Category Archives: Bible

Lighting up Columbia

Posted on December 11, 2012 by alisonpeden

Medellin, Columbia’s second city, was notorious for drugs, crime and violence.  When one of Holy Trinity’s congregation told me she was going there to share work on urban regeneration through the use of light and lighting, I was a bit … Continue reading →

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Advent therapy

Posted on December 4, 2012 by alisonpeden

I now know that if I stop blogging for a bit, ‘re-entry’ is like getting into the water to swim – lovely once you’re in, but requiring a bracing plunge.  A challenging and busy time just lately meant I did … Continue reading →

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Women only

Posted on August 23, 2012 by alisonpeden

I was disappointed that in the Lectionary readings, the awful story of the Levite and his concubine (Judges 19-20) was omitted. It tells of how he found shelter for the night in Gibeah, and the men of the city called … Continue reading →

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Jubilee and the Clearances

Posted on May 28, 2012 by alisonpeden

We held the second of our ‘Sandwich Sessions’ after church yesterday – people getting together for lunch and discussion.  So we tackled ‘Jubilee’ – which, curiously, stimulated very very few memories.  I was not living in Scotland for the Queen’s … Continue reading →

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Garlic and subversion

Posted on May 25, 2012 by alisonpeden

Surfacing now from a wonderful diocesan clergy retreat on Cumbrae led by Bishop Gordon Mursell, who was exploring the ‘farewell discourses’ of Jesus in John’s gospel.  On arrival I was nearly overwhelmed by the scent of wild garlic on the … Continue reading →

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Ascension

Posted on May 17, 2012 by alisonpeden

I love fanstasy epic written for young people – well, some of it, and not the sci-fi stuff so much.  Looking at how they handle the big themes of good vs evil makes me look again at our Biblical epic … Continue reading →

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The radiant face

Posted on May 4, 2012 by alisonpeden

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testmony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.”  (Exodus 34:29) This passage, set for today … Continue reading →

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Silence and history

Posted on May 2, 2012 by alisonpeden

I went to one of the Gifford Lectures yesterday, given by Diarmaid McCulloch on ‘The silences of fear and shame’. If you’ve missed them so far, you can see videos of them posted on the site.  What McCulloch was talking … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Church, history, Holy Spirit, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Symbolic arithmetic

Posted on November 1, 2011 by alisonpeden

Sometimes you take agin a book of the Bible just as you might do with a person.  For years, I turned away from Revelation, until I decided to get to grips with it by doing a Quiet Day on the book … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, justice, mission | 4 Comments

Small groups and church

Posted on September 23, 2011 by alisonpeden

We had an interesting discussion last night about how Sunday church relates to small groups such as house groups.  People were saying how they found sharing in smaller groups was the way in which their faith deepened and became better related to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Church, ministry, mission | 5 Comments