Lent, the City and Philippians

22 02 2012

by Brian Walsh

From the book of Revelation, back to Genesis, into the Torah, through the monarchy and then on to Isaiah with his prophecies of judgement, exile and return, the Wine Before Breakfast community has spent the last number of months meditating on a biblical vision of the city. We’ve posted a number of the sermons from those services here at Empire Remixed.

And it is an ambivalent vision of the city. We began with the cataclysmic Fall of Babylon and moved in our second week to the hope of a New Jerusalem. And its been back and forth all year.

One day you’re waiting for the sky to fall,
the next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all

Apocalyptic dread and the beauty of hope. A biblical theology of the city finds itself between these two poles. Read the rest of this entry »





Urban Filling and Urban Judgment

12 01 2012

by Brian Walsh

A meditation on Isaiah 2.5-22

Culture is not optional.

I’m pretty sure that my former colleague, Calvin Seerveld, coined that phrase.

Culture is not optional because there is no such thing as human life together that is not at heart a culture-forming enterprise. Human language, family structures, gender relations, economies, agriculture and creative expression is all culturally founded and culturally formative.

And for ancient Israel, culture making is at the very foundation of human identity. We are mandated to be fruitful, to multiply and to “fill” the earth. Read the rest of this entry »





Advent 2011 :: Day 4

30 11 2011

by Dion Oxford

Imagine a world where everyone had a decent place to live. Everyone had a home.

Imagine a world where no one was homeless. No one slept on the streets. No one froze to death in winter.

Imagine a world without slums. Without slum landlords. Without housing unfit for dogs, let alone humans, to live in.

Just imagine!

Come Lord Jesus. Come quickly!





Earth or Heavens?

4 10 2011

by Brian Walsh

I’ve got to confess that I’ve never really got the ‘heaven’ thing.

I know, I know, ‘going to heaven’ seems to be at the heart of Christian piety.
Our hymnody, our preaching, our prayers seem to be preoccupied with heaven as our most hoped for destination.

Now, I’ve never got this because as far as I can see the Scriptures never offer heaven as the eternal destination for believers. Read the rest of this entry »








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