The Park Forum

The Park Forum As the Park is to the City, so the Word is to Life.

Founded in 2009, we help individuals and groups read the Bible every day by creating short and smart materials. Cultivating vibrant faith and sharpening cultural insight through curated devotionals and scripture readings. Helping you pursue the vision of making scripture reading, reflection, and prayer part of your daily rhythms.

Reflection: Pillars of SocietyBy John TillmanWhen a person is praised as “a pillar of society,” it should mean that they...
06/08/2026

Reflection: Pillars of Society
By John Tillman

When a person is praised as “a pillar of society,” it should mean that they do good that supplies and supports the community. But…When someone is described as a “pillar of society” on a police procedural show, they are usually the villain, using the term to deflect suspicion of criminal activity. “How dare you make such charges against a pillar of society!”

Isaiah wrote at a time when people would say to him and other prophets, “How dare you make such charges against the pillars of society!”...leaders declared a golden age. But it was all a smokescreen for corruption, greed, and wickedness.

Pillars of society should lift and hold things up. Instead, they pushed things down. Rather than supplying and supporting the community, they despoiled and degraded the vulnerable. Instead of elevating others, they crushed them. Instead of maintaining justice, they manipulated it. They plundered the poor to enrich themselves. They were “grinding the faces of the poor.”

Do we not see ourselves, our communities, our cities, and our nation in this passage? Don’t we see the poor being ground down? Corrupt leaders declaring their righteousness? Wealth accumulating in the houses of those who oppress the poor? Brazen parading of such sins? These are the sounds of pillars cracking.

God promised to knock down false “pillars of society” in Isaiah’s day. May he do it in ours. There is a courtroom where God sits as judge. There, corrupt pillars will crumble. What kind of pillars are you celebrating or leaning on? What pillars will be left?

We must stand ready to be true and virtuous pillars in the house of God as he intends…

Take care what kind of pillars you are celebrating and what kind of pillars you are becoming.

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https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/pillars-of-society

Consider Supporting Our WorkOur work needs more support from people just like you. Please consider becoming a donor to s...
06/06/2026

Consider Supporting Our Work
Our work needs more support from people just like you. Please consider becoming a donor to support our ad-free biblical content.

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Reflection: Break the SilenceBy John TillmanChristians and Jews agree on some writings that we both call “scripture” or ...
06/05/2026

Reflection: Break the Silence
By John Tillman

Christians and Jews agree on some writings that we both call “scripture” or “God’s Word.”...They also agree that prophecy fell silent following Malachi…

Some silences of God might be him politely allowing us to speak first. Some silences of God are him waiting patiently for us to pass on what we already heard. Some silences of God are him asking us to spend the silence by deepening our understanding of his scriptures.

God promised on Malachi’s final page that it would not be the last page of prophecy to his people. God promised to break the silence. Jesus said John the Baptizer was, if we will accept it, the “Elijah” that Malachi promised. But John didn’t end the silence alone. Through Joel, God promised to pour out his Holy Spirit, not on just one man or even twelve apostles, but on a multitude of sons and daughters who would prophesy.

All God’s children are part of breaking the silence.

Are you fulfilling the promises God made through Malachi and Joel? Are you fulfilling the promises made through John the Baptizer and Jesus? Are you participating in God’s promise to break the silence?

Here’s some quick guidance as to how.

Devote yourself to prayer and God’s word. Eat this book. Open your mouth. God will fill it. Open your mind. God will transform it.

Adjust your life to scripture, not scripture to your life. Trim your life like the wick of a lamp, then watch the Holy Spirit ignite it, shining the light of truth and salvation.

Break the silence.

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https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/break-the-silence

Reflection: The Dissonant Notes of HopeBy John TillmanMicah’s audience of exiles didn’t have a rosy, happy homecoming to...
06/04/2026

Reflection: The Dissonant Notes of Hope
By John Tillman

Micah’s audience of exiles didn’t have a rosy, happy homecoming to Jerusalem…They were disillusioned, discouraged, and doubtful.

They noticed that those “winning” in life were arrogant evildoers. Two groups responded differently to these observations. God said one group spoke “arrogantly” and called the other his “treasured possession.”

One group spoke to each other, asking, “What do we gain by obeying God?”...God condemned the arrogant group.

Another group “feared the Lord.”...and honored his name...

In every age, God’s people experience the dissonance of hearing the promises of righteousness and seeing the payouts of wickedness. Corruption blooms. Integrity wilts. The arrogant gloat. The humble are shamed. We don’t resolve this dissonance by modulating our morality to modes fitting the key of corruption. We don’t give in.

In the film, Casablanca, N**i soldiers sing a German anthem in a crowded bar. Spurred by Victor Laslow, the band plays, “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem. The N**is were winning the war at that time. But the bar patrons, with tears and defiant hope, out-sing the group of soldiers.

Today, we watch this scene knowing the outcome—the N**is lose. But in 1942, when Casablanca was produced and in 1938 when the play it was based on, Everyone Comes to Rick’s, was written, no one knew. They wrote it anyway, filmed it anyway, and sang it anyway.

When wickedness seems to be winning, and singing loudly about it, God’s people don’t sing along. We sing the song of the kingdom to come. We remember the promises of the past and anticipate joyous victories to come.

Hold out a dissonant note of hope. Sing, even through tears, and remember.

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https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/the-dissonant-notes-of-hope

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