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Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 20 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 20 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 20 Proverbs 31.10-31 James 3.13-4.3, 7-8a Mark 9.30-37 Fortunately, Jesus stopped the disciples in their tracks before they acted out James 4 as well as James 3. Envy and selfish ambition, yes; but covetousness had not yet led to murder. The internecine strife in Jerusalem…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 21 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 21 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 21 Exodus 17.1–7 Philippians 2.1–13 Matthew 21.23–32 It sounded like a trick, but for those with ears to hear it answered the authorities’ challenge head on. Jesus’ Temple action was an affront to the power of the chief pries…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 21 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 21 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 21 Esther 7.1-6, 9-10 James 5.13-20 Mark 9.38-50 The ancient world was full of stories in which the threatened hero or heroine is rescued at last, and the people who had almost overcome them are condemned instead. David kills Goliath. Homer’s heroes – some of them, anyway …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 22 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 22 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ordinary Time - Proper 22 Exodus 20.1–4, 7–9, 12–20 Philippians 3.4b–14 Matthew 21.33–46 The parable of the wicked tenants tells the story of Israel in such a way as to highlight Jesus’ own work and fate as the plot’s denouement. But, as with many parables, and many great non-bib…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 22 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 22 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 22 Job 1.1; 2.1-10 Hebrews 1.1-4; 2.5-12 Mark 10.2-16 Angels are one thing; angels as God’s heavenly council, discussing policy, are another; ‘the Accuser’ (the word ‘Satan’ is a title before it is a proper name) as himself an angel, a celestial Director of Public Prosecut…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 23 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 23 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ordinary Time - Proper 23 Exodus 32.1–14 Philippians 4.1–9 Matthew 22.1–14 The party was ready, the guests were on the way, but somehow they got distracted. Today’s gospel fits Exodus 32 like a glove, forming a combined warning. Readers of Exodus perceive the golden calf incident…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 23 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 23 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 23 Job 23.1-9, 16-17 Hebrews 4.12-16 Mark 10.17-31 Two moments jump out at us from this intense little drama. Jesus looks at the man and loves him; not, perhaps, our natural reaction to someone claiming to keep six out of ten commandments perfectly. (A pity Job 23.11–12 is…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 24 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 24 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ordinary Time - Proper 24 Exodus 33.12–23 1 Thessalonians 1.1–10 Matthew 22.15–22 The multiple echoes of Exodus 33 bounce around the New Testament. The first letter to the Thessalonians, held by many to be the first surviving Christian writing, offers another reminder that the go…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 24 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 24 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 24 Job 38.1-7 [34-41] Hebrews 5.1-10 Mark 10.35-45 ‘Were you there,’ asks the old song, ‘when they crucified my Lord?’ ‘Were you there,’ the Lord enquires of Job, ‘when I laid the foundation of the earth?’ Both questions receive the answer ‘No’, but for different reasons; …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 3 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 3 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 3 - Year A Leviticus 19.1–2, 9–18 1 Corinthians 3.10–11, 16–23 Matthew 5.38–48 There are two basic mistakes people make about the command to love your neighbour as yourself. The first is to forget the last two words. We aren’t told to love our neighbour with all our heart,…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 3 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 3 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 3 Isaiah 43.18–25 2 Corinthians 1.18–22 Mark 2.1–12 Forgiveness is always shocking, even when it’s God who’s doing it. Indeed, that’s often the worst: in a paradox whose only solution is the depth of human pride, we shrink from the undeserved, and hence humbling, grace a…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 4 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 4 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 4 Genesis 6.9–22; 7.24; 8.14–19 Romans 1.16–17; 3.22b–28 [29–31] Matthew 7.21–29 ‘These words of mine.’ No wonder they thought Jesus was claiming an authority of his own, superior to that of the scribes. They would never have…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 4 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 4 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 4 1 Samuel 3.1-10 2 Corinthians 4.5-12 Mark 2.23-3.6 Like a cathedral chorister, Samuel has been brought to live and work in the atmosphere of prayer, worship and pilgrimage. Considering the lively human interest, it’s surprising this story didn’t entice the great classi…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 5 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 5 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 5 Genesis 12.1–9 Romans 4.13–25 Matthew 9.9–13, 18–26 Abraham’s call (Abram, actually, at this stage; but just as we say the Archbishop was born in 1935, even though he wasn’t Archbishop then, so we don’t need to fuss about g…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 5 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 5 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 5 1 Samuel 8.4-11 [12-15] 16-20 [11.14-15] 2 Corinthians 4.13-5.1 Mark 3.20-35 So: did God want Israel to have a king, or didn’t he? The question haunts not only this passage in 1 Samuel but much of the rest of the account of the monarchy, from the ill-fated Saul right dow…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 6 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 6 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 6 Genesis 18.1–15 Romans 5.1–8 Matthew 9.35—10.8 [9–23] Take the gospel reading (the longer version) and lay it, like a template, over the life of the average parish. What do you find? I know, I know. We don’t live in the fir…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 6 Year B