God so loved Who is Jesus? part 43 – John 3:12-21 part a Does the phrase "I gifted it to him" bother anyone else like it does me? I don’t recall using 'gift' as a verb during school or in my early adult life, but now terms like 'gifting' and 'gifted' are common. To me, it feels like …
Continue reading Exploring Faith and Eternal Life in John 3:16
A song of longing: Song 2:8-3:5 The Song of Solomon, Part 2 It got intense in the last reading. It was the first in a short series, and I wasn't yet ready for deep intimacy. The woman says, "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!" Song 2:6. If not …
Who is Jesus? part 12 After a break for Advent, we're back to John's Gospel. We are still in the opening song, Chapter 1 verses 1 to 18. For Christmas day I talked about verse 14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the …
Continue reading What is all this ‘Born Again’ stuff about anyway?
Psalms of David Psalm 57 is a more positive psalm than the previous one. The longest sections show trust in and praise to God. The difficulties are dealt with in much shorter sections. What Psalms 56 and 57 have in common is that they both begin with the same phrase, "Be merciful to me, O …
Continue reading Seeking God’s guidance in the darkness—Psalm 57
The prayers of Paul This is a series of the prayers of St Paul found in the letters attributed to him in the order he is believed to have written them. Letters to the same place or person will be treated with the first letter to that destination. This prayer can be seen as a …
The practical awe of God When I was deciding on what to write during Lent I forgot about the panic of seeing an empty page. On 1st January this year, I said I wanted to get my awe of God back. Then thinking about Lent I wanted to build on the idea that God's gifts …
Psalms not in the psalter Lamentations of Jeremiah The Lamentations are five psalms that describe the results of Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. in detail. The first four chatters are in the form of an acrostic poem, this form using the whole of the Hebrew alphabet in order. The other common element is …
The prayers of Paul This is a series on the prayers of St Paul found in the letters attributed to him in the order he is believed to have written them. Letters to the same place or person will be treated together with the first letter to that destination. Below is probably the worst image …
Psalms of David Psalms in Book 1 (Psalms 1 to 41) are mostly personal songs, so I will be looking at how they apply to us personally. Social and communal aspects of life and work do not come in until the later books of psalms. The apple of your eye is a curious phrase. It …
The prayers of Paul This is a new series on the prayers of St Paul found in the letters attributed to him in one of the orders he is believed to have written them. Letters to the same place or person will be treated together with the first letter to that destination. I started this …
Continue reading Prayer without ceasing—1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
Making an ass of myself 