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Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Deuteronomy 6.1-9 Hebrews 9.11-14 Mark 12. 28-34 Person A: Do I love God? Well, why should I? What’s God ever done for me? I’ve worked hard all my life and nobody’s ever given me a thing. There are people out there born with everything they’ll ever…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent 2 Samuel 7.1–11, 16 Romans 16.25–27 Luke 1.26–38 How can we honour God? How can we show our gratitude for what he has done and promise our obedience for the future? Perhaps our offerings sometimes resemble the mauled mouse that the cat brings in and la…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 4.5-12 1John 3.16-24 John 10.11-18 Today’s readings are deeply challenging. Christian mission has sometimes been done as though determined to prove that we are right and everyone else is wrong, whereas all of today’s writers think that Christians …
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Deuteronomy 18.15–20 Revelation 12.1–5a Mark 1.21–28 ‘If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this greatre, I will die’ (Deuteronomy 18.16). This, according to Deuteronomy, is the source of prophecy. The people of God hav…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Lent Numbers 21.4-9 Ephesians 2.1–10 John 3.14–21 The imagination nourished by the Bible immediately springs into action at the mention of snakes. In Numbers, they may be real rather than metaphorical, but that does not prevent them from carrying heavy symbol…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Advent Daniel 12.1-3. Hebrews 10.11-25 Mark 13.1-8 All of today’s readings are set against the background of a disintegrating world, and all see that as something joyful. Daniel and Mark seem to be talking about the future, though there is no indication a…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday Before Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Lent Proverbs 8.1, 22–31 Colossians 1.15–20 John 1.1–14 The Sunday lectionary readings do, on the whole, allow us to focus on the central Christian belief that God does all things out of love towards his creation. Even when the readings focus on the suffe…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah 40.1–11 2 Peter 3.8–15a Mark 1.1–8 The trouble is that we think we know the end of the story. We think that this time of waiting that we call Advent is all building up to the joyful time of Christmas. In fact, it can hardly be called a ‘time of …
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Christmas Jeremiah 31.7–14 Ephesians 1.3–14 John 1.1–18 At the heart of the Christian proclamation of God is the belief that before time, before creation, before the existence of anything but God, God is already love. God’s very nature is the love that flows …
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Easter Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Easter Acts 4.32–35 1 1 John 1.1—2.2 John 20.19–31 The recent popularity of The Lord of the Rings has helpfully given new vitality to the word ‘fellowship’. The people who make up the ‘fellowship of the ring’ are not natural allies. They have little in comm…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Epiphany 1 Samuel 3.1–10 Revelation 5.1–10 John 1.43–51 The beginning of chapter 3 of 1 Samuel says, in a very matter-of- fact way, ‘the word of the Lord was rare in those days.’ 1 Samuel has already begun to paint a picture – centred round Eli and the once-f…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 17.1–7, 15, 16 Romans 4.13–25 Mark 8.31–38 The Old Testament readings for Lent this year are encouraging us to think about covenants. Last week we had the covenant with Noah, this week we have Abraham, and next week – let me give you a sneak prev…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Seventh Sunday of Easter Acts 1.15-17, 21-26 1John 5.9-13 John 17.6-19 What would you like people to pray for on your behalf? What is your most usual – truthful – prayer request? Does Jesus’s prayer for his disciples match your expectations in any way? This prayer comes as Je…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 10.44-48 1John 5.1-6 John 15.9-17 The desire for certainty goes very deep, and all of today’s readings look at that longing with sympathy, though the answers they give are as challenging as they are reassuring. In the Gospel, Jesus is at last givin…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Sunday Next Before Lent 2 Kings 2.1–12 2 Corinthians 4.3–6 Mark 9.2–9 Elijah is taking part in his own funeral procession. Everywhere he goes, people come out to watch him, the coffin, go past. The people do not speak to him. It’s almost as though they think that he has alrea…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday before Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday before Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday Before Advent Jonah.3.1-5, 10 Hebrews 9.24-28 Mark 1.14-20 Hebrews is convinced that the work of Jesus is completed in the cross. And not just the work of the Son of God, but the whole providential work of God in creating us in the first place. The cross of Chris…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday of Advent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday of Advent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Advent Isaiah 61.1–4, 8–11 1 Thessalonians 5.16–24 John 1.6–8, 19–28 So at last, after weeks of foreboding, of warnings that the coming of the Lord is not something to take lightly or to meet with unprepared, now at last the excitement begins to mount. First o…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Third Sunday of Easter Year B