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Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 43.1–7 Acts 8.14–17 Luke 3.15–17, 21–2 The first three Gospels all have the story of Jesus’ baptism by John in very similar words. John’s version of events, as so often, is slightly different – you might like to go and have a look at it in John…
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - The Lord's Prayer
New Testament Prayer for Everyone - The Lord's Prayer
by SPCK - N T Wright
PART 1 NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING ON PRAYER THE TEACHING OF JESUS THE LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6: 7-15 I was talking to a friend who had the reputation of being one of the finest preachers in the area. How did he go about it, I asked. He had no particular technique, he said; he just puz…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 10 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 10 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 10 Amos 7: 7-15 Ephesians-1: 3-14 Mark 6: 14-29 ‘The letter to the Ephesians sets the life of the Christian Church in the context of the cosmic plan of God. The letter will go on to give quite detailed advice about how Christians should live together, day to day, but it is…
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Show Us the Father
John THE PEOPLE’S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Show Us the Father
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
Show Us the Father Thomas misunderstood Jesus’ claim to be ‘the way, the truth and the life’ as a physical way to God. Jesus took him deeper into the spiritual relationship between himself and his Father, so that to know Jesus is to know the Father (14:6–7)…
Meeting God in Paul - 3b The image of God in us
Meeting God in Paul - 3b The image of God in us
by SPCK - Rowan Williams
The image of God in us But there’s more to it, because of course what St Paul is evoking is not a Jesus who simply sits on the throne of heaven and receives our prayers, but a Jesus who – because his own life in time and eternity consists entirely in pouring out praise and love t…
Mere Apologetics - 8c Case Study 2: God as a Crutch
Mere Apologetics - 8c Case Study 2: God as a Crutch
by SPCK - Alister McGrath
Case Study 2: God as a Crutch One of the most familiar criticisms of Christianity is that it offers consolation to life’s losers. The only way such sad people can cope with life, it is argued, is by inventing a God who comforts them. Real people don’t need such spurious reassuran…
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Lord’s Prayer
The Women's Bible Commentary - The Lord’s Prayer
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
The Lord’s Prayer The address “father in heaven” (6:9; see also 5:16, 45, 48; 6:1, 15, 18, 26, 32, and so on) can prove difficult for readers who suffered abuse at the hands of their fathers or who chafe at patriarchal language…
Great Christian Thinkers - 8 St. Cyprian
Great Christian Thinkers - 8 St. Cyprian
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Cyprian We come now to an excellent African bishop of the third century, St. Cyprian, “the first bishop in Africa to obtain the crown of martyrdom.” His fame, Pontius the Deacon, his first biographer, attests, is also linked to his literary corpus and pastoral activity during…
Great Christian Thinkers - 14 St, Gregory of Nyssa
Great Christian Thinkers - 14 St, Gregory of Nyssa
by SPCK - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Gregory of Nyssa Theologian of Life in the Spirit In the last chapters, I spoke of two great fourth-century Doctors of the Church, Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus, a bishop in Cappadocia, in present-day Turkey. Today, we are adding a third, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Basil’s brothe…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Seventh Sunday of Easter Acts 1.15-17, 21-26 1John 5.9-13 John 17.6-19 What would you like people to pray for on your behalf? What is your most usual – truthful – prayer request? Does Jesus’s prayer for his disciples match your expectations in any way? This prayer comes as Je…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Trinity Sunday Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Trinity Sunday Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Trinity Sunday Isaiah 6:1-8 Romans 8.12-17 John 3:1-17 John Donne, the great seventeenth-century Anglican poet, said in his Litanie that the doctrine of the Trinity is ‘Bones to Philosophy, but milk to faith’.1 Bones and milk are both provided by today’s readings. The belief that…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 14 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 14 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 14 1 Kings 19-4-8 Ephesians 4. 25-5.2 John 6: 35, 41-51 On the grounds that there is no point in telling someone to do something if they are already doing it, the Ephesian community must be quite like a church you know well. It is interesting how much of this section is co…
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 18. Living with the chaos
One Day at a Time: Meditations for Carers - 18. Living with the chaos
by SPCK - Dorothy M Stewart
ONE DAY AT A TIME Meditations for Carers 18. Living with the chaos Mark 5.36 There’s a hymn that seems to be most people’s favourite, ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’, and it used to be one of mine. Until I became a carer, when one of the lines jarred with sudden force: ‘Let o…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Easter Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Second Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Easter Acts 4.32–35 1 1 John 1.1—2.2 John 20.19–31 The recent popularity of The Lord of the Rings has helpfully given new vitality to the word ‘fellowship’. The people who make up the ‘fellowship of the ring’ are not natural allies. They have little in comm…
Parallel Lives of Jesus - 11 The Death of Jesus