Times and Seasons - And this is war
Times and Seasons - And this is war
by Andrew Pratt
And this is war Imagination is not enough. The squalor appals. And this is war. It is now and then, always and hereafter. Sebastopol or Sarajevo, Somme or Sri Lanka, Vietnam Nam, Afghanistan. No romance here, heroism - sometimes; fear mostly. Driven by hunger for power, for posse…
Times and Seasons - And Christ was there
Times and Seasons - And Christ was there
by Andrew Pratt
And Christ was there And Christ was there, breathless, crumpled, tattered now; and mud-besplattered. Tears of weariness and anger, drained of strength by dancing danger. Continues... Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. Please …
Times and Seasons - Full Service - WW1 Commemoration
Times and Seasons - Full Service - WW1 Commemoration
by Andrew Pratt and Marjorie Dobson
WW1 Commemoration - Year A Please note 1) that traditional components of a Remembrance Service are not included here, are readily available elsewhere, and can be incorporated if wished; 2) that a time of silence can be observed at any appropriate point in the service but perhaps …
Times and Seasons - Now the poppy petals flutter
Times and Seasons - Now the poppy petals flutter
by Andrew Pratt
Now the poppy petals flutter The updraft twisted yellow mist, ominous weave of gaseous death. And now the poppy petals flutter. Another updraft, drifting, lifting, each single petal turning end over end. Continues... Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 2014 Stainer & Bell Ltd, Londo…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Snakes, and Progress and Another Attitude to War
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Snakes, and Progress and Another Attitude to War
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Snakes and Progress and Another Attitude to War NUMBERS 21: 4- 35 Yesterday in church I was aware, as I sometimes am, that many people make the sign of the cross at certain points in the service. I was never taught to do that, and I would feel self-conscious about trying to do it…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - False Teachers
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - False Teachers
by SPCK - N T Wright
False Teachers Judah 5-16 One of the great examples of sheer, multiple, many-sided wickedness in recent history is of course the Nazi regime, which, under Adolf Hitler, produced six years of bitter and costly war and the Jewish Holocaust at the same time. All of this, like a mass…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Two Very Different Attitudes to War
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Two Very Different Attitudes to War NUMBERS 20: 14- 21:3 I write at what we hope is near the end of a war in Iraq but in the midst of a war in Afghanistan whose likely outcome no one can predict; both these wars relate to the attack on the United States of September 11, 2001. Bef…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How to Recycle Your Killer Instinct
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How to Recycle Your Killer Instinct
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Recycle Your Killer Instinct 1 Samuel 17: 1- 54 It was the Oscars last weekend (I went to a great jazz concert two blocks away, though I was nearly late because of the road closures in Hollywood), and against the odds, The Hurt Locker beat Avatar (which grossed fifty times…
Times and Seasons - So easy now to judge – original sin?
Times and Seasons - So easy now to judge – original sin?
by Andrew Pratt
So easy now to judge – original sin? So easy now to judge: that one was right, another wrong. But we were never there in the narrow trench or corridor of power. We never heard the thunder’s fire, nor found ourselves strung up upon the wire. We never had to make that bleak decisio…
Poem: Act of God
Poem: Act of God
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Act of God Flesh and blood, torn apart daily in conflict, terror, crime, torture, accident or Act of God. Act of God, they say. As if a vindictive God oversaw all disaster as an event planned for satisfaction of some unknown purpose. Continues... ©Marjorie Dobson
David and Goliath