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 Second Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Easter Exodus 14.10–31; 15.20–1 Acts 5.27–32 John 20.19–31 People are very good at doubting. We seem to be able to move with effortless ease from the utmost certainty to the utmost doubt within moments. In the reading from Exodus today, just remember what has…
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 Second Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Advent Malachi 3.1–4 Philippians 1.3–11 Luke 3.1–6 The passage from Malachi and the passage from Luke go together well. At first glance, the alternative reading from Baruch (5.1–9) matches the Luke passage even better, since Luke and Baruch both seem to be qu…
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 Seventh Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Seventh Sunday of Easter Ezekiel 36.24–8 Acts 16.16–34 John 17.20–6 The verses chosen from Ezekiel for today are a beautiful and encouraging picture of the restoration of Israel, but they urgently need to be read in the light of the verses immediately before and after them. T…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Sixth Sunday of Easter Ezekiel 37.1–14 Acts 16.9–15 John 14.23–9 The clue to Ezekiel’s famous vision of the dry bones comes in verse 11. What Ezekiel has been hearing from the people all around him is a despair that is like death. ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost…
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 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…
Poem: Always missing, never grasping
Poem: Always missing, never grasping
by Andrew Pratt
(Doubting Thomas after Leonard Cohen’s song 'Suzanne' which has the line: '…and Jesus was a sailor...') Always missing, never grasping, hope amid this shifting sea, coast and haven seem remote now, too far off to harbour me. Yet those fishermen are telling news that I can't compr…
Poem: Passion can distort our judgment
Poem: Passion can distort our judgment
by Andrew Pratt
Passion can distort our judgment, twisting love, distorting fate. Is this Adam's sin returning as endearments turn to hate? In the cold light of the morning, looking back on what we've done, even at the new day's dawning, feeling chill in morning sun. Continues... Also available …
Poem: Father of Jesse and father of David
Poem: Father of Jesse and father of David
by Andrew Pratt
Father of Jesse and father of David, born of a foreigner here in their midst: Ruth would nurse Obed, then comfort and nurture. Boaz brought safety it seemed she had missed. Now as we listen we re-tell this story, try to untangle the mystery and worth, one thing is certain: a love…
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger?
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? Luke 2: 41-52 Oh why are we searching from cradle to manger? From Christmas to Easter God comes as a stranger. From Bethlehem's stable, a child in a temple, two people in exile, a man with a temper, Beyond all the tinsel the st…
Poem: Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock
Poem: Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock Held in the cleft of the cold, dark rock, the summit of human fear, pursued to the end of his life's reserves, the hunters were drawing near. God was remote, Elijah quaked, protection was hard to find, the One he had heard and sought…
Poem: Hear the echoes of the scripture
Poem: Hear the echoes of the scripture
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Hear the echoes of the scripture Hear the echoes of the scripture in the parting of the waters, see Elijah in the whirlwind, see Elisha, looking, waiting. See Elisha take the mantle, see Elisha strike the water, faith and action moving forward, faith is passed from hand to …
Poem: O what a place for living, divine accommodation
Poem: O what a place for living, divine accommodation
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: O what a place for living, divine accommodation O what a place for living, divine accommodation; the dwelling place of God through every generation. Here swallows sweeping, rest from endless navigation; find a safer place, a nest for pro-creation. The cosmos is exultant, wh…
Poem: Beyond our context, out of time