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Faith is the tight-rope of travelling people
Faith is the tight-rope of travelling people
by Andrew Pratt
Faith is the tight-rope of travelling people, taut between mountains of mercy and grace. Pilgrims remember the fears of their parents, trials and deliverance they had to face. Hope kept the balance when human experience met with the fire and the dangers of life, torture and stoni…
Beyond our context, out of time
Beyond our context, out of time
by Andrew Pratt
Beyond our context, out of time, can we believe the things we read? Are these imagined, false or fact, or signs that we should test and heed? A woman dies then finds new life, a metaphor or something real? The narrative has truth to tell in what we see and what we feel. Verses 3-…
Monologue: Jesus and Herod
Monologue: Jesus and Herod
by Andrew Pratt
Monologue: Jesus and Herod I love me. No, don't get me wrong. I know you can see me! And I see myself in the mirror...each morning. Seeing me waking up is not a pretty sight! I'm not always proud of what I say or do. I have my regrets, oh yes. But...you knew there'd be a but, but…
Not conscious of our end or our beginning
Not conscious of our end or our beginning
by Andrew Pratt
Not conscious of our end or our beginning, we cannot know the purpose of our lives, yet God preceded all our breathing, living, beyond our human span, our God survives. Confounded by a love we cannot fathom, enfolded in a love which from our birth: God held, will hold, through al…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year A Ezekiel 37.1–14 Romans 8.6–11 John 11.1–45 There is a story that St Francis once got up to preach, looked down at the hushed, expectant faces below him and said, ‘God has not given me anything to say to you.’ And with that, he blessed the people,…
Traces of Glory Year B - Easter Day - Year B
Traces of Glory Year B - Easter Day - Year B
by SPCK - David Adam
Easter Day Blessed be the risen Lord; He has broken from the tomb and opens for us the gate to life eternal. Blessed be the risen Lord; He comes to his disciples, where two or three gather together he is there. Blessed be the risen Lord; He comes from the dead with life, He bring…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 14 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 14 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 14 1 Kings 19-4-8 Ephesians 4. 25-5.2 John 6: 35, 41-51 On the grounds that there is no point in telling someone to do something if they are already doing it, the Ephesian community must be quite like a church you know well. It is interesting how much of this section is co…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 4 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 4 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 4 Deuteronomy 5: 12-15 2 Corinthians 4: 5-12 Mark 2: 23- 3:6 Today’s passages send out an alarmingly confusing set of messages. On the one hand, Deuteronomy tells us how vital it is to keep the Sabbath, while Jesus seems to suggest that we can sit a bit more lightly to tha…
the historical character of Jesus - 7 “The model Christian”: Jesus in 1 and 2 Peter and Jude
the historical character of Jesus - 7 “The model Christian”: Jesus in 1 and 2 Peter and Jude
by SPCK - David Allen
“The model Christian”: Jesus in 1 and2 Peter and Jude If Hebrews and James offer different and distinctive portraits of Jesus when compared with that of Paul, can the same be said of the two Petrine epistles and the letter authored by Jude? How does the Petrine Jesus compare to t…
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 8 The Feeding of the Five Thousand
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 8 The Feeding of the Five Thousand
by SPCK - Edward Adams
The Feeding of the Five Thousand The feeding of the five thousand is one of the most well-known of the miracles performed by Jesus and the only one that is recorded in all four Gospels.1 It is classed as a “nature miracle,” an action by which Jesus demonstrates his authority over…
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - Imperial Cult from Tiberius to Nero
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - Imperial Cult from Tiberius to Nero
by SPCK - N T Wright
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED: ROME AND THE CHALLENGE OF EMPIRE 4. The Religion of Empire (iii) Imperial Cult from Tiberius to Nero Tiberius was now ‘son of god’: son of the divine Augustus. I have on my desk, as I write this, a denarius of the kind they showed to Jesus not long before hi…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Stories and Questions in the Second-Temple Jewish World
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Stories and Questions in the Second-Temple Jewish World
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL 4. Stories and Questions in the Second-Temple Jewish World (i) Introduction I analyzed the basic Jewish stories of the second-Temple period in the first volume, and must now develop and amplify some o…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Where Two Roads Lead