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Job for Everyone - Who Moved?
Job for Everyone - Who Moved?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Who Moved? Job 23: 1-17 A notice that sometimes appears on church bulletin boards says, “If God seems far away, guess who moved?” There’s obviously some truth in the point it makes about our relationship with God, but the notice rather tempts me to deface it. I have known times w…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 5 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 5 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 5 Luke 7: 11-17 Gaze on a funeral scene in Britain – everyone is in their best clothes, dark, sombre and formal. People make an effort to contain their emotions and no one wants to ‘break down’ in public. We put on a brave face and give thanks for the life lost. If it is a…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Fourth Sunday of Lent Luke 15.1-3, 11b-32 Gaze on the father pacing his lemon groves each evening, climbing to the highest point of his land to scan the horizon. And at last he sees a dot, growing ever more distinct, ever more familiar. Gaze on the elder son, the outsider loo…
Psalms for Everyone - In the Dark of the Canyon
Psalms for Everyone - In the Dark of the Canyon
by SPCK - John Goldingay
In the Dark of the Canyon Psalm 23 In the foothills of the mountains near where we live is a retreat center where we have a faculty gathering each fall. Two years ago a new director at the center gave us some advice we had not been given before. If we met a bear on the grounds, w…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The ox in the Temple and the stall
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The ox in the Temple and the stall
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
The ox in the Temple and the stall Infancy and beginnings, Luke 1—4.13 Since the ox was the universal beast of burden, it is not surprising that Luke stresses the universal importance of Jesus. We have seen that the opening words of any ancient text were crucial. If Mark is not c…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Mountains
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Mountains
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Mountains For some strange reason, human beings connect mountains with God. In many ancient religions, worship took place on the ‘high places’. Even today, we talk of ‘mountain-top experiences’, despite having left behind the notion that mountains are closer to God’s supposed dwe…
John and Mary, the Mother of Jesus
John and Mary, the Mother of Jesus
by Dave Hopwood
Slaughter of the Innocent Bible Ref: Matthew 26 -27; Mark 14 -15; Luke 22-23; John 18-19 Each of the following sketches (scenes) can be used to form the basis for a complete act of worship or used as individual scenes on separate occasions. Each scene will require a narrator to r…
Great Christian Thinkers - 21 St. Jerome
Great Christian Thinkers - 21 St. Jerome
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Jerome His Life and Work We now turn our attention to St. Jerome, a Church Father who centred his life on the Bible: he translated it into Latin, commented on it in his works, and above all, strove to live it in practice throughout his long earthly life, despite the well-know…
Great Christian Thinkers - 26 St. Leo The Great
Great Christian Thinkers - 26 St. Leo The Great
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Leo The Great Continuing our journey through the Fathers of the Church, true stars that shine in the distance, we next encounter a pope who, in 1754, Benedict XIV proclaimed a Doctor of the Church: St. Leo the Great. As the nickname soon attributed to him by tradition suggest…
Great Christian Thinkers - 19 St. Ambrose of Milan
Great Christian Thinkers - 19 St. Ambrose of Milan
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Ambrose of Milan Holy Bishop Ambrose, about whom I now speak to you, died in Milan in the night between 3 and 4 April 397. It was dawn on Holy Saturday. The day before, at about five o’clock in the afternoon, he had settled down to pray, lying on his bed with his arms wide op…
Great Christian Thinkers - 20 St. Maximus of Turin
Great Christian Thinkers - 20 St. Maximus of Turin
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Maximus of Turin Between the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth, another Father of the Church made a great contribution to the spread and consolidation of Christianity in northern Italy: St. Maximus, whom we come across in 398— a year after St. Ambrose’s…
Great Christian Thinkers - 47 St. Anselm
Great Christian Thinkers - 47 St. Anselm
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Anselm The Benedictine abbey of Sant’Anselmo (St. Anselm) is located on the Aventine Hill in Rome. As the headquarters of an academic institute of higher studies and of the abbot primate of the Confederated Benedictines, it is a place that unites within it prayer, study, and …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time The Last Sunday After Trinity Leviticus 19.1–2, 15–18 1 Thessalonians 2.1–8 Matthew 22.34–46 1 Thessalonians is almost certainly the oldest document in the New Testament. As in so many other things, Paul is a pioneer. It is hard for u…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Second Isaiah