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Hymn: Divided nations but one parent
Hymn: Divided nations but one parent
by Andrew Pratt
Divided nations but one parent, the God of one and God of all; and now in praise and joyful worship as nations sing, each voice will call. Then through the wealth of grace and glory, may God's own Spirit fill each heart, until in Christ we all are rooted, within one ground to bea…
Hymn: The Psalmist calls for new songs praising God
Hymn: The Psalmist calls for new songs praising God
by Andrew Pratt
The Psalmist calls for new songs praising God but we prefer familiar words and ways. We hold and cage and mould God to our will, defending customs smothering our praise. A world-wide pool of images and grace informs our faith, re-vitalises hope, and so our view, so narrow and obs…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - God's Strange Wisdom
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - God's Strange Wisdom
by SPCK - N T Wright
1 THE WISDOM OF THE SPIRIT GOD’S STRANGE WISDOM 1 Corinthians 2: 6-13 When my sister celebrated her twenty-first birthday, she and I were at university, a long way from home. So a cousin of my father’s, who lived nearby, invited the two of us to dinner to celebrate. He and his wi…
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Praying With Mind As Well As Spirit
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Praying With Mind As Well As Spirit
by SPCK - N T Wright
PART 1 NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING ON PRAYER THE TEACHING OF PAUL PRAYING WITH MIND AS WELL AS SPIRIT 1 Corinthians 14: 13-19 When you look at another person, what do you see? I don’t mean what shape, what colour, what size of person are you looking at; I mean, how do you think about …
Mark for Everyone - Jesus' Baptism
Mark for Everyone - Jesus' Baptism
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 1.9–13 Jesus’ Baptism... ...A famous movie-maker had a huge legal wrangle with his long- time mentor and guide. The younger man simply couldn’t handle criticism, and ended up rejecting the person who had helped him so much. When it was all over, a close fri…
What news is good? That Christ will live forever?
What news is good? That Christ will live forever?
by Andrew Pratt
What news is good? That Christ will live forever? Beyond a cruel death an empty grave? And whether this is fact or faith means nothing unless Christ's Spirit gives the means to save. If we endure derision, in this moment, or share communion bread within this place, unless our liv…
When nations are healed and all warfare is banished
When nations are healed and all warfare is banished
by Andrew Pratt
When nations are healed and all warfare is banished, the hungry are fed and the poor lifted high, the vision of glory, God's presence among us, will signify love and all hatred will die. The river of life will flow on unpolluted, the language we share will express common wealth, …
John The People's Commentary - The Parting of the Ways
John The People's Commentary - The Parting of the Ways
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
The Parting of the Ways John 6: 56-71 JOHN This chapter’s setting has moved from up in the mountains for the feeding, across the storm-tossed lake to a crowd in Capernaum. The last part of this discourse at least has been Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum (6:59). The …
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Friday Morning Prayer
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Friday Morning Prayer
by SPCK - Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild
ORDINARY TIME - Friday Morning Prayer Blessed are you, O God, for by your wounds we have been healed. Blessed be Jesus, friend and brother, sharer of our humanity, suffering One who knows our pain...
Journeying With Mark Year B - Lent
Journeying With Mark Year B - Lent
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
4 Lent Exploring the text During Lent we prepare ourselves for the Passion of Christ, looking forward to that time when Jesus’ suffering and death will bring redemption to the world. In Mark’s Gospel, we discover that we are not the only ones expecting Jesus’ death: Jesus too loo…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Setting the Scene
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Setting the Scene
by BRF - Dick France
SETTING the SCENE ‘The wilderness’, mentioned four times in verses 1–13 and never again in Mark’s Gospel, is a pointer to the different focus in these introductory paragraphs. They are set not among human society in Galilee or Judea, but in the uninhabited land around the Jordan.…
Sometimes convictions deep within
Sometimes convictions deep within
by Andrew Pratt
Sometimes convictions deep within can energise our action, to move us in another way, to find a new direction. God's spirit speaks within each mind, but like the sense of conscience is easy for us to avoid, a trick of our sub-conscious. Verses 3-5 follow Tune: BARBARA ALLEN; DOMI…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Creativity and inspiration
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Creativity and inspiration
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Creativity and inspiration Criticism of scripture Some of our actual readers may be feeling by now that this is all very exciting, but perhaps a bit much! It is usually a good idea in a picture gallery to sit down and take stock occasionally. So far, we have seen that the four go…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The sacrificial, saving victim
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The sacrificial, saving victim
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
The sacrificial, saving victim The Passion, Luke 22—23 In Luke’s Passion narrative, Jesus becomes passive, like Mark’s lion being tied up and muzzled, or Matthew’s Teacher refusing to call up legions of angels. Here the reason is divine necessity: ‘it is necessary’ (dei) appears …
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Clean Hands and a Pure Heart