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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 107:12
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 107:12
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 107:12 The disease of this heart is down to rebelling ‘against the words of the Lord’ and lightly regarding ‘the counsel of the most Highest’ (v. 11). Although God is infinitely long-suffering and compassionate this should not be confused with indifference to disobedience…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 102:4
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 102:4
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 102:4 A pelican in the wilderness, an owl in the desert, a sole sparrow sitting on the rooftop, these are the pictures that tell of a soul out of sorts. There’s little doubt here that the plight of the smitten heart is the work of God. ‘For thou hast taken me up, and cast m…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 109:21
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 109:21
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 109:21 A spiritual battle rages around us. It breaks through into the material world. It is impossible not to be caught up in it and, from time to time, to be wounded. Of course, many today dismiss this as medieval theology, but read the opening stanzas of this psalm and it…
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 108:1
With My WholeHeart - Psalm 108:1
by SPCK - James Jones
Psalm 108:1 I was three weeks into my recuperation when this verse revived me! As in life, so in convalescence there are good days and bad days, like walking on a cloudy summer’s day, one moment through a field of sunshine, the next under a canopy of shade...
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent 2 Samuel 7.1–11, 16 Romans 16.25–27 Luke 1.26–38 How can we honour God? How can we show our gratitude for what he has done and promise our obedience for the future? Perhaps our offerings sometimes resemble the mauled mouse that the cat brings in and la…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The First Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The First Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Advent Isaiah 64.1–9 1 Corinthians 1.3–9 Mark 13.24–37 A monk comes to his abbot, seeking enlightenment. He questions the abbot eagerly and impatiently, firing questions at him. But the abbot says, ‘Just look.’ The monk is very disappointed, ‘I’m always lookin…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Christmas Jeremiah 31.7–14 Ephesians 1.3–14 John 1.1–18 At the heart of the Christian proclamation of God is the belief that before time, before creation, before the existence of anything but God, God is already love. God’s very nature is the love that flows …
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Christmas Day Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Christmas Day Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Christmas Day Isaiah 62.6–12 Titus 3.4–7 Luke 2.1–20 In these verses from Isaiah there is a great sense of subdued excitement, of restlessness, of purposeful movement a little distance away, as the dawn breaks. Actually, this would probably describe almost any household with chil…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Signs of the New Covenant
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Signs of the New Covenant
by SPCK - N T Wright
Signs of the New Covenant Acts 4. 32-37 Some politicians’ phrases pass into folk legend. I am old enough ( just) to remember Harold Macmillan saying, ‘You’ve never had it so good.’ Some Americans can remember Roosevelt talking about the ‘New Deal’. And generations to come will st…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Christmas 1 Samuel 2.18–20, 26 Colossians 3.12–17 Luke 2.41–52 The boyhood stories of Jesus and Samuel jar slightly with one another. Samuel’s mother deliberately takes him to the Temple in order to leave him there; Jesus’ parents intend to take him home, but …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Advent Malachi 3.1–4 Philippians 1.3–11 Luke 3.1–6 I must have sung Handel’s Messiah dozens of times before I asked myself what its first chorus actually meant. ‘And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.’ It makes what …
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Peter Goes to Cornelius
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Peter Goes to Cornelius
by SPCK - N T Wright
Peter Goes to Cornelius Acts 10.17-33 ‘Four days ago’, he said, ‘I was praying in my house at around this time, about three o’clock, and suddenly a man stood beside me in shining clothes. 31“Cornelius,” he said, “your prayer has been heard, and your almsgiving has been remembered…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5.2–5a Hebrews 10.5–10 Luke 1.39–45 The readings from Micah and Hebrews are so dauntingly obscure that it is tempting simply to concentrate on the lovely passage from Luke. Luke’s is the only Gospel that has any of John the Baptist’s biography be…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3.14–20 Philippians 4.4–7 Luke 3.7–18 The book of Zephaniah is not, on the whole, cheerful reading, and almost everything about it is disputed by the various commentaries on it. No one is absolutely sure when it was written, despite its firm p…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Healed by Peter's Shadow
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Healed by Peter's Shadow
by SPCK - N T Wright
Healed by Peter’s Shadow Acts 5.12-16 Imagine you are the manager of a great concert hall or opera house – the Metropolitan in New York, say, or the Albert Hall in London. For generations now this has been the place to which concert-goers have flocked in their thousands, week aft…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C