Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Shadow of the Almighty
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Shadow of the Almighty Psalm 91 I have a vivid memory from when I was a teenager of watching a filmstrip (a prehistoric antecedent of DVDs) that told the story of five young men from the United States who went to a rainforest in Ecuador to seek to bring the gospel of Christ to th…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Cry from the Grave
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - A Cry from the Grave
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Cry from the Grave Psalm 88 Last night we watched a movie called Incendies about a family caught in an intracommunity conflict in Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s. It was a fictional movie, but much of the story could be replicated in factual accounts of what happened to people d…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Has God Changed?
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Has God Changed?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Has God Changed? Psalm 77 One of our students came to see me to ask me to meet with another student whose life seemed to be falling apart and who was talking about suicide. The woman had been married for twenty years; her first husband had been “the love of her life.” Then he bec…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Fear or Reverence
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Fear or Reverence
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Fear or Reverence Psalm 76 Last week I was lecturing on the Psalms at a college in Michigan, and I referred to the extraordinary freedom that the Psalms assume we have in our relationship with God. You can say anything to God. In relation to God, we are like children in relation …
Two Sons
Two Sons
by Pam Webster
Two Sons Luke 15:11-32 There must be more to life than this. I don’t want to be here, I’m wasted. I want to be Out There, living my life, enjoying the pleasures, seeing the world. It seems there is more, so much more - hunger, disgrace, self-loathing, that dawning realisation tha…
The Living God - The God of Jesus of Nazareth
The Living God - The God of Jesus of Nazareth
by SPCK - Alister McGrath
Which God Are We Talking About? 1 The God of Jesus of Nazareth Don’t tell them – show them! That was the advice I was given when trying to improve my preaching more than 30 years ago. My early attempts were not particularly successful. I remember two people coming up to me after …
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Material Culture
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Material Culture
by SPCK - N T Wright
2. The Rhetoric of Empire (II) Material Culture Augustus claimed – it has since become a cliché – that he found Rome brick and left it marble. As Galinsky points out, this was more than simply a metaphor.44 New shiny buildings dominated the centre of the city, with new temples in…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Republic Restored, Empire Established: Augustus
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Republic Restored, Empire Established: Augustus
by SPCK - N T Wright
2. The Reality of Empire (III) Republic Restored, Empire Established: Augustus The many scholarly debates about Augustus have included the question: did he really claim to have restored the republic? If he did, what did he mean by that, and was it true? Was he, as the highly infl…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Rhetoric of Empire
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Rhetoric of Empire
by SPCK - N T Wright
2. The Rhetoric of Empire (I) Introduction It was not by military force alone that Augustus consolidated his power, or that his successors maintained it. It has been shown in great detail that from the beginning the empire used every available means in art, architecture, literatu…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Reflections on the Religious World of Paul's Day
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Reflections on the Religious World of Paul's Day
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter Four A COCK FOR ASCLEPIUS: ‘RELIGION’ AND ‘CULTURE’ IN PAUL’S WORLD 3. Reflections on the Religious World of Paul’s Day The main thing to emerge for our purposes from this short survey is that what Cicero and others referred to loosely with the word religio penetrated mor…
Times and Seasons - Prayers for Valentine's Day
Times and Seasons - Prayers for Valentine's Day
by Jan Berry
Prayers for Valentine's day, but which could be used more generally in relation to human love and sexuality. Passionate God, we thank you for the joy of romantic love, with its delight and desire, its intensity and power. Forgive us when we reduce it to cute sentiment and comme…
Times and Seasons - Carnival and struggle
Times and Seasons - Carnival and struggle
by Jan Berry
Two prayers; thanks and confession for the beginning of Lent, on the contrasting themes of carnival and struggle. Partying God, thank you for the celebration of carnival: its raucous noise and garish colours, its glamour and glitter, the anticipation of the watchers ... Continues…
Times and Seasons - Eucharistic Prayer
Times and Seasons - Eucharistic Prayer
by Jan Berry
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER FOR FEBRUARY/CANDLEMAS Sing to God in praise. Worship the creator, all peoples. All that lives and breathes Join in praise of the maker. We praise and worship you, creator of all, for all that struggles for life in the dark and cold; pushing through the bleak e…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Introduction
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Introduction
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter Four A COCK FOR ASCLEPIUS: ‘RELIGION’ AND ‘CULTURE’ IN PAUL’S WORLD 1 Introduction ‘The world is full of gods,’ Thales had said.1 But gods, by definition, do not play according to our rules. They’re inconsistent, pursuing private quarrels, moods and fancies, eager for bri…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Religion and Culture in the First-Century Roman World