SOLA intern Judy Lee will focus on food, fashion, and recreational activities in our new series titled “That’s a Gift?” She will survey the gifts God gives us and identify how they can become our idols.
Hannah Chao was my special guest on the most recent episode of my Sound Words podcast. Hannah is the editor and digital administrator for SOLA Network. She attends All Nations Community Church, where she is also the administrator. We talk about how she got started with SOLA, her editing process, article submissions, her work tools, and her newsletter. Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, or Podcasts.
Do you have a video, podcast, or playlist you would like to recommend? Please tweet me @musicgoon or email me at aaron@musicgoon.com and send me your recommendations along with a short write-up. We will do our best to include it in a future weekend roundup!
Link Roundup
1. Daniel K. Eng: What the British Museum Taught Me About Faith
SOLA Editorial Board Member Daniel K. Eng writes for the Logos Academic Blog regarding his recent tour of the British Museum where he viewed exhibits connected to events in the Bible.
2. Mary Jackson: “Oddly Fundamentalist”
“Amid Pride Month’s rainbow-saturated frenzy, [Taylor Swift] released a pro-LGBT anthem this week whose title and message seems misdirected at Christians.” SOLA Editorial Board Member Brett McCracken is interviewed in this article.
3. Chinasource: Advice for Parents on the Eve of College Entrance Exams
Chinasource translated and shared this article by a Christian from Fujian.
4. Christopher Yuan: How To Show God’s Love to the Gay Community
“How does the love of God, as demonstrated in the gospel, inform how we share Christ to those in the gay community around us? In this video, Dr. Christopher Yuan seeks to answer that question and how Christians can better love their gay brothers and sisters.” Watch the video or read the transcript.
5. Carlos Chung: The Discipline of Discontentment
Carlos Chung writes for The Master’s Seminary blog on holy discontent, the evil of mediocrity, and excellence birthed from dissatisfaction.
Weekend Recommendations
1. The Worship Initiative: The Worship Initiative, Vol. 17
Recommended by Hannah Chao. She writes: “So my kids sing along to all the praise songs in the car. And I’ve been trying to pick artists who are female because they’re girls, and I want them to know that praise can be sung/led by male and female. So I am super stoked for this album that features only women leads. I’ve only heard a few songs so far, but it’s great. Will definitely be on repeat.”
2. Crossway: 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke
Fill out a survey and receive a free download of this much needed book that I read and recommend. “Drawing from the insights of numerous thinkers, published studies, and his own research, writer Tony Reinke identifies twelve potent ways our smartphones have changed us—for good and bad.”
3. John Piper: My Worth Is Not In What I Own
My hymnody heroes Keith and Kristyn Getty quietly released several videos to their YouTube channel recently, including Shane and Shane singing Psalm 23, Matt Redman singing 10,000 Reasons, and a 15-minute gospel message from John Piper focusing on one of my favorite songs.
4. Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology, Spring 2019
“Eikon is a semi-annual journal dedicated to facilitating a scholarly and thoughtful conversation aimed at academicians, pastors, and laymen alike on issues ranging from gender, sexuality, marriage, singleness, personhood, family, and the many intersections that exist between these topics and biblical studies, church history, and systematic and practical theology.”
From SOLA
1. Judy Lee: Can You Be a Faithful Foodie?
“We don’t give Scripture enough credit for how much it advises us on topics we’d never expect it to cover. When we ask the Spirit for inspiration from our daily bread (see what I did there?), food is rarely the first thing we think of. But the Bible shows us numerous ways in which food is used both as idolatry and as a gift — literally and figuratively.”
2. Judy Lee: Food – A Need or a Gift?
“From Creation until now, God cares about what we eat, and he intended food as a gift beyond just a survival necessity.”
3. Brett McCracken: Heresy Often Begins with Boredom
“I see it all the time, particularly (sadly) with people who have grown up in the faith. […]Ultimately when we become bored with things that should actually inspire in us awe and gratitude, the problem is pride. We think our spiritual path is ours to chart. We think when it comes to knowing God and living rightly, “I got this.” But just as pride came before the fall in Eden, so too does this sort of spiritual pride precede our veering away from orthodoxy.”
4. Thank God It’s Friday: Weekend Roundup
In case you missed it, here is our roundup from last week: Human Rights Under Fire in Hong Kong: What’s Really Behind the Massive Protests; How a Worship Song Is Fueling Pro-Democracy Protests in Hong Kong; With Hymns and Prayers, Christians Help Drive Hong Kong’s Protests; Jeremy Lin, ‘Reppin’ Asians With Everything I Have,’ Is Bigger Than an N.B.A. Title; and When the Overachieving Immigrant Narrative Fails.