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Acts for Everyone part 1 - Here Comes the Sequel
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Here Comes the Sequel
by SPCK - N T Wright
Here Comes the Sequel!Acts 1.1-5 The English playwright Alan Bennett wrote a famous play about the equally famous madness of a well-known king. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, England had four kings in succession all called ‘George’, and the third of them – George I…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Clean Hands and a Pure Heart
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - Clean Hands and a Pure Heart
by BRF - Dick France
Clean Hands and a Pure Heart We now return to the issue which sparked off this sharp dialogue, that of purity. Jesus declares his position by means of a ‘parable’ (which means here an epigram or a puzzling saying needing interpretation— see our study of chapter 4), which, followi…
Enabling Church: inclusion of disabled people - Knowing we're made in his image
Enabling Church: inclusion of disabled people - Knowing we're made in his image
by SPCK - Gordon Temple and Lin Ball
1 Knowing we’re made in his image Genesis 1.26 –31; 1 John 3.2 Purpose: to explore what it means to be human, made in God’s image; to challenge prejudices about what is ‘normal’. Prayer Thank God for the Bible – his inspired message to us all – and for all that it can teach us of…
Echoing the Word - Eucharistic Prayer D
Echoing the Word - Eucharistic Prayer D
by SPCK - Paula Gooder
12 Eucharistic Prayer D Eucharistic Prayer D is something different, in every way far removed from Prayer C. It was specially written for Common Worship, drafted by Bishop James Jones of Liverpool in consultation with his children, though worked on and developed within the Liturg…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 53:1, 3
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 53:1, 3
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 53:1, 3 The Bible offers no arguments for the existence of God. It doesn’t engage with the intellectual case for or against. It simply assumes God. It makes me think that the person this psalm has in mind is not the atheist or agnostic who wrestles with questions of faith b…
God's full and perfect justice (Revised)
God's full and perfect justice (Revised)
by Andrew T Murphy
[A slightly revised version, to replace the earlier version] "Justice has been done"? How does God deal with sin? What is justice? Surely it is more than simply punishment or revenge. This is a big hymn which asks for a big theory of atonement, exploring the wealth of rich…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Day of Pentecost Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Day of Pentecost Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Day of Pentecost Acts 2.1-21 Romans 8.22-27 John 15.26-27; 16.4b-15 It is one of the striking features of the New Testament that Luke, Paul and John, so very different as writers and theologians, sing in rich harmony when it comes to the Spirit. At the heart of the music is the…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Gazing on the Gospel - Year B The Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke 1.26-38 Gaze on two Renaissance masterpieces: the Annunciation by Titian, and the Annunciation by Tintoretto. Even if you have never seen them let your imagination conjure them up... Both depict the same story, but th…
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Grace, Love and Fellowship
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Grace, Love and Fellowship
by SPCK - N T Wright
PART 2 PRAYERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRAYERS OF PAUL GRACE, LOVE AND FELLOWSHIP 2 Corinthians 13: 13 The final sentence of 2 Corinthians is one of the most famous lines anywhere in Paul – so famous, in fact, that many people who hear it, or say it regularly, don’t even realize it …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 12 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 12 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 12 Genesis 29.15–28 Romans 8.26–39 Matthew 13.31–33, 44–52 ‘All things work together for good to those who love God.’ Probably not the first thought that sprang to Jacob’s mind the morning after his wedding, on discovering ho…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Grace to You and Peace in God and Christ
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Grace to You and Peace in God and Christ
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Grace to You and Peace in God and Christ (1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10) Paul’s usual claim of apostolic authority (1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal. 1:1) and his less acclaimed self-designation “slave of Christ” (Phil. 1:1; Rom. 1:1) are absent from his introduction. Instead, Paul simply n…
Intangible strands bind your people together
Intangible strands bind your people together
by Andrew Pratt
Intangible strands bind your people together, as one in your Body, so wonderf'lly made, close joined by humanity, sisters and brothers, yet fractured and broken, you find us dismayed; For we have not trusted the person of Jesus, the risks that he took, the example You gave. When …
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…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 16 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 16 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 16 Joshua 24. 1-2a,14-18 Ephesians 6. 10-20 John 6: 56-69 Peter’s tale: That’s about the only time I ever remember being sure that I’d got it right. Oh, I don’t mean that I had doubts about what came out of my mouth when I was preaching to people after the Lord had risen. …
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 …
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…
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