Lectionary 14/07/2024
- Proper 10 (15) - Year B
Lectionary Readings
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Blind Guides
Blind Guides
by Dave Hopwood
Feet of Clay and the Breath of God Bible Ref: Isaiah 42; Matthew 5-8 & 10; Mark 3; Luke 6 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to …
Hidden Treasure and Precious Pearls
Hidden Treasure and Precious Pearls
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
The Death of John the Baptist
The Death of John the Baptist
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand People
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand People
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
Jesus Walks on Water
Jesus Walks on Water
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
The Bread of Life
The Bread of Life
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
What Makes a Person Unclean
What Makes a Person Unclean
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
A Persistent Canaanite Woman
A Persistent Canaanite Woman
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
Jesus Heals a Deaf Mute
Jesus Heals a Deaf Mute
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand People
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand People
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the linkin…
The Pharisees Ask for a Sign
The Pharisees Ask for a Sign
by Dave Hopwood
Food and Water Bible Ref: Matthew 9-11 & 13-16; Mark 6-8; Luke 9; John 6-7 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to read the link…
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B - Wednesday: Second Week in Lent Year B
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B - Wednesday: Second Week in Lent Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Lent for Everyone Mark Year B WEEK 2: WEDNESDAY... ...People sometimes have the idea that the world of the Bible is rather like the world of some old churches: quiet, serious, a bit old-fashioned, with nobody ever doing or saying anything to shock or frighten people. Sometimes, i…
Mark for Everyone - The Speculations of Herod
Mark for Everyone - The Speculations of Herod
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 6.14–16The Speculations of Herod... ...Private life is a modern invention. Until quite recently, most people lived in small communities where everyone knew every- one else’s business. Until a few hundred years ago, everybody heard what was going on in the w…
Mark for Everyone - Herod and John the Baptist
Mark for Everyone - Herod and John the Baptist
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 6.17–29 Herod and John the Baptist... ...What sells newspapers? Three things, and if they’re combined, so much the better. Royalty: almost any story about a member of a royal family will sell, not only in Britain or Norway or wherever it began, but around t…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 10 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 10 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 10 2 Samuel 6.1-5, 12b-19 Ephesians 1.3-14 Mark 6.14-29 Two kings, a thousand years apart, and both in trouble at home. David brings God’s ark into Jerusalem, and is so carried away with dancing and leaping before the Lord that his wife despises him, remembering no doubt t…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 10 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 10 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 10 Mark 6: 14-29 Gaze on all the Herods of this world and all the gratuitous violence they unleash. Gaze on all the ethnic cleansing that has gone on down the ages – innocents massacred, women raped and the elderly displaced, staring at us every day from our newspapers, dr…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 10 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 10 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 10 Amos 7: 7-15 Ephesians-1: 3-14 Mark 6: 14-29 ‘The letter to the Ephesians sets the life of the Christian Church in the context of the cosmic plan of God. The letter will go on to give quite detailed advice about how Christians should live together, day to day, but it is…
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Choice and the Plan
Paul for Everyone The Prison Letters - The Choice and the Plan
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Choice and the Plan Ephesians 1.4-10 Have you noticed how sometimes you have a story in the back of your mind which keeps peeping out even when you’re talking about something else? Imagine you’ve come back from work and the train has been late again. You stood for half an hou…
Drama/monologue: Celebration Dance
Drama/monologue: Celebration Dance
by Marjorie Dobson
Drama/monologue: Celebration Dance Have you heard the latest? It’s a proper scandal. It is! Do you know what was going on outside – on the street – in full view of everybody – and claiming to be a celebration of the church? Go on. Have a guess! No, it wasn’t a boozing party – alt…
Hymn: Look: fantastic celebration
Hymn: Look: fantastic celebration
by Andrew Pratt
Look: fantastic celebration, thirty thousand gathered round, in the midst the ark is lifted, this would now be hallowed ground. Listen: tambourines are ringing, this would be the day of days. Songs and lyres and harps resounding form a framework for their praise. Verses 2-3 follo…
Poem: Older and wiser
Poem: Older and wiser
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Older and wiser A small child set to say a psalm, standing before proud parents, Sunday-best-dressed scholars, kind, caring teachers and a curious crowd of anniversary onlookers, rolls round the words, ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates and be ye lifted up, you everlasting doo…
Hymn: Crooked wall and crooked people
Hymn: Crooked wall and crooked people
by Andrew Pratt
Crooked wall and crooked people, Amos pointed out the fact, called by God to hold a plumb-line, testing thought and word and act. Were they upright, understanding? Did they live by love and grace? Were they fair in all their dealings? Had God's loving left a trace? Verse 3 follow…
In Christ we have an inheritance
In Christ we have an inheritance
by Marjorie Dobson
All-age, children’s section: In Christ we have an inheritance Beg, borrow, or use a Russian doll – those rounded wooden shaped ones that look like one doll, but have several decreasing sizes of similar dolls inside. The one I used had five, the smallest being about 1½/2 inches hi…
Hymn: Self-important, over-bearing?
Hymn: Self-important, over-bearing?
by Andrew Pratt
Self-important, over-bearing? God has chosen us alone? Chosen us to be his people? Chosen here to raise a throne? Verses 2-3 follow Tune: CROSS OF JESUS Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 28/6/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. Please include any reprod…
Poem: Dance of death
Poem: Dance of death
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Dance of death A swish of silken skirt and swaying body; bright unbound hair and darkened dazzling eyes; bejewelled dress revealing, then concealing; devices all designed to mesmerize. The music slowed, the dance grew yet more sensual, the guests were captivated by the sigh…
Hymn: Evil intention, skilful deception
Hymn: Evil intention, skilful deception
by Andrew Pratt
Evil intention, skilful deception, devious plotting, bent on revenge; heart fired by hatred, nothing now sacred, John's words of judgment she would avenge. Then came the moment, see her opponent, vulnerable prisoner, she'd seal his fate. Dancing for Herod opened the scabbard, off…
Poem: Evil intention, skilful deception
Poem: Evil intention, skilful deception
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Evil intention, skilful deception Evil intention, skilful deception, Herodias plotting, bent on revenge; heart fired by hatred, nothing now sacred, John's words of judgment she'd need to avenge… Continues Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 30/6/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, Lond…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Good Samaritan
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10.25-37 The best-known stories are sometimes the hardest to understand. ‘The good Samaritan’ has passed into folklore, and has succeeded, confusingly, in changing the meaning of the word ‘Samaritan’ itself in modern English. There is now a …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Coming to Rome at Last
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Coming to Rome at Last
by SPCK - N T Wright
Coming to Rome at Last ROMANS 15.14-24 I mentioned earlier in this book how, when my family and I first moved to North America, we were struck again and again at the thought of what the pioneers had achieved in such very recent history. They had navigated uncharted rivers, climbe…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Aid for Jerusalem
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Aid for Jerusalem
by SPCK - N T Wright
Aid for Jerusalem ROMANS 15.25-33 I have now translated most of the New Testament for this present series, and I’ve discovered one or two interesting things as I’ve done so. The hardest Greek I have so far faced, without a doubt, is in one particular section of 2 Corinthians, nam…
LWPT Meditations - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
LWPT Meditations - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
by Susan Thorne
Meditation- 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B 2nd Samuel 6: 1-5, 12b-19 Psalm 24 Ephesians 1: 3-14 Mark 6: 14-29 We should never try to explain the mind of God nor attempt to comprehend the means whereby he acts, but in reading the first chapter of the letter to the Ephesians …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Little Thing Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Little Thing Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Little Things Can Have Terrible Consequences and Foreshadow Tragedy 2 Samuel 6: 1- 23 I write this during Holy Week. In my Bible study group this week someone was expressing his unease with the way we speak of God’s sending his Son to be crucified. Is God some sort of masochist? …
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…
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 - When You Feel Vulnerable and Threatened
Psalms for Everyone - When You Feel Vulnerable and Threatened
by SPCK - John Goldingay
When You Feel Vulnerable and Threatened Psalm 66 Today is the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States. For some reason it has reminded me of the first time I visited the United States, during the first Gulf War in 1990. The plane was half empty, which seemed …
Job for Everyone - Can a Mortal Be in the Right in God's Eyes?
Job for Everyone - Can a Mortal Be in the Right in God's Eyes?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Can a Mortal Be in the Right in God’s Eyes? Job 4: 1-21 In the heyday of the charismatic movement in Britain, like many people I used to receive short messages from God from time to time for passing on to other people, and sometimes I used to be given such messages by other peopl…
Job for Everyone - Where Could I Go But to the Lord?
Job for Everyone - Where Could I Go But to the Lord?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Where Could I Go But to the Lord? Job 5: 1-27 The story goes that sometime in the 1930s a Mississippi music teacher and Baptist deacon named James Coats was at the bedside of one of his neighbors, whose name was Joe Keyes. Joe was dying, and James asked him if he knew where he wo…
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Blessings of the Sovereign God
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Blessings of the Sovereign God
by SPCK - N T Wright
PART 2 PRAYERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRAYERS OF PAUL BLESSINGS ON THE SOVEREIGN GOD Ephesians 1: 3-10 3Let us bless God, the father of our Lord Jesus, the king! He has blessed us in the king with every spirit-inspired blessing in the heavenly realm. 4He chose us in him before the …
Rhythms of remembering - Lent - Wednesday Morning Prayer
Rhythms of remembering - Lent - Wednesday Morning Prayer
by SPCK - Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild
LENT - Wednesday Morning Prayer Blessed are you, O God: you made us to care for the earth. The earth is God’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein. For it is God who founded it upon the sea and made it firm upon the rivers of the deep...
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Restore Us Again
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Restore Us Again
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Restore Us Again Psalm 85 It is easy for me as a Brit to be resentful of the U.S. media’s critiques of Britain and Europe. “Why do they think it’s their business to criticize when the United States can’t solve its own problems?” I wonder. “Are the British media so critical of the…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The bounding lion
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The bounding lion
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
The bounding lion Mark’s style, structure and narrative technique Whenever Aslan does appear in the Narnia stories, he dashes from place to place as he is needed in great leaps and bounds: ‘he rushes on and on, never missing his footing, never hesitating’ (The Lion, the Witch and…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The beast of conflict
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The beast of conflict
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
The beast of conflict Opposition and ministry, Mark 1—8 One thing is clear about lions in every age and culture: they are powerful fighters with a keen sense of territory. After the opening flurry of chapter 1, Jesus starts to roam far and wide around the northern territories by …
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The lion and his pride
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The lion and his pride
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
The lion and his pride The role of the disciples A lion must have his pride – and a rabbi, his disciples. However, are Jesus’ disciples his ‘pride and joy’? On the one hand, they are the people Jesus calls to share his roamings and his battles; on the other hand, their attention …
Four Gospels, One Jesus - What kind of animal is this creature?
Four Gospels, One Jesus - What kind of animal is this creature?
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
What kind of animal is this creature? Identity and interlude, Mark 8—10 So, everybody misunderstands Jesus during the first half of this gospel – his family (3.21–35), the crowds (4.10–12), the Gerasenes (5.17), his own home town (6.1–6), the religious leaders (7.6; 8.11–12) and …
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Mountains
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Mountains
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Mountains For some strange reason, human beings connect mountains with God. In many ancient religions, worship took place on the ‘high places’. Even today, we talk of ‘mountain-top experiences’, despite having left behind the notion that mountains are closer to God’s supposed dwe…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book I (Pss. 1-41)
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book I (Pss. 1-41)
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Book I (Pss. 1-41) Book I opens, in Psalm 1, with words encouraging faithful meditation upon the Torah. The book continues in Psalm 2 with words of warning to the nations and their rulers to recognize the God of Israel as king over all. The psalms are framed (1:1 and 2:11) with t…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book III
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book III
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Book III (Pss. 73-89) Book III opens with “A Psalm of Asaph” (Ps. 73). Like the sons of Korah, Asaph was, according to the book of Chronicles, a temple singer during the reigns of David and Solomon. Fifteen of the seventeen psalms in Book III are attributed to Asaph and the sons …
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Status, Power, and Children: The Story of Hannah
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Status, Power, and Children: The Story of Hannah
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Status, Power, and Children: The Story of Hannah (1 Samuel 1-2) The books of Samuel begin with the story of the birth of a son to a woman previously childless. According to the narrative, Hannah, the favored wife of Elkanah, has no children, because YHWH has “closed her womb.” Ha…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Mark's gospel A Drama in Three Acts
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Mark's gospel A Drama in Three Acts
by BRF - Dick France
MARK’S GOSPEL- A DRAMA in THREE ACTS After a prologue which sets the scene, Mark’s story unfolds in three main sections, each of which has a distinct geographical setting: 1:1–13 Prologue (set in ‘the wilderness’) 1:14—8:21 Act 1: Galilee 8:22—10:52 …
The Women's Bible Commentary - Michal, Again
The Women's Bible Commentary - Michal, Again
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Michal, Again Finally, when Ishbosheth is ready to make peace with David and to accept David as king over Israel as well as Judah, David refuses to agree until his wife Michal is taken away from the husband Saul had given her to (“annulling” her marriage to David) and returned to…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Difficult Visit to Nazareth
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Difficult Visit to Nazareth
by BRF - Dick France
A Difficult Visit to Nazareth Nazareth was a small, rather insignificant village tucked away in the hills between the lake of Galilee and the Mediterranean, and away from the main centres of population. It was Jesus’ home (1:9, 24), but for the whole of his public activity so far…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 9 - Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 9 - Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 9 Year B The paradoxes of power. David bided his time, refused to lift up his hand against God’s anointed (though he knew himself to be anointed also), and then at last became king in a further anointing. The move to Jerusalem was politically shrewd (though obscured by the…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - proper 10 year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - proper 10 year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 10 Year B Two kings, a thousand years apart, and both in trouble at home. David brings God’s ark into Jerusalem, and is so carried away with dancing and leaping before the Lord that his wife despises him, remembering no doubt the dignity of the former king, her father. Per…
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
Mark The People's Commentary - Jesus and John the Baptist
by BRF - Dick France
Jesus and John the Baptist A change of scene The disciples, sent out on their mission in verses 7–13, will return and report back in verse 30. The intervening space is filled with an unexpected return to the person with whom Mark’s story began….
52 Reflections on Faith - John the Baptist: pointing to Jesus
52 Reflections on Faith - John the Baptist: pointing to Jesus
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
John the Baptist: pointing to Jesus The bones of John the Baptist have been discovered in Bulgaria, or so some newspapers have implied. A number of remains, including a knuckle bone, have been found in a sarcophagus in the grounds of a monastery on an island called Sveti Ivan, of…
Traces of Glory Year B - Proper 9 - Year B
Traces of Glory Year B - Proper 9 - Year B
by SPCK - David Adam
Proper 9 O Lord of light and vision, open our eyes to behold your presence, to perceive your love and to see your presence for us; that rejoicing in your presence and strengthened by your love we may do your will and become what you have called us to be; through Jesus Christ our …
Traces of Glory Year B - Proper 10 - Year B
Traces of Glory Year B - Proper 10 - Year B
by SPCK - David Adam
Proper 10 Blessed are you, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have blessed us with every spiritual blessing; enable us by your power to be true to our calling and live holy and blameless before you all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns wit…
Fresh Thoughts for Sunday - Fresh Thoughts For Sunday Issue 72 012/07/15
Fresh Thoughts for Sunday - Fresh Thoughts For Sunday Issue 72 012/07/15
by Twelvebaskets Ltd
A selection of commentary, reflection and prayer ideas from various Christian authors and the full bible texts from the NRSV for this week's lectionary. NOW INCLUDING SERIALISED BOOKS FROM SPCK AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BRF. Check below for details. Subscribe to Fresh Thoughts For S…
Times and Seasons - Full service - Proper 10 (15) - Year B
Times and Seasons - Full service - Proper 10 (15) - Year B
by Andrew Pratt and Marjorie Dobson
Sixth after Trinity Proper 10 (15) - Year B Hymn: God is love. Let heaven adore him or Come let us sing a melody Prayer: God of music and harmony Psalm 24 Poem: Older and wiser Reading: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Hymn: Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising or Look: fantastic cele…
glimpses of glory - Second Sunday of Christmas - Year C
glimpses of glory - Second Sunday of Christmas - Year C
by SPCK - David Adam
The Second Sunday of Christmas Eternal light, scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds; enlighten our lives with your glory, and give us the power and wisdom to live as sons and daughters of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, O Father, and…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Visions of Destruction
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Visions of Destruction
by
Visions of Destruction The progression of Amos’s visions (in 7:1–9:11) serves to communicate to Amos, as well as to his audience, that judgment on the people is inevitable and that God has attempted to act mercifully in the past, forgiving and ceasing to destroy…
embodying mark - 4 Following the Shepherd
embodying mark - 4 Following the Shepherd
by SPCK - meda a a stamper
4 Following the Shepherd As in the last chapter, so also here Mark begins a story, interrupts it with another, and then comes round to the first story again. The passage we are exploring now follows on from Jesus’ sending of the disciples two by two in 6.7–13 to participate in hi…
Fresh Thoughts For Sunday - Fresh Thoughts For Sunday Issue 228
Fresh Thoughts For Sunday - Fresh Thoughts For Sunday Issue 228
by Twelvebaskets Ltd
A selection of commentary, reflection and prayer ideas from various Christian authors and the full bible texts from the NRSV for this week's lectionary. NOW INCLUDING SERIALISED BOOKS FROM SPCK AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BRF. Check below for details. Subscribe to Fresh Thoughts For S…
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Hymn: Grace and peace to all God's people
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Grace and peace to all God's people from the Word before all worlds, all transcendent cosmic lover, in our presence grace unfolds. Born into the world among us, Christ the Word, incarnate Love knowing human strength and weakness, raise our eyes to things above. Verses 3-4 follows…
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Self-important, over-bearing? God has chosen us alone? Chosen us to be his people? Chosen here to raise a throne? Verses 2-3 follow Tune: CROSS OF JESUS Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 28/6/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. Please include any reprod…
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Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year B
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prayer: God, our Maker
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Reflection/Meditation: My Father’s Way
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection/Meditation: My Father’s Way Many years ago a story was told by the Hebrew people – indeed it is still being told today. It sounds something like this: ‘My father was a wandering Aramean; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien and there became a great natio…
Hymn: Forgiveness is ridiculous
Hymn: Forgiveness is ridiculous
by Andrew Pratt
Forgiveness is ridiculous, unsettles justice, riddles faith, when love has a monopoly as evidence of given grace; It sets the cosmos spinning round, it turns our values upside down it makes our temples tumble down and every beggar wears a crown. Verse 3 follow Tune: ALFRETON; CAM…
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus Prays for the Church
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus Prays for the Church
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
Jesus Prays for the Church ‘Jesus has prayed to return to the glory he shared with God his Father before the creation (17:1–5). He has also prayed for his disciples whom he will leave behind in the world, although they are not of the world; the key to this balancing act is found …
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 7 The Wisdom and Power of God
Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes - 7 The Wisdom and Power of God
by SPCK-Kenneth E. Bailey
The Wisdom and Power of God In the early centuries of the Christian church, as the Greek world became Christian, a group of scholars now called “the apologists” arose and took up the daunting task of relating the new Christian faith to their Greek intellectual heritage. Their tas…
Hymn: We will give thanks for the light we've received
Hymn: We will give thanks for the light we've received
by Michael Docker
We will give thanks for the light we've received; For we have found Christ who said if we believed Then we would see greater than yet we have seen - The things of God's Kingdom and all that they mean. We are beginning to turn from the past; For we have seen Christ's life show dea…
God’s grace extends beyond our comprehension
God’s grace extends beyond our comprehension
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: God’s grace extends beyond our comprehension Proper 19 Year A Matthew 18: 21-35 God’s grace extends beyond our comprehension, beyond the limits that we put on love. God calls us to forgiveness and redemption, sometimes the bar is just too high above. When we are wronged God…
Poems and Liturgy - Poem-Lord of Mercy
Poems and Liturgy - Poem-Lord of Mercy
by Christopher Coleman
Poem based on Psalm 51 O my God who's love is unchanging, O Lord of mercy, God of compassion remember me, be gracious to me and wipe out my sins. Lord if you cleanse me I will be without w(hol)ly clean. How can I be without sin for from the moment I was born to the moment I die i…
Hymn: God, give to us discerning minds
Hymn: God, give to us discerning minds
by Andrew Pratt
God, give to us discerning minds to know your love, to live by grace, to tune our lives to your commands, to live at peace within this place. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: ALFRETON, ARIZONA Metre: LM Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 31/7/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.…
Fortynine days to celebrate Easter - Pente - What?
Fortynine days to celebrate Easter - Pente - What?
by Margaret Mason
"Forty-nine days to celebrate Easter? That's seven weeks. We'll never make the Easter eggs last that long! And then Pente - what? " Pilate stamps the file, "Case Closed". He thinks that that is it. A distasteful business, but Jesus the Galilean isn't the first troublemaker he's b…
Let all creation dance and sing
Let all creation dance and sing
by Andrew Pratt
Let all creation dance and sing, praises through all creation ring: alleluia, alleluia! Here in this present time and place, sing of God's mercy, love and grace: alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Verses 2-3 follow Tune: LASST UNS ERFREUEN Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © …
Hymn: How could God love against the grain
Hymn: How could God love against the grain
by Andrew Pratt
How could God love against the grain, to offer love we don't deserve; to meet us when we lose our way, to hold us when we twist, or swerve? This gracious, fulsome, steadfast love is more than we can comprehend, it offers hope when all seems lost, resists, survives beyond life's e…
If only the righteous go in through the Lord's gate
If only the righteous go in through the Lord's gate
by Andrew Pratt
If only the righteous go in through the Lord's gate then who can be rescued, yes who can be saved? Can love be so gracious to those who are needy, to bring them salvation, all penalties waived? God's loving is boundless toward all the people, the love of a parent when children ar…
When Jesus prayed in mystic, sweet communion
When Jesus prayed in mystic, sweet communion
by Andrew Pratt
When Jesus prayed in mystic, sweet communion, he was not begging for a loaf of bread, yet noting the reality of hunger, his words are human, asking to be fed. This human need that undergirds existence, provides the ground, the need to live in peace, where grace determines human c…
Hymn: This awesome world that fills us with amazement
Hymn: This awesome world that fills us with amazement
by Andrew Pratt
This awesome world that fills us with amazement:your Spirit breathed and all things came to be; each stunning scene extends imagination, the fruitful land and every spreading sea. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: DONNE SECOURS; LORD OF THE YEARS Metre: 11.10.11.10 Andrew Pratt (born 194…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Christmas - Year A Jeremiah 31: 7-14 Ephesians 1: 3-14 John 1: 1-18 C. S. Lewis said that it sometimes seemed an anticlimax to move from the broad poetic sweep of the Old Testament to the narrow focus and seemingly mundane concern of the New. No chance of tha…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 4 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 4 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 4 Mark 2:23- 3:6 Gaze on a wheat field, glowing under the sun, ready for harvest. The stalks are bowing down almost in prayer, ready for reaping. The field is so full and sturdy and dense that all the footpaths that run across it are hidden. So Jesus walks straight through…
Always there
Always there
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem/meditation: Always there Lord, you have always been there for your people. From the beginning of creation, right through to this present day, you have given strength and support to anyone who has asked you for it. But, as we grow older, we recognize how brief life really is …
LWPT Meditations - Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A
LWPT Meditations - Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A
by Susan Thorne
Meditation – Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19 Psalm 46 Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 Matthew 7:21-29 It is difficult to imagine a catastrophe like the one related in the story of Noah – forty days of torrential rain, the earth flooded for over a year,…
Reflection: One lost boy
Reflection: One lost boy
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection: One lost boy It’s not that unusual for a twelve-year-old boy to stray away from his parents for a while. That’s just about the age when it’s most likely to happen. Twelve is one of those difficult stages in life when childhood is considered to be past, but teenage is …
Hymn: Unravelling the mysteries
Hymn: Unravelling the mysteries
by Marjorie Dobson
Unravelling the mysteries, ensuring signs made sense, meant telling simple stories based in the present tense. So Jesus shared with farmers how silently seed grows and how God’s coming kingdom holds secrets no one knows. But in our world, so different from what those people knew,…
Wrestling stranger met with Jacob
Wrestling stranger met with Jacob
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: Wrestling stranger met with Jacob Proper 13 year A Genesis 32: 22 – 31 Wrestling stranger met with Jacob, struggled onward till the morn, struggled by the brook of Jabbok, heralding a different dawn. Jacob met the task with courage, and it seemed he would prevail, but the s…
O shepherd of Israel, you hold in your hand
O shepherd of Israel, you hold in your hand
by Andrew Pratt
O shepherd of Israel, you hold in your hand, the nations, the people, from each far flung land. Your grace is sufficient, to meet every need, you reach beyond nationhood, language and creed. You brought restoration when all once seemed lost, you poured out your life love, not cou…
GOD's rich Pattern - A new life together
GOD's rich Pattern - A new life together
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
A new life together The wedding and honeymoon were fantastic. But I now had to face the harsh reality of learning to cope on my own during the day, for the first time in thirty-seven years. Occasionally, people would pop in, but for the most part I was by myself, and I was terrif…
Lent for Everyone Year A - Thursday: Second Week in Lent Year A
Lent for Everyone Year A - Thursday: Second Week in Lent Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
WEEK 2: THURSDAY Matthew 12.1–21; focused on 12.15 –21 To get the full flavour of what’s going on here, you should really read not just Matthew 12, but Isaiah 42 as a whole. Actually, even that isn’t really enough, because Isaiah 42 is a key passage within a much larger unity, Is…
A Tale from a Riverbank
A Tale from a Riverbank
by Roger Price
This is one of a number of monologues that I have written for use in worship or some other reflective purpose. This one deals with the events of baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John from the point of view of a bystander waiting his turn to be baptised . A Tale From a Rive…
On This, Our Festal Day (Loch Heron)
On This, Our Festal Day (Loch Heron)
by Norman J Goreham (1931-2021)
This hymn celebrates the local church, its buildings, its people and those who have gone before. It asks that, as people continue to worship there, the risen Christ will be present. It could be used at Dedication (Consecration) of Buildings, Church Anniversaries and Patronal Fest…
On This, Our Festal Day
On This, Our Festal Day
by Norman J Goreham (1931-2021)
This hymn celebrates the local church, its buildings, its people and those who have gone before. It asks that, as people continue to worship there, the risen Christ will be present. It could be used at Dedications of Buildings, Church Anniversaries and Patronal Festivals.
Poem/Reflection: Consolation
Poem/Reflection: Consolation
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem/Reflection: Consolation We, who never met Jesus as a man; never sat at his feet to listen to his teaching; never had the chance to ask him a question; never felt his personal touch of healing; never heard one of his stories from his own lips; never witnessed his attacks on t…
The dawn of a mystery, the presence of riches
The dawn of a mystery, the presence of riches
by Andrew Pratt
The dawn of a mystery, the presence of riches, for Christ is among us and love ends our fear, the good news of grace is now ours for the asking, a new day is rising, salvation is near! In past generations the promise was hidden, but now we can read it and see with our eyes divine…
Christ Made Manifest (A Hymn for the Epiphany Season)
Christ Made Manifest (A Hymn for the Epiphany Season)
by Norman J Goreham (1931-2021)
CHRIST MADE MANIFEST (A HYMN FOR THE EPIPHANY SEASON) In the eastern sky a star, seen by trav’lers from afar, guides their journey through the night to the Christ, the world’s true light. Through the stable’s open door glory never seen before brightly streams, that all may see Je…
LWPT Meditations - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
LWPT Meditations - Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
by Susan Thorne
Meditation - 24thSunday in Ordinary Time Yr B Proverbs 1: 20-33 Psalm 19 James 3: 1-12 Mark 8: 27-38 They are some of the angriest words spoken by Jesus, and directed at a greatly loved and well-intentioned disciple; “Get behind me, Satan” (Mark 8 v 33)– almost the same words he…
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Friday Evening Prayer
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Friday Evening Prayer
by SPCK - Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild
ORDINARY TIME - Friday Evening Prayer Blessed are you, O God: your work is perfect. For your wonderful creation, we praise you, our Maker. For the labour of redemption, we thank you, Jesus our saviour...
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Monday Morning Prayer
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Monday Morning Prayer
by SPCK - Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild
ORDINARY TIME - Monday Morning Prayer Blessed are you, O God, source of all wisdom and understanding. O powerful Wisdom, you encircle all that is, holding everything together in one life-giving path. Hildegard of Bingen...
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.…
Ordinary 1 and 2 Year B
Ordinary 1 and 2 Year B
by Digistry
Four Mini Movies for Ordinary 1 and 2 Year B Holy Spirit - Call to Worship Based on Mark 1:4-11 Lectionary: Ordinary 1 B Creation - Reflection Based on Genesis 1:1-15 Lectionary: Ordinary 1 B Search for Me - Praise - Prayer Based on Psalm 139: 1-6, 13-18 Lectionary: Ordinary 2 B…
Jesus died for our sins
Jesus died for our sins
by Don Stott
Dark trees with "Jesus died for our sins" TIP- PowerPoint Slide Size- The ideal way to insert into PowerPoint is:- Reduce the image size to 1024x768 pixels using your image editing software. (Will reduce image proportionally) Insert as Picture in the normal way. If needed fill th…
Jesus suffered
Jesus suffered
by Don Stott
TIP- PowerPoint Slide Size- The ideal way to insert into PowerPoint is:- • Reduce the image size to 1024x768 pixels using your image editing software. (Will reduce image proportionally) • Insert as Picture in the normal way. • If needed fill the slide area by placing the image in…
Reflection/meditation: Agreement
Reflection/meditation: Agreement
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection/meditation: Agreement It’s all about personal responsibility, isn’t it? It’s all about not being able to pass the blame back to a past generation, or excuse personal behaviour by claiming that it’s all in the genetic structure. At one time everyone relied totally on Go…
Forgive me
Forgive me
by Anna Blanch Rabe
TIP- PowerPoint Slide Size- The ideal way to insert into PowerPoint is:- • Reduce the image size to 1024x768 pixels using your image editing software. (Will reduce image proportionally) • Insert as Picture in the normal way. • If needed fill the slide area by placing the image in…
God of Mercy
God of Mercy
by Marjorie Dobson
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany Year A 1 Corinthians 3: 1-9 Prayer: God of mercy, forgive us for the way our own opinions often blind us Based on 1 Corinthians 3: 1-9 God of mercy, forgive us for the way our own opinions often blind us to the truths that others speak. Pardon us for o…
Prayer: Watchful God
Prayer: Watchful God
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Watchful God The prophet Amos warned that it is the everyday deceits – the token observance of the Sabbath, the sharp business practices, the cheating and exploitation of the poor, the selling of poor quality goods – that will be noticed and judged by God and the punishme…
How much more?
How much more?
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: How much more? Proper 19 Year A Psalm 103: 8-13 Parents can forgive and forget the mistakes their children make; the heartache they often cause; the irresponsible behaviour, the outbursts of temper, the wilfulness and waywardness that youngsters can exhibit. For love is the…
For families
For families
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: For families Proper 15 year A Psalm 133 ‘How pleasant it is when kindred live in unity’. Dear God, how often we have thought that way too, but then we have returned to everyday living and realized how many families fall short of that ideal. So we pray for those families t…
Some voice! it splinters beams of cedar
Some voice! it splinters beams of cedar
by Andrew Pratt
Some voice! it splinters beams of cedar, it flashes out in flames of fire, it thunders over mighty waters, it makes the theme of praise run higher. The shaking earth moves with that thunder, the ground is rattled, rough and raw; this quaking land disturbs the ocean, destructive w…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 17 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 17 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 17 Ecclesiasticus 10.12–18 Hebrews 13.1–8, 15, 16 Luke 14.1, 7–14 In this central section of Luke’s Gospel it feels as though Jesus is in a kind of first-century Big Brother. Everything he does and says is being critically watched, sifted, grafted into other people’s fan…
glimpses of glory - Second Sunday of Christmas - Year C
glimpses of glory - Second Sunday of Christmas - Year C
by SPCK - David Adam
The Second Sunday of Christmas Eternal light, scatter the darkness from our hearts and minds; enlighten our lives with your glory, and give us the power and wisdom to live as sons and daughters of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, O Father, and…
Strange tongues
Strange tongues
by Marjorie Dobson
This poem explores our understanding of the ability to speak in tongues, given to the disciples at Pentecost, by relating it to our understanding, or otherwise, of the language of music. This item will download as 12041011527558.doc Extract: I cannot read music. Those lines and d…
Drama/Monologue/Reflection: Advance warning
Drama/Monologue/Reflection: Advance warning
by Marjorie Dobson
Drama/Monologue/Reflection: Advance warning He told them he was going. He warned them in advance. He said, ‘I will be leaving you.’ He said, ‘I’m telling you these things because you will understand. Others won’t. You love and understand me. They don’t.’ And they didn’t either. D…
Hymn: Star strewn garments clothe the heavens
Hymn: Star strewn garments clothe the heavens
by Andrew Pratt
Star strewn garments clothe the heavens, robes of beauty, source of awe; Spirit God transcending hist'ry, way beyond where pulsars soar. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: STUTTGART Metre: 8.7.8.7 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 24/9/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.staine…
Hymn: Great God of change and constant contradiction
Hymn: Great God of change and constant contradiction
by Andrew Pratt
Great God of change and constant contradiction, we sense your presence everywhere we go; while you transcend all human understanding, our praise on earth will sing, will rise and grow. How can we reach beyond our human compass? Great God, your grace can bring us to our knees. Our…
Responsive Prayer: We cannot comprehend