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Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 14 year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 14 year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 14 Genesis 37.1–4, 12–28 Romans 10.5–15 Matthew 14.22–33 A recently published letter from Qumran (4QMMT) helps us to see what Paul is talking about here. It mostly contains priestly regulations. But the last part is a fresh t…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 23. Running on empty
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 23. Running on empty
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 23. Running on empty Isaiah 40.31 One of the biggest problems and danger areas for carers is tiredness. Exhaustion. Bone-deep weariness that makes you want to sit and weep. This is when you know you’re running on empty. It’s strange. We do…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 20 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 20 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 20 Jonah 3.10—4.11 Philippians 1.21–30 Matthew 20.1–16 Did Jonah ever get the point? The author deliberately chooses an open ending. Jonah knows his God quite well, but that doesn’t mean he has to like him. He thinks God is rid…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 19 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 19 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 19 Genesis 50.15–21 Romans 14.1–12 Matthew 18.21–35 It is very annoying to think that God may have different standards of judgement from ours. All three of today’s readings warn that the obvious surface reaction to one particul…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Easter Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Second Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday of Easter John 20.19-31 Gaze on Jesus. He looks exhausted and worn out, as if he’s been on a long journey. But there is no mistake, it is certainly him. He’s appeared when he was least expected. Gaze on the disciples, nervous and jittery. What a state the discip…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Restoration and Refreshment
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Restoration and Refreshment
by SPCK - N T Wright
Restoration and Refreshment Acts 3.17-26 I remember a hot, hot walk in the Scottish highlands. (It’s true: there are times, even at altitudes of 4,000 feet, when you can be just as hot in Scotland as anywhere in Europe.) We climbed Braeriach and Cairn Toul, the third and fourth h…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 24 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 24 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 24 Isaiah 45.1–7 1 Thessalonians 1.1–10 Matthew 22.15–22 The question as weapon is one of the oldest techniques in controversy. You will hear it used to perfection most mornings on the radio. The art is to find the question to …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 9 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 9 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 9 Zechariah 9.9–12 Romans 7.15–25a Matthew 11.16–19, 25–30 The first half of chapter 11 of Matthew’s Gospel is Jesus’s tribute to John the Baptist. John is in prison, longing to know if he has stepped aside for nothing, aching …
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Restoring the Twelve
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Restoring the Twelve
by SPCK - N T Wright
Restoring the twelve Acts 1.15-26 The older I get, the more I dislike trying to follow the complicated instructions that come with new technology. I’m not what they call technophobic. On the desk where I am working there is a computer. It is linked to a cell phone which includes …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time The Last Sunday After Trinity Leviticus 19.1–2, 15–18 1 Thessalonians 2.1–8 Matthew 22.34–46 1 Thessalonians is almost certainly the oldest document in the New Testament. As in so many other things, Paul is a pioneer. It is hard for u…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 7 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 7 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 7 Jeremiah 20.7–13 Romans 6.1b–11 Matthew 10.24–39 The prophet Jeremiah lived through times of enormous political upheaval. His long career, lasting about 40 years, saw a good king, a couple of bad kings, a weak king and the fo…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 15 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 15 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 15 Isaiah 56.1, 6–8 Romans 11.1–2a, 29–32 Matthew 15.10–28 This strange story of the Canaanite woman clearly scratches an itch for Matthew’s readers. If you put this version and Mark’s version side by side (Mark 7.24–30), you w…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 19. Me and St Stephen
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 19. Me and St Stephen
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 19 Me and St Stephen John 8.10–11 It was one of those days. Exhaustion had set in early but there was still too much to do and only me to do it. Get help? Well, yes, of course that would be nice. In fact, someone had offered . . . But wo…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 28. Surely this can't be right?
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 28. Surely this can't be right?
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 28. Surely this can’t be right? Jeremiah 29.11 Some days I wake up calm, even cheerful about my life. More often I’m floundering in the morass and the thought pops up, ‘Surely this can’t be right? Surely God can’t want this for me?’ This i…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 27. Stormy weather
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 27. Stormy weather
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 27. Stormy weather Matthew 8.26 It is easy to get lost in the midst of the overwhelming, all-consuming task of caring for someone. The 36-hour day saps all our energy and we hardly recognize that exhausted face we catch a glimpse of in t…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 25. Snakes and ladders
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 25. Snakes and ladders
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 25. Snakes and ladders Psalm 126.5–6 Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the pioneer in helping people face death and bereavement, reckoned that five stages are involved: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. And she felt it was importa…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 30. That's not way to speak to yourself!
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 30. That's not way to speak to yourself!
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 30 That’s no way to speak to yourself! Romans 8.1 Guilt. It lurks, waiting for the inevitable: you get exhausted and say something less than kind, do something unfriendly. You find yourself blaming your loved one for your feeling of bein…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 31. The evolving carer