Letters to London - 14 Kingdom citizenship and earthly responsibility
Letters to London - 14 Kingdom citizenship and earthly responsibility
by SPCK - Stephen J.Plant and Toni Burrowes-Cromwell
14 Kingdom citizenship and earthly responsibility But why all these observations and details entrusted to a 14-year-old boy? Did the writer believe that the status of citizenship (whether heavenly or earthly) was not solely the reserve of adults? If so, this would not have been n…
The Act of Prayer Year C - Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C
The Act of Prayer Year C - Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C
by BRF - John Birch
Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C Opening prayer Let us be still for a moment as we draw near to worship God. Let us remind ourselves why we are gathered together today. Listen. God speaks even through the background noise of the world around us…
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables: Part 2
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables: Part 2
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 4 Challenge Parables: Part 2 The Word Against The Word When I was in high school, from 1945 to 1950, the standard English curriculum established by Ireland’s Board of Education involved a different Shakespearean play for each year. My memory recalls The Merchant of Venice…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Creation Asserts Itself
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Creation Asserts Itself
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Creation Asserts Itself Genesis 3: 1-3 A talking snake? But this is a parable, remember. In Julia Bolden’s version of the story, the tempter is a parrot, and God’s ban concerns television; Adam and Eve are not to watch the good and- bad-knowledge channel. A parrot flies in throug…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 11 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 11 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 11 Jeremiah 23: 1-6 Ephesians-2: 11-22 Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56 In today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel, we get a strong sense of the enormous pressure Jesus and the disciples were under at this point in his ministry. Jesus is at the height of his popularity and although his con…
A Tale from a Riverbank
A Tale from a Riverbank
by Roger Price
This is one of a number of monologues that I have written for use in worship or some other reflective purpose. This one deals with the events of baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John from the point of view of a bystander waiting his turn to be baptised . A Tale From a Rive…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 2 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 2 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 2 Jeremiah 17.5–10 1 Corinthians 15.12–20 Luke 6.17–26 Blessings and woes: the upside-down world of the gospel, addressing, as Jeremiah had done, the heart’s self-deceptions, and allowing YHWH to test the mind and search the heart. The woes read like a list of contemporary…
The Open Gate - Confession - Prayers 1&2
The Open Gate - Confession - Prayers 1&2
by SPCK - David Adam
Confession We come to you, Lord, for you alone can heal and restore us. We are not able to heal ourselves, We are not able to forgive ourselves, We are not able to restore ourselves, We are not able to sanctify ourselves, We are not able to satisfy ourselves...
Open with God Book - Divorce or the ending of a relationship
Open with God Book - Divorce or the ending of a relationship
by Christine Odell
DIVORCE or the ending of a relationship Prayers for Various Occasions Reading Psalm 89.1, 2 Faithful God, we love and adore you because your love for us is never ending; because in Christ you gave everything to bring us back to you; because your Holy Spirit fills our lives with f…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 8 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 8 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 8 Mark 5: 21-43 Gaze on a crowd in a big city. Picture the platform at the tube station, where everyone is determined to catch the next train home and they all push and shove. Once on, they stand squashed together unable to breathe, and cannot avoid clinging to each other’…
2 Corinthians - What Will happen When Paul Arrives?