Deus Misereatur

We worship you for there is none like you, O God, who rides through the heavens to our help, through the skies in your majesty. You, O eternal God, are our dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And you thrust out the enemy before us and say, ‘Destroy’ (Deuteronomy 33:26-27). It is to you we pray. Look, O Good Shepherd, with compassion on your one flock all around the world, and around the OKC area to include: Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, Christ Church, Church of the Servant, and Clark Memorial UMC . With rod and staff, comfort the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand. Seek out your sheep and rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. Seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak (Ezekiel 34:12, 16). Look, O Good Shepherd, with compassion upon this part of your one flock, Heritage Presbyterian Church. Bring us to dwell securely; to be a more s...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig My rating: 3 of 5 stars My son had to read it for a philosophy of science class. After he completed the course he asked me to read it so we could talk. If it hadn't been for my son's request I would likely have put it down a time or two. But, I plowed on over the weeks to see what my son had been reading, and to talk it over with him. A clash of ideas. A wrangling between Western and Eastern philosophy. Layers of story line that include father and son, technology and art, mental illness and mental prowess, rhetoric and dialectic, the one and the many, institutionally trained motorcycle mechanics and those who are motorcycle mechanic-artists, romantic and classic modes of thought, et alia. In so many ways it is a fascinating story. Maybe something of a mystical tale for non-theists with a surprise ending? Now I'm done, and ready to talk. He's already moved on and delving into other t...

What do you give someone to help them through seasons when they are smeared and railed against? Where do you point those who are fretting over the suffocating rise of evildoers in their life? The book of Psalms is a good start! And Dale Ralph Davis, one-time Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi, and pastor of several Presbyterian congregations throughout the years, has added another installment to his series on the biblical Psalter. In this newly published 224-page paperback “In the Presence of My Enemies: Psalm 25-37” Davis has amassed a short, scholarly, insightful and engrossing volume that aids readers to interact with these Psalms. The author joins hands with the sacred songwriter in beckoning us to employ our grittiest grief, formidable fears, principle praises and staunchest certainties as we pour out our hearts into the bosom of God. Older teens, twenty-somethings, tricenarians and beyond will find this a very approachable volum...

O LORD, our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: you are the LORD our God, who teaches us to profit, who leads us in the way we should go (Isaiah 48.17); to you we pray. You who have called your people; you who are the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Isaiah 48:12); we pray for your universal Church and these churches in the larger OKC area: Resurrection Free Methodist Church; Acts United Methodist Church; and Asbury Hooten Memorial UMC . In Hosea’s words we pray; may your people press on to know you, and may they find you coming to them as the dawn, as the showers and spring rains that water the earth. Help all your people to sow righteousness, to reap steadfast love, to break up their fallow ground, to seek you so that you will come and rain righteousness on them. And by your restraining hand and truth-guiding Spirit, may they not plow iniquity, reap injustice, or eat the fruit of lies by trusting in their own way, in the multitude of their own strength (Hosea 6:...