This well-written story about a near coffeeshop encounter published in Relevant Magazines’s 850 is something we can all relate to. Thoughts?

I sat in a coffee shop the other day minding my own business. I had a cup of joe at arm’s length, my face buried in my laptop, a newspaper folded to my right, and a Bible sitting to my left. I was looking busy and religious. People came and went as always, and I paid no attention until I overheard a patron say to the barista, “Can I order a cup of hot water?” It shocked me a bit. Who has the guts to order a cup of hot water at a coffee shop where people are spending five bucks for lattes and macchiatos? Read more…

Eager to understand forgiveness at a deeper level, theologically and experientially, I am reading Embodying Forgiveness by L. Gregory Jones. The book breaks down into three parts: 1) Cultural and Social Shortfalls in Forgiveness 2) Biblical and Theological Anaylsis 3) Practice of Forgiveness.

I am looking forward to reading through the book for several reasons: 1) Jones grounds his understanding of forgiveness in the Trinitarian community with Jesus’ death and resurrection at the center. 2) He does not dodge the issues of a bad theology of forgiveness like “cheap grace,” individualistic, and socialistic theologies of forgiveness. 3) Jones promises to get to the theological and experiential relationship between repentance and forgiveness, an issue too frequently overlooked in discipleship.

I expect to periodically post on this book. This morning I will post a quote that locates forgiveness in the scheme of redemptive history:

Jesus’ ministry is shaped by his proclamation and enactment of God’s inbreaking kindgom; and central to that proclamationa and enactment is forgiveness of sins. In one sense it is not surprising; Israel knew a gracious God, and the promise of forgiveness is found throughout the Hebrew Bible. Further, significant movements within Israel looked forward to the dawn of the messianic age as a time when forgiveness and repentance would become pivotal signs of God’s salvation.

Other resources on forgiveness

Curtis “the Voice” Allen recently rapped at Bethlehem Baptist, the church where John Piper pastors. Read about the response, good and bad, that followed in the Boundless article here.

This story is an implicit narrative critique of the worship wars within the Christian church.

See Justin Taylor’s interview with “the Voice” and the rap video…

(HT: JT)

This week the famous South by Southwest Music and Media Conference & Festival has been unleashed on Austin, yet again. The festival is spread out all over the city, venues to be found everywhere–parks, coffeeshops, clubs, etc.  Music and media take over the city.  As I write, I am at Progress Coffee listening to Martin Crane of Brazos.

It’s just downright cool. Wish you were here.