Marjorie Dobson
Reflection on Romans 12: 3
Reflection on Romans 12: 3
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection on Romans 12: 3 Proper 16 year A ‘My son works on the bins,’ she said with great reluctance and a faint sense of shame. She knew that others there had children with degrees, or who ran their own businesses, or who had achieved greatness in one form or another. ‘He was …
Pride comes before …
Pride comes before …
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer - Pride comes before … Proper 16 year A Psalm 138: 6 If I am powerful and proud of it: if I consider myself to be a superior being: if I know that there is none to equal me: if I can look down on everyone else and feel that it is my right to do so – what need do I have of …
For exiles
For exiles
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: For exiles Proper 16 year A Exodus 1: 1.8 – 2.10 (In Egypt, the Israelites were first welcomed and then despised. The world doesn’t seem to have changed much, even after all this time.). Compassionate God, we pray for those who are living in a foreign country, tolerated, …
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…
Dogs and crumbs
Dogs and crumbs
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue: Dogs and crumbs Proper 15 year A Matthew 15: 21-28 Oh yes, my daughter’s well now, thank you. She’s never looked back since she was cured by that Jewish healer. I know! It was very strange wasn’t it? I mean, to see him there and to know that we’d heard so much about hi…
A house of prayer
A house of prayer
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: A house of prayer Proper 15 year A Isaiah 56: 1, 6-8 A house of prayer, where all may come; a house of prayer to be a home; a house to welcome every one: this is the house that God builds. A house for sinner and for saint; a house for those whose faith is faint and for the …
The preacher
The preacher
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue: The preacher Proper 14 year A Romans 10: 5-15 I’ve been preaching for fifty years – fifty-one, actually. Started as a youngster in my teens. Wasn’t very wise to the world, but I thought I knew a lot – and even at that age I knew it was God that was calling me and that …
Who knows?
Who knows?
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Who knows? Proper 14 year A Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b Did Jacob know, while favouring one son, the brothers planned to kill that special one? Did Reuben know, by letting Joseph live, they would be saved by what that boy could give... 7 August 2011, …
Earthquake, wind and fire
Earthquake, wind and fire
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Earthquake, wind and fire Proper 14 year A 1 Kings 19: 9-18 Into the hurricane of life – the rush, the chaos, the bewilderment, the anxiety, uncertainty, the fear of loss, the birth of pain, the failures and fractures of life – God of the still, small voice, whisper your …
My father, Jacob
My father, Jacob
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem - My father, Jacob Proper 13 year A Genesis 32: 22 – 31 My father didn’t have a limp before. He said he’d wrestled with a man all night and, though he claimed he’d never given in, his injury had proved his need to fight. We’d left him at the far side of the stream. He often …
Leftovers
Leftovers
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue/character piece - Leftovers Proper 13 year A Matthew 14: 13 – 21 What I want to know is what are they going to do with all those leftovers? Twelve baskets, they said they had. Twelve baskets! Considering that when they all sat down in the first place, they claimed there…
Grant us wisdom
Grant us wisdom
by Marjorie Dobson
Responsive prayer: Grant us wisdom Proper 12 year A 1 Kings 3: 5-12 When dislike teeters on the brink of hatred: God grant us wisdom. When prejudice threatens to overwhelm balanced judgement: God grant us wisdom. When disinterest in the welfare of others begins to turn into apath…
Holding the pebble
Holding the pebble
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Holding the pebble Proper 12 year A Matthew 13: 31 – 33 That pebble was smooth, hard and cold, inanimate, unyielding, shaped by countless years of pounding seas and rocks. Like millions more, it seemed – yet not the same. (Published 2008 in Nothing Too Religious – Andrew Pr…
Rachel betrayed
Rachel betrayed
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Rachel betrayed Proper 12 year A Genesis 29: 15-28 Betrayed – by my own father! How could he? Seven long years I’ve waited. Seven years I’ve noticed his eyes following me; heard his voice speaking loudly enough for me to hear; watched his strong arms lifting, carrying, work…
Weeds?
Weeds?
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Weeds? Proper 11 year A Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 In my father’s garden it was a case of ‘NO WEEDS ALLOWED’. Dandelions were dispatched at speed. Thistles were torn out. Buttercups banished, and any unidentified shoots were sentenced to the compost heap... 17 July 2011, Fifth…
The fool on the hill
The fool on the hill
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue/dramatic reading: The fool on the hill Proper 11 year A Genesis 28: 10-19a Have you heard the latest? About that batty bloke down the road? You know, the one who came all this way to look for a wife – so he claims? You’ve not heard? Well, it’s a story and a half, I’ll t…
Great and gracious God