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Prayer: Facing contempt
Prayer: Facing contempt
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Facing contempt Dear God, it is so difficult to deal with the contemptuous attitude that some people have towards our faith and our work for you. It’s as if they have a mind-set that blinds itself to any good that we do and only focuses on imagined practices that we do no…
We turn from those who fill us with disgust
We turn from those who fill us with disgust
by Marjorie Dobson
We turn from those who fill us with disgust and shrink from those we do not understand. We only deal with some because we must, failing to make response to their demand. Yet, moved to tears by a leper’s trust, Christ reached and touched him with a loving hand. Verse 2 follows ©Ma…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Advent Malachi 3.1–4 Philippians 1.3–11 Luke 3.1–6 I must have sung Handel’s Messiah dozens of times before I asked myself what its first chorus actually meant. ‘And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.’ It makes what …
Filled with anger and compassion
Filled with anger and compassion
by Andrew Pratt
Filled with anger and compassion Jesus felt another's plight, understood the ones who taunted cloaking prejudice as right. Feeling human hurt and anguish, Jesus reached to touch the man, now he'd share the condemnation, subject to a human ban. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: CALON LAN 8.…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3.14–20 Philippians 4.4–7 Luke 3.7–18 The new lectionary has hardly begun, and I fear I am going to grumble about it as I did about its predecessor. How will people ever learn that the Bible and its message are politically relevant – that the …
Where is Jesus, where is Mary
Where is Jesus, where is Mary
by Andrew Pratt
Where is Jesus, where is Mary, where is Joseph in this crowd, here where commerce feeds subversion, elevates the rich and proud. Mother, father and, and a baby, shoved by bureaucratic creeds, soon to cross a nation's borders, crowds will denigrate their needs. Lasers beaming, neo…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Difficult Visit to Nazareth
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - A Difficult Visit to Nazareth
by BRF - Dick France
A Difficult Visit to Nazareth Nazareth was a small, rather insignificant village tucked away in the hills between the lake of Galilee and the Mediterranean, and away from the main centres of population. It was Jesus’ home (1:9, 24), but for the whole of his public activity so far…
Nicodemus Muses on Experiencing a Death and No Rebirth
Nicodemus Muses on Experiencing a Death and No Rebirth
by Roger Price
This is one of a number of monologues that I have written for use in worship or some other reflective purpose. This one deals with the events of Nicodemus's vist to Jesus where the concept of being born again is foirst mentioned from the point of view of Nicodemus. Nicodemus Muse…
Deep Church Rising - 2 (part 2) The Scientific Revolution
Deep Church Rising - 2 (part 2) The Scientific Revolution
by SPCK - Andrew Walker and Robin Parry
The Scientific Revolution Recovering the Roots of Christian Orthodoxy The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed significant changes in the way in which nature and humanity’s relation to it was rethought in dialogue with important scientific breakthroughs, associated with …
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 28 THE SETTING AND THE STORY
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 28 THE SETTING AND THE STORY
by SPCK - N T Wright
THE SETTING AND THE STORY We have no reason to think that Middle Eastern politics were any less complicated in the first century than in the twenty-first. On the contrary, there is every reason to suppose that there were just as many tensions, problems, anomalies and puzzles then…
the historical character of Jesus - 1b Sources for the study of Jesus
the historical character of Jesus - 1b Sources for the study of Jesus
by SPCK - David Allen
Sources for the study of Jesus At the outset of our discussion, though, it is probably worth establishing the purpose or value of an exercise such as this. After all, books on Jesus abound, not perhaps to the scale alluded to in John 21.25, but to a significant extent nonetheless…
The Act of Prayer Year C - Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C
The Act of Prayer Year C - Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C
by BRF - John Birch
Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C Opening prayer Let us be still for a moment as we draw near to worship God. Let us remind ourselves why we are gathered together today. Listen. God speaks even through the background noise of the world around us…
Times and Seasons - Wiping out the past
Times and Seasons - Wiping out the past
by Marjorie Dobson
Wiping out the past Wiping out the past is not an option. History has happened. Regrets alone will not scour the pages clean. The facts are known. Embroidered by memory, or malice, but their significance is plain. Mistakes are made and crimes committed. Errors of judgement cause …
The Power of the Parable - Epilogue
The Power of the Parable - Epilogue
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
EPILOGUE History and Parable The Power of the Parables HOW FICTION BY JESUS BECAME FICTION ABOUT JESUS This epilogue has two sections. The first section is a summation of what I have proposed in this book about the parabling of Jesus. The second section raises two new and conclud…
Prayer: God of challenge
Prayer: God of challenge
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: God of challenge. God of challenge. we live in a world which appears to be full of corruption, dishonesty, disloyalty, greed, selfishness, prejudice and self-seeking. Many people call it a God-forsaken world. But you have not forsaken us, we have forgotten you. Forgotten …
When ever disaster brings death and destruction