John Mark Hicks

The prophet Joel, whose name means “Yahweh is God,” taught Judah to lament and hope. His message announces the coming “day of the Lord,” which entails both judgment–for the impenitent among God’s people and among the nations–and the renewal of God’s vision for the reign of God in the world. Lament and hope. No one […]

Last week Lipscomb grieved through a student’s death on campus. The University responded wonderfully and in every way. I was asked to speak in chapel last Tuesday. Here is the link if you wish to hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMc39Go6d7Q

The above title is the first line in the refrain of Andrew Peterson’s “Come Back Soon.” On Sunday my old and dear friend Dean Barham, in his morning sermon at Woodmont Hills, alerted me to Peterson’s music and particularly this line. It has stuck with me for a few days now. Yesterday I read Keith Brenton’s funeral […]

The twentieth century is too familiar with valleys of dry bones. The images of stacked bodies from Nazi concentration camps, churches filled with the bones of those who sought sanctuary in Rwanda, or the killing fields of Cambodia. Unfortunately, with the help of media and the horrific inhumanity of recent times, we can all too […]

Haggai’s third oracle, like the previous two, is precisely dated. The first oracle was delivered on a new moon festival and the second was delivered during the Feast of Tabernacles. This third oracle, however, has no clear canonical link to a Jewish festival. Nevertheless, the day is significant. The oracle is delivered on December 20, […]

Part III, the shortest, is humanity’s response to God’s redemptive act and is focused on the hope of resurrection which leads to a final praise of the Lamb. Handel ends his Messiah with the praise of the reigning King, a slain Lamb. Handel weaves together texts from Job, 1 Corinthians and Revelation. He uses the […]

“…Galilee of the Gentiles–the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:15d-16). “…Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17) “Galilee of the Gentiles”? Is that not part of the land of promise? Indeed. […]

This morning I received an email from a friend who will be conducting a graveside service for premature twins who died hours after their delivery. They were only 24 weeks into their term. He asked my advice. I struggled with what to say. What would I say at such a graveside service? I have spoken […]

When a cyclone kills over 130,000 in Myanmar and an earthquake snuffs out the lives of 80,000 more in China, I have little interest in defending or justifying God. When my son (Joshua Mark Hicks) dies of a genetic disorder after watching him slowly degenerate over ten years and I learn of the tragic death of a friend’s son (John Robert […]

The eschatological horizon reminds us that the root metaphor of the Eucharist is neither tomb nor altar, but table. In some ways that sentence is sort of the thesis of my book Come to the Table. However, one dimension of the book that I wish I had emphasized more–and it is present in the book, […]