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Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year A Acts 7.55–60 1 Peter 2.2–10 John 14.1–14 What are we Christians supposed to feel about the world we live in? All three of today’s readings suggest that, at the very least, the world is not our home. Stephen dies as though death is irrelevant, w…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 11 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 11 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 11 Isaiah 44.6–8 Romans 8.12–25 Matthew 13.24–30, 36–43 This section of Romans is part of a long and not always lucid discussion of life and death, slavery and freedom. In chapter 6, Paul has been explaining that our Christian …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Mercy Upon All
Paul for Everyone Romans part 2 - Mercy Upon All
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mercy Upon All ROMANS 11.25-32 I have only once knowingly met a man who had committed murder. He grew up in the deep South of the United States, and learnt from an early age to hate all black people and to believe that they were part of a great conspiracy to take over the world a…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A Last Act of Loyalty to Saul
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - A Last Act of Loyalty to Saul
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Last Act of Loyalty to Saul 1 Samuel 30: 1- 31: 13 When I first came to California, students would sometimes ask how long I would be here, thinking it might just be for sabbatical. At first I would reply, “I want to die here,” which was a way of saying, “I am here permanently,”…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - A Life for a Life
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - A Life for a Life
by SPCK - John Goldingay
A Life for a Life Genesis 9: 5- 13 I was once asked to visit a man in prison who had come to trust in Christ and was now taking online courses on Christian faith; he hoped to be ordained one day. He was a man about my age and build; indeed, his name was also John. As we sat on ei…
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Start and End the Day
Exodus and Leviticus - How to Start and End the Day
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Start and End the Day EXODUS 29: 38- 30: 37 When my wife died, we “celebrated” her life and marked her death at a memorial service where we burnt lots of incense, not something we regularly do in our church. One striking aspect of the burning of incense is the smell, which…
Poem: Beyond our context, out of time
Poem: Beyond our context, out of time
by Andrew Pratt
Poem: Beyond our context, out of time Beyond our context, out of time, can we believe the things we read? Are these imagined, false or fact, or signs that we should test and heed? A woman dies then finds new life, a metaphor or something real? The narrative has truth to tell in w…
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The End?
Mark The People's Bible Commentary - The End?
by BRF - Dick France
The End? The death of Jesus Most victims of crucifixion lingered on in pain for many hours, and gradually lost consciousness. Jesus’ death is very different. Now that he has borne the ultimate horror of his Father’s withdrawal from him, his work is done, and his death comes sudde…
Some king, who hangs as others taunt
Some king, who hangs as others taunt
by Andrew Pratt
Some king, who hangs as others taunt, and sling their insults fuelled with hate. Here love was nailed as blood was drained, this was no sordid trick of fate. Verses 2-3 follow Tune: ABENDS; WINCHESTER NEW Metre: LM Andrew Pratt (born 1948) Words © 11/11/2013 Stainer & Bell Ltd,…
The buried grain, the hidden seed
The buried grain, the hidden seed
by Andrew Pratt
The buried grain, the hidden seed, that's deep within the earth, though dead to sight, and out of mind, will spring again to birth. And we will stand to lose our lives, the wine skins will be torn: to be a Christian has a cost, through death we are re-born. Verses 3-4 follow TUNE…
Through all generations our God has walked with us
Through all generations our God has walked with us
by Andrew Pratt
Hymn: Through all generations our God has walked with us Proper 25 year A Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17 Through all generations our God has walked with us, has shared in our pain while we lived on this earth. Though mountains pre-date our existence and knowledge, this God who has formed us…
Rhythms of remembering - Wednesday Midday Prayer
Rhythms of remembering - Wednesday Midday Prayer
by SPCK - Hannah Ward & Jennifer Wild
Midday and Night Prayer for all seasons Wednesday Midday Prayer Open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall declare your praise. You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of God to prepare the way,..
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Easter Day Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Easter Day Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Easter Day Isaiah 25.6-9 Philippians 15.1–11 Mark 16.1-8 After all the horror, and the crowds and the noise of the day of Jesus’s crucifixion, this chapter of Mark’s Gospel starts quietly. We have already seen these women at the crucifixion scene, but we hardly noticed them there…
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - An Inappropriate Request
Mark The Peoples' Bible Commentary - An Inappropriate Request
by BRF - Dick France
An Inappropriate Request The two ‘Sons of Thunder’ (3:17) have appeared from time to time along with Peter as the small group with whom alone Jesus has shared and will share some of his most private moments (1:29; 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). The three of them with Andrew were the first di…
MARK THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The DEATH MARCH
MARK THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - The DEATH MARCH
by BRF - Dick France
The DEATH MARCH MARK 10: 32-34 ‘Were you there…?’ Verse 32 is one of the most vivid pieces of descriptive writing in Mark’s Gospel, and seems to preserve the impression of someone who was there at the time, who was himself part of the tableau this verse presents…
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Women at the Cross and Empty Tomb
The Womens' Bible Commentary - Women at the Cross and Empty Tomb
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Women at the Cross and Empty Tomb In the final three chapters of this Gospel, women all but disappear. This is so because the reader enters the world of male politics, violence, and bonding, but also because Luke is describing last preparations and authorization of male figures f…
John The People's Commentary - One Man Must Die for the People