Transforming Preaching - The word of God
Transforming Preaching - The word of God
by SPCK - David Heywood
1 Why preach? The word of God Written words, spoken words Since the invention of the printing press over 500 years ago the printed word has been the world’s dominant form of communication. Once the privilege of a few, reading and writing have become a universal gateway to a world…
Transforming Preaching - A step-by-step guide to sermon preparation
Transforming Preaching - A step-by-step guide to sermon preparation
by SPCK - David Heywood
3 A step-by-step guide to sermon preparation If you want to bake a cake, you need to include certain basic ingredients. You can vary the amounts and there is a huge variety of other things you can add to make cakes of many different kinds. But without the basics, you don’t have a…
Transforming Preaching - Learning through reflection
Transforming Preaching - Learning through reflection
by SPCK - David Heywood
2 The sermon as a learning event Preaching for learning If our ministry of preaching is to be effective we need to do at least two things: to understand the role of sermons in the context of the learning that is already taking place in our congregations through reflection; and to…
Transforming Preaching - Remembering
Transforming Preaching - Remembering
by SPCK - David Heywood
2 The sermon as a learning event Remembering Since both listening and memory are elements in the way our minds work to take in, store and use information, remembering shares many characteristics with listening. Like listening, it is an active process, deeply affected by our value…
Transforming Preaching - Learning
Transforming Preaching - Learning
by SPCK - David Heywood
2 The sermon as a learning event Learning We have looked at two of the specific ‘components’ of the learning process, listening and remembering. We have seen that listening is an active process; it requires a decision to pay attention to some new information or situation, whether…
journeying with mark yr B - Preface: What is this book about?
journeying with mark yr B - Preface: What is this book about?
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
Preface: What is this book about? The Revised Common Lectionary has established itself in Anglican parishes (and in other denominations) as the framework within which the Bible is read on Sundays in public worship. It follows a three-year pattern, taking each of the synoptic Gosp…
Recovering from Depression - Some final thoughts
Recovering from Depression - Some final thoughts
by SPCK - Katharine Smith
Some final thoughts I would much rather not have had to experience such frequent episodes of depression over so many years and I still have questions I want to, and do, ask God about. But I’ve learnt that I have a choice about how I view this. I can continue to regret that it too…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Faithfulness, Not Mine
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Faithfulness, Not Mine
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Faithfulness, Not Mine Psalm 143 Contrary to the resolve she had announced a few days ago, first thing this morning my wife sat at her computer checking the news. Eventually I asked her what had happened to her resolve to begin the day with her time of devotion, and in horr…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Thine Is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory Psalm 145 A student once asked me why the Lord’s Prayer is so different from the prayers in the Psalms, which characteristically cry out to God and issue protests to God because of people’s urgent needs. I wasn’t sure, but in due cou…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Creation as a Reason for Hope
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Creation as a Reason for Hope
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Creation as a Reason for Hope Psalm 147 Six centuries before Christ, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, and many of its people were taken off into exile in Babylon. Not surprisingly, over time they became demoralized and found it hard to believe that God was ever going to be in…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Mere Breath
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Mere Breath
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Mere Breath Psalm 144 Some years ago I did a little bit of research into tracing my ancestors. These were pre-Internet days, and the research involved poring over ancient volumes in the repository of such records in London. Sometimes I would discover another “John Goldingay” fr…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Praise of God, the Eternal Creator, Is Finished and Completed
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The Praise of God, the Eternal Creator, Is Finished and Completed
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Praise of God, the Eternal Creator, Is Finished and Completed Psalm 150 The heading I have given for this final psalm is the rabbis’ footnote to the Hebrew text of the Psalms. We have come a long way from Psalm 1, where we began with an exhortation to pay heed to Yahweh’s Tea…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Wishing and Hoping
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Wishing and Hoping
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Wishing and Hoping Psalm 130-131 It’s the beginning of Advent, when we start thinking about the first coming of Jesus but also about his second coming. The sermon on Sunday related to why the second coming matters and the reason for believing it will happen. It matters because Je…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Persuade Your Heart
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - How to Persuade Your Heart
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Persuade Your Heart Psalm 103 Some years ago I went through one of those periods when God didn’t seem to be real. I don’t mean I was going through some intellectual questioning, though I have done that at other times, but rather that I didn’t feel that God was there. I wou…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The God of Redress
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - The God of Redress
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God of Redress Psalm 94 As I write, hundreds of people are encamped in a park near Wall Street, their base for protesting the fact that the 1 percent of the U.S. population, of whom Wall Street is a symbol, have a greater net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent, with many…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - What Sabbath Worship Looks Like?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - What Sabbath Worship Looks Like?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Sabbath Worship Looks Like? Psalm 92 If I am preaching on Sunday, instead of giving a ten- to fifteen-minute sermon after the Scripture readings (Episcopalians are not used to long sermons), I have gotten into the habit of talking for a few minutes after each of the three re…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is the Earth Vulnerable?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Is the Earth Vulnerable?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is the Earth Vulnerable? Psalm 93 I just saw a fabulous picture of the earth taken from above the North Pole. I know in theory that Canada, Greenland, Russia, Norway, and Alaska almost meet in the Arctic, but I am so used to the regular Mercator Projection world map that I don’t …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Time and Our Time