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THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Sapphira
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Sapphira
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Sapphira Sapphira’s story is perhaps the ideal example of the competing interpretative stances promoted by Luke’s narrative. Reading darkly, that is, from those without power or privilege, Sapphira’s story illustrates a divine option for a community in which there are no class di…
LWPT Meditations - Day of Pentecost - Year C
LWPT Meditations - Day of Pentecost - Year C
by Susan Thorne
19 May 2013 LWPT Meditation Pentecost Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104:24-34,35b Romans 8:14-17 John 14:8-17 I grew up in a church that referred to the Holy Spirit as “it”, and eventually I became a member of a cult that reinforced that understanding. What they called “holy spirit” was just…
All life's praising fills creation
All life's praising fills creation
by Andrew Pratt
All life's praising fills creation, breathless dancing setting free lives to give their brief expression to the things we sense or see. Praise is building, deep crescendo, rhythmic shaking moves the earth, like some cosmic exaltation bringing love and joy to birth. Verses 2-3 fol…
How could this man from Nazareth
How could this man from Nazareth
by Andrew Pratt
How could this man from Nazareth speak with such power and heal the sick, he spoke with great authority, the healing might have been a trick? But those who came were healed, made well, and what he said was common sense, yet spoken in a way well honed, the word of God, the present…
Hymn: This towering edifice of shining glass
Hymn: This towering edifice of shining glass
by Andrew Pratt
This towering edifice of shining glass which speaks of power, of status and of class. will one day fall, a glittering shower of shards, will flutter like the children's house of cards. These temples of our vanity and pride like expectations of the crucified will lie in dust and r…
Much brighter than a thousand suns
Much brighter than a thousand suns
by Andrew Pratt
Much brighter than a thousand suns, the source of life, eternal grace; light of the cosmos and this world now shining from a saviour's face. Upon the mountain’s towering height they saw transfiguration's light. This man, this Jesus, they had known, who called them once by Galilee…
LWPT Meditations - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
LWPT Meditations - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
by Susan Thorne
Meditation - 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B 2nd Samuel 1: 1, 17-27 Psalm 130 2nd Corinthians 8: 7-15 Mark 5: 21-43 During his earthly life, Jesus wielded both power and compassion in perfect tension. Power and compassion are two qualities which work well in combination; in f…
LWPT Meditations - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
LWPT Meditations - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
by Susan Thorne
Meditation - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B 2nd Samuel 11: 1-15 Psalm 14 Ephesians 3: 14-21 John 6: 1-21 “The fool says there is no God” (Psalm 14 v 1). King David was no fool, but on the occasion of his sin with Bathsheba (2nd Samuel 11 v 1-15) he behaved as if he believ…
Constellations sang in silence
Constellations sang in silence
by Andrew Pratt
Constellations sang in silence, all the cosmos offered praise, long before this globe's existence spun to weave our nights and days. Here humanity was founded, seeking meaning, plumbing doubt, raising questions never answered, turning wisdom inside out. Verses 2-3 follow Metre: 8…
Hymn: Familiar man
Hymn: Familiar man
by Andrew Pratt
Familiar man, beneath contempt, they knew him all too well, a common carpenter from town without a tale to tell. And now the words they heard contained authority and power. They listened to each utterance and soon their thoughts turned sour. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: MACPHERSON’S F…
Hymn: The warning went unheeded
Hymn: The warning went unheeded
by Andrew Pratt
The warning went unheeded, that power corrupts and fires a need for domination, that wealth and fear conspires to elevate the powerful, to subjugate the poor, that those who have most riches will always look for more. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: AURELIA Metre: 7.6.7.6 D Andrew Prat…
Lent for Everyone Year A - Easter Thursday Year A
Lent for Everyone Year A - Easter Thursday Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
EASTER THURSDAY Matthew 6.25 –34 Now, in Easter week, try reading the whole Sermon on the Mount as a blueprint for how Jesus’ Easter-people should live. Now at last, with Jesus leading the way through death to new life, we see what it might mean to be poor in spirit, to be meek, …
The Pastoral Letters - Godliness and Contentment
The Pastoral Letters - Godliness and Contentment
by SPCK - N T Wright
Godliness and Contentment 1Timothy 6.6-10 It is hardly an exaggeration to say that this famous passage is an indictment of modern Western culture. Never before in history has there been such a restless pursuit of riches, by more and more highly developed means. Never before has t…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - The Power of God and the Power of Ephesus
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - The Power of God and the Power of Ephesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Power of God and the Power of Ephesus Acts 19.11-22 When I was growing up, one of the leading politicians in the British Labour Party was a man named George Brown. He was extremely able, very shrewd. Some thought at one point he might have been a challenger for the job of par…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Appointing a New Leader
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Appointing a New Leader
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Appointing a New Leader NUMBERS 27:12-23 The rector of a church I know has announced that she intends to retire in a few months, and the church is in the midst of the process for appointing a new rector. The present rector has been there for twenty years and has led the church…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 20 Year B