Dear Little Feather,

You’ll be getting busy very soon. At some points you’ll feel that it’s far too much for you to handle. Maybe you won’t just feel tired, you’ll start to think ahead and try to see a way for the pressure to stop, and maybe you won’t be able to picture it.

When that moment comes, you might feel angry, or bitter. You might wonder why the older you get, the less you’re treated like someone who is loved, and more like someone that has to perform and work hard – or else. Like a resource to be harvested, or like fuel for some awful machine that runs on everyone’s misery.

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09/13/2025 0

on giant killing

“When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:31-40

What a great story. How amazing that teeny, tiny David could defeat the giant Goliath! What kind of giants are there in your life? Maybe relationships that have gone bad? Maybe the fear that you’re not good enough? Maybe pressure from your studies? But all it takes is some faith. Even if you’re small and weak, even if it seems like you can’t make it, all you need is to have enough faith, and go out there and slay those giants, and God will give you the victory!

What I just told you was a very common way of talking about this Bible story when I was growing up. It sounds really encouraging, right? You can do anything you can imagine, even something as impossible as a little boy killing a giant, if you have enough faith.

But that always bothered me — have faith. What does it mean? Have faith in what? In myself? In God? What’s the hope? That God will help me just because I think he will? That I can get what I want because I wish hard enough?

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03/12/2025 0

on worship

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can discern his errors?

Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

—Psalm 19:1-14

What do you picture when you hear the word worship? You might think of ancient people praying in exotic temples; maybe you’d think of hundreds of men all bowing at once in the same direction; if you’re a bit more savvy maybe you’d think of fandoms and followers with their idols, people screaming and shouting when their favourite singer even looks at them.

If you’re a Christian maybe you’d chuckle and be a bit smug about it. Christians don’t worship idols, we might say, Christians worship the one, true God.

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12/04/2024 0

on waiting for the end

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

—1 Peter 4:7-11

It’s a bit of a running joke among Christians that we’re always waiting for the end of the world. Anytime there’s a big earthquake or a war, some Christian somewhere in the world will be urgently asking Does this mean Jesus is coming back now? It’s a running joke because Christians are jumpy that way. And because they’ve been asking this question for, well, 2000 years now.

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11/27/2024 0

on the Glory of God

“And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.”
—Exodus 32:7-14

When I was in London I had some very good older brothers who taught me about the Bible. One of them was called Sam, and his catchphrase was the word glory. He’d go into this super deep dive on how the Ten Commandments could actually tell us about God’s character, or how the building plans of the big temple could tell us about God’s relationship with his people, and after he was done, he’d look us in the eye and say – glory.

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11/20/2024 0

Herodotus’ Persian Infantry

The Persian infantry – we have a pretty good idea of what they looked like and how they fought, or at least we think we do. They were big fans of Smurf hats, basically unarmoured and no match for Greek hoplites, arrows that could blot out the sun – or some of our popular depictions might even show them as slaves being driven forward with whips, or dehumanised, incompetent, orc-like goons.

What does Herodotus, one of our best literary sources for the Persian infantry, have to say about them? Surprisingly, a lot of what we said just now is based loosely on Herodotus. But with a more careful reading, supported by other literary and artistic sources, we might come away with a different picture.

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08/21/2024 0

on waiting for the day of the Lord

““For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act,” says the LORD of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.””
—Malachi 4:1-6

When was the last time you heard someone’s parting words before a long wait? Maybe it was when you were little, maybe something like Mom and dad will be out tonight, so listen to your sister and eat your dinner and do your homework. Or maybe something less boring, like in the second Lord of the Rings movie when Gandalf tells his friends, Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, before riding away on a white stallion, leaving his friends to fight ten thousand monster men.

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04/01/2024 0

Being a History Student

What is your job as a History student?

If you’re anything like me when I was your age, you might start thinking that History is all about memorising lots of useless facts and dates, and then vomiting them onto the page during your quizzes and exams. Why? Because the teacher says so, that’s why. And the teacher is the one who writes your report cards!

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03/27/2024 0

on finding answers in the Bible

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
—John 1:1-5

There’s an odd English word out there, or rather a suffix, called ‘-mancy’. Anytime you see a word that ends with ‘-mancy’, it’s to do with some kind of fortune telling. You have pretty standard ones like geomancy, trying to find good luck by studying the positions of buildings and furniture — feng shui is a kind of geomancy — and astromancy, trying to find good luck by reading the stars (aka astrology); and you have some stranger ones like pyromancy (fire) or even gastromancy, which is the art of fortune telling by listening to someone’s stomach rumblings.

There’s also a pretty common type called bibliomancy, which involves asking yourself a question and then opening a book to a random page and finding the answer there. And actually Christians sometimes do this too, we ask God a question and then try to find the answer by flipping to a random page of the Bible.

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04/19/2023 1

on earning and righteousness

“What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.””
Romans 4:1-8

There’s an old-fashioned phrase called preaching to the choir. It means you’re saying something that your audience already knows, and already agrees with. Generally when you’re preaching to the choir you’re just kind of wasting your time, since you’re not saying anything new, or changing anyone’s mind.

In this passage Paul is kind of preaching to the choir: he’s addressing Christians living in Rome, explaining to them what it means to be God’s people. But here’s where things get complicated: among those Christians are Jewish believers who think Paul is preaching to the choir, they think they know it all already. But in today’s passage Paul — who is Jewish himself — is trying to show them that they actually don’t know what it means to be God’s people, to be acceptable to God; Paul is trying to show them what that really means.

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02/13/2023 0