Read Psalm 1 through twice: What words/phrases/themes dominate? Are there any images/metaphors/similes? What are they telling us? Psalms often use a technique called parallelism. This means that similar lines are placed together in pairs and triplets to either repeat, develop, compare or contrast. Can you find any examples of this in the Psalm? Try to… Continue reading A model Psalm study
Author: faithrootsdw
What the Old Testament teaches us about marriage, sex and relationships
This is part two, following on from my attempt to set out the framework of Biblical and Systematic Theology. I said in that post, that to talk properly and pastorally about marriage, sex and relationships that we would need to dig into a little more detail. So, here goes, an attempt at a summary of… Continue reading What the Old Testament teaches us about marriage, sex and relationships
Reading the Psalms: Digging into the detail
In my last article I talked about how we read the Psalms by reading them in context but just like with any other book of the Bible, we also have to step in to the detailed exegesis. Here are some further hints to help us with our Psalm reading. First, if you want to read… Continue reading Reading the Psalms: Digging into the detail
Is Church planting the enemy of healthy church life and discipleship?
I saw this tweet the other day, it’s from Marcus Honeysett who heads up Living Leadership. As someone who is actively involved in encouraging church planting I thought it might be helpful to respond a little. First, it is important to recognise that it is possible for people and churches to become so focused on… Continue reading Is Church planting the enemy of healthy church life and discipleship?
Reading the Psalms – Context is King
Our church are about to dip into the Psalms. It’s part of a series of little taster sessions throughout the first part of the year as we’ve dipped into the Old Testament. Our aim is to encourage people to get reading the Old Testament. In this article, I’m going to highlight a few tips for… Continue reading Reading the Psalms – Context is King
1 Chronicles and the big picture background to the story
This week’s podcast Here are the notes: Introduction 1 Chronicles 1-9 covers the whole of world history and specifically the history of God’s people up until the end of King Saul’s life. It does this by recording the family trees of key people with occasional, pithy commentary. It would be helpful as we reach the… Continue reading 1 Chronicles and the big picture background to the story
How might we talk about sex? – A Biblical Theology of Marriage and Relationships
In recent posts, I talked about where evangelicals have gone wrong in attempting to talk about sex, particularly in attempts to create a theology of sex. My argument was that talking pastorally about sex and relationships requires a Biblical Theology not of sexual intercourse itself, anatomised from its proper context but of marriage. In this… Continue reading How might we talk about sex? – A Biblical Theology of Marriage and Relationships
Adding workers to your team -who to look for
I was reflecting further on the conversation from the other day about staff wages, in particular Youth workers and wondered if there was a little bit more to say here, not so much about the salaries themselves but about what they may be saying about other issues in terms of recruitment. The point was crystalised… Continue reading Adding workers to your team -who to look for
If Jesus is the bridegroom then …
It’s never really struck me before but perhaps one of the most overlooked examples of Jesus claim to God is found in Mark 2:18-22. This little passage is tucked away in between two examples that we usually pick up on as examples of his divine authority. The first is when Jesus heals and forgives the… Continue reading If Jesus is the bridegroom then …
Do I really think it’s okay to underpay people and undervalue them?
Well, my article about pay and what we can afford got some kick back! So I thought it was worth just responding to a couple of charges against the article and what some people took it to suggest (I hope they weren’t directed at me personally). The first pushback was that I was doubling down… Continue reading Do I really think it’s okay to underpay people and undervalue them?
