October 2026 Liturgy
September 28, 2026
From the Director: Third Places as Mission — Craig G. Bartholomew
Craig reflects on his pastoral experiences and discovery of “third places” as vital contexts for mission. Drawing from military chaplaincy and parish life, he shows how informal spaces foster community and welcome. Churches should intentionally cultivate such places—especially within struggling communities—as pictures of gospel-shaped human flourishing.
Third Spaces: The Garden — Genevieve Wedgbury
Genevieve Wedgbury offers a poem (and a reflection on it) about a simple nighttime moment in her garden that becomes a sacred encounter with God’s good gifts.
A Crisis in Third Places? — Matthew Sleeman
While third places are disappearing amid social isolation and cultural polarisation, Christians are called to be place-makers, cultivating healthy spaces for genuine human connection. If we conceive as our churches as third places, with its members embodying hospitality and welcome, we can fulfil Christ’s call to be salt and light to the communities around us in a powerful and much-needed way.
The Third Place Revival — Coby Dolloff
Coby Dolloff takes a light-hearted look at the cultural significance of cafés, pubs and community centres, which have served to nurture the friendships and imaginations of some of recent history’s most celebrated creators. Drawing on Lewis and Chesterton, he argues third places bring together humanity’s longing for home and adventure, pointing toward the ultimate union of heaven and earth.
Ma Frère is a French film centred on the experiences of staff and children at a summer camp. Though it has minimal plot, it excels at capturing small human moments of tenderness, humour and companionship. The film shows how being together, even without words, can speak volumes.
Somewhere, A Place for Us — Philip Sampson
In the Heat of the Night and The Zone of Interest each present us with societies that have slowly become acclimatised to horror by daily choosing to practise ignorance. The films highlight figures who resist—a girl smuggling apples to Jews in Auschwitz—who offer a template for a revolution of compassion and justice. But what evils in our own societies do we enable to flourish by choosing not to look?
St Nicholas Church’s community is a modern third place offering warmth, food, companionship and practical assistance. Through partnerships with local businesses and volunteers, the church draws people into deeper community and, sometimes, faith, while addressing loneliness and economic hardship.
Chris’s Column: Gospel-centred Integral Mission — Chris Wright
Chris Wright explains that mission must be rooted in the full biblical gospel, not merely evangelism. Integral mission unites proclamation with justice, compassion and creation care. He clarifies Acts 6, arguing that ministries of word and practical service are both Spirit‑filled callings, and our resourcing of ministries of service are an essential way in which the gospel is embodied in every sphere of life.
The Coffee House: Placemaking and the Art of the Third Space — Fritz van der Lecq
The YMCA at the University of Cape Town has created the Coffee House—a third place for the university community. Focusing on excellence and a formative, communal approach to staffing, it embodies Christian connection and the integration of faith, learning and life.
All the Son’s Men — J. David Stark
In Mark 10, two of Jesus’ disciples ask for positions of high status in his kingdom. Jesus’ response shows that the Son of Man embodies service, not domination, and true greatness is found in imitating his self-giving life and death.
Third Spaces: The Health Club — Genevieve Wedgbury
Genevieve recounts meeting Sam, a woman whose story bears testimony to the potential for churches to fail to be the spiritual home they are intended to be. While the gym has become a surrogate home for Sam’s faith and community, it’s a prompt for us to consider what church should and should not be.
The Drama of the Decalogue: Building the Good Neighbourhood — Craig G. Bartholomew
In anticipation of Craig’s forthcoming book, Moses and the Victory of YHWH, KLC has declared 2026 our Year of the Decalogue. The Decalogue continues to be an essential conversation partner and guide for contemporary Christian ethics, and KLC plans to explore its relevance to the building of our own “good neighbourhoods” in an age that desperately needs them.
Introducing The Mother’s Smile— Esther Lightcap Meek
Noted Christian philosopher Esther Lightcap Meek recently published a work of philosophy that begins in an unexpected place—with the formative early moments of infancy and the significance of a mother’s smile. This is a moment that shapes how humans perceive reality, know others and trust the world, and it puts a new face on our skeptical modern societies.
Smoky Third Spaces and Flourishing — Michael Langer
Langer describes cigar lounges as unlikely but powerful third spaces for deep pastoral conversation. Two blocks from the White House, Shelly’s Back Room is a famous smoking lounge for politicians and professionals, and a place where people share pain, pressure and hope with unusual vulnerability.
ArtWay: Meeting Christ in Sundry Places — Jonathan Evens interviewing Francis Hoyland
Evens interviews painter Francis Hoyland about his decades of depicting Christ’s life, and the role that his Catholic faith plays in his art.
ArtWay: Mary Cassatt — The Crocheting Lesson— Rebecca Nunes
Nunes discusses Mary Cassatt’s The Crocheting Lesson, both as a celebration of the beauty of the mundane and a quiet reflection on the Madonna and Child.
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhoodand the Power of Sin — World Kim
World Kim reflects on the growing influence of anime—Japanese animation—on the west. Some of these stories raise deep issues that are important to us as Christians. His favorite, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, depicts sin as a destructive power, not merely an action, which has interesting connection points with Romans 7. Watched thoughtfully, anime can be a cultural moment that becomes a bridge for theological conversation.
Book Club: The Grapes of Wrath— Jordan Pickering
Jordan explores how Steinbeck’s brilliant and devastating novel offers a vision of competing Americas—two versions of his nation’s true nature. One grants individuals full freedom to pursue wealth and power and rewards whoever climbs highest, and the other prizes the freedom and wealth of the greatest number, even if it means curtailing the freedom of the few to maximise their own greatness.
Books of Note — Craig G. Bartholomew
Craig rounds out our issue with his recommendations of several recent books on diverse topics, including the artist Vermeer, the recent conflict in Israel and Palestine, Bernie Sanders’s take on capitalism and Umberto Eco’s classic on fascism.
