Search Results
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 7 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 7 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 7 Genesis 21.8–21 Romans 6.1b–11 Matthew 10.24–39 The prince of peace comes with a sword. To that theological oxymoron we must add the sad, and still tragic, story of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael. Go down into the Genesis story…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 24 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 24 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 24 Isaiah 45.1–7 1 Thessalonians 1.1–10 Matthew 22.15–22 The question as weapon is one of the oldest techniques in controversy. You will hear it used to perfection most mornings on the radio. The art is to find the question to …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 12 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 12 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 12 1 Kings 3.5–12 Romans 8.26–39 Matthew 13.31–33, 44–52 With this piling up of images of the kingdom, I think you need first of all to listen to them and get an overall feel, and then to start trying to tease out some of the p…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 17 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 17 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 17 Deuteronomy 4.1-2, 6-9 James 1. 17-27 Mark 7. 1-8, 15, 21-23 We rather value versatility and unpredictability in people. To say that someone is predictable is to imply that they are boring and hidebound. I suspect that this actually reflects the comparative security and…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 19 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 19 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 19 Isaiah 50.4-9a James 3.1-12 Mark 8.27-38 The disciples are quite enjoying the discussion, to begin with. Every- where they’ve been with Jesus, they have heard speculation. People must have asked them, over and over again, ‘Who is your master? Where does he get his power…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 18 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 18 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 18 Isaiah 35. 4-7a James 2.1-17 Mark 7. 24-37 I suppose it’s comforting, in an Eeyore-ish kind of way, to know that ours is not the only generation of Christians to think that belief is simply a matter of the words you use, and that it doesn’t need to affect ordinary life …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time The Last Sunday After Trinity Leviticus 19.1–2, 15–18 1 Thessalonians 2.1–8 Matthew 22.34–46 1 Thessalonians is almost certainly the oldest document in the New Testament. As in so many other things, Paul is a pioneer. It is hard for u…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 22 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 22 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 22 Genesis 2. 18-24 Hebrews 1.14; 2.5-12 Mark 10.2-16 It is very tempting to go straight for the second half of the passage from Mark’s Gospel set for today, and just speculate, if possible with some sentimentality, about what Jesus meant by ‘theirs is the Kingdom of Heave…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Christ the King Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Christ the King Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Christ the King Daniel 7.9-10, 13-14 Revelation 1.4b-8 John 18.33b-37 The ‘Feast of Christ the King’ was invented by Pius XI in 1925. Only in 1970 was it moved from October to the last Sunday before Advent. It slid into Anglicanism very recently, introducing three muddles. First,…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Last Sunday after Trinity Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Last Sunday After Trinity Deuteronomy 34.1–12 1 Thessalonians 2.1–8 Matthew 22.34–46 Like a bored videotape-watcher, the lectionary suddenly presses the fast-forward button, skipping three-fifths of the Pentateuch and stopping only just in time for the death of the hero. Mose…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 16 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 16 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 16 Exodus 1.8—2.10 Romans 12.1–8 Matthew 16.13–20 How do slaves get free? By living the present in the light of the future. The midwives, and Moses’ mother, act out of defiant hope. Moses, destined to lead Israel through the …
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 16 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 16 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 16 1 Kings 8.[1,6,10-11]22-30, 41-43 Ephesians 6.10-20 John 6.56-69 Jesus returns, at the end of the long ‘bread of life’ discourse, to the central thrust. Don’t look for more loaves and fishes; look for the different dimension of life which the Son of Man offers, the dime…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 24 Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 24 Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ordinary Time - Proper 24 Exodus 33.12–23 1 Thessalonians 1.1–10 Matthew 22.15–22 The multiple echoes of Exodus 33 bounce around the New Testament. The first letter to the Thessalonians, held by many to be the first surviving Christian writing, offers another reminder that the go…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year A
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year A
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday Before Advent Zephaniah 1.7, 12–18 1 Thessalonians 5.1–11 Matthew 25.14–30 This parable gave ‘talent’ a new meaning, so common that we don’t realize how far we have domesticated a warning about more serious matters than developing one’s personal potential and sk…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 13 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 13 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 13 Isaiah 55.1–5 Romans 9.1–5 Matthew 14.13–21 The pain in Paul’s words is tangible, and made even more poignant by the victorious assurance of the end of chapter 8. Paul has just been asserting that nothing can ‘separate us fr…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 17 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 17 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 17 Jeremiah 15.15–21 Romans 12.9–21 Matthew 16.21–8 Oh dear. Now it’s crunch time. Justification by grace through faith is fine. A theology of grace alone, which emphasizes our inability to achieve our own salvation, is central…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 16 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 16 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 16 Isaiah 51.1–6 Romans 12.1–8 Matthew 16.13–20 There seems to be a bit of a break in the argument at this point in Romans. Chapters 9––11 are Paul’s attempt to give some kind of coherent shape to God’s activity in choosing fir…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year A - Proper 17 Year A