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Mark The People's Commentary - An Abortive "Retreat"
Mark The People's Commentary - An Abortive "Retreat"
by BRF - Dick France
An Abortive “Retreat” This is the only time in Mark’s Gospel that the Twelve are called ‘apostles’. The word means ‘those sent out’, and it describes well the experience they have just shared as Jesus’ emissaries. But having been ‘sent out’, they now return and report back to the…
Meeting God in MARK - The beginning of the Gospel -2
Meeting God in MARK - The beginning of the Gospel -2
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The beginning of the Gospel The Gospel according to St Mark can seem like something of a Cinderella among the Gospels. For many hundreds of years it was used in public worship far less than any other of the Gospels. It never attracted the great – indeed the encyclopaedic – commen…
Where's the justice? Where's the justice?
Where's the justice? Where's the justice?
by Avis Palmer
Where's the justice? Where's the justice? Often we in anguish cry. When death comes so unexpected, Then our questions start with "why?" Why do children have to suffer? Why do dear ones die in pain? When goodbye is never spoken, What's the cost and where's the gain? Verses 2-3 fol…
The Post Evangelical - 1 A symbol of hope
The Post Evangelical - 1 A symbol of hope
by SPCK - Dave Tomlinson
1 A symbol of hope It may seem strange to be talking about ‘post-evangelical’ just as others are talking about an evangelical renaissance, yet the subject is of vital concern to an increasing number of people who, for various reasons, feel the urge to explore new possibilities wi…
Mark The People's bible commentary - Golgotha
Mark The People's bible commentary - Golgotha
by BRF - Dick France
GOLGOTHA Crucifixion was a particularly cruel form of execution reserved normally for slaves and for political insurgents. The Roman writer Cicero called it ‘the most cruel and revolting punishment’ and the Jew Josephus called it ‘the most pitiable of deaths’. A crucified person …
Psalms for Everyone - How to Pray with Your Leader
Psalms for Everyone - How to Pray with Your Leader
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Pray with Your Leader Psalm 61 During a recent presidential election, a spoof organization called the American Institute of Mentality published the findings of a research project on the question “Why would anyone run for president?” Their conclusion was that presidential c…
Psalms for Everyone - They're Trying to Wash Us Away
Psalms for Everyone - They're Trying to Wash Us Away
by SPCK - John Goldingay
They’re Trying to Wash Us Away Psalm 31 Last night we went to a concert by the great honky-tonk/blues singer Marcia Ball, who grew up in Louisiana. Her closing song was Randy Newman’s unbearably moving “Louisiana.” The song describes how the Mississippi River rose all day and all…
GOD's rich Pattern - Where was God?
GOD's rich Pattern - Where was God?
by SPCK - Dr Lin Berwick
Where was God? I couldn’t pray, I could only cry out in anguish. Why Lord? Why did you allow this to happen? I had, I felt, experienced my own personal Calvary a number of times in my life, and now I was having more problems heaped upon me. So many of us feel that we are not stro…
Poem: Why pray?
Poem: Why pray?
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Why pray? When life lets you down and people prove unreliable and everyday anxieties dominate and tensions are high – don’t worry yourself into depression. Pray. When money becomes a problem, the lack of it or the love of it, and work is arduous or unavailable, and the bill…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Praying for Sodom
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Praying for Sodom
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Praying for Sodom Genesis 18: 21-33 Yesterday we prayed in church, as we usually do, for God to grant peace and goodwill among nations. It is tempting to feel cynical about such prayers. Does God listen to them? Do they make a difference? Would it make a difference if we gave …
Job for Everyone - In the Midst of Life We Are in Death
Job for Everyone - In the Midst of Life We Are in Death
by SPCK - John Goldingay
In the Midst of Life We Are in Death Job 14: 1-22 As a pastor, I have been used to reading words from the beginning of Job 14 at funerals, and specifically as the burial party arrives at the grave with the coffin. The traditional prayer-book version reads,..
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - The God Who Intervenes
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - The God Who Intervenes
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The God Who Intervenes Genesis 11: 3- 7 I was talking to a young man training to be a counselor. The program involves undertaking a chaplaincy in a trauma unit and working with people with brain or spinal cord injuries as a result of a sporting accident, car crash, gunshot wound,…
Revelation bible study guide - Praise to the Creator
Revelation bible study guide - Praise to the Creator
by SPCK - N T Wright
PRAISE TO THE CREATOR Revelation 4 Scientists and anthropologists have often asked themselves, “What is it that humans can do that computers can’t do?” The writer David Lodge wrote a powerful novel on this theme, entitled Thinks . . . The heroine eventually discovers the answer: …
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Food for the Gentiles too
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - Food for the Gentiles too
by BRF - Dick France
FOOD for the GENTILES TOO Why another impromptu feast? Only a page or two ago Mark has told a story of the miraculous feeding of a large crowd of men. Now he tells another story, similar in general outline, but different in detail, particularly in the numbers (4,000 people instea…
CHRISTIANITY AND THE RENEWAL OF NATURE - 3 Consider the lilies of the field: Reading Luke’s Gospel and saving the planet