Jane Williams
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fifth Sunday of Lent Isaiah 43.16–21 Philippians 3.4b–14 John 12.1–8 Our Lenten readings have now brought us face to face with what this season is about. We are attempting, with some discipline, to prepare ourselves for Good Friday and Easter. At the start of Lent, with the s…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Lent Joshua 5.9–12 2 Corinthians 5.16–21 Luke 15.1–3, 11b–32 Luke, the expert writer, puts the prodigal son as the third of a set of stories about losing and finding. All of the stories emphasize God’s joy at finding what had been lost, but the story of the p…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Lent Isaiah 55.1–9 1 Corinthians 10.1–13 Luke 13.1–9 On the face of it, today’s readings from Isaiah and Corinthians could hardly provide a greater contrast. The passage from Isaiah is lyrical, joyful, full of assurance, whereas Paul’s tone in 1 Corinthians 10…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 15.1–12, 17–18 Philippians 3.17—4.1 Luke 13.31–5 Conversations between God and Abraham are always worth listening to. You can’t help noticing that God likes Abraham, and talks to him, man to man, and that Abraham talks freely, even cheekily to Go…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Lent Deuteronomy 26.1–11 Romans 10.8b–13 Luke 4.1–13 Proust’s great theme is that without memory there is no character or understanding. One of the things that is so appealing about his work is that the small memories are at least as significant as the huge …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Sunday Next Before Lent Exodus 34.29–35 2 Corinthians 3.12—4.2 Luke 9.28–36 Today’s lectionary readings give us the rare chance to see one biblical author doing a thorough exegesis of another. In the passage from 2 Corinthians, Paul is referring directly to today’s reading fr…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday before Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday before Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Lent Genesis 2.4b–9, 15–25 Revelation 4 Luke 8.22–5 If you go straight from today’s Genesis reading to the reading from Revelation, you could almost imagine that the history of God’s relations with people had been one of unbroken communion. From the intim…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 3 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 3 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 3 Genesis 45.3–11, 15 1 Corinthians 15.35–8 Luke 6.27–38 These verses in Luke mark a shift in tone from the preceding verses. The ‘blessings and woes’ section that comes immediately before this passage is about what is ‘now’, it is about results. But now Jesus moves from t…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 2 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 2 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 2 Jeremiah 17.5–10 1 Corinthians 15.12–20 Luke 6.17–26 Paul’s discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 has fascinated scholars and Christians alike. It shows clearly that the earliest preaching of the gospel contained the witness to the risen Christ. This is, as …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 1 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 1 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 1 Isaiah 6.1–8 (9–13) 1 Corinthians 15.1–11 Luke 5.1–11 The question of the correct posture for worship – should we sit or should we kneel – is a perennial one. Well, if anything can make us less sedentary, it should be today’s readings. They are none of them conducive to …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Ezekiel 43.27—44.4 1 Corinthians 13.1–13 Luke 2.22–40 Today’s reading from Ezekiel is chosen, presumably, because it connects well to the account in Luke of Jesus’ presentation in the temple. Both talk about the proper fulfilment of the law, and the …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Epiphany Nehemiah 8.1–3, 5–6, 8–10 1 Corinthians 12.12–31a Luke 4.14–21 The book of Nehemiah is an exciting and inspiring story. It is written in the first person, and its narrative is vivid and action-packed. Nehemiah, one of the many Jews carried away into e…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 62.1–5 1 Corinthians 12.1–11 John 2.1–11 The story of the wedding at Cana is an intriguing one. The dynamic between Jesus and his mother is fascinating, as is the nature of the miracle. The Gospels that emerged in the first few Christian centu…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 43.1–7 Acts 8.14–17 Luke 3.15–17, 21–2 The first three Gospels all have the story of Jesus’ baptism by John in very similar words. John’s version of events, as so often, is slightly different – you might like to go and have a look at it in John…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Epiphany Isaiah 60.1–6 Ephesians 3.1–12 Matthew 2.1–12 The wise men have always had enormous appeal. Everything about them has been elaborated in poetry and story. They have become kings; they have been depicted as representing youth, maturity and old age; they have been give…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Christmas Jeremiah 31.7–14 Ephesians 1.3–14 John 1.10–18 What is grace? Both John and Ephesians have the word more than once. It’s a word that we use quite frequently in Christian circles. Most meetings I go to, you know when they’ve ended because someone say…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Christmas 1 Samuel 2.18–20, 26 Colossians 3.12–17 Luke 2.41–52 To get the full picture of what is going on in the reading from 1 Samuel, we really need the verses that the lectionary chooses to leave out. The story is actually about different kinds of sonship.…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Christmas Day/Christmas Eve Year C