To quote the Beatles: "La, La, La, La... life goes on"
I thought I'd check if anything momentous has happened in the world? Anything I ought to celebrate, perhaps? Today's headlines are:
Meanwhile, in other stories: Grave robbers never found, Roman guard sacked for falling asleep on duty, Jesus seen alive, Death defeated, Harmony between God and people, There's hope for us all.
After a tip-off from Steve Jeffery, I really enjoyed reading Toby Sumpter's Good Friday sermon from last year.
It's entitled My Song is Love Unknown.
I think I've finally worked out what is going on in Ruth 4. I'll make a note here as a place where I can come and find this again when I need it. Do comment below if I've missed something.
There are 3 Old Testament laws in play here.
Leviticus 25:23-28 says that, because all the land is really God's, should someone sell part of their land to alleviate their poverty, the buyer cannot regard it as theirs absolutely. A relative of the person they bought it from must be allowed to redeem, or buy back, that land, and the price for that is to be calculated fairly.
Psalm 95:1-7c inverts the categories of creation and salvation. Roughly, the pattern of the Psalm goes like this:
- Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord, the rock of our salvation (1-2)
- For, he is a great God who holds, owns and formed everything (3-5)
- Come, let us bow and kneel before our maker (6)
- For he is our God, and we are his people, under his care (7a-c)
I'm greatly heartened to read Richard Perkins' recent post: 5 ways to profit from a rubbish sermon.
I've finally finished reading William Still's fine The Work of the Pastor. Perhaps a better heading for this post would be the need for perspective. Anyway, here's a word for our own day:
Paul Barnett has a very helpful paragraph in his commentary in the NICNT series in which he charts the main line through the 8th and 9th chapters of 2 Corithians:
There are some very helpful distinctions and other points made in an article by Doug Wilson on Lent. With a month to go before the season begins, I'd commend it to readers of this blog.
Those wishing to pray for the church in Iran may like to read this recent report that has documented the persecution there since June 2010.
The headline is this: “We know for sure that at least 202 Christians have been arbitrarily arrested in 24 cities in Iran since June 2010. 33 remain in prison today. This has happened against the background of government officials publicly speaking out against Christians.”
The report is available from http://www.elam.com/articles/202-arrests,-33-still-in-prison.
