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Reflection/poem: Questioning the Psalm
Reflection/poem: Questioning the Psalm
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection/poem: Questioning the Psalm If God’s law is so loveable, why do so many people find it impossible to live by it? If God’s law gives the power to defeat the enemy, why do so many people suffer for their beliefs? If God’s law grants superior knowledge, why do so many peo…
Exodus and Leviticus - You Know the Feelings of an Alien
Exodus and Leviticus - You Know the Feelings of an Alien
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Know the Feelings of an Alien EXODUS 22: 15- 23: 19 There are aliens who freely choose to live in a foreign country, and there are aliens who felt they were driven to do so (and then there are the aliens who come on spaceships). I am an alien and that occasionally causes me a…
Poem: Regret
Poem: Regret
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Regret A child who becomes an enemy is still a child. And only the most hard-hearted of parents would not feel some measure of regret and sorrow when the death of that child is reported. The ties of love, even though shredded by conflict and anger, leave threads of emotion …
Poem: The trap
Poem: The trap
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: The trap With wily words they bait their trap and wait for verbal jaws to snap on answers fated to condemn the enemy who utters them. The Sadducees feel smug and sure their clever question holds allure. Can he resist the challenge given and will he dare to speak of heaven? …
Reflection: Visionary
Reflection: Visionary
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection/dialogue/drama: Visionary (Could be read as a dialogue, or monologue) If your country was being over-run by an invading force and you were under siege in your own city, would you tell your king that God was prepared to hand over the city to the enemy? Jeremiah did. If …
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Standing Firm by God's Power
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Standing Firm by God's Power
by SPCK - N T Wright
Standing Firm by God’s Power 1 Peter 5.8-14 One of the great advances in tropical medicine came when researchers discovered how malaria was spread. They had been trying to treat the disease for a long time, but it seemed hopeless. As fast as you helped one patient, three more wer…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Paul's Conversion (One More Time)
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Paul's Conversion (One More Time)
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paul’s Conversion (One More Time) Acts 26.12-23 ‘Listen to the tune,’ says the music teacher. The children sit round her, spellbound. They love this bit. ‘Now sing it back to me – Johnny!’ Johnny does his best. Then Sophie. Then Philip. ‘Well,’ says the teacher, ‘you’re not doing…
Often those abusing others
Often those abusing others
by Andrew Pratt
Often those abusing others never wish to own the truth, our possession of another always renders us uncouth. So the 'owners' of a woman, finding she was cured of pain, saw their source of wealth receding never to return again. Charging Paul with gross disturbance, challenging the…
Psalms for Everyone - We've Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times
Psalms for Everyone - We've Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times
by SPCK - John Goldingay
We’ve Probably All Been Rescued from Death a Few Times Psalm 18: 1-24 Between us my wife and I have had four or five illnesses that would have left us dead had we lived in most contexts in human history. We have both had appendicitis that might have killed us without medical inte…
Meeting God in Paul - 2d The healing sacrifice
Meeting God in Paul - 2d The healing sacrifice
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The healing sacrifice I spoke in the previous chapter of how in his letter to the Romans Paul is, as it were, turning his head from side to side, saying, ‘You think you’ve got the point? Think again. And [turning rapidly] don’t you imagine that because they haven’t got it, you’re…
Jesus, his home, his journey, his challenge - Jesus: his challenge
Jesus, his home, his journey, his challenge - Jesus: his challenge
by SPCK - David J. Bryan
Jesus: his challenge Introduction Jesus’ world was, as we have seen, complex and far from united and harmonious. Regional, social, religious and racial divisions were present in abundance. We turn now to consider how Jesus brought a distinctive and challenging message to this wor…
Hymn: Love as we, ourselves, know loving
Hymn: Love as we, ourselves, know loving
by Andrew Pratt
Love as we, ourselves, know loving, in this way we will be blessed; get this right and all will follow: such a very simple test. And this test is in the action, not in claims of faith or creed, but in ways we serve each other, meeting one another's need. Verses 3-5 follow Tune: C…
Letters to London - 6 Bonhoeffer’s return to Germany and his letters to London