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Hymn: When life’s torn and love is shattered
Hymn: When life’s torn and love is shattered
by Andrew Pratt
When life’s torn and love is shattered, all around is stark and grey, hope and grace seem all but scattered, hopelessness surrounds our way. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: ANIMAE HOMINUM Metre: 8.7.8.7 Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 14/6/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www…
Hymn: Love never ends, for God is love
Hymn: Love never ends, for God is love
by Andrew Pratt
Love never ends, for God is love, the cradle of existence, and each new dawn adds to this proof, wears down our doubt's resistance. God's faithfulness toward the world awakes with each new morning, we feel the sun that nurtures life, it's warmth and light each dawning. Verses 3-4…
In her hungry desperation
In her hungry desperation
by Andrew Pratt
In her hungry desperation, clothed around with loss and grief, one poor widow met a prophet coming to her for relief. Soon together they were sharing meagre rations that she brought, while her son was slowly dying, out of sight, not out of thought. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: BETHANY…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Do Not Worry
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Do Not Worry
by SPCK - N T Wright
4 THE PATH OF THE DISCIPLE DO NOT WORRY Matthew 6: 25-34 Has it ever struck you what a basically happy person Jesus was? Oh yes, we know that, according to the prophecies, he was ‘a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief ’. We know that the darkness and sadness of all the world…
Job for Everyone - The Silence of Friends
Job for Everyone - The Silence of Friends
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Silence of Friends Job 2: 9-13 The day my first wife died, we were planning to go to the beach, so I went on my own the next day. This may sound weird, but it seemed to make sense at the time, and when I got home I was glad I had gone, because there were twelve messages on th…
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…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year A 1 Samuel 16.1–13 Ephesians 5.8–14 John 9.1–41 All the time we are called to try and find the difficult balance between faithfulness to God’s known work in the past, and prophetic discernment of God’s new work now. Faced with a completely new cha…
The cry of the poor should bring grief to the people
The cry of the poor should bring grief to the people
by Andrew Pratt
The cry of the poor should bring grief to the people, yet balm is not found, there is mourning instead. The harvest is past and the summer is ended, the winter is coming, dread raises its head. Verses 2-3 follow Metre: 12 11 12 11 Tune: STREETS OF LAREDO Andrew Pratt (born 1948…
We have known the exultation
We have known the exultation
by Andrew Pratt
We have known the exultation, we have shared in depths of pain, we have praised in celebration, we have mourned when faith felt vain. But, O God, your love is lasting, you have lifted us from loss, you restored our understanding that your love survived the cross. Verses 2-4 follo…
Willows hung with harps are weeping
Willows hung with harps are weeping
by Andrew Pratt
Willows hung with harps are weeping like the sorrow of our song, deep reflection of the mourning for the hurt of human wrong. Hurt which seems to have no ending, still rings on from age to age, still our human hearts are bleeding, still our grief takes centre stage. Verses 3-4 fo…
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - The Story Retold: Second-Temple Literature
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - The Story Retold: Second-Temple Literature
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL (ii) The Continuous Story (c) The Story Retold: Second-Temple Literature Similar retellings of the story of Israel, from various angles depending on the particular interest, are found across different…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 13. It hurts
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 13. It hurts
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 13. It hurts Psalm 69.29, 33, GN Nobody warns you that disability or degenerative illness – whichever it is you’re dealing with – hurts. Your loved one who is actually enduring the condition may feel no direct pain – but you do. What you f…
Body - Chapter 3 - The resurrection body
Body - Chapter 3 - The resurrection body
by SPCK - Paula Gooder
The resurrection body So what does happen when we die? Our reflections on the question of who we are as people and on the place of the soul in our identity leads naturally to the question of life after death. For some people the word ‘soul’ has dual purpose: it describes both who…
Lectio Divina the Sacred Art - 7 SAVOURING SACRED TEXT
Lectio Divina the Sacred Art - 7 SAVOURING SACRED TEXT
by Christine Valters Painter
SAVOURING SACRED TEXT In the previous chapter I focused on lectio, the first movement of lectio divina, which includes the dynamics of settling and shimmering— preparing yourself to enter the deep silence of the heart and then listen for the word or phrase from the sacred text th…
Once crimson poppies bloomed