Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
Psalms for Everyone - Passion Means Persecution
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Passion Means Persecution Psalm 68: 1-18 I dreamed last night that I was being taken to court for preaching. The question “If you were prosecuted for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” is a cliché, but it’s a clever and thought-provoking one. When …
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 24 Year A
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 24 Year A
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 24 - Year A Meditation on Matthew 22: 15-22 Gaze on the threatening circle tightening around Jesus that we see in these passages. Jesus has walked into the lion’s den and is challenging the Pharisees and the Temple authorities face to face. Here we are entering the longest…
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 4 Year A
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 4 Year A
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 4 - Year A Meditation on Matthew 7: 21-29 Gaze on a building project near you. First the fencing goes up, then the site is levelled and allthe rubble cleared away. Dust swirls around and covers your jeans. The land is surveyed and the plan pegged out. The rooms look so sma…
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 25 Year A
Gazing on the Gospels Year A - Proper 25 Year A
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 25 - Year A Meditation on Matthew 22: 34-46 Gaze on a religious community, set deep in the isolated countryside, where monks or nuns live together all their lives, and must learn to ‘get on’. Look around at the places set on the long refectory table, and place yourself the…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 25 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 25 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 25 Luke 18: 9-14 Gaze on the people in church each Sunday; think about why you kneel (if you do), and how it makes you feel. These days we no longer kneel to others, for it is a physical way of expressing humility, and acknowledging dependency...
Gazing on the Gospels year c - Proper 3 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - Proper 3 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 3 Luke 6.27-38 Gaze on a traffic jam and imagine yourself behind the wheel, smelling the fumes of the cars all around, and hearing the bass beat of a loud radio. You’re on the main road into town, but there’s a side road that joins in at such an angle that the traffic from…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 4 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 4 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
**Proper 4 Luke 7: 1-10** Gaze on the expression of amazement on Jesus’ face. He is overjoyed by this man’s witness of faith and his willingness to submit to the spiritual authority of a local itinerant teacher of a subjugated nation. Think how encouraged he must have been by the…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Luke 2.22-40 Gaze on a diamond just mined from deep underground, formed from elements from the beginning of time. It is dull until it’s been polished, and only the expert knows what is to be looked for. Another diamond is discovered in a river bed, e…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The First Sunday of Epiphany Luke 3.15-17, 21-22 Gaze at the audience in a theatre, all waiting expectantly for their favourite pop singer to stride on stage, the one and only who’s flown over from America for the first time in ten years; this is a once in a lifetime opportunity …
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke 1.39-45 [46-55} Gaze on a woman in pregnancy. At the beginning, when the baby first moves, it is a secret known only to the mother, then shared with her partner, family and close friends, and in time, the domed belly will force all around to know …
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The First Sunday of Christmas Luke 2.41-52 Gaze on the chaos of a pilgrimage – the coaches lined up one by one in the car park, people trying to remember which their coach was, and do they recognize the driver? Imagine Mary and Joseph, missing Jesus, but confident he’s with anoth…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The First Sunday of Lent Luke 4.1-13 Gaze on Jesus in the wilderness. Gaze on the harsh monochrome of fear and confusion, on the hard bed of stones that brings no comfort. Imagine forty days without the scent of grass, his feet cut raw against the ragged paths, as he searches for…
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Fourth Sunday of Easter John 10.22-30 Gaze on a rough, stormy day in Jerusalem. Our usual picture of the Holy Land is of sun and heat, and a life led in the open air, but there can be cold winds and rain, too. Jesus is sheltering in one of the inner courts of the Temple. It’s…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 5 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 5 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 5 Hosea 5.15—6.6 Romans 4.13–25 Matthew 9.9–13, 18–26 ‘I knew the great Apostle Paul. Buy me a drink, and I’ll tell you all about him. I used to act as his secretary, sometimes, which I knew, even then, was a great honour. Of…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year A 1 Samuel 16.1–13 Ephesians 5.8–14 John 9.1–41 All the time we are called to try and find the difficult balance between faithfulness to God’s known work in the past, and prophetic discernment of God’s new work now. Faced with a completely new cha…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 7 Year A