November 30, 2008
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 […]
13 Comments | Pastoral Care, Personal, Spirituality | Tagged: Bible-Psalms, Confession, Forgiveness, Grace, Judgmentalism, Love, Perfectionism, Pride, Self-love | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
September 22, 2008
It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to trust in flesh. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to trust in rulers. Psalm 118:8-9 Middle class Americans are worried about their stock portfolios, retirements, and home mortages. Others are worried about what they will eat today, what they will wear as […]
14 Comments | Society, Spirituality | Tagged: Bible-Psalms, Fear, Meditation, Politics, Poor, Poverty, Prayer, Psalms, Sovereignty | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
August 26, 2008
When my wife and I exercise in our bonus room we watch some kind of DVD. Today we watched the biography of St. Patrick. Though I was familiar with much of his story, I was intrigued when the video narrated the following from his Confession. “I am, then, first of all, countryfied, an exile, evidently unlearned, one […]
10 Comments | Church History, Pastoral Care, Spirituality | Tagged: Affliction, Bible-Psalms, Brokenness, Grace, Grief, Hurt, Pain, Sin, St. Patrick, Suffering | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
July 11, 2008
One last post on spiritual or contemplative reading of Scripture….I think. Afterwards, I will take a weekend break from blogging to enjoy some time with my wife. “Praying the Psalms” has been a intermittent habit of mine. Sometimes I have devoted myself to it and at other times I have laid it aside. As I […]
4 Comments | Hermeneutics, Pastoral Care, Spirituality | Tagged: Bible-Psalms, Contemplation, Contemplative Bible Reading, Lament, Meditation, Prayer, Scripture, Spiritual Reading, Spirituality | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
July 10, 2008
I admit it. I lied. I said this would be a three post series, but I wanted to add a another form of communal spiritual reading that I have enjoyed on many occasions in the past five years. It is called–at least as I know it–“Dwelling in the Word.” There are several good resources available on […]
2 Comments | Hermeneutics, Spirituality | Tagged: Bible Reading, Bible-Luke, Bible-Psalms, Contemplation, Contemplative Reading, Dwelling in the Word, Hermeneutics, Lectio Divina, Meditation, Spiritual Reading | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
May 13, 2008
Madeleine L’Engle: “Dear God. I hate you. Love, Madeleine.” I have been contemplating this brief prayer for several days after I read it in Gary Thomas’ Sacred Marriage (p. 157; an excellent read, btw!). Initially, I was horrified by how much I identified with the prayer and I was quite troubled by the […]
8 Comments | Pastoral Care, Spirituality | Tagged: Bible-Job, Bible-Psalms, Grief, Lament, Pastoral, Prayer, Suffering | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
April 30, 2008
Twenty-eight years ago this morning–at about 3:00am–I was awoken to the news that my wife of two years, eleven months and eight days had died during the night. Sheila and I agreed that she would undergo corrective back surgery so that she could carry a child full term. We had already experienced one miscarriage and would like to […]
7 Comments | Biblical Texts, Pastoral Care, Personal, Spirituality | Tagged: Bible-Psalms, Death, Grief, Lament, Psalms, Sheila Pettit Hicks, Suffering | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks
April 28, 2008
I tend to think of the Psalms in the broad category of “calling upon God”–they are situated responses to God’s own call toward us in creation and redemption. In dialogue believers call upon the creator and redeemer God in profession, prayer and praise; they respond to God’s divine acts in the world in confession, lament and thanksgiving […]
No Comments » | Biblical Texts, Spirituality | Tagged: Assembly, Bible-Psalms, Curse, Genre, Imprecatory, Lament, Praise, Prayer, Psalms, Sanctification, Spirituality | Permalink
Posted by John Mark Hicks