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Times and Seasons - Prayer: Human instincts
Times and Seasons - Prayer: Human instincts
by Marjorie Dobson
Romans 12: 9-21 Prayer: Human instincts Vengeance is a natural reaction and most children have the instinct from an early age. We have to be taught to share, to forgive, to live in peace with one another and to resist our automatic reaction to get our own back. So we pray: When o…
Simply Good News - A Different Kind of God
Simply Good News - A Different Kind of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
A Different Kind of God That’s why the stories about Jesus – the four Gospels or good-news books – are quite complicated. They show Jesus not parachuting down from a great height to dispense solutions to all problems nor zapping everything into shape like some kind of Superman, b…
Echoing the Word - Eucharistic Prayer F
Echoing the Word - Eucharistic Prayer F
by SPCK - Paula Gooder & Michael Perham
14 Eucharistic Prayer F Prayer F is probably the richest prayer in terms of its theology and strong memorable images. Its origins lie in the fourth-century Eucharistic Prayer of St Basil, still in occasional use in the Eastern churches. In the West it has been experienced, in a v…
Come and join our people’s praise
Come and join our people’s praise
by Avis Palmer
Come and join our people’s praise, Celebrate the many ways God is present, with us still. Found in talent and in skill. Paintings, photos, works of art, Flower arrangements play their part. Banners, crochet, quilts and lace, Witness God's creative grace. Music, poetry and song, T…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Philosophical Worldview
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - The Philosophical Worldview
by SPCK - N T Wright
3. Athene and Her Owl: the Wisdom of the Greeks (vi) The Philosophical Worldview What happens when we turn the spotlight of worldview-analysis on to the ancient philosophers, not least the Stoics who seem, prima facie, to be the most likely context for understanding Paul’s audien…
Barefoot Prayers - The Voice of Prayer
Barefoot Prayers - The Voice of Prayer
by SPCK - Stephen Cherry
An introduction in three parts The voice of prayer Prayer is an extremely common human activity. As John Ellerton put it in a famous hymn, ‘the voice of prayer is never silent / nor dies the strain of praise away’.1 It takes myriad forms and transpires in countless contexts. Yet …
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Christmas
Journeying with Matthew Lectionary Year A - Christmas
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
2 Christmas Exploring the text Matthew’s birth narrative begins in the same way that the genealogy began. Unfortunately this is masked in the English translation. Matthew 1.1 begins ‘a book [or record] of the genesis of Jesus the Messiah’ and Matthew 1.18 ‘the genesis of Jesus th…
The Power of the Parable - The Visionary Dream of God
The Power of the Parable - The Visionary Dream of God
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 10 The Visionary Dream of God The Parable Gospel According To John The Power of the Parables HOW FICTION BY JESUS BECAME FICTION ABOUT JESUS When you think of World Heritage Sites, you usually imagine ancient places and ruined cities. But one site is emphatically neither.…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 53:1, 3
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 53:1, 3
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 53:1, 3 The Bible offers no arguments for the existence of God. It doesn’t engage with the intellectual case for or against. It simply assumes God. It makes me think that the person this psalm has in mind is not the atheist or agnostic who wrestles with questions of faith b…
Occasions for Alleluia - Introduction
Occasions for Alleluia - Introduction
by SPCK - David Adam
Introduction One Easter on Holy Island, a few things suddenly came together. During Lent I had been reading A. N. Wilson’s novel, A Bottle in the Smoke, and I came across this passage describing the main character, Julian Ramsey, falling in love for the first time:..
Scripture and the Authority of God - Scripture within Contemporary Culture
Scripture and the Authority of God - Scripture within Contemporary Culture
by SPCK - N T Wright
Scripture within Contemporary Culture Scripture in Today’s World: Five Areas The Bible doesn’t just live within the church, because the church (if it is true to its own nature and vocation) is always open to God’s world. Our contemporary culture impinges on the questions that are…
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables: Part 2
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables: Part 2
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 4 Challenge Parables: Part 2 The Word Against The Word When I was in high school, from 1945 to 1950, the standard English curriculum established by Ireland’s Board of Education involved a different Shakespearean play for each year. My memory recalls The Merchant of Venice…
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables: Part 3
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables: Part 3
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 5 Challenge Parables: Part 3 Let Anyone With Ears To Hear Listen! In 1973 I was an associate professor at DePaul University in Chicago and had just published In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus, the first in a series of books that would culminate with The H…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 37: 4, 7, 32
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 37: 4, 7, 32
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 37. 4, 7, 32 The promise of God to give us our heart’s desires is conditional. When our heart is in tune with God’s heart and hence our will with his will then, as Jesus said, ‘Ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you’ (John 15.7 nrsv). The secret is to stay c…
There is a season - Harvest Festival
There is a season - Harvest Festival
by SPCK - Margaret Pritchard Houston
HARVEST FESTIVAL Unless a grain of wheat falls… INTRODUCTION The meaning of Harvest Festival has changed dramatically in recent years. The UK is no longer an agrarian society – many children are now unaware of the origins of their food, let alone actively involved in its producti…
Numbers in the Bible Assembly Collection - Forgiveness 70 times 7 Assembly
Numbers in the Bible Assembly Collection - Forgiveness 70 times 7 Assembly
by Christian Assembly Team
Forgiveness – Seventy times Seven Bible ref: Matthew 18:21-35 There’s quite a lot in this assembly so you will have to keep it moving or edit as you feel necessary... Today we are going to be thinking about forgiveness. What does the word “forgive” mean? (Establish a child-friend…
Journeying with Luke - Lent