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Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The First Sunday of Lent Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The First Sunday of Lent Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Lent Genesis 9.8–17, 1 Peter 3.18–22, Mark 1.9–15 Noah is conspicuously absent from much of the New Testament. When he does appear, as in 1 Peter 3, it isn’t immediately obvious why. Who were those ‘spirits in prison’ from Noah’s day? In what sense did Jesus…
POPPIES AND SNOWDROPS - Prayer: O God, the memories are so painful
POPPIES AND SNOWDROPS - Prayer: O God, the memories are so painful
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: O God, the memories are so painful O God, the memories are so painful. If only I could have helped. If only I could have shown him the depth of my love. If only he could have known … O God, if anyone understands the anguish of love and loss, you do. You watched your son d…
Monologue/meditation: Lament
Monologue/meditation: Lament
by Andrew Pratt
Monologue/meditation: Lament Share all or part of the reading from Lamentations. The speaker, a modern day Jeremiah, is sitting on a stool, thinking. Raising his or her head, begins to speak... The rooftops were wet, shining in light that glinted between clouds. The damp mist of …
In this common congregation
In this common congregation
by Andrew Pratt
In this common congregation where we've often been before, here among familiar people, meeting God and feeling awe; we are ranked where God has chosen, set with those we might not choose, given tasks that bring us credit, and those where we stand to lose. God has called us to thi…
Filled with anger and compassion
Filled with anger and compassion
by Andrew Pratt
Filled with anger and compassion Jesus felt another's plight, understood the ones who taunted cloaking prejudice as right. Feeling human hurt and anguish, Jesus reached to touch the man, now he'd share the condemnation, subject to a human ban. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: CALON LAN 8.…
Times and Seasons - Psalm 31 – a responsive prayer
Times and Seasons - Psalm 31 – a responsive prayer
by Marjorie Dobson
Psalm 31 – a responsive prayer Where there is distress and tears are the deepest expression of sorrow – God, bring your comforting presence. Where there is pain and anguish that cries out for healing – God, bring your comforting presence. Where weakness and infirmity drain life a…
Recovering from Depression - Days of resurrection
Recovering from Depression - Days of resurrection
by SPCK - Katharine Smith
Days of resurrection - Part 1 Introduction Easter Day begins in darkness. It begins with the grief and fear, loneliness and despair of two women, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James. They think they have lost everything that gave their lives meaning and direction. They f…
Meditation - 1st Sunday of Christmas Year A
Meditation - 1st Sunday of Christmas Year A
by David Middleton
Meditation – 1st Sunday of Christmas Year A Another Joseph goes to Egypt Matthew 2: 13-23 Joseph reeled in agony at the news. He had just heard that back home, many infant lives had been lost at the hands of Herod, who, frightened that a newborn baby would take his throne, had mu…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Groaning in Labor Pains
The Women's Bible Commentary - Groaning in Labor Pains
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Re-creation of Land and People In chapters 36 and 37 God acts not just to renew Israel and the land, but to re-create them entirely. Chapter 36 has the re-creation of both people (36:26–27) and land (36:1–15, 35) in view, whereas 37:1–14 famously focuses on the rebirth of the peo…
Hymn: She felt just like a ragged dog
Hymn: She felt just like a ragged dog
by Andrew Pratt
She felt just like a ragged dog that scratched around for food, denied, despised and kicked aside and never any good. Yet now she stood inside the door and pleaded with this man, for each taboo had little weight, her grief had wider span. Verses 3-5 follow Tune: AULD LANG SYNE ( …
Hymn: When sense is damaged, limiting perception
Hymn: When sense is damaged, limiting perception
by Andrew Pratt
When sense is damaged, limiting perception, God's love will not diminish or betray, for we are held in grace and loving kindness, in pain, through grief and hardship, come what may. The love of God defies our understanding, God reaches to the depths of our despair absorbing hate,…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 15 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 15 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 15 Luke 12: 49-56 Gaze on the sky as yet another weather front approaches. Dirty clouds lurk overhead, and the rain begins to lash down at some unseen trigger. How the weather can affect our moods! We are so much more content and kind when the sky is blue. Gaze on the TV e…
When blood is poured like water