Drama: Be dressed, ready …
Drama: Be dressed, ready …
by Marjorie Dobson
Drama: Be dressed, ready … (Six people hear those words, but only one of them seems to fully understand their meaning.) Narrator: “Be dressed, ready for service …” said Jesus. But sometimes those words can be misunderstood. Car repair man: I will, but I’ll need to know what job i…
Poem: Think again
Poem: Think again
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Think again If the extent of our sacrificial content is to give up chocolate for Lent, what kind of a sacrifice is that? If the inclination of our celebration is for a self-centred commemoration for the current congregation, what good is that to God, or anyone else? Continu…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Blessing and Tithing
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Blessing and Tithing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Blessing and Tithing Genesis 14: 19-24 In the nondenominational church where my parents sent my sister and me to Sunday school, tithing was an important part of Christian commitment. But as a teenager I also became involved with my Church of England parish church. In those days i…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:69-70
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:69-70
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:69-70 Fat hearts are bad for you, physically and spiritually. This psalm is a spiritual health warning for those whose heart ‘is as fat as brawn’. Pride is the symptom of a gross heart. The problem is that the proud do not always see their pride, it escapes their notice…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:34, 36
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:34, 36
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:34, 36 Like the eye, the heart can wander. Sometimes it seems as if the eye has the heart on a lead! Like pushing a child on a tricycle and constantly needing to reset the direction with the handlebars, so the heart needs steering. We have to set the heart’s direction w…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:80
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:80
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:80 Shame has all but disappeared from our society like vinyl records and black Bakelite phones. Symptomatic, I think, of a culture that would like to shrug off guilt in the quest to feel good. Today’s mantra is that nobody should ever feel bad about themselves. This is …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:32
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:32
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:32 Freedom. We may not have been born free, but for freedom we were made and redeemed. Walking near our cottage where I was convalescing I penned these couplets: Free as a fly that dodges the swat, free as a fish that misses the plot, Free as the wind that snaps the twi…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:10-11
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:10-11
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:10-11 It is one thing to think a thought, it is quite another to bury it and hide it in the heart. Years ago people would learn verses of the Bible off by heart; sadly this is no longer in vogue educationally. Pity! We deprive ourselves. Memorizing a verse, meditating o…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 112:7-8
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 112:7-8
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 112:7-8 A sign of the heart established in God is that it does not shrink. Nor is it ‘afraid of any evil tidings’. The reason for this is that ‘unto the godly there ariseth up light in the darkness’ (v. 4). That light is none other than the mercy of God which rescues us fro…
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 33:11, 14, 20
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 33:11, 14, 20
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 33:11, 14, 20 This psalm comes to a crescendo with a psalm of praise to the heart of God. His word is true, his works are faithful, he loves justice, he’s made the earth full of goodness and oceans full of treasure. These are just some of the signs of the providence that fl…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 37: 4, 7, 32