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June 2018

Eucharist Sml

Recognising New Forms of Christianity

I am a Cistercian Associate – that’s akin to a Benedictine Oblate or Franciscan or Carmelite Tertiaries. These are ways of living out the Cistercian, or Benedictine, or Franciscan, or Carmelite charisms – and beyond monastery and convent walls. I recently read Sister Teresa Jackson’s insight that oblates express new forms of Benedictine life: At

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Theme Sml

There Is No Theme

Once again, I have had conversations with clergy trying to find a theme in the readings and psalm of the Three-Year Sunday Lectionary. So, in the manner of Throwback Thursday and in some ways continuing from a couple of days ago, I say again: There is no theme. I regularly find this misunderstanding. There is

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Children Church Sml

The Word “Church”

The English word ‘church’ comes from the Greek word κυριακός (kuriakos) meaning “of the Lord”. κυριακός is used only twice in the New Testament – neither of them in the way we would use ‘church’, and in neither case would we translate it as ‘church’. In 1 Corinthians 11:20 there is mention of a Supper

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Gospels Sml

Revising the Lectionary?

It’s a hardy annual: someone has a theory how they could improve the 3-year Sunday lectionary. The latest off-site conversation I have had about this was arguing for a fourth year focusing on John’s Gospel. Currently, we have a three-year cycle: one year for each Synoptic Gospel (Mt; Mk; Lk). In the Seasons of Advent/Christmas

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Revised New Jerusalem Bible Sml

The Revised New Jerusalem Bible

The Revised New Jerusalem Bible (New Testament and Psalms Edited By Henry Wansbrough OSB (Darton, Longman & Todd, 768 pages) The Jerusalem Bible is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966. It is the text mostly used in Roman Catholic Masses. It was beautifully presented with wonderful notes and introductions. J. R. R.

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Stephen Hawking Sml

Stephen Hawking Meets God

There is plenty of debate whether Stephen Hawking believed in God or not. He used the word ‘God’ and spoke about explaining the universe as glimpsing ‘the mind of God’. But he didn’t use the word ‘God’ in the sense of a ‘guy in the sky’ – which is the way a lot of religious

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Twisting the Bible Sml

Twisting the Bible like a Nose of Wax

With a ha-ha-gotcha smirk, Jeff Sessions, Attorney General of the late, great remnant of Christendom, quoted Romans 13 to justify forcibly removing children from their parents at the USA border. White House Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, also reinforced that all this is biblical. This Bible teaching is famous, of course, in USA, for being used

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