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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 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…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Walking on the Water
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Walking on the Water
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Walking on the Water John 6.16-25 Some animals are naturally afraid of water. Cats will not normally go for a swim in a river; nor will hedgehogs. Most monkeys and apes, despite sharing some other characteristics of humans, do not care for water. This fact is exploited at a…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 23 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 23 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 23 Job 23.1-9, 16-17 Hebrews 4.12-16 Mark 10.17-31 Two moments jump out at us from this intense little drama. Jesus looks at the man and loves him; not, perhaps, our natural reaction to someone claiming to keep six out of ten commandments perfectly. (A pity Job 23.11–12 is…
Revelation bible study guide - The Lamb's Elite Warriors
Revelation bible study guide - The Lamb's Elite Warriors
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Lamb’s Elite Warriors Revelation 14: 1-13 On the hill in the distance I could see the little procession, tiny but silhouetted against the sky in the bright Middle-Eastern evening. In my country the sheep are brought from one field to another by people with sticks and dogs. In…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Sunday after Ascension Day) Acts 1.15-17, 21-26 1 John 5.9-13 John 17.6-19 The interesting thing about the choice of Matthias has nothing to do with Matthias himself. Nor is it the striking method of his selection, which if applied today would simpli…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Easter Acts 9.1–20 Revelation 5.11–14 John 21.1–19 John 21 contains in microcosmic form most of the elements of the previous narrative. We are back in Galilee, with Peter and his friends going fishing. Jesus reveals himself as he had done throughout. He feed…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 15 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 15 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 15 Proverbs 9-1-6 Ephesians 4. 25-5.2 John 6: 35, 41-51 ‘You are what you eat’, so the saying goes. Our modern western culture is wise to the fact that food is not all the same, and will not all be good for you. We are now very anxious about food additives, very aware of p…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 16 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 16 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 16 Joshua 24. 1-2a,14-18 Ephesians 6. 10-20 John 6: 56-69 Peter’s tale: That’s about the only time I ever remember being sure that I’d got it right. Oh, I don’t mean that I had doubts about what came out of my mouth when I was preaching to people after the Lord had risen. …
John The People's Commentary - The Parting of the Ways
John The People's Commentary - The Parting of the Ways
by BRF - Richard A. Burridge
The Parting of the Ways John 6: 56-71 JOHN This chapter’s setting has moved from up in the mountains for the feeding, across the storm-tossed lake to a crowd in Capernaum. The last part of this discourse at least has been Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum (6:59). The …
Journeying With Mark Year B - Easter
Journeying With Mark Year B - Easter
by SPCK - Woodward, Gooder and Pryce
6 Easter Exploring the text Probably one of the best-known features of Mark’s Gospel is its ending – or, depending on your perspective, its lack of ending. Unlike the other Gospels, the accounts of resurrection in Mark are sparse in the extreme. In Matthew an angel appears to Mar…
See the husks fly through the air
See the husks fly through the air
by Andrew Pratt
See the husks fly through the air, feel the all consuming fire, see the day of God is near, see the flames are licking higher. That's the image John conveys, bringing people to their knees. Is it penitence or fear, stimulates their present pleas? And within this time and place, a…
Sometimes convictions deep within
Sometimes convictions deep within
by Andrew Pratt
Sometimes convictions deep within can energise our action, to move us in another way, to find a new direction. God's spirit speaks within each mind, but like the sense of conscience is easy for us to avoid, a trick of our sub-conscious. Verses 3-5 follow Tune: BARBARA ALLEN; DOMI…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Living under the shadow of his wings
Four Gospels, One Jesus - Living under the shadow of his wings
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
Living under the shadow of his wings Like most animals, the eagle rushes into conflict when protecting its young, yet the same instinct causes it to exhibit tender care. Moses’ final song compares God’s concern for Israel to an eagle ‘hovering over its young . . . bearing them al…
Four Gospels, One Jesus - What kind of animal is this creature?
Four Gospels, One Jesus - What kind of animal is this creature?
by SPCK - Richard A Burridge
What kind of animal is this creature? Identity and interlude, Mark 8—10 So, everybody misunderstands Jesus during the first half of this gospel – his family (3.21–35), the crowds (4.10–12), the Gerasenes (5.17), his own home town (6.1–6), the religious leaders (7.6; 8.11–12) and …
PAUL AND THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD - Introduction