by Paraclete Press | Apr 9, 2017 | Covenant, Happiness, Law, Promise, Terms of Heart
“Incline our hearts to keep this law.” Each of the first four Sundays of Lent the order of worship in my church begins with the congregation repeating that refrain nine times, in response to the pastor’s recitation, one by one, of the first nine...
by Paraclete Press | Feb 26, 2017 | Covenant, Law, Promise, Terms of Heart
In The Heart of Psalm 119 (Part 2) our focus was on examining how the elements of design and structure in the psalm support, enhance and help define its meaning. The frequently discussed word pattern also clearly falls within the category of design, whether one...
by Paraclete Press | Jan 15, 2017 | Covenant, Law, Promise, Terms of Heart
It has been several months since I last spoke in this space. There is no easy transition from that silence, and even less to the subject that I have finally mustered the courage to engage. I must both confess and warn that in finally breaking the silence, I will also...
by Paraclete Press | Aug 14, 2016 | Covenant, Happiness, Promise, Terms of Heart
In response to my June post on the Heart of Happiness, a thoughtful reader commented “I have frequently used joy instead of happy” and inquired whether or not I thought that substitution would “work.” I responded that I did not know, but I...
by Paraclete Press | Nov 23, 2015 | Covenant, Terms of Heart
In my initial post on Psalm 103, I designated this third of the four alls, or sections, that comprise the poem as the “contextual” one. While that may be accurate in terms of the literary purpose it serves, the terminology falls extraordinarily short of...
by Paraclete Press | Oct 26, 2015 | Covenant, Terms of Heart, Vision
In this Part Two of the Heart of Blessing we begin looking at the second of the alls Psalm 103 presents, namely the all of the character and nature of the God of Israel. Surely David understood as well as any man that no language can fully convey what the human mind...
