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Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 8 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 8 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 8 Mark 5: 21-43 Gaze on a crowd in a big city. Picture the platform at the tube station, where everyone is determined to catch the next train home and they all push and shove. Once on, they stand squashed together unable to breathe, and cannot avoid clinging to each other’…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second before Advent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second before Advent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday before Advent Mark 13: 1-8 Gaze on the stones that are all that remains of the Temple today. They are huge slabs, glaring in the sun, lying there as a heap of blocks, tilted and abandoned where they fell. It is easy to imagine the massive walls and the moulded c…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Fourth Before Advent Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Fourth Before Advent Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Micah 3.5–12 1 Thessalonians 2.9–13 Matthew 24.1–14 Those of us who earn our living by speaking and writing about the Bible sometimes feel nervous in the presence of Micah and Paul. There is the apostle, doing his day job making tents, debating wit…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 22 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 22 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ordinary Time - Proper 22 Exodus 20.1–4, 7–9, 12–20 Philippians 3.4b–14 Matthew 21.33–46 The parable of the wicked tenants tells the story of Israel in such a way as to highlight Jesus’ own work and fate as the plot’s denouement. But, as with many parables, and many great non-bib…
Job for Everyone - Covenant or Contract?
Job for Everyone - Covenant or Contract?
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Covenant or Contract Job 1: 6-12 Yesterday the air-conditioning/heating maintenance office called. After we had a big problem with the air conditioning last year, I took out a maintenance contract to try to avoid a recurrence of problems of that magnitude, so I now pay a certain …
Hymn: The dwelling of God, while transcendent almighty
Hymn: The dwelling of God, while transcendent almighty
by Andrew Pratt
The dwelling of God, while transcendent almighty, is here with humanity folded in love, while out through the cosmos, with stellar precision divinity flies through all courses above. Above celebration, beyond acclamation we join in our worship the God of all days, our language is…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Third Lesson
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Third Lesson
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Third Lesson (Mark 10: 1-52) Building on the developing theme of a revisioning of power relations and the image of a child, an extended teaching section is presented in chapter 10. Included are three teaching episodes having to do with the household: marriage and divorce, childre…
Hymn: Imagine people gathered round
Hymn: Imagine people gathered round
by Andrew Pratt
Imagine people gathered round, the day was warm, the sun was low. The mist was rising from the lake, the mood was holy, lowly, slow. Toward the evening they had come, expectant, waiting for his word. The day was long, they rested tired, and looking, his compassion stirred. Verses…
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Look Upon Their Threats
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Look Upon Their Threats
by SPCK - N T Wright
PART 2 PRAYERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT OTHER EARLY CHRISTIAN PRAYERS LOOK UPON THEIR THREATS Acts 4: 23-31 In the early summer of 1989, I went to Jerusalem to teach, and to work on a couple of books, one of which was about Jesus himself. One day, sitting in my borrowed room at St Ge…
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Persistence in Prayer
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - Persistence in Prayer
by SPCK - N T Wright
PART 1 NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING ON PRAYER THE TEACHING OF JESUS PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER Luke 11: 1-13 The telephone rang. It was a message that my younger son, a singer, was about to get on an aeroplane to go with his choir to the other side of the world. If I was quick, I might just…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 17 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 17 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 17 Song of Solomon 2.8-13 James 1.17-27 Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23 The main bit missing from Mark 7 is about nullifying God’s word through human tradition. Hmmm. Granted, there are two different issues at stake here: cleanness and uncleanness (with a further subdivision: cle…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The Mystery and The Victory
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The Mystery and The Victory
by SPCK - N T Wright
5 THE RENEWAL OF THE WORLD THE MYSTETY AND THE VICTORY 1 Corinthians 15: 50-58 He stood there in baggy jeans, trainers, and an old sweater. ‘You can’t come in like that,’ I said. ‘This is a smart lunch, and we’re the guests. We’ve got to get it right.’ ‘No problem,’ he replied, a…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - The Mark of Cain
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - The Mark of Cain
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Mark of Cain Genesis 4: 14-17 Our church shows up at a local homeless shelter to make dinner for the residents there once a month or so. Homeless “shelter” could give a false impression. Before I went there, I imagined something rather makeshift, almost like the shelters in w…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 9 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 9 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 9 Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20 Gaze on yourself as you arrive in a town for the first time. Have you booked your hotel room ahead, or are you leaving it to chance? Recall the strange street signs, the one-way system that confuses and traps you, and the difficulty in finding a plac…
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The First And The Last
New Testament Wisdom for Everyone - The First And The Last
by SPCK - N T Wright
5 THE RENEWAL OF THE WORLD THE FIRST AND THE LAST Matthew 19: 23-30 Once, as a boy, I watched a large party of hunters on horseback chasing a fox over open country. Even if you disapprove of foxhunting, as many do, it was a fine sight on a cold wintry day. Down the hillside they …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Sunday after Ascension Day) Acts 1.15-17, 21-26 1 John 5.9-13 John 17.6-19 The interesting thing about the choice of Matthias has nothing to do with Matthias himself. Nor is it the striking method of his selection, which if applied today would simpli…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Righteousness, morality and judgement