Prayer: Perceptive God
Prayer: Perceptive God
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Perceptive God Perceptive God, you know our thoughts and our behaviour. You know when we are sincere and when we are deceiving ourselves. We try to do what is right. We try to live blameless lives. We believe and have confidence in you. We worship and praise you. So we tr…
Poem: That shouldn’t happen to you!
Poem: That shouldn’t happen to you!
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: That shouldn’t happen to you! When the person who is supposed to love you most is the one who seems to understand your faith in God the least, do you reject the God who has held you for so long, or ignore the one who says your God doesn’t seem to care? Continues... ©Marjori…
Poem: One continuous line of speech
Poem: One continuous line of speech
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: One continuous line of speech One continuous line of speech. First the creative Spirit bringing order from chaos. Next the prophets, thundering, condemning, or calling people to repentance. After them, the Son, embodying the image of God, challenging, changing, daring and s…
Festivals Together - Introduction- festivals for everyone
Festivals Together - Introduction- festivals for everyone
by SPCK - Sandra Millar
Creating all-age worship: the key components Introduction Festival is a great word and a great experience, one deeply embedded in contemporary culture. It is estimated that there are at least five hundred music festivals alone each year in the UK, plus countless other types. Ther…
Worship Together - Promise for Everyone
Worship Together - Promise for Everyone
by SPCK - Sandra Millar
December – Promise for everyone Worship Together December brings us to the beginning of the church year, but for the vast majority of people it brings us to Christmas. The challenge is to use the lectionary to recapture a sense of Advent, of preparing for the coming of Christ as …
Festivals Together - How to use this book
Festivals Together - How to use this book
by SPCK - Sandra Millar
How to use this book Festivals Together There are fifteen festival outlines in this book, each of them offering something different. They range from the familiar occasions such as Mothering Sunday to the solemn days of Holy Week.1 The ideas that are offered are jumping-off points…
Worship Together - Invitation for everyone
Worship Together - Invitation for everyone
by SPCK - Sandra Millar
November – Invitation for everyone? Worship Together By November we become very aware of the changing focus of the church year. This season is sometimes called the kingdom season, as the lectionary focuses on the kingdom drawing close, on the vision of a heavenly banquet and of j…
Worship Together - Recommended Reading
Worship Together - Recommended Reading
by SPCK - Sandra Millar
Recommended Reading Worship Together Children’s spirituality Adams, Kate, Unseen Worlds, London: Jessica Kingsley, 2010. Beckwith, Ivy, Postmodern Children’s Ministry, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2004. Berryman, Jerome, Children and the Theologians: Clearing the Way for Grace…
Reflection on Psalm 124
Reflection on Psalm 124
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection on Psalm 124 One small boy – nine years old, perhaps – stood proudly to say the psalm he’d learned by heart and proclaimed those words, ‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when our enemies attacked us, then we would have been swallowed alive …’ And all tho…
Reflection on Proverbs 31: 10-31
Reflection on Proverbs 31: 10-31
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection on Proverbs 31: 10-31 ‘A good woman is hard to find,’ they say. I’m not surprised, if you look at that picture they paint in Proverbs. It sets feminism back into the Dark Ages and even caps Shirley Conran’s Superwoman for imposing impossible demands on a woman’s time a…
Poem: We were ashamed
Poem: We were ashamed
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: We were ashamed We were ashamed. We’d been caught out. We thought he hadn’t heard us. We wouldn’t have been talking about it if we’d known. We were ashamed. Boasting about our own achievements. Scoring points over each other. Even though we knew none of us could better him.…
Poem:True wisdom
Poem:True wisdom
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem:True wisdom Is wisdom found in argument, boasting, or sharp debate, or is it found in selfishness, in envy, or in hate? Does wisdom fire ambition that is ruthless in its drive, or cause a fight or quarrel in the battle to survive? Does wisdom harbour bitterness, or twist the…
Prayer: God of healing power
Prayer: God of healing power
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: God of healing power God of healing power we come to pray for those who have a special need for your care. We pray for those whose brains have been physically damaged, often from birth, and for those who suffer from some form of dementia. We pray for those whose learning …
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16.19-31 We have all seen him. He lies on a pile of newspapers outside a shop doorway, covered with a rough blanket. Perhaps he has a dog with him for safety. People walk past him, or even step over him. He occasionally rattles a few c…
Luke for Everyone - The Persistent Widow and the Tax-Collector
Luke for Everyone - The Persistent Widow and the Tax-Collector
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Persistent Widow and the Tax-Collector Luke 18.1-14 Come with me into a court of law, where a civil case is being tried. I haven’t often been in a court, but we see them on the television and in the newspapers, and from time to time legal cases are widely reported and make hi…
Luke for Everyone - Ten Lepers Healed
Luke for Everyone - Ten Lepers Healed
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ten Lepers Healed Luke 17.11-19 What would make you shout for joy at the top of your voice? What would make you fall on the ground – yes, flat on your face! – in front of someone? Two explorers were lost in the South American jungle not long ago. For nine months they wandered abo…
Luke for Everyone - Forgiveness, Faith and Obedience