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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 - 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…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 22 Habakkuk 1.1–4; 2.1–4 2 Timothy 1.1–14 Luke 17.5–10 This central section of Luke’s Gospel is full of very uncomfortable reading. It starts at 9.51, when Jesus ‘set his face to go to Jerusalem’, and the ministry enters a new phase. Now everything he says and does is bein…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5.2–5a Hebrews 10.5–10 Luke 1.39–45 The readings from Micah and Hebrews are so dauntingly obscure that it is tempting simply to concentrate on the lovely passage from Luke. Luke’s is the only Gospel that has any of John the Baptist’s biography be…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Trinity Sunday Proverbs 8.1–4, 22–31 Romans 5.1–5 John 16.12–15 From very early on in the life of the Church, Christians read the figure of ‘Wisdom’ in Proverbs as a reference to Jesus. They assumed that God had already shown, in hints, characters and patterns of relating, what h…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Creation Renewed and Patient Hope
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Creation Renewed and Patient Hope
by SPCK - N T Wright
Creation Renewed and Patient Hope ROMANS 8.18-25 I walked through the wood several times before I realized what the signpost meant. The wood was thick, with paths leading this way and that. I knew some of them quite well, and had my favourites among them. There was the one that l…
John for Everyone part 2 - Breakfast by the Shore
John for Everyone part 2 - Breakfast by the Shore
by SPCK - N T Wright
Breakfast by the Shore John 21.9-14 I don’t know much about mental health, and the therapy that can produce it. But I do know a little about the healing of memories, and the finding of a forgiveness that can go back to a buried hurt, fear, failure or sin and deal with it. I have …
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Boasting in the Cross
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Boasting in the Cross
by SPCK - N T Wright
Boasting in the Cross Galatians 6.11-18 At least half of all the items that come through my letter-box each day are what we loosely call ‘junk mail’. Often I receive letters which, though they may have my name at the top, have in fact been mass-produced by a computer as part of a…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Freedom in Christ
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Freedom in Christ
by SPCK - N T Wright
Freedom in Christ Galatians 5.1-6 The lake freezes over for four months in the winter, to a depth of at least ten feet. People drive not only snowmobiles across it, but even cars and vans. It’s exciting – and also quite convenient – to be able to drive across the water to the vil…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Fruit of the Spirit
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Fruit of the Spirit
by SPCK - N T Wright
Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5.22-26 The Christmas decorations were spectacular. I went down the street from store to store, and in each window – and indeed in the street itself – there were pretty lights and multicoloured decorations. Every shop seemed to have sparkling trees, …
Luke for Everyone - Jesus' Baptism and Genealogy
Luke for Everyone - Jesus' Baptism and Genealogy
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus’ Baptism and Genealogy Luke 3.21-38 When I visited New Zealand some years ago, I was taught how to greet an audience in the traditional Maori fashion. I much enjoyed and appreciated the welcome I was given by this ancient people, many of whom are now devout Christians, and …
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus' Baptism
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus' Baptism
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus’ Baptism Matthew 3.11-17 It’s safe to say that John was as surprised as we are. Or at least, as we should be if we read this passage without knowing what’s coming. To get the flavour, imagine that we are going to a huge concert hall, packed to the doors with eager and excit…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Leaving the State of Sin through Baptism
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Leaving the State of Sin through Baptism
by SPCK - N T Wright
Leaving the State of Sin through Baptism ROMANS 6.1-5 Everybody knows Jesus’ spectacular story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15.11–32). The younger son twists his father’s arm for his share of the property, goes off and spends it all, and comes home, he thinks, in utter disgrace. The…
Hebrews for Everyone - Keep up the Good Work
Hebrews for Everyone - Keep up the Good Work
by SPCK - N T Wright
Keep Up the Good Work Hebrews 6.9-12 Sir Francis Drake was one of many Englishmen who became famous during the reign of Elizabeth I. He sailed round the world, crossed the Atlantic many times, was involved in numerous sea battles in various parts of the world, was twice a member …
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Practical Support in the Church
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Practical Support in the Church
by SPCK - N T Wright
Practical Support in the Church Galatians 6.6-10 For some years I helped to organize a fund-raising campaign for a church. It was a good cause, lots of people wanted to help, there was great enthusiasm and initiative, and eventually the money was raised. But I found it one of the…
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Prayer, Sonship and the Sovereignty of God
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - Prayer, Sonship and the Sovereignty of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
Prayer, Sonship and the Sovereignty of God ROMANS 8.26-30 How many names can you think of for God? It may sound an odd question. God’s proper name in the Old Testament is of course YHWH; but he is referred to in a great many other ways as well, such as ‘the Almighty’, the Holy On…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 22 Year C