SPCK - James Jones
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…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 95: 1, 8, 10
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 95: 1, 8, 10
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 95. 1, 8, 10 This psalm begins with a fanfare and ends in the plagal cadence of a sung ‘amen’. There could hardly be a greater contrast between beginning and end. At the start the heart is rejoicing; by the finish the heart is indicted for its erring and straying like a stu…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 84; 1, 2
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 84; 1, 2
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 84. 1, 2 A primary school in the diocese dedicated to St Luke gave me a bird-box which I have nailed near the tree. I imagine St Luke would approve for he captured vividly the image of Jesus comparing himself with a nesting bird gathering chicks under her wings.
With My WholeHeart - Postscript to the Psalms
With My WholeHeart - Postscript to the Psalms
by SPCK - James Jones
Postscript to the Psalms Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. This verse (Psalm 51.6 kjv) does not come with the word ‘heart’ in the psalm version of the Book of Common Prayer but for me it has been at the cent…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 149:4
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 149:4
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 149:4 What a glorious place to end! The thought that God takes pleasure in us supplants all those other false notions of God being rather fed up with us. The problem with low self-esteem, which afflicts so many of us, is that we project this on to how God must see us. When …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 147:3
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 147:3
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 147:3 God’s healing is both spiritual and physical. We can pray for God to heal both the broken heart and the broken body. The health that comes to our broken bodies through modern medicine is by comparison with the age of the psalms and the time of Jesus nothing short of m…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 141:4
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 141:4
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 141:4 The strong language of the psalms is not for the faint-hearted. It can repel those who come to the psalms seeking sincerely to find or to strengthen their faith. References to ‘evil’, to the ‘ungodly’ and to ‘wickedness’, and imprecations asking that the enemy should …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 139:23
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 139:23
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 139:23 This psalm speaks of the intimate knowledge God has of each of us. Jesus said as much, in that even the hairs on our head are numbered. There are no other words that match the truth and beauty of this prayer so allow me to say only why it always leaves my soul in a c…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:111, 112 The word of God comes to us in several ways. Supremely in Jesus who was ‘the Word made flesh’ (cf. John 1.14). Without the Bible Jesus is a contentless word. It is Scripture that gives substance and meaning to his life, death and resurrection. Jesus’ own atti…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 94:15, 19
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 94:15, 19
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 94:15, 19 The heart is scarred by sorrow when we see the casualties of injustice. Righteousness is both personal and social. It speaks of and to an individual’s dealings with others; it also refers to structures and systems that emerge from and affect the whole of society. …
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 51:10, 17
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 51:10, 17
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 51:10, 17 Repetition is a feature of the life of prayer as we can see in the psalms. Yet again the plea for forgiveness comes with ‘Make me a clean heart’. There is a particular religious psyche that is obsessed with sin. There’s also a psychological condition where the pat…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 119:111-112
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 119:111-112 There’s a joyless religion that should be avoided like the plague. There’s a certain personality that obsesses with detail; it becomes preoccupied with rules and ritual; it prefers the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. Jesus clashed with this sort of p…
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 119:69-70
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