament. (Why else would a Gentile read ancient Jewish Scriptures?) I don’t read the Law and the Prophets by the light of Moses and Elijah; I read the Law and the Prophets in the light of Christ. So if Moses instructs capital punishment and Elijah models violent retribution, I remember Mount Tabor…

“A voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him!’ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.” –Mark 9:7, 8

Scot McKnight continues his look at N.T. Wright’s Simply Good News by following his thoughts on the “Bully God”:

Good God, bad God.

That’s the problem with so much Christian theology. A bad view of God is destructive to the faith, to the church, and to the person. N.T. Wright, in Simply Good News, seeks to present how the Bible presents God and the first thing that has to be done to get this God in our minds and hearts is to dethrone the bad gods we have created.

John Chandler writes at V3 Movement about why his missional church does liturgy:

The word liturgy means ‘the work of the people’ and we say so every Sunday. It is a gathering of a people together for a shared experience, and not a tightly constructed program for an audience to watch.

We have found that a structured liturgy provides the means for many people to participate. On any given Sunday, as many as fifteen different voices might be heard offering spoken words in our liturgy, whether through scripted prayers, announcements, the sermon, or the publicly shared prayers of the people.

News & Views

Jen Wilkin writes at The Gospel Coalition about three female “ghosts” that haunt churches and leadership:

These three ghosts glide into staff meetings where key decisions are made. They hover in classrooms where theology is taught. They linger in prayer rooms where the weakest among us give voice to hurt. They strike fear into the hearts of both men and women, and worse, they breathe fear into the interactions between them. Their every intent is to cripple the ability of men and women to minister to and with one another.

Though you may not always be aware these ghosts are hovering, the women you interact with in ministry frequently are.

Frank Viola writes at BeliefNet with a warning about dropping the “H-Bomb” on fellow believers:

“Heretic.” It’s a favorite word that many Christians have no problem dropping on the heads of their fellow sisters and brothers.

In common parlance, the term is used to describe any person who disagrees with “orthodox Christian teaching.” The problem, of course, is that there are different perspectives on what exactly constitutes “orthodox Christian teaching.”

Geoff Holsclaw writes on the Northern Seminary blog about his experience watching Selma:

I guess I missed the memo, but I didn’t know Selma began with thebombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. It totally shocked me. I was unprepared and undone.

Undone not just in a moving-going kind of way, but in a very personal and experiential way.

Partners & Resources

Our team member David Fitch reminds us to fear not – his blog will return soon!

The Acton Institute introduces themes on economy and Bonhoeffer in its new film series.

The V3 Movement hosts pastor A.J. Sherrill to talk about reclaiming biblical literacy.

Fresh Expressions US team member Travis Collins reports on a new church called Grace and Main Fellowship.

On The Missio Blog

On the blog this week, we continued our ongoing series on the topic of #TrulyHuman:

Being #TrulyHuman And The Making Of Local Theology, by Karen Wilk.

A Free #TrulyHuman Download: Alan And Deb Hirsch, Cherith Fee-Nordling, Tory Baucum On Being Human, by Missio Alliance.

Fifty Shades Of Confusing: Searching For A #TrulyHuman Perspective, by Karina Kreminski