Lectionary 21/04/2024
- Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B
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Responsive prayer based on Psalm 23
Responsive prayer based on Psalm 23
by Marjorie Dobson
Responsive prayer based on Psalm 23 Psalm 23 The Lord is our shepherd: we shall not be in want. When life is rushed and hectic and there’s never enough time for all we have to do: Lord speak to us of green fields and still waters and calm our souls. When we are tempted into the e…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 4.5-12 1 John 3.16-24 John 10.11-18 The text about the rejected stone has itself become something of a stumbling stone. The point of the quotation from Psalm 118.22 is that, though Jesus appeared to the ‘builders’ of Judaism (the Chief Priests in …
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Fourth Sunday of Easter John 10.11-18 Gaze on the desolate mountains, the stony ground where sheep must scavenge for food, and the scant grass that only blazed in brief spring. Other dangers abounded, snakes lurked and wolves prowled and threatened the flocks and who was ther…
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 …
Hymn: Strange magic? No, the grace of God
Hymn: Strange magic? No, the grace of God
by Andrew Pratt
Strange magic? No, the grace of God. A healing signified the facts: that in the Spirit's way and style, disciples mirrored saving acts. The steps of Jesus led the way, this carpenter, once nailed to wood, and though the crowds rejected him, now Peter stands where he once stood. V…
Monologue: The Listener
Monologue: The Listener
by Marjorie Dobson
Monologue: The Listener They think I’m a nobody. Only a servant girl. Always in the background, waiting on them, but never really noticed. Just like a piece of furniture. But they don’t realize how much I see and know and, as long as I keep quiet and do my job, they don’t really …
Hymn: When storms and thunder rage around
Hymn: When storms and thunder rage around
by Andrew Pratt
When storms and thunder rage around, disturbing superficial calm, we share unique companionship as love inspires a silent psalm. In table fellowship with God, while foes conspire to break our peace, in breaking bread and drinking wine, our fears diminish, fade, then cease. Verses…
Prayer: All sufficient God and shepherd – responsive prayer
Prayer: All sufficient God and shepherd – responsive prayer
by Andrew Pratt
Prayer: All sufficient God and shepherd–responsive prayer All sufficient God and shepherd, lover of creation, walking with us on life's journey, offering protection. When the darkness folds around us, clouds obscure our vision, you are there, you never leave us, guiding each deci…
Poem: Empty words
Poem: Empty words
by Marjorie Dobson
Empty words from those who live in luxury and despise the poor. Empty words from those who enquire after the sick, but never visit them. Empty words from those who offer hollow sympathy, but never weep with those in sorrow. Empty words... Continues ©Marjorie Dobson
Drama: Good shepherds
Drama: Good shepherds
by Marjorie Dobson
Drama: Good shepherds A I am a shepherd. B And I am a shepherd. A I own 400 sheep. B And the farmer I work for owns 500 sheep! A I keep my sheep up in the hills over there. B And I look after the farmer’s sheep on the hills on the other side. A The weather can get really bad up t…
Hymn: How safe is that? God owns us and protects us
Hymn: How safe is that? God owns us and protects us
by Andrew Pratt
How safe is that? God owns us and protects us. While life is cruel this shepherd knows the flock. We could not gain or earn the love that holds us. The grace of God is solid, like a rock. We cannot wander where God's love is absent. The universe is furnished with God's care. When…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Resurrection Plus the name of Jesus equals trouble
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Resurrection Plus the name of Jesus equals trouble
by SPCK - N T Wright
Resurrection Plus the Name of Jesus Equals Trouble Acts 4.1-12 I cherish the remark attributed to a bishop who complained that he didn’t seem to be having the same impact as the first apostles. ‘Everywhere St Paul went,’ he said, ‘there was a riot. Everywhere I go they serve tea.…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Bread from Heaven
John for Everyone Part 1 - Bread from Heaven
by SPCK - N T Wright
Bread From Heaven John 6.26-35 The historian was in a hurry to finish his Ph.D. There was one chapter to go, which concerned the painting that had been so important during his period, and the influence the artists had had on the wider thought and culture of the time. He went hast…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Father's Will
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Father's Will
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Father’s Will John 6.36-46 C. S. Lewis was once interviewed by an American Christian journalist who was writing about well-known characters who had converted to Christianity during adult life. The theme was ‘decision’. He wanted to get Lewis to say how he had ‘made his decisi…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Shepherd and the Sheep
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Shepherd and the Sheep
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Shepherd and the Sheep John 10.11-18 I was talking to a friend who had been in business most of his life. ‘The trouble with so many business leaders today’, he said, ‘is that they’re only in it for their own quick profit. Once people were really concerned about making somethi…
The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd
by Colin Smith
Traditional stained glass window in St Johns Methodist Church Hayfield depicting “I am the good shepherd” Image suitable for use in a PowerPoint slide (see below) PowerPoint Slide Size- This image is full size which is 1320 x 2584 pixels and 1.3MB The ideal way to insert into Pow…
LWPT Meditations - Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B
LWPT Meditations - Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B
by Susan Thorne
Meditation - 4th Sunday of Easter Year B Acts 4: 5-12 Psalm 23 1st John 3: 16-24 John 10: 11-18 We don’t see shepherds much these days, not in our society. I live in an area where sheep are plentiful, but I am not sure that the man I occasionally see mounted on a quad bike and ch…
Psalms for Everyone - In the Dark of the Canyon
Psalms for Everyone - In the Dark of the Canyon
by SPCK - John Goldingay
In the Dark of the Canyon Psalm 23 In the foothills of the mountains near where we live is a retreat center where we have a faculty gathering each fall. Two years ago a new director at the center gave us some advice we had not been given before. If we met a bear on the grounds, w…
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - The Story Retold : After AD 70
Paul and the Faithfulness of God - The Story Retold : After AD 70
by SPCK - N T Wright
Chapter TWO LIKE BIRDS HOVERING OVERHEAD: THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL (ii) The Continuous Story (d) The Story Retold: After AD 70 It might have appeared that with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 the great narrative had come to an end. Some of the most important r…
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Thursday Morning Prayer
Rhythms of remembering - Ordinary Time - Thursday Morning Prayer
by SPCK - Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild
ORDINARY TIME - Thursday Morning Prayer Blessed are you, O God: you give in abundance. You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over...
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The way of an eagle in the sky
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The way of an eagle in the sky
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
‘The way of an eagle in the sky’ Following John’s story, style and structure The ‘way of an eagle in the sky’ may be hard to understand (Prov. 30.19) but many readers have felt similarly as they have sought to follow the twists and turns, heights and depths of this most subtle ev…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Talons bared for conflict
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Talons bared for conflict
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Talons bared for conflict The Book of Signs and “the Jews”, John 2—12 In Tolkien’s stories, Numenor is an Atlantis-like land blessed by Iluvatar (God) which overreaches itself and turns to evil. Its doom is presaged first by eagle-shaped clouds and then by eagles themselves; few …
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The hour of glory
Four Gospels, One Jesus - The hour of glory
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
The hour of glory The Passion, John 18—19 The sight of an eagle climbing up into the sky is glorious. So, too, for John, the death of Jesus sets him free of the earth to return to his Father on high; the hour of his Passion is also the hour of glory. This is the supreme irony. As…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book I (Pss. 1-41)
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Book I (Pss. 1-41)
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Book I (Pss. 1-41) Book I opens, in Psalm 1, with words encouraging faithful meditation upon the Torah. The book continues in Psalm 2 with words of warning to the nations and their rulers to recognize the God of Israel as king over all. The psalms are framed (1:1 and 2:11) with t…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Comment: 1 John
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Comment: 1 John
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Comment: 1 John Family language is prevalent in 1 John and is used in three distinct ways. First, family language is used to speak of the relationship between God and Jesus (e.g., 2:22–24; 4:14). Second, the author frequently addresses the community as “little children” (e.g., 2:…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Restoration and the Return of the Divine
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Restoration and the Return of the Divine
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Restoration and Return of the Divine (Ezekiel 25: 1- 48: 35) The oracles against the nations in chapters 25–32 form a kind of hinge in the book, as the scathing, judgment language against Israel comes to an end after the sign-action involving the lack of mourning observance for E…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Sapphira
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Sapphira
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Sapphira Sapphira’s story is perhaps the ideal example of the competing interpretative stances promoted by Luke’s narrative. Reading darkly, that is, from those without power or privilege, Sapphira’s story illustrates a divine option for a community in which there are no class di…
50 Praise, Pray and Play Sessions - Water - from sea to sip
50 Praise, Pray and Play Sessions - Water - from sea to sip
by BRF - Rona Orme
Amazingly, 70 per cent of the earth's surface is covered by water and around 60 per cent of the human body consists of water. God has provided plenty of water but many of us use far more than our share. Washing machines use much water in action, but also require a lot of water fo…
Traces of Glory Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B
Traces of Glory Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B
by SPCK - David Adam
The Fourth Sunday of Easter O God of peace, whose Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, was brought back from the dead to be the great Shepherd, grant that we may be led by him out of darkness and death into the fullness of life eternal; through the same Christ our Lord, who lives and reig…
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the good shepherd: the door of the sheep
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the good shepherd: the door of the sheep
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Jesus the Good Shepherd: door of the sheep When I worked in the Holy Land with St George’s College, Jerusalem, we often took groups to the Sinai desert to camp overnight under the stars on the way down to St Catherine’s monastery. It was an amazing experience. Quite often I would…
JOHN: The people's bible commentary - I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD
JOHN: The people's bible commentary - I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD In a pastoral society like ancient Israel, sheep and shepherds were used to describe the relationship of God with his people: ‘the Lord is my shepherd’ and ‘we are his people, the sheep of his pasture’ (Pss. 23:1; 100:3). Good leaders were ‘shepherds of the…
Times and Seasons - Full Service - Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B
Times and Seasons - Full Service - Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B
by Andrew Pratt and Marjorie Dobson
Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year B Service Contains: Hymn: God is here as we his people or Like the palette of a painter Psalm 23 (as a reading, or said together, this Psalm can be used to introduce the prayer which follows) Prayer: Psalm 23 – Responsive prayer Hymn: Jesus call us …
Living Liturgies | Transition time resources for services, prayer and conversation with older people - A service of healing - 'Fragile Bones' | Living Liturgies
Living Liturgies | Transition time resources for services, prayer and conversation with older people - A service of healing - 'Fragile Bones' | Living Liturgies
by BRF - Caroline George
As in the service of anger and tears, a good relationship between the worship leader and group is essential here. The conversation starters fall into two parts, with the second part needing careful consideration before use. A creative and original book of liturgies and reflection…
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - TELL US PLAINLY
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - TELL US PLAINLY
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
TELL US PLAINLY The words of the good shepherd once more cause a ‘division’ among “the Jews” (10:19). Again we have the word for schism, which happened first to the people and then the leaders (7:43; 9:16). And so this division sums up so many attitudes throughout the first half …
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the good shepherd: Door of the sheep
52 Reflections on Faith - Jesus the good shepherd: Door of the sheep
by BRF - Stephen W. Need
Jesus the good shepherd: Door of the sheep When I worked in the Holy Land with St George’s College, Jerusalem, we often took groups to the Sinai desert to camp overnight under the stars on the way down to St Catherine’s monastery…
The Act of Prayer Year C - Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
The Act of Prayer Year C - Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
by BRF - John Birch
Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C Opening prayer The Bible gives us a wonderful image of God as shepherd, and in some parts of the world the enduring bond between the shepherd and his sheep has changed little since biblical times. It’s the dependence of the sheep on their shepherd f…
journeying with John - 8 Ordinary Time
journeying with John - 8 Ordinary Time
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
8 Ordinary Time I am the bread of life Chapter 1 began with an exploration of the great Prologue of John’s Gospel. It seems right, therefore, to end the book with an exploration of the other iconic feature of John’s Gospel – the ‘I am’ sayings. Jesus’ various ‘I am’ sayings occur…
embodying mark - 4 Following the Shepherd
embodying mark - 4 Following the Shepherd
by SPCK - meda a a stamper
4 Following the Shepherd As in the last chapter, so also here Mark begins a story, interrupts it with another, and then comes round to the first story again. The passage we are exploring now follows on from Jesus’ sending of the disciples two by two in 6.7–13 to participate in hi…
Fresh Thoughts For Sunday - Fresh Thoughts For Sunday Issue 216
Fresh Thoughts For Sunday - Fresh Thoughts For Sunday Issue 216
by Twelvebaskets Ltd
A selection of commentary, reflection and prayer ideas from various Christian authors and the full bible texts from the NRSV for this week's lectionary. NOW INCLUDING SERIALISED BOOKS FROM SPCK AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM BRF. Check below for details. Subscribe to Fresh Thoughts For S…
Vine Video - Vine Video - Prayers of Intercession - Matt Forsyth - 25th April