Search Results
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 Fourth Sunday Before Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday Before Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Isaiah 1.10–18 2 Thessalonians 1.1–12 Luke 19.1–10 The temptation with today’s three readings is to go straight for the story of Zacchaeus. It’s warm, vivid and has a happy ending. But the other two readings remind us that Zacchaeus’ choice is not …
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 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 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 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 Last Sunday After Trinity Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Last Sunday After Trinity Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Last Sunday After Trinity Jeremiah 14.7–10, 19–22 2 Timothy 4.6–8, 16–18 Luke 18.9–14 A disciple’s tale: He told another of his stories today. I love his stories – they were one of the things that made me decide to follow him, really. I just couldn’t bear to miss any of them.…
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 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…
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Before Advent Year C