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Good Friday 2024: The Cross on the Hill!

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This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason, I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe in Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Tim 1: 15-17 I remember when we were young and introduced to the television set for the first time, the only transmission we got was from a neighboring country. The greatest achievement would be to hoist the antenna on the rooftops, and slowly swing it in various directions until it captured the airwaves from a distant transmitter. Today, I marvel at the technology embedded in mobile phones, that helps us receive wi-fi and mobile signals, which help capture and release millions of bytes of data, that enable the seamless and uninterrupted transmission of data, audio,

Psalm 149: The Saints

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  1 Praise the  Lord ! Towards the end of the book of Psalms, one finds a string of Hallelujah psalms. Hallelujah as in "Praise the LORD!". Psalm 149 is one of them.  Sing to the  Lord  a new song, And  His praise in the assembly of saints.   Spoiler alert! This song is going to be new and different, and we shall understand why in the broader context of this Psalm. One context is that this singing comes with praise among a very select group of people: the assembly of saints. This brings us to the question: who then are the saints? Are saints canonized dead people? Perhaps not. An old hymn I used to sing as a child, reminded me that the psalmist does not urge us to sing among such dead saints, but in the assembly of "living" saints. To understand who these saints "are", let us listen to the hymn:   "They lived not only ages past but are hundreds and thousands still. The world is bright with joyous saints, who love to do Jesus' will". The simpl