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Failure–Reflection on John 1:29-42
Failure–Reflection on John 1:29-42
by Marjorie Dobson
Failure – Reflection on John 1:29-42 If John had decided not to take on the role of Baptist, there would have been no noisy wilderness prophet to gaze at in amazement and to challenge supposedly God-fearing folk about lifestyle and commitment. Who would have baptised Jesus then a…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 95: 1, 8, 10
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 95: 1, 8, 10
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 95. 1, 8, 10 This psalm begins with a fanfare and ends in the plagal cadence of a sung ‘amen’. There could hardly be a greater contrast between beginning and end. At the start the heart is rejoicing; by the finish the heart is indicted for its erring and straying like a stu…
With My WholeHeart - Postscript to the Psalms
With My WholeHeart - Postscript to the Psalms
by SPCK - James Jones
Postscript to the Psalms Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. This verse (Psalm 51.6 kjv) does not come with the word ‘heart’ in the psalm version of the Book of Common Prayer but for me it has been at the cent…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 44:19-21
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 44:19-21
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 44:19-21 Nothing is hidden from God. To him we are an open book. He knows the biography of each of us. Such knowledge is both disturbing and reassuring. The heart is in a marketplace where different desirables compete for our attention. Even when we have made our choice we …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 41:1, 6
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 41:1, 6
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 41:1, 6 The causes of poverty are the enemies of God. In a world of great complexity it is not always easy to identify them, nor is it simple to find the remedies. The causes range from trading tariffs to the changing climate, from war to corruption and exploitation. Those …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 40:10, 12, 15
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 40:10, 12, 15
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 40:10, 12, 15 To be content to do only the will of God is how God originally fashioned the heart to be. With the gift of freedom came also the risk that the human heart might chase after other desires. These psalms testify to the vagaries of the heart, but they also capture…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 54:6
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 54:6
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 54:6 In the world of the psalms the worship of God involved the offering of gifts. These were signs of the worshippers’ dedication to God. There were rules about the quality and purity of the offerings and the sacrifices. As we draw near to God in our searching after him we…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:111-112 There’s a joyless religion that should be avoided like the plague. There’s a certain personality that obsesses with detail; it becomes preoccupied with rules and ritual; it prefers the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. Jesus clashed with this sort of p…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 51:10, 17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 51:10, 17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 51:10, 17 Repetition is a feature of the life of prayer as we can see in the psalms. Yet again the plea for forgiveness comes with ‘Make me a clean heart’. There is a particular religious psyche that is obsessed with sin. There’s also a psychological condition where the pat…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 78:9, 37, 73
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 78:9, 37, 73
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 78:9, 37, 73 This psalm is a saga of the heart. Read it all to get the full and turbulent story of one heart in pursuit of the other, the divine and the human. It spans generations. It shows that the faithlessness of one generation does not mean that God will abandon the ne…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 97:1, 11
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 97:1, 11
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 97:1, 11 Psalm 96 invites us to ‘worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: let the whole earth stand in awe of him’ (v. 9). And here we hear that the well-being of the earth flows from our recognition of the sovereignty of God. When creature and Creator are in harmony the…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 25:1, 16-17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 25:1, 16-17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 25:1, 16-17 There is some adversity, though not all, that we bring on ourselves. We need to be cautious about this, because the first reaction we have to calamities is to imagine that God must be punishing us for something we have done. As Jesus made clear of a man born bli…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 73:1, 20, 25
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 73:1, 20, 25
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 73:1, 20, 25 The fact that this psalm continues to agonize over the success of the ungodly reflects how we ourselves struggle continuously to square the problem of evil with our faith in a loving God. ‘Then thought I to understand this: but it was too hard for me’ (v. 15). …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 66:16-17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 66:16-17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 66:16-17 Can we ever find God to be deaf to our prayers? After all, surely he sees and hears all. But this poetic image takes us to the heart of prayer. The life of faith is not about finding the right words or rituals to manipulate fate. That’s what the occult tries to do.…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 62:4, 8
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 62:4, 8
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 62:4, 8 There are two hearts that are polar opposites. The cursing heart is not always plain to see. It can be well disguised, as in Psalm 55, when the person ‘having war in his heart’ can speak words ‘softer than butter’ and ‘smoother than oil, and yet be they very swords’…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 58:1-2, 10