Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Third Sunday before Advent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Third Sunday before Advent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Third Sunday before Advent Mark 1: 14-20 Gaze on the Sea of Galilee. No one who comes here remains unmoved. What is it about particular places that give them a holiness at their very core? Why does this place emanate such undisputed beauty? It is referred to in the Jewish Tal…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 8 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 8 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 8 Mark 5: 21-43 Gaze on a crowd in a big city. Picture the platform at the tube station, where everyone is determined to catch the next train home and they all push and shove. Once on, they stand squashed together unable to breathe, and cannot avoid clinging to each other’…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 7 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 7 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 7 Mark 4: 35-41 Gaze on the sea in stormy weather. Hear the roar of the gale crashing against the sails at full stretch and the creak of the feeble wooden hull. Watch the disciples, bailing out in vain. The rain is lashing their faces, soaking their clothes. Hear the fear …
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 25 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 25 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 25 Mark 10:46-52 Gaze on this scene: where are you in it? Are you one of those standing over the beggar, a look of disapproval on your face? It’s easy to become one of the pretentious bystanders eager to protect Jesus, pompously insisting they know what is right for him. ‘…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Trinity Sunday Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Trinity Sunday Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Trinity Sunday John 3: 1-17 Gaze at this conversation, taking place at night in Jesus’ rooms, somewhere in a dark Jerusalem back street. The room is barely lit by a small earthen oil lamp. Jesus and his unexpected guest sit cross-legged on cushions. The furnishings of the room ar…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday before Lent John 1.11-14 Gaze on the different sorts of lights there are in our lives. There is electric light available to us at the flick of a switch, revealing everything; the light from the blazing sun, that keeps our world alive; the narrow light that gli…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Third Sunday of Easter Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Third Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Third Sunday of Easter Luke 24.36b-48 Gaze on the reverence with which the scrolls of the Torah are handled in a Jewish synagogue. They are given pride of place, all eyes turned towards them as the doors of the Ark open and there they are, clothed in fine cloth with tinkling …
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Christ the King Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Christ the King Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Christ the King John 18: 33-37 Gaze on the gaudy colours of the luxurious Imperial Palace, the wealth of velvet and silk, armour and flags, which decorate the towers and gates that keep the people out. Gaze on the hierarchy of officials and servants, there to make visible the Emp…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Sunday next before Lent Mark 9.2-9 Consider next what God tells us. First, that Jesus is indeed his Son and we must worship him as such. And second, that this means we must obey him, for what is the point of listening if we do not learn? Our faith must be strong enough to f…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Gazing on the Gospel - Year B The Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke 1.26-38 Gaze on two Renaissance masterpieces: the Annunciation by Titian, and the Annunciation by Tintoretto. Even if you have never seen them let your imagination conjure them up... Both depict the same story, but th…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Advent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Gazing on the Gospel - Year B The Second Sunday of Advent Mark 1.1-8 Gaze on the people coming out to John in the wilderness. The parents are dragging along the children by their hand, and the old people are hobbling along trying to catch up. They know it won’t be easy to reach t…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Easter Day Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Easter Day Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Easter Day Mark 16.1-8 or John 20.1-18 Gaze at the women, determined to do women’s work, and to honour the body of their friend. They come to anoint him with spices, not thinking ‘This is useless, why bother?’ They do not look for miracles, only the performance of a tradition. Bu…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Third Sunday of Epiphany John 2.1-11 And remember, we are still in the season of Epiphany – the showing forth of Jesus to the world. And this is where we find the proper significance of this story. Consider the difference between the meaning of the words ‘sign’ and ‘miracle…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Day of Pentecost Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Day of Pentecost Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Day of Pentecost John 15.26-27 16.4b-15 Gaze on the disciples at the back of the room, ones we don’t hear much about, Alphaeus or Thaddeus for instance. They’ve long stopped concentrating, and they give each other secret glances of puzzlement. Is it blasphemy to suggest they are …
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday of Epiphany John 1.43-51 Consider what would make you go, on a friend’s say-so, to meet someone who has influenced him or her. Consider what it would take to make you move from ‘come and see’ to ‘follow me’. Consider how much more courage it takes to ‘follow’ …
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Gazing on the Gospel - Year B The Second Sunday of Christmas John 1.(1-9,) 10-18 Gaze on an illuminated manuscript. See how the page is full of gold leaf, which lights up the word. When an idea is illuminated for us, it confers vision far greater than sight, as Jesus does of God.…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year B