I still keep on finding that the gospel is still foreign to me at times. It is one thing to be able to articulate the truths of the gospel in your mind, and a totally different thing to be able to clearly and consistently make the gospel come alive to all around you! It’s because of this, I value the writing, working and walking of those who’ve gone before me for help and guidance.

The bloke in the photo is Frederick Buechner is not very highly regarded in the reformed world. He is probably a little too political and his theology is not as clearly defined as some would prefer - at times he is probably on the edge of heretic! Whatever the perspective on his life, there’s always a value and worth in a breadth of reading, for this man can write!! Buechner has the ability to make the gospel come alive, be real and tragic as well as glorious. If you have never read him then I probably cannot describe him to you. But he is the kind of writer you either connect with, or you don’t!!Below is a brief excerpt from his book, “Telling the Truth: The gospel as tragedy, comedy and fairy tale”.
“The gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy. And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t want them or just doesn’t care? In answer, the news of the gospel is that extraordinary things happen to him just as in fairy tales extraordinary things happen. Henry Ward Beecher cheats on his wife, his God, himself, but manages to keep on bringing the gospel to life for people anyway, maybe even for himself. Lear goes berserk on a heath but comes out of it for a few brief hours every inch a king. Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint. Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ. It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale.
All together they are the truth.”
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