I have had the privilege of visiting Israel three times. On the first occasion, in 2007, I spent several hours at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, including a tour of the Dome of the Rock, where the Jewish Temple stood during Jesus’ life, until its destruction by Rome in AD 70. Beneath the great gilt …
I believe in miracles!
A sermon by Rod Benson When I typed the title of today’s sermon into an internet search engine, the first link that appeared was the Hot Chocolate song, “You sexy thing,” which played as the recessional for our wedding in January (2017). The first line goes, “I believe in miracles.” “Yes, I do!” (as I …
Man overboard!
A sermon by Rod Benson Jonah 1:4-16 Can you imagine what it must feel like to be “on the run”? Countless novels and movies celebrate the terror – and the glamour – of being on the run from the law, or from the lawless. How much more terrifying, unnerving and depressing it must have been …
The consolation of Job
A sermon by Rod Benson for Seniors Week. Martin Luther called it “magnificent and sublime as no other book in Scripture.”[1] “Considered from a purely literary perspective, the book of Job is the supreme literary achievement of the Old Testament.”[2] Job is a biblical book like no other. Its themes invite philosophical speculation. Its story …
A candid friend of historiography
A short commentary on the method employed in Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years “Of making surveys of Christian history, there is no end,” Diarmaid MacCulloch observes in his 1161-page book, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Yet he suggests that his approach stands out as more daunting than certain other notable contemporary accounts.[1] As a historian, MacCulloch …
iDigress 