For all that Twitter has done to redefine the phrase “too much information” in 140 characters or less, for me it has been a constant source of encouragement and connection. Connection not only with family, friends and prayer warriors, but also with leading Christian authors, artists, theologians, missiologists and thinkers who have been a constant encouragement to me (click here to see who I’m following–you’ll need an account with Twitter to do this).
Though the list is a bit lacking–having only begun in mid-October–still, I present to you in 140 characters or less and in no particular order, my favorite tweets from 2009 (view the whole list here–again, Twitter account required):
- “Puritan Richard Sibbes: ‘We need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks.’” (via @laurenchandler)
- “The ultimate apologetic for the Trinity is not a well crafted argument…it is the common life of the Christian community.” -Tim Chester (via @Jonathan_Dodson)
- “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven…more often I wonder whether…we have ever desired anything else” CS Lewis (via @STimmis)
- “Abe: If reconciliation is just about us with God, we should just thankfully sit around–its about all things being reconciled–there’s work to do!” (via @JeffVanderstelt)
- Out of the quarrel w/others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel w/ourselves we make art. W.B. Yeats (via @lensweet)
- “It may not be necessity that makes all daises alike; it may be God makes every daisy separately, & has never grown tired of making them…It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we are…The repetition of nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore!” -GK Chesterton (via @STimmis) [Alright, this one is actually a three tweet series...]
- “In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned find themselves well equipped to live in a world that no longer exists -Eric Hoffer (via @alanhirsch)
- ‘Death isn’t extinguishing the light from the Christian; it’s putting out the lamp because the dawn has come (via @andyupton)
- Tim Orton quotes Eugene Peterson: the pastorate has devolved into a ‘nation of shopkeepers, keeping the customers satisfied’ Hurts to hear (via @lensweet)
- God’s presence is not accidental to his teaching, but is essential to it. God’s presence in human form…is itself the teaching ~Kierkegaard ((via @alanhirsch)
Amazing how much can fit in to 140 characters or less, eh? I’d love it if you’d add your favorite tweets or quotes in the comments!
Total Church by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester — In many ways this book started much of my journey in to ecclesiology this year (its kind of a theme for the list…:)). This book, paired with 
The Mission of God by Christopher Wright — To be fair, I haven’t exactly read this one yet, but it is next on my list. I think it has made it on the list because of both my anticipation and it’s reputation as perhaps THE biblical theology of mission in the Bible.
