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Mere Apologetics - 6 Pointers to Faith
Mere Apologetics - 6 Pointers to Faith
by SPCK - Alister McGrath
Pointers to Faith American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) spoke of “a meteoric shower of facts” raining from the sky. These facts are like threads that need to be woven into a tapestry, clues that need to be assembled to disclose the big picture. As Millay pointed out, …
The Power of the Parable - The Visionary Dream of God
The Power of the Parable - The Visionary Dream of God
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 10 The Visionary Dream of God The Parable Gospel According To John The Power of the Parables HOW FICTION BY JESUS BECAME FICTION ABOUT JESUS When you think of World Heritage Sites, you usually imagine ancient places and ruined cities. But one site is emphatically neither.…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 53:1, 3
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 53:1, 3
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 53:1, 3 The Bible offers no arguments for the existence of God. It doesn’t engage with the intellectual case for or against. It simply assumes God. It makes me think that the person this psalm has in mind is not the atheist or agnostic who wrestles with questions of faith b…
Occasions for Alleluia - Introduction
Occasions for Alleluia - Introduction
by SPCK - David Adam
Introduction One Easter on Holy Island, a few things suddenly came together. During Lent I had been reading A. N. Wilson’s novel, A Bottle in the Smoke, and I came across this passage describing the main character, Julian Ramsey, falling in love for the first time:..
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 36:1, 10
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 36:1, 10
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 36:1, 10 In the chapel at Bishop’s Lodge where we live and work there’s a sculpture over the Lord’s Table of Jesus bent over the city weeping, ‘If only you knew the things that make for peace’ (see Luke 19.41– 42). For centuries the Church has built up the experience of com…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 37: 4, 7, 32
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 37: 4, 7, 32
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 37. 4, 7, 32 The promise of God to give us our heart’s desires is conditional. When our heart is in tune with God’s heart and hence our will with his will then, as Jesus said, ‘Ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you’ (John 15.7 nrsv). The secret is to stay c…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Last Sunday After Trinity Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Last Sunday After Trinity Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Last Sunday After Trinity (proper 25) Job 42.1-6, 10-17 Hebrews 7.23-28 Mark 10.46b-52 Three very different prayers. Whatever we think of the ending of the book of Job (some scholars, inevitably, suppose it a later addition; some in our gloomy culture think it spoils the stor…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 24 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 24 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 24 Job 38.1-7 [34-41] Hebrews 5.1-10 Mark 10.35-45 ‘Were you there,’ asks the old song, ‘when they crucified my Lord?’ ‘Were you there,’ the Lord enquires of Job, ‘when I laid the foundation of the earth?’ Both questions receive the answer ‘No’, but for different reasons; …
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Epiphany Genesis 14.17–20 Revelation 19.6–10 John 2.1–11 We are created to praise God. We cannot trulynd our existence in any other way, and neither can the created world, which longs to re-echo to the sound of human voices raised in songs of praise to their c…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 21 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 21 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 21 Numbers 11.4-6, 10-16, 24-29 James 5.13-20 Mark 9.38-50 Moses has had enough of the people. He has led them out of slavery, and they have been saved and protected by God’s strength throughout. They have seen the waters of the sea part just for them, they have seen water…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 7 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 7 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 7 Job 38: 1-11 2 Corinthians 6: 1-13 Mark 4: 35-41 In today’s readings we have two different, and potentially incompatible, views of how God works. The reading from Job and the reading from the Gospel seem to have one vision, which is of the colossal and unquestionable pow…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 8 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 8 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 8 Wisdom of Solomon 1-13-15; 2: 23, 24 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5: 21-43 ‘Do not fear, only believe,’ Jesus says to Jairus. It’s easier said than done, of course, with his daughter dead and the house full of the sound of wailing mourners. It’s also quite ironic, in that i…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 6 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 6 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 6 Ezekiel 17: 22-24 2 Corinthians 5: 6-17 Mark 4: 26-34 Paul’s argument in this section of 2 Corinthians is complex and far- reaching. He is putting forward a whole new theory of reality and knowledge. Christians, he argues, carry their own reality system around with them,…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Deuteronomy 6.1-9 Hebrews 9.11-14 Mark 12.28-34 For once the lectionary hits the jackpot. These readings dovetail perfectly, revealing powerfully the continuity and discontinuity between Christianity and the Old Testament. The key is the bit we mig…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 4.5-12 1 John 3.16-24 John 10.11-18 The text about the rejected stone has itself become something of a stumbling stone. The point of the quotation from Psalm 118.22 is that, though Jesus appeared to the ‘builders’ of Judaism (the Chief Priests in …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Day of Pentecost Year B