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Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second before Advent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second before Advent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday before Advent Mark 13: 1-8 Gaze on the stones that are all that remains of the Temple today. They are huge slabs, glaring in the sun, lying there as a heap of blocks, tilted and abandoned where they fell. It is easy to imagine the massive walls and the moulded c…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Sixth Sunday of Easter John 15:9-17 Gaze on a page of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from around ad 800; study the Celtic knots and intricate spirals that adorn it. See the way the threads twist and loop together without end or beginning, how hard it is to unrav…
Revelation bible study guide - God and The Lamb Are There
Revelation bible study guide - God and The Lamb Are There
by SPCK - N T Wright
God And The Lamb Are There Revelation 21:22-22:21 As we reach the end of this most remarkable of books, we realize we have only skimmed it in the interests of time and space. Yet we are aware of the depths we have glimpsed as we have sped by. The sequence of events—the letters, t…
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…
A pastor's voice, attuned to care
A pastor's voice, attuned to care
by Andrew Pratt
A pastor's voice, attuned to care, committed to protection, rang through the hills of Galilee, love forming each inflexion. He spoke of sheep, he knew his flock, they'd never find him sleeping, his very life would be laid down, and none would leave his keeping. Verses 3-4 follow …
Hymn: Christ has broken walls of heartache
Hymn: Christ has broken walls of heartache
by Andrew Pratt
Christ has broken walls of heartache, in one reconciling act. Could our living in this moment make this peace a present fact? Can the love of friend or stranger bridge the gulf of hate or fear? Is Christ seen in every neighbour? Is perception always clear? Verse 3 follows Tune: L…
Out of Egypt now in Canaan
Out of Egypt now in Canaan
by Andrew Pratt
Out of Egypt now in Canaan, finding freedom in this place celebrating liberation, Hebrews learning of God's grace. Now this story, part of hist'ry, told again from year to year: speaks of haste, release and rescue, time of tension, time of fear. Verses 3-4 follow Tune: ALL FOR JE…
Hymn: Love as we, ourselves, know loving
Hymn: Love as we, ourselves, know loving
by Andrew Pratt
Love as we, ourselves, know loving, in this way we will be blessed; get this right and all will follow: such a very simple test. And this test is in the action, not in claims of faith or creed, but in ways we serve each other, meeting one another's need. Verses 3-5 follow Tune: C…
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Look Upon Their Threats
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Look Upon Their Threats
by SPCK - N T Wright
PART 2 PRAYERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT OTHER EARLY CHRISTIAN PRAYERS LOOK UPON THEIR THREATS Acts 4: 23-31 In the early summer of 1989, I went to Jerusalem to teach, and to work on a couple of books, one of which was about Jesus himself. One day, sitting in my borrowed room at St Ge…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 5 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 5 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 5 1 Samuel 8.4-11 [12-15] 16-20 [11.14-15] 2 Corinthians 4.13-5.1 Mark 3.20-35 So: did God want Israel to have a king, or didn’t he? The question haunts not only this passage in 1 Samuel but much of the rest of the account of the monarchy, from the ill-fated Saul right dow…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 10.44-48 1 John 5.1-6 John 15.9-17 ‘His commandments are not burdensome.’ Hard to take, that, in a world where all commandments are burdensome, where anybody telling anyone else what to do – even God telling his creatures what to do – is felt as an…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 11 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 11 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 11 Mark 6.30–34, 53–56 Gaze at the crush as people lean forward and grab the cloak that wraps around the shoulders of one extraordinary man. They stretch out to touch it, they push and shove to get near the front, to stroke his tunic and finger the hem. It is almost as if …
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 9 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 9 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 9 Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20 Gaze on yourself as you arrive in a town for the first time. Have you booked your hotel room ahead, or are you leaving it to chance? Recall the strange street signs, the one-way system that confuses and traps you, and the difficulty in finding a plac…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Walking on the Water
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Walking on the Water
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Walking on the Water John 6.16-25 Some animals are naturally afraid of water. Cats will not normally go for a swim in a river; nor will hedgehogs. Most monkeys and apes, despite sharing some other characteristics of humans, do not care for water. This fact is exploited at a…
Revelation bible study guide - The Lamb's Elite Warriors
Revelation bible study guide - The Lamb's Elite Warriors
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Lamb’s Elite Warriors Revelation 14: 1-13 On the hill in the distance I could see the little procession, tiny but silhouetted against the sky in the bright Middle-Eastern evening. In my country the sheep are brought from one field to another by people with sticks and dogs. In…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Sunday after Ascension Day) Acts 1.15-17, 21-26 1 John 5.9-13 John 17.6-19 The interesting thing about the choice of Matthias has nothing to do with Matthias himself. Nor is it the striking method of his selection, which if applied today would simpli…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Easter Acts 9.1–20 Revelation 5.11–14 John 21.1–19 John 21 contains in microcosmic form most of the elements of the previous narrative. We are back in Galilee, with Peter and his friends going fishing. Jesus reveals himself as he had done throughout. He feed…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 15 Year B