You can pray the imprecatory psalms. PCA minister Benjamin Kandt explains how and why in 22 Reasons to Pray the Cursing (Imprecatory) Psalms.
Updated: my Book of Church Order commentary links page. Alan Strange is cruising! He finished the Form of Government and is working on the Book of Discipline now.
Here is my book review of The Unfolding Word: The Story of the Bible from Creation to New Creation by Zach Keele.
Despite what some assume, the percent of those who say they have no religion in America is not fated to increase. In fact, the percent of Nones, as they are called, hasn’t climbed at all in the last six years but has remained at about 20%.
This explains a shift I’ve noticed: being unaffiliated with a religion is no longer cool. I’m not saying it’s uncool to be a None, but like drinking Starbucks or wearing Crocs, it’s not an edgy alternative anymore. It can’t be when the Nones now comprise two out of ten slices of the American pie.
Figuring out what you owe God based on what other humans think is cool is a bad idea. So as the Nones are normalized and lose their cool, it’s a good time for all of us to re-examine how we relate toward God and why.
Prayer ≠ mediation.
Prayer ≠ spiritual desire
How so, George?
“Prayer is not meditation, because meditation is communing with our own souls, prayer is communing with God. Nor yet can it be said that prayer is nothing else but a spiritual desire; for prayer is the sending up of our desires to God, being put in order."
What often is true is that mediation leads to spiritual desire which leads to prayer.
🎧 Listening to The Drive Home by Austin Britton. His newest single.
Finished reading Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne by Andrew Bonar a few days ago. I was very blessed by it. To get a taste for yourself, read this mini bio about his short life and the lessons we can learn from it. 📚
Suffice it to say for now, though, that all of us are theologians in one way or another. Being a theologian just means thinking and speaking about God. True, we may not do much of that. We might go for days or weeks without a thought of God entering our heads, but that is usually impossible. Things happen. Accidents. Tragedies. Deaths and funerals. Natural disasters. Illness. Loss. Suffering. Disappointment. Wrongdoing. And so on and on. There is also good fortune. Perhaps unexpected success or escape from danger or certain disaster. Experience of great beauty or pleasure. Sheer grace. Chance encounters that determine our lives. Love. We begin to wonder. God pops into our thinking and conversation. We may cry out in agony, “Why God?” or in relief, “Thank God!” Or we may just use God’s name in cursing. Sooner or later we are likely to get thinking about God and wondering if there is some logic to it all in our lives, or some injustice. We become theologians.
The question is: What kind of theologian are you? And what kind of theologian are you encouraged to be?