Resource theme: The Bible
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Preparing for God’s Presence
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Bible Passage With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my…
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Preparing to Seek God
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Bible Passage I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. – Psalm 121:1-2 Reflection Working in universities means I spend much of my working time in cities. On an ordinary morning I have to go through Manchester to get into…
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The Beatitudes: Blessed Are The Merciful
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Bible Passage Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. Matthew 5:7 Reflection I write this in the wake of the terrible shooting at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Such a devastating attack in what should always be a safe and sacred space for worshippers feels like an assault on our religious…
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The Beatitudes: Blessed Are The Meek
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Bible Passage Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 Reflection What is meekness? For some, meekness is associated with passivity, weakness, and timidity. It is characterised as a failure in opposition to winner takes it all, survival of the fittest, work hard play hard capitalistic culture. But what if meekness…
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The Beatitudes: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn
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Bible Passage Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4 Reflection While wandering around the internet pondering the beatitudes, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” in particular, I found a number of books on the topic, including The Be Happy Attitudes. The second beatitude could be read…
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The Beatitudes: Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
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Bible Passage Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Matthew 5:3 Reflection Throughout Jesus’ ministry we’re shown a way of living that flips the world upside down; the last come first; the marginalised are included; the invisible are seen. And the beatitudes are definitely some of Jesus’ teachings that…
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Fake News
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Bible Passage To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 Reflection When the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize for literature, Kazuo Ishiguro, heard of his success from the media, he…
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The Kingdom of God
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Bible Passage The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news. Mark 1:15 Reflection In my experience, when Christians share the ‘good news’ they almost never talk about the Kingdom. We ignore the first part of Christ’s message at the start of Mark’s gospel, which…
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Advice
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Bible Passage For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives… Colossians 1:9-14 Reflection I’m sure most of us can picture a time when we were questioning…
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The Tower of Babel (1: Genesis 11.1-9)
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Opening Prayer O God, for the beauty and frustrations of the multitudes of language and the variety of your creation we give you thanks. Grant us the courage to live with uncertainty and the honesty to admit when we don’t understand each other. Amen. Exegesis The story of Babel is likely a myth, but like many myths,…