John Mark Hicks

When we assemble,  God loves us. I sense an immediate danger in that statement. It could potentially mean that God loves us only when we assemble or that God loves us because we assemble. I mean neither. Rather, I mean that when we assemble, God is actively engaged with us during the assembly by loving on […]

When we assemble, we love God. Or, more to the point I want to make, when we assemble, we love on God.  There are many ways to make this point. We could look at the Psalms where we have example after example of expressed love for God through prayer, praise and assembly. For example, Psalm […]

I am increasingly convinced that all theological and ethical thought must be organically rooted–not simply tangentially connected–and illuminated by what Scot McKnight calls the “Jesus Creed,” that is, the first and second greatest commandments: Love God and love your neighbor. As a step in that direction, I offer three blogs on the nature and purpose […]

As I have spoken on The Shack in recent months–this past weekend, for example, at the Central Church of Christ in Benton, KY–the title of this post has become increasingly clarified for me: “Sad But Unafraid.”  [Those who fear the Lord] will have no fear of bad news;              their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. […]

Morris Pettit, Sheila’s father (my first wife who died in 1980), passed from this life into the next this past Tuesday, July 14. I am sad today. Morris, even 29 years after Sheila’s death, called me “son.” I have experienced the joy of family, the model of a good father, and the grace of sonship […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] Though neither bounded nor contained by the […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] The divine community enjoys communion with the […]

Last Wednesday evening I was reminded by Terry Smith of a wonderful summary of worship from William Temple, Archbishop of Cantebury (1942-1944). It was Temple’s vision of how liturgical community can help spiritually form a person. Terry first heard it from E. H. Ijams who, at the time, was an elder at the Highland Church […]

Psalm 143 O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy…. Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you… So my spirit grows faint within me, my heart within me is dismayed… I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done… Let […]

Tonight I was blessed to listen to Terry Smith teach a class at the Woodmont Hills Family of God.  He asked each of us to meditate on a story about Jesus from one of the Gospels, and then asked some of us to share that story.  While it was helpful to hear what stories impacted […]