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Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - And God Shut Him In
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - And God Shut Him In
by SPCK - John Goldingay
And God Shut Him In Genesis 7: 1-24 One of my sons works for the U.K. Environment Agency in the department concerned with flood control, where he oversees projects designed to avoid flooding. In the past there have been occasions when terrible storms have caused the sea to flood …
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Saul Lost Some Donkeys and Found More Than He Bargained For
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - How Saul Lost Some Donkeys and Found More Than He Bargained For
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Saul Lost Some Donkeys and Found More than He Bargained For 1 Samuel 8: 21- 9: 27 A friend of mine begins his church ministry tomorrow, fifteen years after he first had a sense that he might be called to the ministry. Of course he has been involved in ministry in different se…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How to Swallow Your Pride
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - How to Swallow Your Pride
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Swallow Your Pride JOSHUA 9: 22- 10: 11 In the church where I was a young assistant pastor, I shared a house with an older man called Charles who in U.S.-speak would be called the janitor but in Brit-speak was called the caretaker. I don’t remember how he had been appointe…
Job for Everyone - If Only Wickedness Did Get Its Reward
Job for Everyone - If Only Wickedness Did Get Its Reward
by SPCK - John Goldingay
If Only Wickedness Did Get Its Reward! Job 21: 1-34 Two or three years before I write, the United States and the Western world as a whole experienced a “great financial meltdown,” with a significant factor in the crisis being the way financial institutions lent money for mortgage…
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…
Job for Everyone - Leviathan
Job for Everyone - Leviathan
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Leviathan Job 41:1- 34 My wife is a bit apprehensive about monsters and can occasionally be scared for a moment by a shadow that might be some strange creature. For our honeymoon she was nevertheless keen to go to Scotland, from where her ancestors came, even though Scotland is a…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Leaderly Calculation and Mother Love
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - Leaderly Calculation and Mother Love
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Leaderly Calculation and Mother Love 2 Samuel 19: 41- 21: 22 We care about what happens to the bodies of our loved ones. My wife and I long ago agreed that we would be cremated and then have our ashes scattered in the valley where we had spent the first night of our honeymoon. No…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Justice and Only Justice ( Absolute Faithfulness)
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Justice and Only Justice ( Absolute Faithfulness)
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Justice and Only Justice Deuteronomy 16: 18- 17: 13 The last time I took a student group to Israel, among the speakers we had in the evenings was a Christian Palestinian Israeli called Naim Ateek; his son was subsequently a student at our seminary. Dr. Ateek was born in Palestine…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 43.1–7 Acts 8.14–17 Luke 3.15–17, 21–2 The first three Gospels all have the story of Jesus’ baptism by John in very similar words. John’s version of events, as so often, is slightly different – you might like to go and have a look at it in John…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Epiphany Isaiah 60.1–6 Ephesians 3.1–12 Matthew 2.1–12 The wise men have always had enormous appeal. Everything about them has been elaborated in poetry and story. They have become kings; they have been depicted as representing youth, maturity and old age; they have been give…
Prayer: God of greatness and glory
Prayer: God of greatness and glory
by Andrew Pratt
God of greatness and glory, God of splendour and surprise, God of cross and manger; God of hope in present danger, Your voice shakes the earth, sounding like thunder, breaking cedars. Your voice is like flames consuming the wilderness. Your nature seems destructive in its power, …
Reflect on what young Isaac felt
Reflect on what young Isaac felt
by Andrew Pratt
Poem, song, hymn: Reflect on what young Isaac felt Second Sunday after Pentecost Genesis 22: 1 – 14 Reflect on what young Isaac felt, incomprehension, frozen fear; Moriah's mount, the steady climb, the place of death was drawing near. Reflect on what his father felt, this preciou…
The presence of Jesus is seen in God's people
The presence of Jesus is seen in God's people
by Andrew Pratt
The presence of Jesus is seen in God's people, when love is unanimous, open and bold to welcome the outcast, befriending the homeless, when love is the gift that we never withhold. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: ST CATHERINE’S COURT Metre: 12.11.12.11 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © …
The towering glory of this place
The towering glory of this place
by Andrew Pratt
The towering glory of this place: divine accommodation; affords a dwelling place for God through every generation. Here see the swallows sweeping down, in rest from navigation, they have a safer place to rest, a nest for pro-creation. Verses 3-4 follow Tune: DOMINUS REGIT ME Metr…
This is love, love un-extinguished
This is love, love un-extinguished
by Andrew Pratt
This is love, love un-extinguished, love out lasting time and place, love surviving crucifixion, sign of hope and source of grace. This was God who bled and died there, very God they scourged and hung, it was God the child of Mary, from whom human life was wrung. Verses 2-3 follo…
We strain to hear the voice of God
We strain to hear the voice of God
by Andrew Pratt
We strain to hear the voice of God, this God who knows us inside out, a whispered voice of gentleness that never seeks to force or shout. Christ's voice was heard in Galilee by those who had the ears to hear, he challenged hypocrites with truth while sinners, sensing love, drew n…
With daring we enter the future that beckons
With daring we enter the future that beckons
by Andrew Pratt
With daring we enter the future that beckons, our feelings in tension - excitement and fear. Wherever we're walking we know God walks with us, before and behind, God's protection is near. *Alone in the desert God's people felt empty, the land that was promised of honey and milk s…
The Things He Carried - 5. The Hopes of God