John Mark Hicks

Psalm 137 begins with a powerful lament but ends with what some have called the worst verse in the Bible. Its last three verses are excluded from most Western modern liturgies, and it is a source of embarrassment to many believers, especially disciples of Jesus. Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss both its lament […]

Occasioned by the injustices of the ruling class, the community petitions God to judge their unjust judges. A worshipper speaks for the community in a kind of “cultic prophetic lament.”[1] One might imagine a Jeremiah or some priestly leader voicing this complaint at the temple as Israel’s judges gathered to worship. Jeremiah may have appeared at […]

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors….For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:12, 14-15 Mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:13b [NOTE:  The Sunday before last, November 2, I returned to teaching […]

[My book on the Shack is now available on Kindle.] I now come to the third theme in The Shack that I find both emotionally and theologically compelling. The first theme is God’s total delight in and fondness for his children no matter what their shacks look like.  The second theme is that trusting in God’s goodness and loving purposes […]