Living Open Source

I’m sure there is a scene in one of the Lord of Rings films that features an army coming alive. Can anybody remember which one, to save me scanning the entire trilogy? The lectionary this week includes the raising of Lazarus and the valley of bones in Ezekiel 37. God asks Ezekiel if he thinks [...]

A man’s sight is restored, while others can’t see past themselves. This week’s lectionary reading comes from John 9:1-41. So here’s another text picture.

Matthew’s version of the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13) like the other gospels has Peter exhibiting his usual purpose-driven self, trying to suggest a programme of tent building when confronted with the glory of God. In Matthew’s version God interrupts Peter’s little project proposal (and PowerPoint presentation?), “While he was still speaking”, prompting a more appropriate response [...]

The lectionary continues with Isaiah’s word pictures (Isaiah 11:1-10) imagining the coming of God.
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat” (Isaiah 11:6)
Who better than Sir David Attenborough to provide the background on this one? Here he is on a BBC documentary showing a snow leopard chasing [...]

They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Advent begins with one of Isaiah’s wonderful pictures of the kind of transformation that this season announces. Swords into garden tools. What might be transformed in our communities? - knives and guns, into shopping trolleys and walking aids?
One of the great literal [...]