John Mark Hicks

Peter followed Jesus, albeit distantly and cautiously.  Nevertheless, unlike other disciples (including the “young man”) in Mark’s narrative, Peter did follow. The weight of his earlier adamant insistence that he would die with Jesus as well as his natural impetuousness emboldens him to warm himself at the same fire where the guards, who arrested Jesus […]

On December 7, 518 BCE, almost two years after Zechariah’s eight visions on February 15, 519 assure Judah that the temple will be rebuilt (Zechariah 1:7) and two years before the dedication of the temple on March 12, 516 (Ezra 6:15-18), a delegation from Bethel comes to Jerusalem to ask Yahweh a question. They ask […]

Whatever God does is just. God destroyed your life. Therefore, you deserved it.  That is a summary of Bildad’s response to Job’s harrowing lament and plea for wisdom as well as sympathy from his friends in Job 6-7. The hidden premise is that God only destroys the life of the wicked. Somebody, somewhere sinned. With shocking […]

[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.] God partners with humanity as divine representatives […]

“I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3) “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Where in the Christian community do we feel safe confessing sin? In tragedy, people tend to surround the hurting even if after a period […]

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 […]

“God seeps through the cracks.” I heard that statement today.  I thought it profound; wish that I had originated it (there is my pride); and wondered why I had never heard it before (I thought I knew everything!). It struck me as so true…at least in my life and I can only speak for myself. When […]