Uncategorized18 Comments
Sticky post

Disconnected Umbilicus

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

The disconnection of what was originally natural ties happens in various ways. We shall examine this in three main settings: the family, culture and Christianity. Think of the breakdown of families: A once lovely family of five. Everyone gets married and have their individual families. Parents now dead. Some of the kids travel and gradually reduced communication with one another. They get influenced by other events, other experiences and other persons. With siblings it is now about the scramble to get something of whatever is left by their parents. Then the war begins: it gets bitter, some go diabolic, some … Continue reading Disconnected Umbilicus

Sunday VibesLeave a comment

#SV – Save Yourselves!

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

1 Peter 2:20b-25 Beloved:If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,this is a grace before God.For to this you have been called,because Christ also suffered for you,leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he returned no insult;when he suffered, he did not threaten;instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.By his wounds you have been … Continue reading #SV – Save Yourselves!

Sunday VibesLeave a comment

#SV – Burning Hearts

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Lk. 24:32) There are few other lessons to pick from this particular Scripture: First, the heart often knows before the mind does. These two disciples could not yet see who Jesus was, but something in them was already responding to his presence, his voice, the way he interpreted the scriptures. Grace often works like this, beneath our awareness, preparing us for a recognition that suddenly breaks through. Second, Scripture, when rightly opened, ignites. It was not just that Jesus spoke, but the how, the manner by … Continue reading #SV – Burning Hearts

Sunday VibesLeave a comment

#SV – Thomas Unfiltered

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

There is something quietly courageous about Thomas. While the others had already seen the risen Lord, Thomas refused to perform a faith he did not yet possess. He would not pretend. In a room full of rejoicing, that takes a certain kind of integrity. Jesus does not punish him for it. He shows up again, specifically for Thomas, and offers his wounds as evidence. Not a rebuke, but an invitation: “Put your finger here” (Jn. 20:27). Here, the risen Christ meets honest doubt with patient, tangible grace. This is the logic of the early Church too. In Acts, signs and … Continue reading #SV – Thomas Unfiltered

Sunday VibesLeave a comment

#SV – On the First Day

Ikenna Paschal Okpaleke

The opening from John 20 echoes Genesis 1 and reframes everything that follows. Christ, through his death and resurrection, re-ordered a history that had veered off its original trajectory, and restored it once again to the path of salvation. Peter’s speech in Acts 10 grounds the resurrection in testimony (“witnesses”), while Colossians 3 makes it personal and present-tense (“you have been raised”). We have been raised, indeed, to be witnesses to this truth. Not witnesses in a courtroom, but witnesses in the street, in the home, in the quiet courage of a life lived differently because of this empty tomb. Alleluia, … Continue reading #SV – On the First Day