SPCK
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 15 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 15 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 15 Luke 12: 49-56 Gaze on the sky as yet another weather front approaches. Dirty clouds lurk overhead, and the rain begins to lash down at some unseen trigger. How the weather can affect our moods! We are so much more content and kind when the sky is blue. Gaze on the TV e…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 14 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 14 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 14 Luke 12: 32-40 Gaze on the vault of a bank, excavated deep below street level. It has triple walls made of steel and iron, and the doors are bolted and double locked. Only a few people know the combination of the safe inside. Stacked there, from floor to ceiling, are fl…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 13 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 13 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 13 Luke 12: 13-21 Gaze on an allotment in high summer. All the fruits and vegetables are ripening together, for the profligacy of nature takes us by surprise every time. Every year we grow more beans than we can hope to use. There’s a bumper crop of gooseberries, and the r…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 12 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 12 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 12 Luke 11: 1-13 Gaze on a clear night sky, full of stars, and a partial moon that lights up your way along the narrow village streets. Hear the frantic banging, waking everyone in the house. Who can it be at this time of night – there must be a fire somewhere, or a death.…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 11 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 11 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 11 Luke 10: 38-42 Gaze at Martha, inviting Jesus in for a rest and a meal. How she wants to please him! She is bustling about humming quietly to herself with pleasure. She dashes round with the duster, then sets the cushions straight. Next she potters in the kitchen, getti…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 10 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 10 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 10 Luke 10: 25-37 Gaze on the victim in this story, the traveller who has been mugged and beaten and left in a stinking alleyway, bleeding and sore, miles from home. Imagine you are that victim. Someone comes near and hears your moans. He peers down at you...
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 9 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 9 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 9 Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20 Gaze on yourself as you arrive in a town for the first time. Have you booked your hotel room ahead, or are you leaving it to chance? Recall the strange street signs, the one-way system that confuses and traps you, and the difficulty in finding a plac…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 8 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 8 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 8 Luke 9: 51- 62 Gaze on the sort of journeys we make today, on all the preparation and paraphernalia we acquire. We need tickets and passports, hotel reservations, luggage and currency. We surround ourselves with so much security, and so much comfort, and find it hard to …
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 7 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 7 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 7 Luke 8: 26- 39 Gaze on all that is unclean in this story: the man himself, the tombs he lived in, and the pigs feeding on swill, caked with mud. Gaze on the vagrants of our cities today: the men stretched out on newspaper in the shop doorways; bag ladies pushing trolleys…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 6 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 6 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 6 Luke 7: 36- 8: 3 Gaze at the dinner party and all the guests reclining on couches, facing the table, their legs stretched out behind them. This is how it is that the woman can stand behind Jesus at his feet, bathe them with her tears, dry them with her hair, and smother …
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 5 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 5 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 5 Luke 7: 11-17 Gaze on a funeral scene in Britain – everyone is in their best clothes, dark, sombre and formal. People make an effort to contain their emotions and no one wants to ‘break down’ in public. We put on a brave face and give thanks for the life lost. If it is a…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 4 Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 4 Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
**Proper 4 Luke 7: 1-10** Gaze on the expression of amazement on Jesus’ face. He is overjoyed by this man’s witness of faith and his willingness to submit to the spiritual authority of a local itinerant teacher of a subjugated nation. Think how encouraged he must have been by the…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Trinity Sunday John 16: 12-15 Gaze on one of the great triptychs of medieval painting. These three-panelled paintings can be seen in all the great museums and some of the old cathedrals in Europe, displayed behind the altar. The main panel is flanked on either side by another, ti…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Christ the King Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Christ the King Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Christ the King Luke 23: 33-43 Gaze on the two other men, hanging on their crosses. Though we know nothing about their crimes, we may picture them as nasty, brutish men, surly, dirty and dishevelled even before this execution. Were they violent men who had spent a lifetime harmin…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday before Advent Luke 22: 5-19 Gaze on the Temple again. This time look up at all the gold that burns in the sunlight, and shouts out its wealth. Look at the gigantic bunches of golden grapes adorning a central archway – each grape cluster as tall as a man. Was Her…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Third Sunday Before Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Third Sunday Before Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Third Sunday before Advent Luke 20: 27-38 Gaze on Jesus – he must be tired by now, for he’s been teaching in the Temple for hours, and time and again he’s been questioned and even tricked. First the Pharisees challenged him over his authority, and he countered with the chilli…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Fourth Sunday before Advent Luke 19: 1-10 Gaze on this furtive man, shinning up the tree. It is hardly dignified behaviour for such a well-off person. We are told Zacchaeus was short, so perhaps he knew that peering over the top of others’ heads was not going to get him a vie…
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - Proper 25 Year C