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Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church II
Exodus and Leviticus - How to build a Church II
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Build a Church 2 EXODUS 26: 31- 27: 21 When I was a toddler in the latter part of the Second World War, family lore says that I used to watch the “fireworks” and the “bonfires” from my second-floor bedroom. These were actually bombs falling on the RAF airstrip that is now …
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Moses Begins His Last Sermon
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Moses Begins His Last Sermon
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Moses Begins His Last Sermon Deuteronomy 1:1-45 This coming Saturday, I am taking part in a service in which the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles expresses its regret and contrition for the way we have treated African Americans. The church to which I belong was founded to provide…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 12 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 12 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 12 Luke 11: 1-13 Gaze on a clear night sky, full of stars, and a partial moon that lights up your way along the narrow village streets. Hear the frantic banging, waking everyone in the house. Who can it be at this time of night – there must be a fire somewhere, or a death.…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 22 Habakkuk 1.1–4; 2.1–4 2 Timothy 1.1–14 Luke 17.5–10 This central section of Luke’s Gospel is full of very uncomfortable reading. It starts at 9.51, when Jesus ‘set his face to go to Jerusalem’, and the ministry enters a new phase. Now everything he says and does is bein…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5.2–5a Hebrews 10.5–10 Luke 1.39–45 The readings from Micah and Hebrews are so dauntingly obscure that it is tempting simply to concentrate on the lovely passage from Luke. Luke’s is the only Gospel that has any of John the Baptist’s biography be…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Trinity Sunday Proverbs 8.1–4, 22–31 Romans 5.1–5 John 16.12–15 From very early on in the life of the Church, Christians read the figure of ‘Wisdom’ in Proverbs as a reference to Jesus. They assumed that God had already shown, in hints, characters and patterns of relating, what h…
John for Everyone part 2 - Breakfast by the Shore
John for Everyone part 2 - Breakfast by the Shore
by SPCK - N T Wright
Breakfast by the Shore John 21.9-14 I don’t know much about mental health, and the therapy that can produce it. But I do know a little about the healing of memories, and the finding of a forgiveness that can go back to a buried hurt, fear, failure or sin and deal with it. I have …
Hebrews for Everyone - Keep up the Good Work
Hebrews for Everyone - Keep up the Good Work
by SPCK - N T Wright
Keep Up the Good Work Hebrews 6.9-12 Sir Francis Drake was one of many Englishmen who became famous during the reign of Elizabeth I. He sailed round the world, crossed the Atlantic many times, was involved in numerous sea battles in various parts of the world, was twice a member …
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Rescued by God's Power
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Rescued by God's Power
by SPCK - N T Wright
Rescued by God’s Power Judah 17-25 Sometimes a quick burst of biblical dialogue catches a truth in sharp relief. After many generations in which the people of Israel had gone from bad to worse, led by a succession of wicked kings, God finally sends the prophet Elijah to sort it a…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Thankful for God's Grace
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Thankful for God's Grace
by SPCK - N T Wright
Thankful for God’s Grace 1 Corinthians 1.1-9 It wasn’t long into the phone call before I noticed something different. It was the first time I’d spoken to this friend for some weeks, and whichever way the conversation turned, one name kept coming back. She and James had been talki…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Lord's Prayer
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Lord's Prayer
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6.7-15 I was talking to a friend who had the reputation of being one of the finest preachers in the area. How did he go about it, I asked. He had no particular technique, he said; he just puzzled over the biblical readings that were set for that day unti…
Job for Everyone - Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse
Job for Everyone - Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer’s Position Worse Job 33 1-33 A woman came to see me a little while ago to talk about an occasion when she had been given pastoral care by some people, and she said the occasion had left her disturbed for years. I knew her to be an intelligent…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Day of Pentecost Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Day of Pentecost Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Day of Pentecost Genesis 11.1–9 Acts 2.1–21 John 14.8–17 The story of the Tower of Babel continues the theology of sin that is found in Genesis 2 and 3, in the story of the Fall. Eve and Adam’s desire to seize for themselves a knowledge that properly belongs to God alone is at th…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Sixth Sunday of Easter Ezekiel 37.1–14 Acts 16.9–15 John 14.23–9 The clue to Ezekiel’s famous vision of the dry bones comes in verse 11. What Ezekiel has been hearing from the people all around him is a despair that is like death. ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost…
52 Reflections on Faith - Pentecost: a deep fire inside
52 Reflections on Faith - Pentecost: a deep fire inside
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Pentecost: A deep fire inside One of the most moving songs in the popular musical Billy Elliot by Lee Hall and Elton John is ‘Electricity’, sung by Billy at his audition at the Royal Ballet School in London. Set during the 1984 miners’ strike in England, the musical is about a yo…
Traces of Glory Year B - Proper 19 - Year B
Traces of Glory Year B - Proper 19 - Year B
by SPCK - David Adam
Proper 19 O Lord, as Peter confessed you as Christ, give us boldness to proclaim your redeeming love and saving power in the world; may we be ready to beat the cross and give ourselves for others and the advancement of your kingdom; we ask this in your Name, Jesus our Lord, who w…
Traces of Glory Year B - Proper 20 - Year B