Prayer: Everything in common
Prayer: Everything in common
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Everything in common What a great start to a new movement. No one held back. People with money and property put it all into the common purse and those who had nothing knew that they would receive a fair share and would be able to live in peace and harmony, with the same s…
Poem: Finding God
Poem: Finding God
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Finding God Finding God, by looking at Jesus, is like hurtling through a grimy tunnel into the glorious sunshine of day. It’s like stumbling around in the dark, then suddenly finding the light switch, or watching the bright colours of the rainbow form against the retreating…
Meditation-Is it any wonder
Meditation-Is it any wonder
by Marjorie Dobson
Meditation: Is it any wonder? Is it any wonder that those women were afraid? Surely we would have been, too? They had only gone to the tomb to take their special spices and oils for the ritual anointing of the body of their special friend – a task that was very common in those da…
Meditation/monologue-Misunderstanding
Meditation/monologue-Misunderstanding
by Marjorie Dobson
Meditation/monologue: Misunderstanding They were so innocent, those disciples. Seated at the table with a traitor, they had no idea what Judas was about to do, in spite of what Jesus was saying to them. How could they sit there and listen to his words – hear him saying that the o…
Poem-At this point
Poem-At this point
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: At this point At this point Jesus stated clearly that his message and God’s love were for the whole world. At this point the visiting Greeks felt at home, because it was all Greek to them. At this point the Chosen People realised that Jesus had to go, before he destroyed …
Open with God Book - Palm Sunday Prayer
Open with God Book - Palm Sunday Prayer
by Christine Odell
Palm Sunday Reading: Mark 11:1-10 Palm crosses to be held during the prayer. God of joyful hope, we celebrate your royal promises as we recollect Christ’s triumphal, palm-strewn entry into Jerusalem. Silence God of strange and amazing truth, we see your majesty in that joyous int…
Imagining the Lectionary: opened up to the light of love (Lent 4B)
Imagining the Lectionary: opened up to the light of love (Lent 4B)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: opened up to the light of love (Lent 4B) Reflection accompanying image “The inner workings of a pocket watch” The pocket watch in the photograph belonged to my paternal grandfather, Henry. Together with a few of his handtools it is one of the very few po…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Introduction
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Introduction
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
For many years now I have written about spirituality in the every-day. It is the every-day in which we live. Being human we often long for something more transcendent than the ordinary, but then we quite often miss that which is numinous and extraordinary right under our noses. S…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Opportunities
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Opportunities
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
We have preconceived ideas of what we consider opportunities. Unless an opening comes in a recognizable way, we might miss it or be afraid to take a chance. So much keeps us unduly cautious—like fear of failure or a sense of our ineptitude. Lack of imagination or the inability to…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Relationships
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Relationships
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
We are often not aware how full of expectations our relationships are—that we should be considered, understood, and done right by. Unstated rules, for the conduct of ourselves or another, lie like land mines on the path of our connections. The conditioned sense of one’s rights, o…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Daily Round
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Daily Round
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
If we count up the hours we make beds, wash dishes, run the vacuum or the lawn mower, pay bills, shop for groceries and cook, we will realize that we have spent not just days, but months and years in these activities. Every day we have a choice to just get through our daily round…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Challenges
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Challenges
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
Trusting God with all of our life means also to be able to trust the difficulties that come our way. Challenges and bitter sufferings can be gifts as well. To open to them is a profound act of humility. When the door slams and our hopes are dashed, when our health fails, a loved …
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving The Gift Of Our Being
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving The Gift Of Our Being
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
The mind divides, categorizes, analyses, and defines. Our souls open, wonder, suffer, and love. To receive the gift of being we must let go of the ways we define and give names to who we are. We cannot receive the gift of our being unless we suspend our own self-conceptions and d…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Daily Bread
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Our Daily Bread
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
In a day we may say thank you ten to twenty times as easily as we say hello or goodbye. But to truly receive and give thanks for our daily bread we must give more than words; we must recognize how many are the givers. Countless hands have been at work for us to have what is on ou…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Nature
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving Nature
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
Under every stone and in every stump we can find burgeoning life. Tiny life swims in a thimble full of water. With eyes that can see, there is unstoppable life in every nook and cranny. God’s joy is expressed in such variety that not even one snowflake will be exactly like anothe…
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - Receiving