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Monologue/Reflection: A year to remember
Monologue/Reflection: A year to remember
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue/Reflection: A year to remember It was a year to remember. The fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Roman rule and very unpopular. That man Pontius Pilate was in charge of us. Nobody trusted him and he probably didn’t trust himself. It’s rumoured that his wife…
The Lion's World - 1 - The Point of Narnia The Lion's World
The Lion's World - 1 - The Point of Narnia The Lion's World
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The point of Narnia The Lion’s World A middle-aged bachelor teaching English Literature at Oxford proposes to publish a children’s fantasy: in most publishers’ offices, it is a proposal destined for the wastepaper basket. Yet no one could deny the extraordinary and continuing app…
Poem/Reflection: Strange choices
Poem/Reflection: Strange choices
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem/Reflection: Strange choices Strange people God chooses sometimes. Not usually famous people; very rarely, rich people; not necessarily beautiful; not always religious; sometimes uneducated; often those that others disregard; usually very down-to earth characters. Was that wh…
The Lion's World - 2 - Narnia and its crtitics
The Lion's World - 2 - Narnia and its crtitics
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
Narnia and its critics I mentioned earlier the way in which Philip Pullman had conceived his own trilogy as a sort of riposte to the Narnia books. The parallels are clear enough – an alternative universe including talking animals, even (though Pullman might dispute this) an activ…
Monologue/Reflection: A tribute to David
Monologue/Reflection: A tribute to David
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue/Reflection: A tribute to David (We are used to hearing funeral tributes. This is an imagined one from the past.) He was a good king! Not necessarily a perfect man, but he was a good king. He tried to be wise in his judgements and to be fair to everyone. He believed in w…
Jesus, who are you?
Jesus, who are you?
by Corinne Akehurst
Jesus, who are you? Do you not know? Have you not heard? I am the one calling in the night. Open your ears, open your heart, make space for me to dwell. I am the faithful one, the one on whom you can depend. Give me your heart, give me your life and I will set you free. Free to l…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Why not Hear My Story?
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Why not Hear My Story?
by SPCK - N T Wright
Why Not Hear My Story? Acts 21.23-22.11 A story is told of Bishop Kallistos Ware, the Greek Orthodox bishop who for many years taught theology at Oxford. Bishop Ware was born and bred in England (his original name was Timothy), and he converted to Greek Orthodoxy as he was growin…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Disturbing Prophecies
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Disturbing Prophecies
by SPCK - N T Wright
Disturbing Prophecies Acts 21.1-14 I was in Canada in 1983 when, on a flight over the Pacific, a Korean airliner was intercepted and shot down by Soviet jets. All on board, needless to say, were killed. There was a long argument subsequently over why the plane was where it was an…
Reflection: Samaritan believers
Reflection: Samaritan believers
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection: Samaritan believers …? It must have been a shock, hearing that Samaritans had accepted the word of God. They were the ancient enemies. Their territory was treated as a foreign land. The dispute between their two factions had been bitter and long-standing. There was do…
Hymn: Here we gather in thanksgiving
Hymn: Here we gather in thanksgiving
by Marjorie Dobson
Here we gather in thanksgiving to the God of love and grace, as we celebrate this building standing witness in this place, year by year to offer people worship in this sacred space. Here we gather to remember all the years this church has grown from the seeds of new beginnings, w…
Reflection: Father
Reflection: Father
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection: Father Father’ can be an impossible word to use for those whose human father was abusive, cruel, brutal, heartless, inadequate, or had deserted them. Yet the Roman Christians were told that they could use that word with the true affection given to a beloved parent. Ho…
Imagining the Lectionary: Branching Out (Easter 5B)
Imagining the Lectionary: Branching Out (Easter 5B)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: Branching Out (Easter 5B) Reflection accompanying images “I am the vine you are the branches”, “Old Victorian Greenhouse detail” and “Old Victorian Greenhouse with gardener potting plants” Jesus had a photographer's eye. Because his teaching and conversa…
Monologue/reflection – Who is he?
Monologue/reflection – Who is he?
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue/reflection – Who is he? He didn’t give us a straight answer, did he? Not even when we challenged him as priests and Levites and told him we’d been sent by the Pharisees. You’d have thought he would have had more respect for authority than that. But what could you expect…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 22 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 22 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 22 Isaiah 5.1–7 Philippians 3.4b-14 Matthew 21.33–46 The people listening to the story of the vineyard would have responded to it on a number of different levels. Some of them would have recognized this vineyard from Isaiah 5 a…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 13 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 13 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 13 Genesis 32.22–31 Romans 9.1–5 Matthew 14.13–21 A well-known bishop wrote a book not long ago called Limping into the Sunrise. It was, of course, alluding to this story of Jacob; which was all very well, except that at the …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 10 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 10 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 10 Genesis 25.19–34 Romans 8.1–11 Matthew 13.1–9, 18–23 The next chapter of Genesis offers a striking echo to this parable: Isaac sowed seed, and reaped a hundredfold, for the Lord blessed him(26.12). But the key background, …
Reflection/meditation/poem: Compulsion