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Hymn: Lost in human expectation
Hymn: Lost in human expectation
by Andrew Pratt
Lost in human expectation, cannot grasp the reason why, love in human incarnation, has to suffer, had to die. Yet it seems our understanding, narrowed by our self-concern, makes us even more demanding, yet less able to discern. Verses 3-4 follow Tune: ALL FOR JESUS, STUTTGART Met…
Hymn: The whirring of wings amid smoke in the temple
Hymn: The whirring of wings amid smoke in the temple
by Andrew Pratt
The whirring of wings amid smoke, in the temple: a man in humility bows before God. The pillars are quaking, the threshold is shaken, he kneels in the place where his forebears have trod. A quest for identity, who will be chosen? The question: the one to be blessed with God's gra…
Hymn: Trust that God who lit the cosmos
Hymn: Trust that God who lit the cosmos
by Andrew Pratt
Trust that God, who lit the cosmos, source and ground of all we are, demonstrated love’s dimension, dying like the evening star, softened, shaded, so diminished, then extinguished, gone from sight, yet the third day rose in glory, bringing hope and shedding light. Verses 2-3 foll…
Hymn: Tossed and blown, events can floor us
Hymn: Tossed and blown, events can floor us
by Andrew Pratt
Tossed and blown, events can floor us, spin the world, we lose our grip; circumstances undermine us, yet again we turn and trip. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: WRAYSBURY Metre: 8.7.8.7 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 17/7/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.co.uk. …
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Earthquake and Salvation
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Earthquake and Salvation
by SPCK - N T Wright
Earthquake and Salvation Acts 16.25-34 I remember old Bishop Stephen Neill, who was winning classical scholarships around the time my father was born, telling me how we should translate verse 30. He was used to hearing people quote the panic-stricken question of the Philippian ja…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Dying and Rising With Christ
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Dying and Rising With Christ
by SPCK - N T Wright
2 THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SELF DYING AND RISING WITH CHRIST Colossians 2: 20- 3: 4 ‘I’ll just be two minutes,’ I said, leaving my friends on the street corner while I went to fetch the car. It was raining, and we’d just come out of the theatre. But I wasn’t two minutes. I took …
The Pastoral Letters - God's Word is not Tied Up
The Pastoral Letters - God's Word is not Tied Up
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Word Is Not Tied Up 2Timothy 2.8-13 ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones,’ goes the old rhyme, ‘but calling names won’t hurt me.’ It may be good to mutter little jingles like that if people are being rude to you, but actually the rhyme is only partly true. And when it come…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Human Inventions and Divine Instructions
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Human Inventions and Divine Instructions
by SPCK - N T Wright
Human Interventions and Divine Instructions Acts 5.27-42 We stared at the parcel as it lay on the floor inside the front door. Nobody had heard the delivery man. Nobody knew why it had arrived at this time of the day. The parcel was bulky, somewhat misshapen, with various semi-le…
The Pastoral Letters - The Mystery of Godliness
The Pastoral Letters - The Mystery of Godliness
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Mystery of Godliness 1Timothy 3.14-16 The senior officer investigating the case consulted his colleagues once more, and then went out to speak to the waiting press. ‘I’m sorry to say’, he said, ‘that the incident remains a complete mystery. There is no explanation for what ha…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 2 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 2 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 2 Jeremiah 17.5–10 1 Corinthians 15.12–20 Luke 6.17–26 Paul’s discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 has fascinated scholars and Christians alike. It shows clearly that the earliest preaching of the gospel contained the witness to the risen Christ. This is, as …
The Pastoral Letters - God's Revealed Plan
The Pastoral Letters - God's Revealed Plan
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Revealed Plan Titus 1.1-4 ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ It’s the standard question children face from well-meaning adults. Often the answers are surprising. A ballet dancer. A gardener. This girl wants to run a bookshop. This boy wants to play the oboe. Sometim…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Lent Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The First Sunday of Lent Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Lent - Year A Genesis 2.15–17; 3.1–7 Romans 5.12–19 Matthew 4.1–11 Students set to translate Romans 5 often despair: some of its ‘sentences’ have neither subjects nor verbs nor objects, but are just collocations of indirect phrases. Paul at his most obliqu…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Appeal to His Children
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Paul's Appeal to His Children
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Appeal to His Children Galatians 4.12-20 The French teacher was a strict disciplinarian. We weren’t allowed to speak a word of English during the classes, and neither did he. Everything, even trivial comments or requests, had to be made in French. He was determined that we…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 62.1–5 1 Corinthians 12.1–11 John 2.1–11 Nuptial imagery rings through the Bible like a peal of wedding bells. The first two chapters of Genesis reach their climax in the creation of man and woman in God’s image; the last two chapters of Rev…
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? Luke 2: 41-52 Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? From Christmas to Easter God comes as a stranger. From Bethlehem's stable, a child in a temple, two people in exile, a man with a temper, Beyond all the tinsel the st…
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Saturday Morning Prayer
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Saturday Morning Prayer
by SPCK - Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild
ORDINARY TIME - Saturday Morning Prayer Blessed are you, O God: you renew us with your goodness and loving-kindness. New every morning is the love Our wakening and uprising prove; Through sleep and darkness safely brought, Restored to life and power and thought...
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus Christ today