I only popped out for some bread
I only popped out for some bread
by Ian Harris
A monologue for Christms Day or Nativity Service I only popped out for some bread and wine. I can still remember that night as if it was only yesterday. My brother-In-Law and his family were staying with us, having travelled up for the census. I can recall just how bitter cold it…
Psalms for Everyone - Be Still and Know That I am God
Psalms for Everyone - Be Still and Know That I am God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Be Still and Know That I Am God Psalm 46 For nearly a thousand years, most of what is now Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and other areas comprised the Holy Roman Empire. It had a legislative assembly confusingly called a diet, which in 1521 met at a Germ…
Psalms for Everyone - The Outrageous Confession
Psalms for Everyone - The Outrageous Confession
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Outrageous Confession Psalm 47 In church yesterday we made our usual outrageous confessions, such as the declaration that Jesus is Lord. They are outrageous because the day’s news seems to belie them. Dozens of people have died in an attack on a mosque in Pakistan. Car bombs …
Psalms for Everyone - Is This the City?
Psalms for Everyone - Is This the City?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Is This the City? Psalm 48 When my first wife and I moved to the United States, people would ask what I would miss about England, to which I would answer not fish and chips or even Indian food but proximity to France and to Israel. Since the move I haven’t been to Israel, partly …
Psalms for Everyone - I Can't Wait
Psalms for Everyone - I Can't Wait
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Can’t Wait Psalm 25 “We can’t wait till you come to see us next year,” a friend in the Philippines said. “I can’t wait till the concert on Saturday,” a singer-songwriter said. “We can’t wait to meet your new wife,” a friend said. “I can’t wait for Christmas,” another friend sai…
Psalms for Everyone - Will God Let You In? Will God Let You In?
Psalms for Everyone - Will God Let You In? Will God Let You In?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Will God Let You In? Will God Let You In? Psalm 24 Five days before the Egyptian army crossed the Suez Canal in September 1973, aiming to recapture Sinai from Israel, I was in Sinai climbing what in Arabic is called “Mount Moses,” the mountain traditionally regarded as Mount Sina…
Psalms for Everyone - I Wash My Hands in Innocence
Psalms for Everyone - I Wash My Hands in Innocence
by SPCK - John Goldingay
I Wash My Hands in Innocence Psalm 26 In the Episcopal church, when we move from the first part of a service, which focuses on the reading of Scripture, to the celebration of communion, someone pours a little water over my hands as the priest and I say some words from Psalm 26: “…
Psalms for Everyone - Our Handiwork and God's
Psalms for Everyone - Our Handiwork and God's
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Our handiwork and God’s Psalm 28 In the news last weekend was a story about an unemployed and deep-in-debt hairdresser in his forties who went to a “Money Cometh to You” conference at a church in Vermont to listen to a visiting preacher who promised that the Lord could not only s…
It wasn't meant to be like this
It wasn't meant to be like this
by Sally Spencer
A short reading about the birth of Jesus from Joseph's point of view. Joseph’s story It wasn’t meant to be like this. We had it all planned. After the betrothal, we thought it would be good to have a year or two before the marriage and before children came along. To be honest, I …
Psalms for Everyone - The Way Prayer Makes a Difference
Psalms for Everyone - The Way Prayer Makes a Difference
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Way Prayer Makes a Difference Psalm 6 Two of my friends are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary, and I have been asked to contribute to the greetings book that will be presented to them at the celebratory party. So I wrote that my first wife, Ann, sat up in her cot i…
Psalms for Everyone - Introduction
Psalms for Everyone - Introduction
by SPCK - John Goldingay
INTRODUCTION As far as Jesus and the New Testament writers were concerned, the Jewish Scriptures that Christians call the “Old Testament” were the Scriptures. In saying that, I cut corners a bit, as the New Testament never gives us a list of these Scriptures, but the body of writ…
Psalms for Everyone - Acknowledgments
Psalms for Everyone - Acknowledgments
by SPCK - John Goldingay
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The translation at the beginning of each chapter (and in other biblical quotations) is my own. I have already translated the Psalms in an earlier commentary (Psalms, three volumes, published by Baker Academic in 2006–2008); although I started from scratch for this…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Introduction: Getting to know the Gospel of Matthew
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Introduction: Getting to know the Gospel of Matthew
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
Introduction: Getting to know the Gospel of Matthew Exploring the text Matthew’s Gospel sometimes evokes a mixed response from its readers, much more so than either Mark or Luke. While Matthew’s Gospel contains iconic and well-loved episodes such as the visit of the Magi (2.1) or…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Advent
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Advent
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
1 Advent Exploring the text Matthew is a good Gospel for Advent. It contrasts strongly with Mark, which is profoundly unhelpful in Advent. Barely has Mark’s Gospel begun before John the Baptist and Jesus burst onto the scene and begin the story in earnest. Matthew’s Gospel is ver…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - A World of Difference
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - A World of Difference
by SPCK - N T Wright
Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY? 1. A World of Difference Roughly seventy years after the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, a Roman senator, mindful of his own importance and seniority, wrote to a friend about a third man, a social inferior…
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Preface: What is this book about?
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - 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 both in Anglican parishes and 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…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - GLOSSARY
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - GLOSSARY
by SPCK - John Goldingay
GLOSSARY aide A supernatural agent through whom God appears and works in the world. Standard English translations call them “angels,” but this term suggests ethereal figures with wings, wearing diaphanous white dresses. Aides are humanlike figures; hence it is possible to give th…
Poem/meditation: Be still