Open a Bible near the centre, and you will find the Book of Psalms. In many ancient manuscripts, the first psalm in the collection was apparently unnumbered, untitled, and printed in red ink to indicate that it frames and prefaces the whole Psalter, Israel's primary songbook. Psalm 1 is both a wisdom psalm, showing us …
Things worth fighting for
A sermon by Rod Benson American poet and novelist Charles Bukowski once said, “People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.” We might, in our weaker moments, be tempted to criticize the Apostle Paul for several apparent faults …
Ethics and prayer (part 1 of 2)
If we are faithful in the way we follow Jesus, then our deepest and truest desires will find their expression in godly, counter-cultural, justice-shaped prayers passionately aligned to the kingdom and mission of God. Our best prayers will be ethical prayers. In this and my next column, I want to explore the relation of ethics …
