Search Results
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels year c - The Second Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Second Sunday of Advent Luke 3.1-6 Gazing on the Gospels year C Gaze on a lone hiker, setting out on a long distance walk in the Lake District, or Scottish highlands, perhaps. Imagine it’s you, dressed in the latest Gore-Tex® to keep out the wind and rain, waterproof trousers…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 8 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 8 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 8 Jeremiah 28.5–9 Romans 6.12–23 Matthew 10.40–42 Ours is an age with a great deal of interest in ‘spirituality’. We have rediscovered that ‘spirituality’ is good for us and, like exercise and a low-fat diet, we pursue it, but …
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 Reflection Year C - Proper 3 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 3 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 3 Genesis 45.3–11, 15 1 Corinthians 15.35–8 Luke 6.27–38 These verses in Luke mark a shift in tone from the preceding verses. The ‘blessings and woes’ section that comes immediately before this passage is about what is ‘now’, it is about results. But now Jesus moves from t…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Lent Joshua 5.9–12 2 Corinthians 5.16–21 Luke 15.1–3, 11b–32 Luke, the expert writer, puts the prodigal son as the third of a set of stories about losing and finding. All of the stories emphasize God’s joy at finding what had been lost, but the story of the p…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Ezekiel 43.27—44.4 1 Corinthians 13.1–13 Luke 2.22–40 Today’s reading from Ezekiel is chosen, presumably, because it connects well to the account in Luke of Jesus’ presentation in the temple. Both talk about the proper fulfilment of the law, and the …
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…
The Pastoral Letters - Commands to Households
The Pastoral Letters - Commands to Households
by SPCK - N T Wright
Commands to Households Titus 2.1-10 I was at a meeting yesterday of the governors of a local school. The head teacher was presenting his annual report. With pardonable pride he described how the school choir had gone on a tour around three Canadian cities, singing in cathedrals, …
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 …
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Born of God
Early Christian Letters for Everyone - Born of God
by SPCK - N T Wright
Born of God 1 John 3.1-10 There are many stories about people who are blind who then receive the gift of sight. One of the most remarkable, of course, is found in chapter 9 of John’s gospel, where Jesus heals a man who had been born blind. But there are plenty more such stories i…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Christianity Declared Legal in Achaea
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Christianity Declared Legal in Achaea
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christianity Declared Legal in Achaea Acts 18.12-17 Though I have walked with great pleasure in the hills of the north of England, both the Lake District in the west and the Cheviot hills in the east, I have only once walked in the almost equally famous Peak District of Derbyshir…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Christ the King Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Christ the King Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christ the King Jeremiah 23.1–6 Colossians 1.11–20 Luke 23.33–43 Shepherds, shepherding stories, and shepherding metaphors abound throughout the Bible, as one would expect in that culture. The creative thing in Israel’s traditions, though, was the development of ‘the shepherd’ as…
Lent for Everyone Year A - Friday after Ash Wednesday Reflection
Lent for Everyone Year A - Friday after Ash Wednesday Reflection
by SPCK - N T Wright
FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY Matthew 4; focused on 4.18 –25 18 There’s a sense of excitement at the start of the season. The ground is prepared and marked out. The fixture list is printed. Everything is ready. So along you go for the first match. But imagine what it would be like i…
John for Everyone part 2 - Glory and Blindness
John for Everyone part 2 - Glory and Blindness
by SPCK - N T Wright
Glory and Blindness John 12.37-43 It was seven o’clock in the evening when Susan called the family in. She had worked hard all day to prepare this meal, and she was excited, eyes sparkling, on edge to see what they would say. Delicious smells came from the kitchen. She sat them d…
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 …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 22 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 22 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 22 Lamentations 1.1–6 2 Timothy 1.1–14 Luke 17.5–10 Paul, in prison, writes about power. Dangerous stuff, we say – tends to corrupt, and all that. Paul’s setting, and the work that got him there, guards him from misunderstanding. Tyrants speak of God’s power to validate th…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Temptation in the Wilderness
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Temptation in the Wilderness
by SPCK - N T Wright
Temptation in the Wilderness Matthew 4.1-11 Jennifer went for a long walk in the woods. It had been an exhausting six months, and she needed time to think. She had concentrated on the campaign. Ever since her local party had told her, to her surprise, that they wanted her to be t…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Healing of the Cripple