Lina Toth

Tom Gauld on the modern romance novel – cartoon A most advantageous match …

Valentine's is gone, but tomorrow I'm delivering a lecture on happiness & romantic love, and how the link between the two has been shaped by the birth & development of the Victorian romantic novel. This popped on my screen today and is a good illustration: www.theguardian.com/books/pictur...

Hmm. If I had nothing much to think or write about at the moment, this could be interesting to explore.

From an article on Moltbook - a social network for AIs - that appeared in The Conversation a few days ago.

Out in May! My chapter is on Baptists in Continental Europe. Looking forward to reading the others!

This is not something mechanical, not an event we can summon at will; yet we may suddely (or slowly) discover that the extraordinary, the holy, the new-which-comes-in-Christ has entered our lives —whether for the first time or afresh. (6)

What a difference it can make to our lives! Not as a magic fix, but as an invitation to topen up to the signs of God-with-us.
(5)

in the drudgery that has lost its purpose.
But rarely does it happen quite where we expect, or how we expect.
Which is why learning to wait attentively, humbly, and expectantly is so crucial. (4)

During every Christmas season—and what‘s much more important, every ordinary day—God’s breaking into our reality is just a heartbeat, just a breath, just a moment of noticing away. It can happen anywhere: in the midst of tragedy, in the dull ache of quiet resignation, (3)

Just like at the first Christmas, a world-changing birth can be dismissed as an inconvenience caused by an irresponsible travelling couple. Shepherds’ wonder can be shrugged off, their gullibility sneered at. A new star can remain unnoticed, its invitation unheeded. (2)

Here’s what I’m pondering during this Advent time...
How easily we miss what we don’t expect. Extraordinary things can pass right under our noses while we rush from one day to the next, heads down, hearts distracted. (1)

Something quite poignant to think about from a Christian perspective, particularly at Christmas time - without resorting to 'correcting' the 'wrong' wishes, but rather, listening and engaging in conversations which could quickly lead to deep stuff... If we were willing to listen, that is. (2)

Wishes. At a shop in Glasgow.
Didn't take much - just a space among all the goods to be sold during this long commerce Xmas season. Hundreds of the 'wish stars'. It often strikes me how readily people talk about or express their wishes, desires, and dreams. (1)

..."She could think logically in metaphysics and therefore would deal efficiently in margarine."
Indeed.

One of the delights of travelling and staying in non-hotel type of places are the books I encounter on various shelves. During my recent visit to Ethiopia, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Dorothy Sayers. Not the most contextual reading perhaps, but such good fun!

Singleness and Marriage after Christendom- Wipf and Stock Publishers Momentous change is taking place in Western societies and churches. Singleness is on the rise, along with growing interest in different pathways to human hap...

I'm always reluctant to push my books, but 50% off from the publisher is a good deal if anybody's looking. The code is CONFSHIP + select Media Mail for 50% off and free shipping.
wipfandstock.com/9781532635564/singleness-and-marriage-after-christendom/

Re-reading John O'Donoghue's Anam Cara:
"To be holy is to be home, to be able to rest in the house of belonging that we call the soul."

Each verse ends with ‘Saranam’ - a word in Sanskrit, Tamil, and several other South and Southeast Asian languages meaning refuge, protection, or surrender.

(more specifically, a Curonian) folk tune of “Pūt, Vējiņi” (‘Blow, oh wind’) and slightly modified it. The lyrics are adapted from Madeleine L’Engle’s A House Like a Lotus, which I encountered via Northumbria Community’s Celtic Daily Prayer.

Receive our thanks Saranam Words: Madeleine L’Engle, House Like a Lotus (Farrar, Straus & & Giroux, 1984). Based on a missionary hymn by D.T.Niles. Northumbria Community, Celtic Daily Prayer, Meditations for Each Day of the Mon

soundcloud.com/user-7654815...
A few weeks, while at Northumbria Community retreat, I shared this simple song. The folks there asked me to record it, and this weekend I finally did it. The song itself weaves together several cultures and languages. I took a Latvian (1)

One of the memories of the last week:
www.facebook.com/share/p/16xe...

Love this rendering from Psalm 19 by Eugene Peterson:
"Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin."
Psalm 19:13 (MSG)

Resting between a podcast recording and an evening talk, I'm in what is apparently called a 'cry room', for parents with wee ones who are crying, restless, or need feeding or calming.
I'm thinking it would be great to have adult cry rooms, too.

Some interesting questions around working with what we have, and what it means to think about art in the broadest sense of the word, in the context of public worship.

I began with this wee wooden sculpture of the 'Pensive Christ', or 'The One Who Cares' - typical of Lithuanian traditional spirituality, but one Lithuanian Baptists don't generally engage with.

It was good to be part of the 23rd Baptist World Congress in Brisbane. I have enjoyed my last talk-on worship and arts-the most, perhaps because it was the closest to my general teaching, ministry & research interests.

What makes me glad to be a Baptist: a religious freedom covenant that has just been introduced at the 23rd Baptist World Alliance congress.
acts2movement.org/covenant/

The Case of Lithuanian Baptists”. In William L. Pitts, Jr. (ed.), Baptists and Revivals: Papers from the Seventh International Conference on Baptist Studies (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2018), 304-323.

Those gatherings are a whole special story and represent an important part of the religious history of the region. I've explored it in several articles, including
“Revival Among the Aliens:

Several days ago, visiting the Museum of Lithuania Minor, it was quite special to see a tablecloth which belonged to my Omama - my great-grandmother - and to read about her/see her photo. The tablecloth was special as it was used for the worship gatherings taking place in my family's house.

Is there really a religious revival in England? Why I’m sceptical of a new report In Anglican and Catholic churches, average weekly attendance is down about 20% from pre-pandemic levels.

An important reminder to be very careful when interpreting surveys. The Quiet Revival's claim that men in the UK are now more likely to attend church than women is especially incredulous, and goes against all the research in the area so far.
theconversation.com/is-there-rea...

But, in light of various other responsibilities, it's time to take off this particular 'hat', with much gratitude, and with my best wishes to the new editor, @drkatiecross.bsky.social