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Year ending
Year ending
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Year ending As the year draws to a close and we take stock of what has happened and imagine what the future may hold, let us pray for our church and our relationships and our work, as we prepare to renew our commitment to God in the year that lies ahead. God of our past a…
Prayer: God, our refuge
Prayer: God, our refuge
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: God, our refuge God, our refuge, you have promised shelter and safety for those who love and trust in you. Yet in the world around us we see faithful people suffering, innocent people injured and dying, children starving and women attacked and molested. Daily we hear of w…
Imagining the Lectionary: Better beyond belief (Epiphany 2C)
Imagining the Lectionary: Better beyond belief (Epiphany 2C)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: Better beyond belief (Epiphany 2C) Reflection accompanying image “You have kept the good wine until now ” In St John's Gospel emptiness and fulfilment are the polar opposites which frame the first public disclosure of God's amazing intentions in the mini…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 1 Isaiah 6.1–13 1 Corinthians 15.1–11 Luke 5.1–11 ‘The holy seed is its stump.’ Isaiah’s vision in the Temple leaves him with a dreadful commission, to inform God’s people of inevitable exile. The nation will be like a tree felled and burnt. But when the worst has occurred…
All life's praising fills creation
All life's praising fills creation
by Andrew Pratt
All life's praising fills creation, breathless dancing setting free lives to give their brief expression to the things we sense or see. Praise is building, deep crescendo, rhythmic shaking moves the earth, like some cosmic exaltation bringing love and joy to birth. Verses 2-3 fol…
Hannah coming to the temple
Hannah coming to the temple
by Andrew Pratt
Hannah coming to the temple brings a tunic for her lad, such excitement, though expected, human love will make them glad.* Like a birthday, family meeting, celebration, gifts are brought, in imagination's moment, altogether joy is caught. Christmas passes, other moments in our me…
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…
We turn the tables on our friends
We turn the tables on our friends
by Andrew Pratt
We turn the tables on our friends, the ones we love the most, when others point or criticise, we press our case and boast. The garden story that we hear still lives in us today, the blame still passes down the line, there is no other way. Verses 3-4 follow Tune: BROTHER JAMES AIR…
When the stars were shining brightly
When the stars were shining brightly
by Andrew Pratt
When the stars were shining brightly, over silent, sand and stone, through the desert God had led us, seeking rest where we might home. Our companion, friend, defender, cloudy pillar, fiery light, brought us safe through fear and danger, to the morning from our night. Verse 2 fol…
The Living God - A God who remembers us
The Living God - A God who remembers us
by SPCK - Alister McGrath
A personal God: love and faithfulness 2 A God who remembers us In 2008 I began to research a new biography of C. S. Lewis. This involved reading everything he had written in chronological order, as well as the large amount of literature about him. I came across many early photogr…
52 Reflections on Faith - Ash Wednesday: depending on God
52 Reflections on Faith - Ash Wednesday: depending on God
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
4 Ash Wednesday: Depending on God Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the period of 40 days before Easter. Lent is a season of fasting and repentance in preparation for the joyous celebration of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Day. The 40-day period comes from Jesus’ 40 d…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Mary, Rhoda, and Slavery
The Women's Bible Commentary - Mary, Rhoda, and Slavery
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Mary, Rhoda, and Slavery At the very end of the story of Peter’s imprisonment in Jerusalem, Luke gives readers a glimpse into one of the assemblies of The Way (or Christians, as they are now called [Acts 11:26])…
The Women's Bible Commentary - Preface to the History
The Women's Bible Commentary - Preface to the History
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Preface to the History Following the opening letters asking the Egyptian Jews to commemorate the purification of the temple, the author opens his preface with a lengthy sentence displaying his facility with the Greek language…
The Women's Bible Commentary - A Textual Interlude: Scribes, Pharisees and Women
The Women's Bible Commentary - A Textual Interlude: Scribes, Pharisees and Women
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
A Textual Interlude: Scribes, Pharisees and Women The story traditionally known as “the Woman Taken in Adultery” has a complicated textual history. The passage is missing from the earliest Greek manuscripts of John…
The Monastery Of The Heart - 16 Responsibility
The Monastery Of The Heart - 16 Responsibility
by SPCK - Joan Chittister
Responsibility “Let everyone receive help as the size of the community or local conditions warrant.” Benedictine spirituality is communal. It never intends to create a world of isolates, even for the isolated… Taken from The Monastery Of The Heart by Joan Chittister
Great Christian Thinkers - 2 St. Ignatius of Antioch