Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 22 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 22 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 22 Genesis 2. 18-24 Hebrews 1.14; 2.5-12 Mark 10.2-16 It is very tempting to go straight for the second half of the passage from Mark’s Gospel set for today, and just speculate, if possible with some sentimentality, about what Jesus meant by ‘theirs is the Kingdom of Heave…
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 Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year A Acts 2.42–7 1 Peter 2.19–25 John 10.1–10 It is easy to telescope these verses from St John’s Gospel with verses 11–18. The second parable is also about sheep, and it is much clearer and more vivid, beginning as it does with Jesus’s statement, …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany - Year A 1 Kings 17.8–16 1 Corinthians 1.18–31 John 2.1–11 Most of us think we would like the kind of communication with God that Elijah has. The narrator of 1 Kings tells us, very matter-of-factly, that God tells Elijah to do something, and Elijah g…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Advent Malachi 4.1–2a 2 Thessalonians 3.6–13 Luke 21.5–19 The material in today’s reading from Luke can be found in a very similar form in Mark 13 and Matthew 24, and all are agreed that the temple is the trigger for these terrible sayings. Jesus seems to…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Easter Genesis 7.1–5, 11–18; 8.6–18; 9.8–13 Acts 9.36–43 John 10.22–30 Today’s passage from St John’s Gospel is part of the escalating conflict between Jesus and ‘the Jews’. From the magnificent opening verses of the Gospel, setting out the cosmic significanc…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5.2–5a Hebrews 10.5–10 Luke 1.39–45 The readings from Micah and Hebrews are so dauntingly obscure that it is tempting simply to concentrate on the lovely passage from Luke. Luke’s is the only Gospel that has any of John the Baptist’s biography be…
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 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 Reflections Year A - The Third Sunday of Easter Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Third Sunday of Easter Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Easter - Year A Acts 2.14a, 36–41 1 Peter 1.17–23 Luke 24.13–35 In his poem, ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’,1 W. B. Yeats pictures a man so consumed with longing for home that even in the middle of a busy street, all he hears is the sound of the lake, more real …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3.14–20 Philippians 4.4–7 Luke 3.7–18 The book of Zephaniah is not, on the whole, cheerful reading, and almost everything about it is disputed by the various commentaries on it. No one is absolutely sure when it was written, despite its firm 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 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 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 Third Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Easter Zephaniah 3.14–20 Acts 9.1–20 John 21.1–19 This final chapter of John’s Gospel is a chapter full of echoes, back to the earthly ministry of Jesus and forward to the life of the Church after the ascension. For example, compare the story of the miraculous…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Trinity Sunday Proverbs 8.1–4, 22–31 Romans 5.1–5 John 16.12–15 From very early on in the life of the Church, Christians read the figure of ‘Wisdom’ in Proverbs as a reference to Jesus. They assumed that God had already shown, in hints, characters and patterns of relating, what h…
John for Everyone part 2 - The Spirit and the World
John for Everyone part 2 - The Spirit and the World
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Spirit and the World John 16.1-11 I once saw a film based on one of Charles Dickens’s novels. The film was about poverty and the degrading effect it has on people. One of the most depressing scenes was in a lawyer’s office, as the relatives of a man imprisoned for debt were d…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year A