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…
Prayers: Reasons
Prayers: Reasons
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayers: Reasons (The passage from Joel speaks of dreams and visions. In 2005 the church I attend, (Westborough Methodist in Scarborough) held a Stewardship campaign and in our publicity we used the title of A CHURCH FOR ALL REASONS.. One of our publications was a prayer-card for…
Prayer after Psalm 121
Prayer after Psalm 121
by Phil Nevard
Reflective prayer based on Psalm 121:1 - A prayer of approach I lift my eyes to the quiet hills There’s something solid and permanent about the hills they have stood the test of time they live to a different rhythm So often my life is pressed around with busyness so often my lif…
There is a season - Introduction
There is a season - Introduction
by SPCK - Margaret Pritchard Houston
Introduction ‘To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.’ Ecclesiastes 3.1 ‘We don’t have time to relax! We’re too busy rejoicing !’ Marion Pritchard, age six, on hearing a radio broadcast telling people to relaxing Easter weekend’ It is one o’cl…
There is a season - Harvest Festival
There is a season - Harvest Festival
by SPCK - Margaret Pritchard Houston
HARVEST FESTIVAL Unless a grain of wheat falls… INTRODUCTION The meaning of Harvest Festival has changed dramatically in recent years. The UK is no longer an agrarian society – many children are now unaware of the origins of their food, let alone actively involved in its producti…
The Power of the Parable - Rhetorical Violence
The Power of the Parable - Rhetorical Violence
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 8 Rhetorical Violence The Parable Gospel According To Matthew In 1959, I was sent, as you will recall from the Prologue, to the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome for two years of postdoctoral specialization. The Biblicum— as it is known for short— is located just off …
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables; Part 1
The Power of the Parable - Challenge Parables; Part 1
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 3 Challenge Parables: Part 1 Down from Jerusalem to Jericho The French intellectual André Gide lived from 1869 to 1951. His search for honesty and integrity— a search at once sexual and social, political and religious— led him first to revere and then speedily to revile R…
Prayers for a Misty Morning
Prayers for a Misty Morning
by Christine Dutton
Opening prayers of approach, thanksgiving, confession This week has been full of misty morning, so my prayers for an autumn morning didn't quite fit! I wanted to write prayers that reflected though sometimes we walk through misty times in our faith and our lives but that God is a…
The Power of the Parable - Prologue Story and Metaphor
The Power of the Parable - Prologue Story and Metaphor
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
Prologue Story and Metaphor In the summer of 1960 I was a monk and a priest in the Servite monastery high on the Janiculum hill in Rome and halfway through two years of postdoctoral research at the downtown Pontifical Biblical Institute. Rome was preparing for the Olympic Games i…
Prayers: Accident and Emergency
Prayers: Accident and Emergency
by Christine Dutton
Prayers for those who work in hospitals and those who need to visit hospital. Having visited our local accident and emergency department with my son who had broken his toe, every corner I turned there was someone else working to make the hospital work. Grateful for the opportunit…
Imagining the Lectionary: There was a rich man (Proper 21C / Pentecost 19C)
Imagining the Lectionary: There was a rich man (Proper 21C / Pentecost 19C)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: There was a rich man (Proper 21Yr C / Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Yr C) Reflection accompanying images “There was a rich man - Clock sculpture Manchester peoples history museum 2 - Clock sculpture Manchester peoples history museum 3 - Enough food f…
Jesus and the children - action story
Jesus and the children - action story
by Meryl White
A retelling of the mothers bringing their children to Jesus. Action story - based on Mark 10 v 13 -16. Jesus and the children - Congregation repeat each line and copy actions. Mothers were bringing their babies to Jesus, Holding baby action. They wanted Jesus to bless the childre…
Loaves and fishes: A story to share
Loaves and fishes: A story to share
by Meryl White
An interactive story based on John 6:1-13 - Jesus feeds the five thousand. Loaves and Fishes: A story to share. This is an interactive story suitable for all age worship or children’s address. The storyteller may accompany the story with simple actions as described below. When a …
Monologue/Drama: The crafty manager
Monologue/Drama: The crafty manager
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue/Drama: The crafty manager He was a crafty devil, that manager of mine – and devil was the right word for him. He’d been fiddling his expenses for years and the only reason he got away with it was that I wasn’t involving myself in the management side of the business as m…
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 …
Poem: Good news
Poem: Good news
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Good news Bad news stories hit the headlines: crime and evil every day. and if there’s no bad news story, speculation will hold sway. Tweets and twitters full of fury fuel aggression, stir up hate and when this erupts in violence, action comes, but far too late. Continues..…
The Open Gate - Thanksgiving