Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 19 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 19 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 19 Exodus 14.19–31 Romans 14.1–12 Matthew 18.21–35 The tidal wave struck, and we were unprepared. Comfortable liberal civilization, in which we were OK and they were OK – the corporate version of the street-level feel-good ph…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 23 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 23 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ordinary Time - Proper 23 Exodus 32.1–14 Philippians 4.1–9 Matthew 22.1–14 The party was ready, the guests were on the way, but somehow they got distracted. Today’s gospel fits Exodus 32 like a glove, forming a combined warning. Readers of Exodus perceive the golden calf incident…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Trinity Sunday Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Trinity Sunday Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Trinity Sunday - Year A Isaiah 40.12–17, 27–31 2 Corinthians 13.11–13 Matthew 28.16–20 The doctrine of the Trinity used to be caricatured as a piece of irrelevant theory: learned people using human philosophy to make simple things overly complex. The charge often rebounds on …
Luke for Everyone - The Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus
Luke for Everyone - The Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus Luke 1.26-38 Ask a newspaper editor what sort of stories will sell the most copies, and three categories come swiftly to mind: sex, royalty and religion. If they can be combined, so much the better.’ POP STAR’S LOVE CHILD’ is good; ‘PRINCESS…
Old folks
Old folks
by Marjorie Dobson
The Presentation of the Lord / Candlemas Luke 2:22-40 Monologue: Old folks! Have you heard the latest about that batty old Anna? You know - that old woman who thinks she’s a prophetess. Wanders round the Temple all day, praying all over the place. Eighty-four if she’s a day! Don’…
Psalms for Everyone - Silence toward God
Psalms for Everyone - Silence toward God
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Silence toward God Psalm 62 A friend of mine has gone on a month’s silent retreat (he is answering e-mails, which seems a bit like cheating, but then maybe so is reading or listening to talks). He needs to know what is to be the next stage in his life and his service of God, and …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Yahweh’s Covenant and Our Covenant
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - Yahweh’s Covenant and Our Covenant
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Yahweh’s Covenant and Our Covenant Psalm 111 I noted in connection with Psalm 105 that this Thanksgiving/ Advent we are suggesting to the people in our church that they think about what they have to thank God for over the past year and what they might make a covenant about for th…
Imagining the Lectionary: it is through our brokenness that we glimpse another world (Epiphany 5B)
Imagining the Lectionary: it is through our brokenness that we glimpse another world (Epiphany 5B)
by David Perry
Imagining the Lectionary: it is through our brokenness that we glimpse another world (Epiphany 5B) Reflection accompanying image “looking through the knot hole in the fence with face and text” That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with dem…
Intercessions for Years A, B and C Book - Proper 1 – Year B
Intercessions for Years A, B and C Book - Proper 1 – Year B
by SPCK - Ian Black
Proper 1 – Year B (Between 4 and 10 February, if earlier than 2 before Lent) Sing and give thanks to the Lord For all his wonderful works. Lord Jesus, amidst clamour and great demands you searched out a deserted place to pray. Give your Church wisdom to be still before you . . . …
Psalms for Everyone - Keep It Simple
Psalms for Everyone - Keep It Simple
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Keep It Simple Psalm 50 It’s kind of complicated being a church. It was brought home to me yesterday when for the first time I took the bunch of church keys that I recently inherited to go for a meeting with a couple whose baby we are going to baptize. There are fifteen keys. I n…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Snake and the Love of God
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Snake and the Love of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Snake and the Love of God John 3.14-21 ‘And mind you watch out for snakes!’ My wife gave me a final warning before I set off into the hills. The footpaths had been closed for several months because of a widespread and infectious animal disease. Many creatures that normally ke…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Advent Isaiah 61.1–4, 8–11 1 Thessalonians 5.16–24 John 1.6–8, 19–28 So at last, after weeks of foreboding, of warnings that the coming of the Lord is not something to take lightly or to meet with unprepared, now at last the excitement begins to mount. First o…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Sunday Next Before Lent 2 Kings 2.1–12 2 Corinthians 4.3–6 Mark 9.2–9 Elijah is taking part in his own funeral procession. Everywhere he goes, people come out to watch him, the coffin, go past. The people do not speak to him. It’s almost as though they think that he has alrea…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent 2 Samuel 7.1–11, 16 Romans 16.25–27 Luke 1.26–38 How can we honour God? How can we show our gratitude for what he has done and promise our obedience for the future? Perhaps our offerings sometimes resemble the mauled mouse that the cat brings in and la…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 40.1–11 2 Peter 3.8–15a Mark 1.1–8 The trouble is that we think we know the end of the story. We think that this time of waiting that we call Advent is all building up to the joyful time of Christmas. In fact, it can hardly be called a ‘time of …
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Lent Proverbs 8.1, 22–31 Colossians 1.15–20 John 1.1–14 The Sunday lectionary readings do, on the whole, allow us to focus on the central Christian belief that God does all things out of love towards his creation. Even when the readings focus on the suffe…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Third Sunday of Easter Year B