Psalms for Everyone - Sometimes God Speaks
Psalms for Everyone - Sometimes God Speaks
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Sometimes God Speaks Psalm 12 Before coming to the United States to resume being an ordinary professor, I was principal of a theological college in England, a position that is a cross between being president, provost, and dean of a U.S. seminary, but on a much smaller scale. I ha…
Psalms for Everyone - Flee or Stay?
Psalms for Everyone - Flee or Stay?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Flee or Stay? Psalm 11 In this first week after South Sudan declared its independence, the president of northern Sudan has spoken before the national assembly as his reduced country starts a new phase of its life. He has described it as the “second republic” that will affirm the …
Psalms for Everyone - What a Rogue Says to Himself
Psalms for Everyone - What a Rogue Says to Himself
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What a Rogue Says to Himself Psalm 14 In the last decades of the twentieth century there was a thing called the charismatic movement that emphasized the felt reality of God’s presence and the perceptible reality of God’s speaking and acting in healing people. One of my bosses con…
Psalms for Everyone - How Long, How Long, How Long, How Long?
Psalms for Everyone - How Long, How Long, How Long, How Long?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Long, How Long, How Long, How Long? Psalm 13 About the same time as the story I described in connection with Psalm 12, I had a dream or a vision—I’m not sure what it was. I was pushing Ann in her wheelchair across a bare plain toward the horizon. It was hard, but I had people…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Passiontide
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Passiontide
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
6 Passiontide Exploring the text In Matthew, as in all the Gospels, the climax of the story of Jesus can be found in the last week of his life, in the sweep from the entry into Jerusalem to the crucifixion. As Jesus moves through this last week, the themes of the five narratives …
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - The Sundays before Lent
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - The Sundays before Lent
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
4 The Sundays before Lent Exploring the text The readings for the Sundays before Lent are, with one exception, taken from the first of Matthew’s five narratives and discourses, which we noted in the Introduction to this book (see pp. 7–8). In fact, they are taken from the most fa…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Christmas
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Christmas
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
2 Christmas Exploring the text Matthew’s birth narrative begins in the same way that the genealogy began. Unfortunately this is masked in the English translation. Matthew 1.1 begins ‘a book [or record] of the genesis of Jesus the Messiah’ and Matthew 1.18 ‘the genesis of Jesus th…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Epiphany
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Epiphany
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
3 Epiphany Exploring the text People often speak of the ‘birth narratives’ of Matthew, and due to the influence both of Luke’s account and of popular renderings of the nativity, it is easy to miss that Matthew has very little in the way of a proper ‘birth narrative’. There is mat…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Lent
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Lent
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
5 Lent Exploring the text The Lectionary provides us with slim pickings from Matthew during Lent, since during Lent most of the Gospel readings are from John. This gives us time, therefore, to reflect more deeply on the story of Jesus’ temptation in Matthew...
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - The Sundays before Advent
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - The Sundays before Advent
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
9 The Sundays before Advent Exploring the text During the Sundays leading up to Advent the Lectionary draws our attention to the theme of watching and waiting. It is slightly odd that, although on the fourth Sunday before Advent we have the opening verses of Matthew 24, we do not…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Easter
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Easter
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
7 Easter Exploring the text The stories of Jesus’ resurrection begin, oddly perhaps to our minds, in the stories of his burial. The accounts of the burial of Jesus’ body are often skipped over as we move from a focus on his death to his resurrection. However, all the Gospel accou…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Ordinary Time
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Ordinary Time
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
8 Ordinary Time Exploring the text One of the themes of Matthew’s Gospel that recurs over and over again (and especially in the readings that appear during Ordinary Time) is the theme of what it means to be a community, and in particular what it means to be the Jesus community...
Imagining the Lectionary: Singing a new song
Imagining the Lectionary: Singing a new song
by David Perry
Reflection accompanying images “Singing a new song” and “Coventry cathedral inside out” Imagining the Lectionary: Singing a new song (Second Sunday before Advent / Proper 28C / Ordinary 33C) On the steps of Coventry Cathedral a busker sits down and begins to play his guitar. As h…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Risk of Serving the Powerless
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The Risk of Serving the Powerless
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Risk of Serving the Powerless Chapters 11–16, set in Jerusalem, parallel chapters 1–8, set in and around Galilee; each section has a major speech of Jesus in the middle: chapter 4 (parables) and chapter 13 (eschatological discourse)…
Intercessions for Years A, B and C Book - Epiphany 1 - Year A
Intercessions for Years A, B and C Book - Epiphany 1 - Year A
by SPCK - Ian Black
Epiphany 1 – Year A Lord, arise and shine Make known your glory. Spirit of God, descending like a dove, anoint your Church with your life-giving and affirming presence . . . Lead the people of your New Covenant to proclaim your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, at your baptism you humble…
Naomi's Plot
Naomi's Plot
by Rev. Margaret Roe
Ruth wonders whether Naomi’s risky plot has worked Ruth ch3 Naomi’s plot It was a risky plan. My reputation was at stake. Not that I had one, as a foreigner. But I could imagine the gossip if it hadn’t worked. If it failed I would have no future in this place that I had committed…
Reflection/poem: Psalm 29