Last week, I suggested that, in his inaugural sermon at the Nazareth synagogue (Lk 4:16-21), and in the Beatitudes which must have been taught very soon after, Jesus echoed the words of Isaiah 61:1-7. I said that Jesus came to change the world, to turn the world upside down, to right wrongs, to pour out compassion, …
How to face the reality of evil
Psalm 4:1-8 Individuals associated with the federal government have, in defiance of a court order and without a trial or any form of due process, deported hundreds of people from the territory of the United States to El Salvador, where they will be held indefinitely in a concentration camp.[1] That was American historian Timothy Snyder, …
Mountains of Scripture (1): Mount Eden
A sermon by Rod Benson Image: Erastus Salisbury Field, "The Garden of Eden," oil on canvas, c.1860. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This is the first of a series of addresses on mountains mentioned in the Bible. You won’t find Mount Eden on Google Earth, in an atlas, or even in the Book of Genesis. …
Love’s as warm as tears
An Easter poem by C. S. Lewis: Love’s as warm as tears,Love is tears:Pressure within the brain,Tension at the throat,Deluge, weeks of rain,Haystacks afloat,Featureless seas betweenHedges, where once was green Love’s as fierce as fire, Love is fire:All sorts–Infernal heatClinkered with greed and pride, Lyric desire, sharp-sweet,Laughing, even when denied, And that empyreal flame Whence …
What would George do? (Part 6)
G. H. Morling on suffering and divine providence In previous posts (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), I outlined aspects of the thought of Australian Baptist theologian G. H. Morling on the causes and purposes of suffering. In this and the next post, I discuss Morling’s thought on suffering as it relates to divine providence. …
All Told 