Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - To Be Embodied
Simple Ways - Towards The Sacred - To Be Embodied
by SPCK - Gunilla Norris
What does it mean to be embodied? Doesn’t it mean to be given form? We have been gifted with a particular body. It is who we are in part—but not the whole story. Form implies content. And when form and content are wedded, an intrinsic grace emerges where beauty is revealed. To ma…
Reflections for Holy Week - Jesus Wept
Reflections for Holy Week - Jesus Wept
by Michaela Youngson
Jesus Wept Luke 19.28-48 The fresh green of Olivet soon gives way to the barren waste of Golgotha and somewhere between the two is the City. When he came in sight of the city, Jesus wept over it. The city in which dreams are born, wealth grows, mornings bring the luxurious cries …
Reflections for Holy Week - Jar and Nard
Reflections for Holy Week - Jar and Nard
by Michaela Youngson
Jar and Nard Matthew 26.6-13 A jar, fit to hold something precious, broken open to allow its contents to flow in scandalous, intimate, tactile generosity. The pot is royal purple and holy blue, with silver strands that hint at wealth. The colour of death, the colour of lent...
Reflections for Holy Week - Pieta
Reflections for Holy Week - Pieta
by Michaela Youngson
Pieta I was fourteen when I cradled you in my not much more than infant arms, wrapped you in linen cloth, fed you with my own life force. Rich men came and brought gifts fit for a king. Who knew that the swaddling cloth would herald a shroud, the myrrh would point to your embalmi…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 38. Valley walking
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 38. Valley walking
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 38. Valley walking Psalm 23.4 I’d been feeling really down for days. Even though he seemed not too bad. Then I realized that what I was doing was grieving. Dementia takes your loved one away from you as truly as divorce or death. The onl…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 39. Whose life is it anyway?
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 39. Whose life is it anyway?
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 39. Whose life is it anyway? Isaiah 41.13 Becoming a 24/7 at-home carer involves a lot of changes. Life gets to be pretty well unrecognizable, and as for us – our very identities may be changed. Once we may have been well-paid and valued…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 40. You need love too
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 40. You need love too
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 40. You need love too Galatians 5.14 Yes, of course that’s what it’s about. You’re the carer because you do care. It is love that prompts you, motivates you, keeps you going. But sometimes it can feel like all that love has been used up an…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 22. Rags, and losing them
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 22. Rags, and losing them
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 22. Rags, and losing them Ephesians 4.26a I like to think of myself as basically an okay person – and I’m sure that you are much better than okay! But one of the things I dislike most about being a carer is that it shows me up to myself …
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 20. Only the lonely
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 20. Only the lonely
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 20. Only the lonely Proverbs 27.10 When your loved one can’t get out, or only with a lot of difficulty, your days will likely be spent mainly within the four walls of your home (unless you’re fortunate enough to have someone to help, who c…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 21. Ouch! I'm trying to help
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 21. Ouch! I'm trying to help
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 21. Ouch! I’m trying to help . . . Romans 12.18 I saw a woman in the supermarket yesterday. She had the generally washed-out look of the over-exhausted long-term carer and was hurrying to get her shopping done. Then I noticed the tell-ta…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 24. Sharing the load
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 24. Sharing the load
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 24. Sharing the load Matthew 11.28–29 We get so used to going it alone that it can be very difficult to switch off when we finally get some help and some time to ourselves. I’ve got a respite break at the moment (to let me write this book…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 23. Running on empty
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 23. Running on empty
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 23. Running on empty Isaiah 40.31 One of the biggest problems and danger areas for carers is tiredness. Exhaustion. Bone-deep weariness that makes you want to sit and weep. This is when you know you’re running on empty. It’s strange. We do…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 28. Surely this can't be right?
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 28. Surely this can't be right?
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 28. Surely this can’t be right? Jeremiah 29.11 Some days I wake up calm, even cheerful about my life. More often I’m floundering in the morass and the thought pops up, ‘Surely this can’t be right? Surely God can’t want this for me?’ This i…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 25. Snakes and ladders
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 25. Snakes and ladders
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 25. Snakes and ladders Psalm 126.5–6 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the pioneer in helping people face death and bereavement, reckoned that five stages are involved: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. And she felt it was importa…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 26. Someone to lean on
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 26. Someone to lean on
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 26. Someone to lean on Proverbs 3.5 Isaiah 26.4 Watching television the other day, I was reminded about the fashion for outdoor artificial ice rinks. I love to watch how someone goes on the ice for the first time, very wobbly, but then a f…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 1. And the lucky winner is...
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 1. And the lucky winner is...
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 1. And the lucky winner is... 1 Corinthians 10.13 I’ll never win the Lottery – because I never buy a Lottery ticket. On the other hand, I didn’t apply for this job of being a carer. Did you? I don’t think anyone applies. It just happens. A…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 18. Living with the chaos
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 18. Living with the chaos
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 18. Living with the chaos Mark 5.36 There’s a hymn that seems to be most people’s favourite, ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’, and it used to be one of mine. Until I became a carer, when one of the lines jarred with sudden force: ‘Let o…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 14. Just a carer