H. and I got engaged last night. I sort of envy the unchurched types for whom the pre-wedding period is also a church-going high and a spirirtual awakening. For Revd H. and I, church-going is about as exotic as your own backgarden. I guess we get a lifetime of a church-going high!

Tom Wright's overconfidence is rubbing me the wrong way

This guy clearly thinks that he's personally got a direct access to God's own mind and has an unparalleled personal grasp of the One and Only Correct Understanding of the One and Only Biblical Narrative. It drives me nuts.

Here is his latest appearance in the British media.

Life in the mainstream: Office at night

I love this painting by Edward Hopper. The guy is a genius at depicting 20th century urban loneliness and the people's humanity nevertheless springing out, vulnerable and beautiful. And I like the bizarre atmosphere of an office at night, when you're working with someone you don't really know all that well, the camaraderie that emerges as we offer each other a cup of tea.

I should really stop posting quotes

... but I like collecting them. So here comes the next one:

"Dwellers live in a stable place and feel secure within its territory; for them the sacred is fixed and spirituality is cultivated though habitual practive within the familiar world of a particular tradition. Not that they are untouched by social change, but they are relatively well anchore amid the flux. By contrast seekers explore new vistas and negotiate among alternative, and at time confusing, systems of belief and practice; for them the sacred is fluid and portable, and spirituality is likened unto a process or state of becoming. The language of the journey fits their experience"

Jackson Carroll and Wade Clark Roof "Bridging divided worlds: Generational cultures in congregations"