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Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Third Sunday of Advent Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Third Sunday of Advent Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Third Sunday of Advent - Year A Isaiah 35:1–10 James 5:7–10 Matthew 11:2–11 In last Sunday’s Gospel reading (Matthew 3. 1–12), John the Baptist arrives to herald the beginning of Jesus’s adult ministry. He is incredibly rude to the people who flock to hear him preach their ju…
Exodus and Leviticus - Rock of Ages Cleft For Me
Exodus and Leviticus - Rock of Ages Cleft For Me
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Rock of Ages Cleft for Me EXODUS 33: 12-23 In the County of Somerset in the West of England there is a canyon called Cheddar Gorge (yes, where the cheese comes from). One day in 1763 a young minister was caught in a tumultuous thunderstorm in the cliffs nearby. The minister, Augu…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Great Sacrifice Baal
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - The Great Sacrifice Baal
by SPCK - John Goldingay
The Great Sacrifice for Baal 2 Kings 10:1-35 Each August 30 in my home city of Birmingham, England, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the martyrdom of a woman called Margaret Ward. In the reign of Elizabeth I, when it was against English law to practice the Roman Catholic fait…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - What to Do with Tricky Mail
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - What to Do with Tricky Mail
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What to Do with Tricky Mail 2 Kings 19:1-37 I used to be the principal of a seminary in England; being a principal is a cross between being a president and a provost in the United States. From Monday to Friday my assistant would open the mail, but on Saturday I would do so and th…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - You Can Disguise, but You Can't Hide
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - You Can Disguise, but You Can't Hide
by SPCK - John Goldingay
You Can Disguise, but You Can’t Hide 1 Kings 22:24- 2 Kings 1:1 A friend of mine recently became attracted to a woman I also know, and he arranged to have lunch with her last week, taking with him his mental list of questions he felt he needed to ask of a potential wife. Being sm…
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Undo a Reform
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - How to Undo a Reform
by SPCK - John Goldingay
How to Undo a Reform 2 Kings 22:1-23:24 The first time I visited the United States, I came to give a week’s guest lectures in a seminary. People must have thought the lectures were OK, because they were then interested in offering me a job, but it wasn’t a moment when I could thi…
Poem/Meditation: Crazy, ragged, ranting prophet
Poem/Meditation: Crazy, ragged, ranting prophet
by Andrew Pratt
Poem/Meditation: Crazy, ragged, ranting prophet Crazy, ragged, ranting prophet, least that's how some people saw him, eating locusts and wild honey, sweeping hypocrites before him. Standing by the raging river, raging at unrighteousness forces, calling weak and powerful to him, s…
Searching seeking people clamoured
Searching seeking people clamoured
by Andrew Pratt
Second Sunday of Advent Year A Matthew 3: 1 – 12Hymn: Searching, seeking, people clamoured, Searching, seeking, people clamoured, heard the noise and saw the crowd. Saw the baptist by the river, calling clear and calling loud. First attracted, then confounded... Andrew Pratt (b…
Failure–Reflection on John 1:29-42
Failure–Reflection on John 1:29-42
by Marjorie Dobson
Failure – Reflection on John 1:29-42 If John had decided not to take on the role of Baptist, there would have been no noisy wilderness prophet to gaze at in amazement and to challenge supposedly God-fearing folk about lifestyle and commitment. Who would have baptised Jesus then a…
Meditation - 1st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
Meditation - 1st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
by David Middleton
Meditation – 1st Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr A This is the man Matthew 3: 13-17 I went to see John today, out by the Jordan; you should have been there, it was incredible; I’ve never experienced anything like it before! You know what John is like – larger than life to say the leas…
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - What Do You Do When You're Desperate
1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone - What Do You Do When You're Desperate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
What Do You Do When You’re Desperate? 1 Samuel 28: 3- 29: 11 This coming Sunday is the nine-month anniversary since my wife died. I think about her a lot and dream about her, sometimes in her wheelchair as she was for years but sometimes fit and able to live a normal life, as she…
Singing the New Testament - The reign of God is near at hand
Singing the New Testament - The reign of God is near at hand
by Norman J Goreham (1931-2021)
John the Baptizer reached back 700 years to the prophet Isaiah (40: 3) to pick up the prophetic call to repentance to prepare for Christ's coming. Setting this text to a tune long associated with Advent and Christmas provides a note of joy as we remember that Christ did come and …
Exodus and Leviticus - Ordination and Disaster