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So many years the people walked
So many years the people walked
by Marjorie Dobson
So many years the people walked in darkness fed by fear. They could not see the way ahead, their goal was rarely clear. Though God had led them down the years to find their promised land, their willful ways had cancelled hope of all that God had planned. Verses 3-4 follow © Marjo…
Sometimes words are not enough
Sometimes words are not enough
by John Birch
Sometimes words are not enough to express the language of our hearts, sometimes minds are filled with prayers without expression. Sometimes there are not enough spare moments in each day, sometimes regret is all we have as our confession. Sometimes faith is not enough ... Continu…
Moses asks, 'Now Whats?'
Moses asks, 'Now Whats?'
by Marjorie Dobson
Moses asks, ‘Now what?’ I really have had it up to here with these people. They just have no idea how to behave. You’d think they’d be grateful to be free and out in the desert being guided by God to their Promised Land, but, oh no! That’s not their way. They’re either looking ba…
Imagining the Lectionary: it is through our brokenness that we glimpse another world (Epiphany 5B)
Imagining the Lectionary: it is through our brokenness that we glimpse another world (Epiphany 5B)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: it is through our brokenness that we glimpse another world (Epiphany 5B) Reflection accompanying image “looking through the knot hole in the fence with face and text” That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with dem…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - A Light to the Gentiles
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - A Light to the Gentiles
by SPCK - N T Wright
A Light to the Gentiles Acts 13.44-52 Everyone who works with words – the poet, the journalist, the philosopher, the translator, the theologian – knows it all too well. We use a word one day and it seems perfectly all right. It does the job. The next day we are told it now means …
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and John the Baptist
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and John the Baptist
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and John the Baptist Matthew 11.1-6 We had rehearsed the show for weeks, and reckoned we had it pretty well sorted out. We were a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs, but we were quite pleased with our singing, acting and dancing. The show was going to be good, funny and excitin…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 1 Isaiah 6.1–13 1 Corinthians 15.1–11 Luke 5.1–11 ‘The holy seed is its stump.’ Isaiah’s vision in the Temple leaves him with a dreadful commission, to inform God’s people of inevitable exile. The nation will be like a tree felled and burnt. But when the worst has occurred…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Advent Jeremiah 33.14–16 1 Thessalonians 3.9–13 Luke 21.25–36 It is January, ad 69. You are a Greek-speaking Christian in a Roman town in Turkey. You are deeply anxious about the fierce war in Judaea: the Romans have laid siege to Jerusalem; the city faces sta…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Lent Deuteronomy 26.1–11 Romans 10.8b–13 Luke 4.1–13 These readings are not about ‘temptation’ so much as about true worship. Jesus recognized his temptations as distractions from worshipping and trusting the one true God. To see temptation in terms of rules w…
2 Corinthians - The Letter and the Spirit
2 Corinthians - The Letter and the Spirit
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Letter and the Spirit 2 CORINTHIANS 3.1-6 ‘I had to write a letter of recommendation last week. One of my former students is job-hunting, and the people who run the college he has applied to don’t know him, or not very well; so it is up to me to write to them, in a formal way…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday before Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday before Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday Before Lent Genesis 2.4b–9, 15–25 Revelation 4 Luke 8.22–25 The goodness and the terror of the created world dominate these readings. From the garden in Genesis to the throne-room in Revelation, all that is done reflects God’s loving creativity, and his sharing …
Revelation for Everyone - The Woman and the Dragon
Revelation for Everyone - The Woman and the Dragon
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Woman and the Dragon Revelation 12.1-6 I once attended a memorial service for a famous sportsman, a cricketer who had been a boyhood hero for me and for many others. The church was packed, and a special place was reserved for other cricketers who had played with or against th…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Christmas Jeremiah 31.7–14 Ephesians 1.3–14 John 1.1–18 Take a deep breath, and try reading Ephesians 1.3–14 all in one go. It is, after all, a single sentence in the Greek, a Christian version of the Jewish-style prayer, ‘Blessed be the God who . . .’. Only …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sunday Next Before Lent Exodus 34.29–end 2 Corinthians 3.12—4.2 Luke 9.28–43 The intriguing thing about Moses coming down the mountain with his face shining was that he didn’t know. He had simply been talking with God; it was only when Aaron and the others met him that he rea…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Wisdom For The Rulers
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - Wisdom For The Rulers
by SPCK - N T Wright
5 THE RENEWAL OF THE WORLD WISDOM FOR THE RULERS Ephesians 3: 8-13 There was once a young prince whose distant uncle was king of a great empire. The prince was carefree and happy, neither very rich nor very poor. One day, a great disaster struck. The king, his uncle, was killed i…
Isaiah for Everyone - A Day When There Will Be a Song to Sing
Isaiah for Everyone - A Day When There Will Be a Song to Sing
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Day When There Will Be a Song to Sing Our city’s annual Black History Parade this year had the theme “Looking back and remembering: we’ve come a mighty long way.” The words reminded me of the hymn, “We’ve Come This Far by Faith.”…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Am I in the Place of God?