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With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:69-70
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:69-70
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:69-70 Fat hearts are bad for you, physically and spiritually. This psalm is a spiritual health warning for those whose heart ‘is as fat as brawn’. Pride is the symptom of a gross heart. The problem is that the proud do not always see their pride, it escapes their notice…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:32
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:32
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:32 Freedom. We may not have been born free, but for freedom we were made and redeemed. Walking near our cottage where I was convalescing I penned these couplets: Free as a fly that dodges the swat, free as a fish that misses the plot, Free as the wind that snaps the twi…
With My WholeHeart - Prelude to the Psalms
With My WholeHeart - Prelude to the Psalms
by SPCK - James Jones
Prelude to the Psalms On a certain Tuesday I was on my feet in the House of Lords asking a question about the future of the Community Justice Centre in Liverpool. As I sat down I could feel my heart pumping and a pain in my chest. On the Wednesday I was at the Heart and Chest Hos…
Meditation - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
Meditation - 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
by David Middleton
Meditation – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr A Matthew 22: 34-46 Leviticus 19: 1-2, 15-18 Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Jesus spent the final week of his earthly life fielding awkward questions, aimed at him by people who did not so much want the answer as to catch him out in order to acc…
Prayer: Loving Father God
Prayer: Loving Father God
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Loving Father God Loving Father, God, we offer you the love and respect that you deserve. We know that we cannot be perfect and we recognize that we miss the mark of obeying your commandments, but we also know that you are a loving and caring God and that we are all your …
Prayer: Law-giving God
Prayer: Law-giving God
by Marjorie Dobson
Law-giving God, you gave us ten clear rules about belief and behaviour, in the hope that we would be obedient and follow your wisdom throughout our lives. But we confess that we have often contradicted your commandments and taken our own way, simply for our own satisfaction. Cont…
Rule, rule, rules
Rule, rule, rules
by Marjorie Dobson
Rules, rules, rules. Rules, rules, rules. Rules that are sensible. Rules that are practical. Rules to protect the vulnerable. Rules to check criminal behaviour. Rules to promote a right sense of living. Rules to encourage discipline. Rules to keep society on an even keel. Rules t…
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - God's New Commandment
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - God's New Commandment
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s New Commandment 1 John 2. 3-14 Sometimes when we sing hymns, the hymns tell a story. They move from one idea to another, in a linear fashion. There is something satisfying about this. We all like stories, and even when the ‘story’ is a sequence of ideas, it makes sense to u…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Raising the Ceiling of Our Hope
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - On Raising the Ceiling of Our Hope
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Teach Me Psalm 119: 49-72 I’m grading student papers, and one effect that has on me (alongside making me want to commit suicide) is to make me puzzle over what it is that enables people to learn. There are people who have read the Scriptures with fresh eyes, seen things they had …
If all the world could live as one
If all the world could live as one
by Andrew Pratt
If all the world could live as one If all the world could live as one respecting each and every need, to be as neighbours sharing all, then God’s commands could be our creed. Much less a law to bind and tie, but more descriptive of the life we share in common care and love, where…
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Laws as the Way to Blessing
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - God’s Laws as the Way to Blessing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
God’s Laws as the Way to Blessing Psalm 119: 1-24 After church today, a friend asked me a question that had arisen out of a conversation he’d had with a co-worker. My friend was surprised that the co-worker was willing to work seven days a week—what about the commandment concerni…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 22 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 22 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 22 Luke 17: 5-10 Gaze on this poor worker with the sweat running down his face, and blisters on his hands, plodding back from the fields. The light is dimming and he’s returning to the farmhouse. How he longs to be able to bathe his tired limbs, drink cool water, and gaze …
Exodus and Leviticus - The First Spiritual Gifting
Exodus and Leviticus - The First Spiritual Gifting
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The First Spiritual Gifting EXODUS 31: 1-18 An amazing experience of parenthood is your children’s ability to do things you cannot do. Whereas I can just about play three chords on the guitar but have to think through where to put my fingers at each chord change, our younger son …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 4 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 4 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 4 - Year A Deuteronomy 11.18–21, 26–28 Romans 1.16, 17; 3.22b–31 Matthew 7.21–29 These are frightening words from Jesus in today’s Gospel reading. He imagines a group of people who truly believe they are his followers and yet are mistaken. These people perform mighty acts …
The Ten Commandments