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Reflection: Samaritan believers
Reflection: Samaritan believers
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection: Samaritan believers …? It must have been a shock, hearing that Samaritans had accepted the word of God. They were the ancient enemies. Their territory was treated as a foreign land. The dispute between their two factions had been bitter and long-standing. There was do…
Monologue/reflection – Who is he?
Monologue/reflection – Who is he?
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue/reflection – Who is he? He didn’t give us a straight answer, did he? Not even when we challenged him as priests and Levites and told him we’d been sent by the Pharisees. You’d have thought he would have had more respect for authority than that. But what could you expect…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The First Sunday of Lent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The First Sunday of Lent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The First Sunday of Lent Mark 1.9-15 Contemplate how passive Jesus is in this description: he acquiesces to baptism; he hears the voice and accepts anointing; he goes where the Spirit sends him, and endures. He is obedient. Contemplate being with Jesus in this wilderness. Excha…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth
by SPCK - N T Wright
Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth Acts 18.18-28 These days people will do anything for sponsorship. Recently a Christian leader made well over a million pounds (roughly US$2 million) by running in the London Marathon. I once had a colleague who made a lot of money for his church by …
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and Nicodemus
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and Nicodemus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and Nicodemus John 3.1-13 I have lost my birth certificate. It’s the sort of thing that happens when you move house, which we did not long ago. I know where it was in the old house. It may have been accidentally thrown away; but I suspect it was put into a very, very safe p…
Mark for Everyone - Jesus and Beelzebul
Mark for Everyone - Jesus and Beelzebul
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 3.20–30 Jesus and Beelzebul... ...From the safety of my armchair, I watched the mass demonstration on the TV news. It started peacefully, at least on the surface. Banners and placards gave out a strong message, but the crowd seemed relaxed enough. The polic…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Mocked on the Cross
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Mocked on the Cross
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Mocked on the Cross Matthew 27.39-44 A friend of mine was leading a party of explorers through underground caverns and tunnels. They had trained for this expedition and knew the way. Not all the caves had been explored before, and my friend was convinced that there was a wa…
Called and named a chosen people
Called and named a chosen people
by Andrew Pratt
Called and named a chosen people, each one safe within God's ground, each one cherished, held and nurtured, in God's grace, too deep to sound. Nothing here will hurt or harm us, love will last through trial or test, fire nor water can confound us, here within God's peace we'll re…
Baptised into being, the Lord of creation
Baptised into being, the Lord of creation
by Andrew Pratt
Baptised into being, the Lord of creation: the dove is descending the Spirit has come, it soars and it swoops on the face of the waters, Christ blessed in that moment, his mission begun. Here John the Baptiser will pass on the baton, though harsh and prophetic, his message, refin…
Imagine now in your mind’s eye,
Imagine now in your mind’s eye,
by Andrew Pratt
Imagine now in your mind’s eye, a sky with clouds, light shining through, a river shimmers in the sun, a crowd is coming into view. A prophet stands within the surge, the waters rolling smoothly by, and one by one the people hear, and one by one they catch John’s eye. Verses 2-3 …
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Earthquake and Salvation
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Earthquake and Salvation
by SPCK - N T Wright
Earthquake and Salvation Acts 16.25-34 I remember old Bishop Stephen Neill, who was winning classical scholarships around the time my father was born, telling me how we should translate verse 30. He was used to hearing people quote the panic-stricken question of the Philippian ja…
Hebrews for Everyone - No Way Back
Hebrews for Everyone - No Way Back
by SPCK - N T Wright
No Way Back Hebrews 6.1-8 I have a vivid memory of learning my ABC. Actually, I learned to read a bit before I went to school, but during my first weeks there I remember the whole class, all 50 of us, singing through the alphabet to a well-known tune. We liked our young teacher a…
Mark for Everyone - The Parable of the Tenants
Mark for Everyone - The Parable of the Tenants
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 12.1–12 The Parable of the Tenants... ...Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice is normally listed as a comedy. The main characters all end up with their problems resolved. But the last two or three times I have seen the play I have come away feeling tha…
Mark for Everyone - The Request of James and John
Mark for Everyone - The Request of James and John
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 10.32–45 The Request of James and John... ...What comes to mind first when you think of the crucifixion of Jesus? Perhaps you think of going to church and singing well- known hymns: ‘There is a green hill far away’, or ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’. Pe…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Telling the Gentiles about Jesus
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Telling the Gentiles about Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Telling the Gentiles about Jesus Acts 10.34-48 Acts for Everyone Part 1 34Peter took a deep breath and began. ‘It’s become clear to me’, he said, ‘that God really does show no favouritism. 35No: in every race, people who fear him and do what is right are acceptable to him. 36He s…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Third Sunday of Advent Luke 3.7-18 Gaze on all these people arriving at last by the river where John is busy baptizing the penitents. They run on eagerly, but when they get within earshot, they rock back on their heels, as he explodes ‘You brood of vipers!’ Is it for this tha…
Mark for Everyone - Herod and John the Baptist
Mark for Everyone - Herod and John the Baptist
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 6.17–29 Herod and John the Baptist... ...What sells newspapers? Three things, and if they’re combined, so much the better. Royalty: almost any story about a member of a royal family will sell, not only in Britain or Norway or wherever it began, but around t…
Mark for Everyone - Teachings on the Sabbath