In Psalm 51 – have mercy, the author asks God for mercy because of God’s steadfast, unfailing love. Some translations say God’s merciful love. What is the nature of this mercy? How do we receive it? Psalm 51 This psalm, attributed to David, begins with a heartfelt cry: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your […]
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In Psalm 36 – Sin directs the heart of the wicked, the writer declares. The psalm contrasts the ways of the sinner with the ways of God. Psalm 36 – the Wicked Psalm 36 begins with an oracle from God, according to some translations. God is speaking to David’s heart: “I have a message from […]
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God’s mercy is vast and deep, surpassing our human capacity to understand. One need only read the Psalms to recognize this. What else can we learn about mercy in the Psalms? Mercy in Scripture The word mercy and forms of the word such as mercies and merciful, occurs over 200 times in Scripture. The majority […]
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Biblical economics is not like modern economics. Like the game Monopoly, in biblical economics the slate is wiped clean at the end of each game. It’s about God’s crazy love for us and mercy to all who call upon him. Psalm 136 teaches us about this crazy love and mercy. Playing Monopoly As a kid, […]
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“The quality of mercy is not strained, it falleth like the gentle rain from heaven,” Shakespeare tells us in the Merchant of Venice. But what is the quality of mercy? Is it simply compassion shown to an offender or victim of misfortune as Webster tells us? Or is it something more as we see in […]
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Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, a French priest and theologian who lived in the first half of the twentieth century, integrated science and theology with the spiritual exercises of Ignatius. One of the concepts of Tielhard is loving the “not yet,” the potential, the future. We love people as they are now, but also love the […]
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Dear Mildred, Perhaps you are wondering why I am using such an antiquated form of communication as an actual hand-written letter. Well let me tell you about the last few weeks. As you know, my children presented me with a laptop computer and cell phone and cable to use with the computer for […]
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