You don't read far in the Bible before you encounter God's people engaging with God and the fallen world they live in. Sometimes they sing - because they're glad or sad or even mad! Sometimes they pray out of a sense of desperation or utter joy. And sometimes they just want to bless others and they resort to the ancient practice of benediction.
In the coming weeks we'd like to explore some of the prayers in the Bible to see how we can better pray in our circumstances. And we'd like to examine some of the songs sung by God's people at various times to better appreciate what moved them. Who knows, it might move us too! And then there are these powerful blessings - benedictions, which can and should be pronounced more often over others.
Obviously, we won't have time to consider all of them - they number in the hundreds! Instead, we'll offer you a sampler or cook's tour of these amazing resources for the people of God in a COVID-19 world.
