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Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Sixth Sunday of Easter John 15:9-17 Gaze on a page of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from around ad 800; study the Celtic knots and intricate spirals that adorn it. See the way the threads twist and loop together without end or beginning, how hard it is to unrav…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Fourth Before Advent Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Fourth Before Advent Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Micah 3.5–12 1 Thessalonians 2.9–13 Matthew 24.1–14 Those of us who earn our living by speaking and writing about the Bible sometimes feel nervous in the presence of Micah and Paul. There is the apostle, doing his day job making tents, debating wit…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 12 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 12 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 12 Genesis 29.15–28 Romans 8.26–39 Matthew 13.31–33, 44–52 ‘All things work together for good to those who love God.’ Probably not the first thought that sprang to Jacob’s mind the morning after his wedding, on discovering ho…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 22 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 22 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ordinary Time - Proper 22 Exodus 20.1–4, 7–9, 12–20 Philippians 3.4b–14 Matthew 21.33–46 The parable of the wicked tenants tells the story of Israel in such a way as to highlight Jesus’ own work and fate as the plot’s denouement. But, as with many parables, and many great non-bib…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 21 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 21 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 21 Esther 7.1-6, 9-10 James 5.13-20 Mark 9.38-50 The ancient world was full of stories in which the threatened hero or heroine is rescued at last, and the people who had almost overcome them are condemned instead. David kills Goliath. Homer’s heroes – some of them, anyway …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 22 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 22 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 22 Job 1.1; 2.1-10 Hebrews 1.1-4; 2.5-12 Mark 10.2-16 Angels are one thing; angels as God’s heavenly council, discussing policy, are another; ‘the Accuser’ (the word ‘Satan’ is a title before it is a proper name) as himself an angel, a celestial Director of Public Prosecut…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 8.26-40 1 John 4.7-21 John 15.1-8 If you like evangelism, you’ll love Philip’s story. A spirit-led meeting with a court official, who happens to be reading Isaiah 53 and asking the right questions. There is time to converse at leisure; there is wat…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 9 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 9 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 9 2 Samuel 5.1-5, 9-10 2 Corinthians 12.2-10 Mark 6.1-13 The paradoxes of power. David bided his time, refused to lift up his hand against God’s anointed (though he knew himself to be anointed also), and then at last became king in a further anointing. The move to Jerusale…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 17 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 17 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 17 Song of Solomon 2.8-13 James 1.17-27 Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23 The main bit missing from Mark 7 is about nullifying God’s word through human tradition. Hmmm. Granted, there are two different issues at stake here: cleanness and uncleanness (with a further subdivision: cle…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 19 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 19 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 19 Proverbs 1.20-33 James 3.1-12 Mark 8.27-38 The first nine chapters of Proverbs introduce two personified figures: Lady Wisdom and Mistress Folly. Both appeal to ‘the sons of men’; we had better not try, in the interests of inclusivity, to flatten out the genders, since …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 5 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 5 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 5 Genesis 12.1–9 Romans 4.13–25 Matthew 9.9–13, 18–26 Abraham’s call (Abram, actually, at this stage; but just as we say the Archbishop was born in 1935, even though he wasn’t Archbishop then, so we don’t need to fuss about g…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 5 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 5 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 5 1 Samuel 8.4-11 [12-15] 16-20 [11.14-15] 2 Corinthians 4.13-5.1 Mark 3.20-35 So: did God want Israel to have a king, or didn’t he? The question haunts not only this passage in 1 Samuel but much of the rest of the account of the monarchy, from the ill-fated Saul right dow…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Sixth Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 10.44-48 1 John 5.1-6 John 15.9-17 ‘His commandments are not burdensome.’ Hard to take, that, in a world where all commandments are burdensome, where anybody telling anyone else what to do – even God telling his creatures what to do – is felt as an…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Third Sunday before Advent Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Third Sunday before Advent Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday Before Advent Jonah 3.1-5, 10 Hebrews 9.24-28 Mark 1.14-20 ‘Once, only once, and once for all.’ The hymn that starts thus withdraws with the left hand some of what it gives with the right, hinting that Christ’s unique sacrifice is still somehow present in the e…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Sundays Before Advent The Fourth Sunday Before Advent Micah 3.5–12 1 Thessalonians 2.9–13 Matthew 24.1–14 ‘That was a really depressing morning,’ said one disciple to another, leaning back in the sparse shade of the olive tree to keep out of the mi…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 23 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 23 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 23 Amos 5.6-7, 10-15 Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10.17-31 Is it just me, or are the readings actually getting harder at this time of year? Not only more difficult to understand, but also more sombre? Certainly, today’s reading from Hebrews has taken large quantities of caffeine, …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 13 Year B