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Josh Hinton writes: War overseas is a spur to be peacemakers in our own nation.

‘You will hear of wars and rumours of wars’, Jesus told his disciples as he neared his crucifixion (Matthew 24:6). In the darkness before his return, humans would tear one another apart again and again. This week, our news feeds have brought us not just rumours but high-definition footage of war. Israel and Iran are bombing each other.
 
The speed with which media outlets now deploy the word ‘war’ is telling. Born in the mid-90s – the so-called ‘end of history’ – I grew up with softer terms: ‘conflict’, ‘crisis’, ‘targeted strikes’. War felt like a relic, distant and abstract. But it never truly left. It has always lived in the human heart. We were merely insulated – by borders, privilege, and language.

This article is from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity section on Connecting with Culture

Alianore Smith writes about - Extending grace in the face of feelings

Recently, I’ve been thinking about feelings.

More specifically, I’ve been thinking about the size of feelings.

More specifically still, I’ve been thinking about the size of my toddler’s feelings.

You see, my son has recently graduated from his ‘potato era’ (baby) into his ‘chaos monster era’ (toddler), and with this comes experiencing feelings like disappointment and frustration for the first time. I’ve spent a lot of time marvelling at the sheer size of these feelings.

This article is from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity section on Connecting with Culture