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God shakes and rattles hopes and dreams
God shakes and rattles hopes and dreams
by Andrew Pratt
God shakes and rattles hopes and dreams Fifth Sunday in Lent Ezekiel 37: 1-14 God shakes and rattles hopes and dreams, confounds our plans, destroys our schemes; the bones of faith seem dry and bare, and is God found? And is God there? The desert scene is hot and still, our deser…
Hymn: Upon this groaning, quaking earth
Hymn: Upon this groaning, quaking earth
by Andrew Pratt
Upon this groaning, quaking earth we find the evidence of grace, for here, our God, you nurtured love, brought faith and hope within this place. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: ABENDS Metre: LM Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 5/5/2012 Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England, www.stainer.c…
The Pastoral Letters - Don't Be Ashamed
The Pastoral Letters - Don't Be Ashamed
by SPCK - N T Wright
Don’t Be Ashamed! 2Timothy 1.8-14 My grandfather was a clergyman, and like many of us who have to stand up and do things in front of other people he had a recurring nightmare. In his dream, he would find himself standing in the pulpit getting ready to preach a sermon, and look do…
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: Moses and the Exodus
Hebrews for Everyone - Faith and the Future: Moses and the Exodus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Faith and the Future: Moses and the Exodus Hebrews 11.23-32 ‘The young man came from a wealthy family. His father was a well-respected figure in the community. Everyone expected the son to follow him in his profession and, like him, attain wealth and noble standing. But the young…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - What is the Body For?
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - What is the Body For?
by SPCK - N T Wright
What Is the Body For? 1 Corinthians 6.12-20 I once knew a student who never bothered to buy a screwdriver. He had a couple of knives that he used instead, one larger and one smaller; and most of the things he needed to screw or unscrew he could do quite well with the point of one…
friends, FOES and families - Ash Wednesday: in order to know what is in your heart
friends, FOES and families - Ash Wednesday: in order to know what is in your heart
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
ASH WEDNESDAY: in order to know what is in your heart Mark 1.12, 13 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart. (Deuteronomy 8.2)...
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday of Christmas John 1. [1-9] 10-18 Gaze on all of God’s glorious creation, at once so mysterious and yet so familiar. It is hard to find an image today that captures the carefulness of God’s work, for we are in a world where everything is mass produced, and we are…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Third Sunday of Easter Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Third Sunday of Easter Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Easter - Year A Acts 2.14a, 36–41 1 Peter 1.17–23 Luke 24.13–35 In his poem, ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’,1 W. B. Yeats pictures a man so consumed with longing for home that even in the middle of a busy street, all he hears is the sound of the lake, more real …
Hebrews for Everyone - Christian Suffering is God's Discipline
Hebrews for Everyone - Christian Suffering is God's Discipline
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christian Suffering is God’s Discipline Hebrews 12.4-11 Western society is in a turmoil these days about discipline. We have become very aware of the dangers of physical violence at every level. What happens when a child grows up knowing only that authority belongs to the person …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 24 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 24 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 24 Jeremiah 31.27–34 2 Timothy 3.14—4.5 Luke 18.1–8 The passages from 2 Timothy and Luke 18 both envisage God’s people hanging on, sustaining their energy and sense of direction, even though things seem to go from bad to worse. By contrast, Jeremiah 31 sees through the lon…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Scandal and Judgment
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Scandal and Judgment
by SPCK - N T Wright
Scandal and Judgment 1 Corinthians 5.1-5 When I was a boy, studying Greek and Latin classics, the texts we were given to study often had bits cut out. There were lines missing from poems, and sometimes entire sections; in one case (in the Roman writer Juvenal, I recall) a whole p…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Final Judgement is the Only One That Counts
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - The Final Judgement is the Only One That Counts
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Final Judgment Is the Only One that Counts ROMANS 14.7-12 As I pondered this passage, a verse from an old 1960s song came into my mind: And they argue through the night: Black is black, and white is white; Then walk away both knowing they are right. And nobody’s buying flower…
Hebrews for Everyone - The Purpose of the Blood
Hebrews for Everyone - The Purpose of the Blood
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Purpose of the Blood Hebrews 9.15-22 To some, this passage is one of the most central in scripture; to others, it’s one of the most shocking. After the twentieth century, in which more human blood was spilled through war, torture and miscellaneous violence than in all previou…
Revelation for Everyone - Two Witnesses
Revelation for Everyone - Two Witnesses
by SPCK - N T Wright
Two Witnesses Revelation 11.1-14 People find many books puzzling, but the Bible is often the most puzzling of all. People find many parts of the Bible puzzling, but Revelation is often seen as the most puzzling book of all. And people find Revelation puzzling, but the first half …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How To Render To Caesar
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How To Render To Caesar
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How Not to Render to Caesar 2 Kings 15:1-16:20 A recent graduate of our seminary was telling me on Friday that the seminary faculty is divided between people who avoid saying things that students would disagree with and people who don’t mind saying such things. The logic (she thi…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fifth Sunday of Easter Genesis 22.1–18 Acts 11.1–18 John 13.31–5 The verses from St John’s Gospel come at the turning point of the Last Supper. Judas has just left the room, and there is now no going back. A sense of urgency seems to overtake Jesus after this. The supper is…
This rock raised above all others