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A Psalm for a Secular Age
Give thanks for the longing within, for the hunger that will not be silenced. Speak of the beauty that lingers still, of the mystery that...
Jon Swales
Feb 41 min read


The River I Step In Is Not the River I Stand In
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river, and he is not the same man." —Heraclitus The River I Step In...
Jon Swales
Feb 41 min read


Bats or Newts? A Lament
“Bats or great crested newts?” “Neither, because I want growth, ” - Rachel Reeves, Times Interview, Quick Fire Questions ‘Bats or Great...
Jon Swales
Jan 281 min read


Fragility-A Dialogue with Psalm 46
There is a trembling beneath all things, a quiet undoing woven into the fabric of being. The earth shifts, waters rise, and I too am...
Jon Swales
Jan 251 min read


As the Deer: For a Secular Age
There is a thirst— a restless, raging thirst we cannot name, a yearning without object, a hunger beyond the reach of reason, a void...
Jon Swales
Jan 252 min read


Drill, Baby, Drill!
Drill, baby, drill— strange words, a chant from a strange man in a strange world. Forests burn, their ancient voices smothered in smoke....
Jon Swales
Jan 221 min read


Soup, Soap & Salvation
Step beyond the comforts of romanticised religion, beyond a hope too soft, too distant. Move towards the wounded, the image-bearers in...
Jon Swales
Jan 212 min read


Find Your Own Calcutta
You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see”- Mother Teresa Find your own Calcutta— a descent, an incarnation...
Jon Swales
Jan 151 min read


Hope: Peering through a Veil
Hope is not a calculation, not a tally of gains or losses, but the ache of a heart stretched toward the horizon, a whisper of...
Jon Swales
Jan 131 min read


Go Forth without Fear
Do not be afraid. Bid farewell to fear. There is no shadow so deep that love cannot reach it, no sin so vast it could exhaust the...
Jon Swales
Jan 101 min read


Hope Leans Forward
Hope leans forward, tender, listening to the whispers of creation groaning for renewal. It does not turn its face from shadows but gazes...
Jon Swales
Jan 101 min read


Enacting the Kingdom in World of Collapse
The incarnation—the advent and arrival of the God-Man, Jesus—unfolded in a time of escalating turmoil, as the Jewish nation hurtled...
Jon Swales
Jan 53 min read


Climate Breakdown & Cruciform Adaptation: A New Video Teaching Series
'Climate Breakdown and Cruciform Adaptation' is a hard-hitting, prophetic follow-on course to 'Climate Justice: Following Jesus in a World
Jon Swales
Jan 33 min read


The Ark
We live in strange and perilous times. The boat of Western civilisation has been cast adrift, tossed on turbulent seas churned by...
Jon Swales
Dec 28, 20244 min read


Cruciform Resistance
We are living in the midst of a profound storm, one that is shaking the very foundations of our civilisation. The crises we...
Jon Swales
Dec 27, 20243 min read


Advent Four: A Meditation and Prayer
Advent is a season of holy tension. It draws us to look back—to the miracle of the incarnation, when God took on flesh and entered the...
Jon Swales
Dec 22, 20244 min read


A Voice from the Streets of Leeds: Where’s the Baby in All This?
I’m sat here in a doorway on one of Leeds’ busy streets. People rush past, their hands full of shopping bags, their faces lit by the glow...
Jon Swales
Dec 21, 20243 min read


The gods come to die
As it’s Advent, this poem/reflection might seem out of place. However, I was recently listening to a podcast about the Aztecs that...
Jon Swales
Dec 17, 20241 min read


The Ancient Story
The Bible presents us with an epic love-shaped narrative, a story of salvation, a history of hope, and a metanarrative of mercy, which...
Jon Swales
Dec 15, 20245 min read


The Crucified Community: Seven Meditations on the Cross
The urban street communities, the drinkers & drifters, the beggars & broken, the addicts & abused, are those who have and continue to be...
Jon Swales
Dec 15, 202435 min read
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