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East of Eden: The Compass and the Cross
I. Scripture and Rubble She read Joshua that morning. Promised land, cities razed, milk and honey, sweet on the page, but with the taste...
Jon Swales
Aug 4, 20252 min read


East of Eden: Tower Hamlets
They call her Sister Act, Father Ted on an off-day. Once a workman yelled, “You dressin’ up, love?” She laughed, tapped her collar, in...
Jon Swales
Jul 27, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Manchester
They say he only works on Sundays, truth is, he works six, and Sunday’s the easiest. Done by noon, maybe even time for a snooze before...
Jon Swales
Jul 27, 20253 min read


Eros
Eros once lit the stars— a holy ache in the fabric of things, pulling cosmos from chaos, and Adam toward Eve. She moved through gardens...
Jon Swales
Jul 19, 20253 min read


The Holy Ache (Epithymia)
She was there when the ruach of God stirred the dust, a whisper of desire, a holy ache, woven into the soul. Before the fall, before the...
Jon Swales
Jul 19, 20252 min read


She fell near Leeds Bus Station
She fell near Leeds Bus Station. Where the pigeons limp, and the wind smells of chip fat, regret, and last night’s fight. One minute...
Jon Swales
Jul 19, 20252 min read


Homo Adorans
You shall love —with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might— but we have learned to think instead. To dissect. To label....
Jon Swales
Jul 19, 20252 min read


The Awakening
He woke, not with trumpet, but with tremor, a shiver in the soul as the Ruach hovered— not over ancient waters, but deep in the fault...
Jon Swales
Jul 19, 20252 min read


Flowers and the Pump
I saw it— on the road from Reeth to Arkengarthdale: an old petrol pump, abandoned by time, leaning like a tired priest who’d forgotten...
Jon Swales
Jul 19, 20252 min read


He’s Seen the Wounds
He didn’t leave Leeds for a fresh start. He left because staying meant fear. The flat was chaos — tinfoil graveyard, door kicked in,...
Jon Swales
Jul 7, 20253 min read


The Gospel of the Wild Messiah
The Gospel of the Wild Messiah He did not come robed in safety. He did not come crowned in gold. He came with dust on his sandals, blood...
Jon Swales
Jul 6, 20252 min read


A Scream from the Hill: Glastonbury & Gaza
From Glastonbury a scream broke through— 'death, death to the IDF'— words, not nice, should have been silenced, but words. Should the...
Jon Swales
Jul 2, 20251 min read


East of Eden: El Salvador
He spoke each night on the radio. Crackling across kitchens and darkened barrios, his voice walked through walls, lingered among the...
Jon Swales
Jun 30, 20252 min read


East of Eden: The Last Sermon
East of Eden: The Last Sermon I. Bedside – Gospel She sat by his bedside— hospice light low, steady, the quiet sliced only by distant...
Jon Swales
Jun 30, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Birmingham
Sometimes, not all the time, he doubts. The phone lights up— war in Iran, slaughter in Gaza, climate breakdown racing like a car with no...
Jon Swales
Jun 27, 20253 min read


East of Eden: Blackpool
Once, he worshipped an angry God— the kind who answered before you even asked. A system, disguised as certainty. Grudem on the shelf,...
Jon Swales
Jun 27, 20253 min read


Makros v. Jesus of Nazareth
Makros v. Jesus of Nazareth Gerasene District Court Case No. LK 0826-39 Filed: 22nd June, 33 AD Makros son of Philetos filed his...
Jon Swales
Jun 21, 20252 min read


Gerasene
We meet in the back room of the synagogue. Not the main hall, too clean. Too many eyes. Here it’s dim, fold-out chairs in a circle, figs...
Jon Swales
Jun 21, 20252 min read


Billy
He’d seen things no soul should ever see, heard things that still rattle in his dreams— not just bombs in Belfast, but shrapnel lodged...
Jon Swales
Jun 17, 20253 min read


The Sermon She Didn't Know She Needed
She sat at the back. Near the radiator. That’s where she always sat— if she came at all. Scarf wrapped tight around her wrist where last...
Jon Swales
Jun 15, 20252 min read
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