With My WholeHeart - Psalm 25:1, 16-17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 25:1, 16-17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 25:1, 16-17 There is some adversity, though not all, that we bring on ourselves. We need to be cautious about this, because the first reaction we have to calamities is to imagine that God must be punishing us for something we have done. As Jesus made clear of a man born bli…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 26:1-2
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 26:1-2
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 26:1-2 Enough of sin! Here is the portrait of a blameless believer, someone who in all honesty before God cannot point to any wilful act of disobedience. And yet. Even with a conscience clear before God this plaintiff appears to plead with the Judge of all to examine him fo…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 22:14
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 22:14
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart also in the midst of my body is even like melting wax. Recovering from heart surgery I could not find a more vivid expression to describe my aching body and soul. Anaesthesia, sedation and painkil…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 27:9
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 27:9
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 27:9 In St Paul’s famous essay on love he writes about how one day we will see God face to face but for now we see ‘through a glass, darkly’ (1 Corinthians 13.12 kjv). It’s a poetic phrase conveying the original Greek which literally says that we see through a glass not dar…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 24:1, 3-4
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 24:1, 3-4
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 24:1, 3, 4 God is the Lord of earth and heaven. The Lord’s Prayer is for the fusion of the two. Asking for God’s will to be done in earth as it is done in heaven is a prayer for the earthing of heaven. The rebellion in the Garden of Eden drove a wedge between the two realms…
Reflection: Naming a child
Reflection: Naming a child
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection: Naming a child The naming of a child is a very serious business, though some take it very lightly. Pity the child named after all the players in his father’s favourite football team; or the girl who finds her first name making some ludicrous combination with the surna…
Poem: Revival
Poem: Revival
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Revival In those times when things always appear to be going wrong and God seems far away, or it might be possible that God is angry with behaviour or broken promises – in those times, the longing for a revival of spirits and a renewal of purpose seems but a distant vision.…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Introduction
1 and 2 Samuel 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…
Puppets for Jesus - Bethlehem Animal Watch