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PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - From Story to Question: the Implicit Phariasic Worldview
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - From Story to Question: the Implicit Phariasic Worldview
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL (vi) From Story to Question: the Implicit Pharisaic Worldview Praxis, symbol and story lead the eye to the implicit questions which, we have argued, can be raised within any worldview. Who are we, whe…
Simply Good News - Good Advice, Wrong News
Simply Good News - Good Advice, Wrong News
by SPCK - N T Wright
1, part b Good Advice, Wrong News In many churches, the good news has subtly changed into good advice: here’s how to live, they say. Here’s how to pray. Here are techniques for helping you become a better Christian, a better person, a better wife or husband. And in particular, he…
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Conclusion
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Conclusion
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL Conclusion The worldview of a first-century Pharisee has thus come into focus. Living somewhere on the spectrum between the extreme and possibly violent zeal of the ardent Shammaite and the extreme an…
There is a season - Christmas Introduction
There is a season - Christmas Introduction
by SPCK - Margaret Pritchard Houston
CHRISTMAS The Word became flesh INTRODUCTION In an ideal world, Christmas Eve would be a time of peaceful, joyful anticipation. Your church staff would have the time and energy to set up and host a three-hour celebration for the church’s children, and your families would enthusia…
Monologue: Hannah’s neighbour
Monologue: Hannah’s neighbour
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue: Hannah’s neighbour (We often look at Bible stories through the eyes of the people involved, but what did Hannah’s neighbour think about the things that were happening?) I see the neighbours have gone off to Shiloh to make their sacrifice again. Every year, they go! Nev…
Reflection: One lost boy
Reflection: One lost boy
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection: One lost boy It’s not that unusual for a twelve-year-old boy to stray away from his parents for a while. That’s just about the age when it’s most likely to happen. Twelve is one of those difficult stages in life when childhood is considered to be past, but teenage is …
Year ending
Year ending
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: Year ending As the year draws to a close and we take stock of what has happened and imagine what the future may hold, let us pray for our church and our relationships and our work, as we prepare to renew our commitment to God in the year that lies ahead. God of our past a…
Prayer: God, our refuge
Prayer: God, our refuge
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: God, our refuge God, our refuge, you have promised shelter and safety for those who love and trust in you. Yet in the world around us we see faithful people suffering, innocent people injured and dying, children starving and women attacked and molested. Daily we hear of w…
Imagining the Lectionary: Better beyond belief (Epiphany 2C)
Imagining the Lectionary: Better beyond belief (Epiphany 2C)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: Better beyond belief (Epiphany 2C) Reflection accompanying image “You have kept the good wine until now ” In St John's Gospel emptiness and fulfilment are the polar opposites which frame the first public disclosure of God's amazing intentions in the mini…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 1 Isaiah 6.1–13 1 Corinthians 15.1–11 Luke 5.1–11 ‘The holy seed is its stump.’ Isaiah’s vision in the Temple leaves him with a dreadful commission, to inform God’s people of inevitable exile. The nation will be like a tree felled and burnt. But when the worst has occurred…
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…
Hannah coming to the temple
Hannah coming to the temple
by Andrew Pratt
Hannah coming to the temple brings a tunic for her lad, such excitement, though expected, human love will make them glad.* Like a birthday, family meeting, celebration, gifts are brought, in imagination's moment, altogether joy is caught. Christmas passes, other moments in our me…
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? Luke 2: 41-52 Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? From Christmas to Easter God comes as a stranger. From Bethlehem's stable, a child in a temple, two people in exile, a man with a temper, Beyond all the tinsel the st…
We turn the tables on our friends
We turn the tables on our friends
by Andrew Pratt
We turn the tables on our friends, the ones we love the most, when others point or criticise, we press our case and boast. The garden story that we hear still lives in us today, the blame still passes down the line, there is no other way. Verses 3-4 follow Tune: BROTHER JAMES AIR…
When the stars were shining brightly
When the stars were shining brightly
by Andrew Pratt
When the stars were shining brightly, over silent, sand and stone, through the desert God had led us, seeking rest where we might home. Our companion, friend, defender, cloudy pillar, fiery light, brought us safe through fear and danger, to the morning from our night. Verse 2 fol…
The Living God - A God who remembers us
The Living God - A God who remembers us
by SPCK - Alister McGrath
A personal God: love and faithfulness 2 A God who remembers us In 2008 I began to research a new biography of C. S. Lewis. This involved reading everything he had written in chronological order, as well as the large amount of literature about him. I came across many early photogr…
52 Reflections on Faith - Ash Wednesday: depending on God