mattistone

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Reflections on a Viking-Age Cross

This cross is part of the Galloway Hoard, a Viking Age collection buried in the soil of Scotland—hidden, perhaps hoarded, in a time of conflict and conversion. It’s silver, gilded, knotted with wire like a relic caught in a tangle of time. What strikes me isn’t just the craftsmanship, though it’s extraordinary. It’s the symbolism. A Christian cross, likely from the 9th or 10th century, found…

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When Zeal Becomes Pride

Lately I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to confuse boldness with pride. It’s tempting, especially in theological conversations, to believe that being right is the same as being righteous. That strong convictions require strong words. But I keep returning to Jesus. Yes, he flipped tables. But he also wept over cities. He preached with authority, but he also knelt to wash feet. He called…

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Loveable Rogue? On the Psychologising of Satan in Modern Fiction

In much of today’s fiction, the figure once known as the tempter, accuser, and destroyer has been reimagined. No longer the adversary of all that is good, Satan now often appears as a suave antihero—witty, wounded, misunderstood. He’s not evil; he’s just complicated. Maybe he had a bad childhood. Maybe God was unfair. Maybe he’s just doing his best. This psychologising of evil is part of a…

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Listening for God at the Margins

God has always had a voice. But more often than not, it is not the voice we expect. It doesn’t come booming from thrones or echoing through empires. It comes, instead, from the edges—from the margins of society, from the wounded, the silenced, the poor. This is not an accident of history. It is a revelation of who God is. Narelle Urquhart – Pentecost From the cries of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt…

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Living Without Chains

Debt is so normalised, it hardly feels like a choice. It’s just how things are done. You want a house? Get a mortgage. Need a new fridge? Buy now, pay later. Your phone broke? Sign a new plan. And bit by bit, the chains tighten. Most people I know aren’t living large—they’re just trying to stay afloat. And yet the burden of owing shapes how we work, where we live, even what we feel allowed to…

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Last Supper Painting: By Portuguese Artist Raquel Martins

In this striking reinterpretation of the Last Supper, Portuguese artist Raquel Martins invites us to see the familiar scene through a modern lens. The figures of Jesus and the twelve disciples are present, yet their faces are intentionally blurred, reminding us that this table is open to all, not just those who sat there two thousand years ago. The composition is alive with color and geometry, a…

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Sleep Walking Towards Techno-Feudalism: A Future Where You Will Rent Everything

I’m not a Luddite. I work in IT support, and I’ve spent years watching technology change the way we live and work. But something deeper is shifting beneath the surface—something I’m finding harder and harder to ignore. We were promised a digital utopia: work from anywhere, knowledge at our fingertips, smart tools to lighten the load. And yet, the future that’s unfolding feels less like…

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Last Supper: By Australian Artist Nathan Simpson

Last Supper Nathan Simpson is an Australian artist known for his evocative oil paintings that reinterpret biblical narratives through a contemporary lens. Born in 1973, Simpson’s work delves deeply into themes of suffering, redemption, and resurrection, often employing symbolic and surreal imagery to convey profound spiritual messages. His interpretation of the Last Supper is bold and…

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Three Wise Men: By Indigenous Australian Artist Linda Syddick Nepaltjarri

Three Wise Men – Linda Syddick Nepaltjarri Known for blending Christian themes with Western Desert art traditions, Linda Syddick Nepaltjarri often integrates biblical stories with ancestral Dreaming narratives. In this piece, the Three Wise Men are depicted in her iconic spirit-like style, to bridge cultural and spiritual worlds in a uniquely Aboriginal Christian expression.

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Christian Art: Green

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Buddhist Gift Giving

Great. What do I get the man who already has nothing?

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Making the Temple Great Again

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When the Stones Cry Out

There’s a line in the Gospel of Luke that has never stopped echoing in me. “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” —Jesus, as he entered Jerusalem (Luke 19:40) It’s such a strange thing to say. Literal stones crying out? Some have dismissed it as metaphor. But over time, I’ve come to hear something deeper, a glimpse of a world more alive than we dare imagine. A world…

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Tips for conversations with Pagans

I am often amazed when Christians find it so amazing that I converse so readily and easily with Pagans. I gather many assume conversations with Pagans are unavoidably adversarial and therefore scary and best left to “experts”. But this need not be the case. It helps though if you follow a few simple do’s and don’ts: Do … focus on relationship God is about relationship so relationship is where we…

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The Gospel and the Poison of Racism

Let’s be honest. The western church has a racism problem. And it’s not just an ethical lapse — it’s a spiritual crisis. For too long, Christians have treated racism as if it were a minor social issue, something regrettable but peripheral. As if it lives on the margins of theological concern, something best handled by activists, not theologians. But racism isn’t just a “bad attitude” or a…

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Subversive Visions in a Hostile World

In a situation primed for violence, Jesus opened up new vistas of imagination. Surrounded by political oppression, nationalistic fervor, and religious zealotry—each a tinderbox ready to ignite—Jesus refused the expected path of retaliation or revolution. He did not simply choose nonviolence as a tactic; he revealed a deeper reality, a truer vision of power and peace. When others saw enemies to be…

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DEI Is a Problem? Wait Till You Hear About the Kingdom

If you think diversity, equity, and inclusion are bad for the workplace, you’re really not going to like the kingdom of God — where not even merit is measured as an entry criterion. The kingdom of God doesn’t run on resumes, rankings, or earned rewards. It welcomes the poor in spirit, the tax collector, the outcast, the prodigal — not because they checked the right boxes, but because grace…