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Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The First Sunday of Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The First Sunday of Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The First Sunday of Lent Genesis 9.8–17 1 Peter 3.18–22 Mark 1.9–15 When God makes his covenant with creation after the flood, it is a covenant not just with Noah and his family, or even with all future human beings, but with ‘every living creature that is with you’ (v. 10). What…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 1 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 1 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 1 Isaiah 40.21–31 1 Corinthians 9.16–23 Mark 1.29–39 There are two complicated, separate yet related themes running through today’s readings. The first is to do with proclamation – all three passages talk about the ways in which God makes himself known to us. The second is…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Lent Numbers 21.4-9 Ephesians 2.1–10 John 3.14–21 The imagination nourished by the Bible immediately springs into action at the mention of snakes. In Numbers, they may be real rather than metaphorical, but that does not prevent them from carrying heavy symbol…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fifth Sunday of Lent Jeremiah 31.31–34 Hebrews 5.5–10 John 12.20–33 At last a nice easy covenant. At last, Jeremiah seems to be suggesting, God will give up trying to teach us things and just zap us, changing us so that it becomes natural to us to know God. We won’t need to b…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Christ the King Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Christ the King Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Christ the King Jeremiah 23.1–6 Colossians 1.11–20 Luke 23.33–43 Today’s passages might, on a superficial reading, simply be making the fairly standard point that Christ’s kingship and authority are a challenge to most human understandings of power. That’s a good and important po…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 7 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 7 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 7 Isaiah 65.1–9 Galatians 3.23–9 Luke 8.26–39 The people in today’s reading from Isaiah have apparently got bored with the true God. The chapter opens with God waiting patiently, almost passively, for his people to come looking for him. When they don’t, God begins to call …
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 9 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 9 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 9 Isaiah 66.10–14 Galatians 6.1–16 Luke 10.1–11, 16–20 Luke 8—10 sets out a very interesting mission strategy. In chapter 8, Jesus himself goes through towns and villages, curing people, and gathering huge crowds to hear his stories and see his miracles. Then in chapter 9,…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 23 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 23 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 23 2 Kings 5.1–3, 7–15c 2 Timothy 2.8–15 Luke 17.11–19 The story of Naaman has got everything. To begin with, the hero is a thoroughly likeable character. (Well, I suppose you could argue that Elisha is the real hero of the story, and no one could call him exactly likeable…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 22 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 22 Habakkuk 1.1–4; 2.1–4 2 Timothy 1.1–14 Luke 17.5–10 This central section of Luke’s Gospel is full of very uncomfortable reading. It starts at 9.51, when Jesus ‘set his face to go to Jerusalem’, and the ministry enters a new phase. Now everything he says and does is bein…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 21 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 21 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 21 Amos 6.1a, 4–7 1 Timothy 6.6–19 Luke 16.19–31 The people who know about these things generally seem to agree that the Pastoral Letters (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) were not written by the apostle Paul, at least as they now stand. They have all kinds of good reasons for s…
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 Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5.2–5a Hebrews 10.5–10 Luke 1.39–45 The readings from Micah and Hebrews are so dauntingly obscure that it is tempting simply to concentrate on the lovely passage from Luke. Luke’s is the only Gospel that has any of John the Baptist’s biography be…
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 - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3.14–20 Philippians 4.4–7 Luke 3.7–18 The book of Zephaniah is not, on the whole, cheerful reading, and almost everything about it is disputed by the various commentaries on it. No one is absolutely sure when it was written, despite its firm p…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Lent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Lent Isaiah 55.1–9 1 Corinthians 10.1–13 Luke 13.1–9 On the face of it, today’s readings from Isaiah and Corinthians could hardly provide a greater contrast. The passage from Isaiah is lyrical, joyful, full of assurance, whereas Paul’s tone in 1 Corinthians 10…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Third Sunday of Easter Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Easter Zephaniah 3.14–20 Acts 9.1–20 John 21.1–19 This final chapter of John’s Gospel is a chapter full of echoes, back to the earthly ministry of Jesus and forward to the life of the Church after the ascension. For example, compare the story of the miraculous…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Trinity Sunday Year C