I’m sad to say that nothing new is likely to be posted on this blog for the foreseeable future, but just to let you know that Voices Through Holy Week and Easter is now available. This is a collection of work I’ve produced over the years, now available in this booklet form.
It is an ideal resource for Easter, covering bible passage from Palm Sunday to The Resurrection from all four gospels. In each passage we hear the voice of the character questioning, exploring, finding the truth – in themselves and Jesus, ultimately leading to the question ‘What about me?’
Available from Moorleys or contact me on voicesthrough@outlook.com. Price £4.50 + postage
Thank you again to everyone for your support – for this blog and for these two booklets which seem to have rounded off the work of the blog over the years.
Firstly I want to say a belated huge thank you to all those who bought a copy of Voices Through Advent and Christmas. I hope that you all enjoyed it and it helped you into Advent and Christmas.
A second print had to be done, and indeed I have no copies left of that (though Moorleys do if you want to get in early for next year!)
As a follow up to that Voices Through Holy Week and Easter is currently at the printers.
The Easter story is familiar to us. We travel it year after year. Voices Through Holy Week and Easter seeks to breathe new life through the characters of that journey as they work through what is happening, what it means for them – and what it might mean for us each day.
The readings follow the account of Holy Week and beyond from all four gospels.
They are questions, hopes and fears – the reactions of the characters involved. Brave followers of Jesus, who in this week didn’t always feel brave, but in the bravery and integrity of Jesus found his promises more than fulfilled.
The question for us through all the story is ‘What about me?’, where the readings culminate.
The readings can be used in worship services to bring a different accent to the voices, or for personal reflection as we journey through Holy Week to Easter and resurrection.
The books will be priced £4.50 and will be available as soon as they arrive from the printers.
To order please contact me on voicesthrough@outlook.com or available from Moorleys
I had to go
to the place they’d laid him.
I had to go
and continue the task,
to honour
in death
the one we loved so much.
I came,
dragging my cares,
my fears,
my worries.
Wondering,
questioning;
as much about practicalities
as huge theological questions.
The kind of things you worry about,
to stop you worrying about the really huge questions.
But when we got there
our confusion turned to panic.
Someone had moved the stone,
that huge rock
rolled right away.
how could anyone have budged that?
It was the final stopper
on all Jesus had been,
the seal on all he had promised.
The end had come.
We had to face it.
And yet
it had gone.
moved.
No longer a barrier.
Left behind was
the message,
he’s not here.
It isn’t over,
this isn’t the end.
God has had the final word.
Jesus is alive.
What next?
Who knows,
but Jesus remains with us
God in him.
God taking us
on this journey
on
into life,
hope,
power.
Into life where there was death,
hope where there was despair,
freedom where there things were held down,
power where there was powerlessness.
16 After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James bought some spices to put on Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on Sunday morning, just as the sun was coming up, they went to the tomb. 3 On their way, they were asking one another, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” 4 But when they looked, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. And it was a huge stone!
5 The women went into the tomb, and on the right side they saw a young man in a white robe sitting there. They were alarmed.
6 The man said, “Don’t be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who was nailed to a cross. God has raised him to life, and he isn’t here. You can see the place where they put his body. 7 Now go and tell his disciples, and especially Peter, that he will go ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.”
8 When the women ran from the tomb, they were confused and shaking all over. They were too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.
