Crannóggy Island

  Introduction There is a very human instinct, when something bad happens to someone, to wonder what they did to deserve it. And there is an equally human instinct, when we read the harsher parts of the Old Testament, the sudden deaths, the divine punishments, the apparent scorekeeping, to feel that we understand what is going on: God is rewarding the good and punishing the bad, and we are meant to learn from that. Both instincts feel reasonable; they can even feel religious. But when we take the Gospels seriously, when we let Jesus Christ be the lens through which we read everything else, something unexpected happens. It puts real pressure on them both. Again and again, in His words and in His parables, Jesus dispels the idea that we can read God's verdicts off the surface of events, or that we are qualified to do that kind of reading. This is not comfortable, but it’s deeply reassuring. It means that no suffering person need wonder whether God is punishing them. And it mean...

  Submitted to Happy Jack anonymously by a person in deep-cover. Memorandum from Below [CONFIDENTIAL: This memorandum is for operational use only. To avoid it falling into the Enemy's hands, destroy it immediately once read. The strategies herein depend entirely upon remaining unrecognised.] Notes Toward a Successful Apostolate by Slubgob, Junior Tempter I am permitted (with some hesitation from my uncle Screwtape) to outline the broad contours of our present strategy for the modern age, now that brute unbelief is unnecessary and, in many places, inefficient. Outright atheism and diffuse spirituality serve us well enough among the masses. But for those still tethered to institutional religion, a more subtle approach is needed. The central aim is no longer to persuade humans that God does not exist. Much better to persuade them that the Enemy exists, but does not speak clearly, and certainly not through any institution capable of making binding claims. Our primary achi...

May our eternal God, who transcends our understanding of time, be with you in this New Year and always  

  Prologue I was setting up the Christmas crib with my five-year-old grandson. As we placed the figures, he stopped and looked at the scene for a moment. Then he said, quietly, "This really isn't very joyful for baby Jesus." He was not confused. He was attentive. Taken on its own, the crib is not a joyful image. A child lies in a feeding trough. It becomes joyful when one knows what has gone before and what is to come; as one understands the full pattern of Eden, the Cross, and the Resurrection; the promise, cost, and vindication. The Nativity is joyful. The angels announce "good news of great joy," the shepherds rejoice, and the Magi worship. But it is a paradoxical joy, a joy in anticipation, precisely because it's joy despite poverty, vulnerability, and impending persecution. Joy is not deferred until Easter. It is joy under the shadow of the cross. It is the Father's love breaking into the world, the Word made flesh, already Emmanuel. God ha...