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Lectionary Reflections Year A - Palm Sunday Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Palm Sunday Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Palm Sunday - Year A Isaiah 50.4–9a Philippians 2.5–11 Matthew 26.14—27.66 Betrayal. At the surface level of the narrative, it is Jesus who is betrayed, over and over again, by friend and enemy alike. First there is Judas who suddenly, inexplicably, has had enough. As he sits eat
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Pentecost Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Pentecost Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Day of Pentecost - Year A Numbers 11.24–30 Acts 2.1–21 John 20.19–23 It is typical of God’s calling to us that on the day of Pentecost, instead of being allowed to dwell on what it feels like and means to have tongues of fire resting on you, the disciples have to go straight out
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 1 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 1 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 1 - Year A Isaiah 58.1–12 1 Corinthians 2.1–16 Matthew 5.13–20 God is about to give you a present. You are very excited about this because, after all, a present from God is likely to be a particularly fine one. You also hope that God has been listening to the large hints y
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 2 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 2 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 2 - Year A Deuteronomy 30.15–20 1 Corinthians 3.1–9 Matthew 5.21–37 This passage in Matthew decisively contradicts anyone who would like to see Jesus as a kind of well-meaning hippy, preaching an ‘all you need is love’ kind of gospel. It is terribly easy to assume that J
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 3 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 3 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 3 - Year A Leviticus 19.1–2, 9–18 1 Corinthians 3.10–11, 16–23 Matthew 5.38–48 The passages from Leviticus and Matthew today are linked by the idea that our lives together as a community are designed to reflect our God. Matthew says we are to be perfect, as our heavenly Fa
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Epiphany Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Epiphany - Year A Isaiah 60:1-6 Ephesians 3: 1-12 Matthew 2:1–12 What strange people God chooses to be witnesses and messengers of his coming! They hardly seem the best way to announce to the world that its salvation is at hand. For example, this letter to the Ephesians – w
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Trinity Sunday Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Trinity Sunday Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Trinity Sunday - Year A Isaiah 40.12–17, 27–31 2 Corinthians 13.11–13 Matthew 28.16–20 The people whom this second section of Isaiah is addressing are completely worn out. They have not even got the energy actively to reject God and seek other sources of comfort. Instead, they si
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Christ the King Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Christ the King Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Sundays Before Advent Christ the King Ezekiel 34.11–16, 20–4 Ephesians 1.15–23 Matthew 25.31–46 Matthew 25 is all about preparedness. First of all, there are the foolish bridesmaids, who ran out of oil and so missed the wedding; then there is the s
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Christmas Eve/Christmas Day Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Christmas Eve/Christmas Day Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
?Christmas Eve/Christmas Day - Year A Isaiah 9:2–7 Titus 2:11–14 Luke 2:1–20 Luke starts what is to be one of the world’s most famous narratives on the world stage, as it is traditionally recounted. He starts with emperors and governors, who are, after all, the people who make hi
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Easter Sunday Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Easter Sunday Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Easter Sunday - Year A Jeremiah 31.1–6 Colossians 3.1–4 John 20.1–18 Real life is something so unusual that we can barely recognize it. Occasionally, we get a glimpse of it and it touches us with awe: the birth of a baby, for example, or listening to a perfectly performed piece o
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 10 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 10 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 10 Isaiah 55.10–13 Romans 8.1–11 Matthew 13.1–9, 18–23 Why is God so profligate? With the second half of today’s reading from Matthew, the emphasis switches from God’s action to our response; but the first half of the story is
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 11 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 11 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 11 Isaiah 44.6–8 Romans 8.12–25 Matthew 13.24–30, 36–43 This section of Romans is part of a long and not always lucid discussion of life and death, slavery and freedom. In chapter 6, Paul has been explaining that our Christian
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 12 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 12 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 12 1 Kings 3.5–12 Romans 8.26–39 Matthew 13.31–33, 44–52 With this piling up of images of the kingdom, I think you need first of all to listen to them and get an overall feel, and then to start trying to tease out some of the p
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 13 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 13 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 13 Isaiah 55.1–5 Romans 9.1–5 Matthew 14.13–21 The pain in Paul’s words is tangible, and made even more poignant by the victorious assurance of the end of chapter 8. Paul has just been asserting that nothing can ‘separate us fr
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 14 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 14 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 14 1 Kings 19.9–18 Romans 10.5–15 Matthew 14.22–33 There is something about us that is deeply resistant to the grace of God. It’s not that we don’t believe in him, or wish to follow him, or that we consciously reject him, but w
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 15 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 15 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 15 Isaiah 56.1, 6–8 Romans 11.1–2a, 29–32 Matthew 15.10–28 This strange story of the Canaanite woman clearly scratches an itch for Matthew’s readers. If you put this version and Mark’s version side by side (Mark 7.24–30), you w
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 16 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 16 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 16 Isaiah 51.1–6 Romans 12.1–8 Matthew 16.13–20 There seems to be a bit of a break in the argument at this point in Romans. Chapters 9––11 are Paul’s attempt to give some kind of coherent shape to God’s activity in choosing fir
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 17 Year A