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Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 20 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 20 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 20 Jeremiah 11.18-20 James 3.13-4.3, 7-8a Mark 9.30-37 What an emotional roller-coaster ride the disciples are on by this stage of Jesus’s ministry. Not that life with Jesus had ever been boring, exactly, but at least they had known what they were doing. Or they had though…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 2 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 2 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 2 Jeremiah 17.5–10 1 Corinthians 15.12–20 Luke 6.17–26 Paul’s discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 has fascinated scholars and Christians alike. It shows clearly that the earliest preaching of the gospel contained the witness to the risen Christ. This is, as …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year A Acts 1.6–14 1 Peter 4.12–14; 5.6–11 John 17.1–11 Poor disciples. What they have been through over the last few weeks! What wild swings of emotion they have had to deal with. First of all the horrors of Good Friday, with the anguish they felt …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday of Easter - Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday of Easter - Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Easter - Year A Acts 2.14a, 22–32 1 Peter 1.3–9 John 20.19–31 What makes people believe? Probably the reasons are as numerous as the people who give them. Today’s readings provide just a few examples. In the Gospel, we have two sets of responses. First of all…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday of Epiphany - Year A Isaiah 49.1–7 1 Corinthians 1.1–9 John 1.29–42 To be called by God is a thing of joy and terror, in about equal measures. The Corinthians are largely experiencing the excitement, at present, but their walk of discipleship will certainly lead…
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 4 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 4 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 4 1 Kings 18.22–3, 41–3 Galatians 1.1–12 Luke 7.1–10 This opening section of Galatians has Paul in a very combative frame of mind. Even his formal greetings at the beginning are perfunctory and pointed. Something very dear to Paul is under threat here, and he is riding to …
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 8 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 8 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 8 1 Kings 19.5–16, 19–21 Galatians 5.1, 13–25 Luke 9.51–62 St Teresa of Avila spent many years travelling on God’s business, founding and reforming convents. Journeys were both unsafe and uncomfortable in those days, but she was never daunted. But one day, when she was nea…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 5 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 5 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 5 1 Kings 17.17–24 Galatians 1.11–24 Luke 7.11–17 We do not always notice the simple compassion of Jesus. We are often so busy looking for the deeper meaning, or finding the application for ourselves that we barely notice the actual motivation in the context of the real si…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 6 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 6 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 6 2 Samuel 11.26—12.10, 13–15 Galatians 2.15–21 Luke 7.36—8.3 Nathan the prophet is a good story-teller and a brave man. Though he obviously knows the character of his king well enough to guess David’s reaction to his story, yet this is, after all, the king he is talking t…
Isaiah for Everyone - Prophet as Crazy Man
Isaiah for Everyone - Prophet as Crazy Man
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Prophet as Crazy Man The installing of a professor in his or her “chair” is an occasion for making fun of the person as well as for making seriously congratulatory speeches. I was not surprised that when I was installed one of the people who had been asked to speak made fun of my…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Real Life Is More Complicated
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Real Life Is More Complicated
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Real Life Is More Complicated JUDGES 1:1- 36 This week Barack Obama made what might be the most fateful decision of his young presidency in sending thirty thousand more soldiers into Afghanistan. By the time you read this commentary, we may know whether this produces the desired …
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Prophets and When to Ignore Them
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Prophets and When to Ignore Them
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Prophets, and When to Ignore Them 1 Kings 12:33-13:32 When I look back over the leadership of the various bosses I have had (present company excepted, in case he reads this) and reflect on my own time as a boss, I can see various ways in which proven ability and divine guidance p…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Provision and Purification
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Provision and Purification
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Provision and Purification NUMBERS 18: 1-19: 22 The other day I was visiting a big church in another city. It made for an extraordinary contrast with my little church, where the pastor is the only paid person and the building feels very full if there are seventy people present. T…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Provision for the Sanctuary
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Provision for the Sanctuary
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Provision for the Sanctuary NUMBERS 7: 1-8: 4 We want to build a “proper chapel” at our seminary. We outgrew the original chapel decades ago, and for services we use an auditorium or a church adjacent to the campus. Now, one of the great cultural strengths of the United States is…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Save First, Spend Afterward
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Save First, Spend Afterward
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Save First, Spend Afterward Genesis 41:25-57 Writers and TV producers have noted that the cell phone and other technological devices have undermined some of the staple plot devices that make novels and movies work. In Casablanca, Rick need not have been in any doubt as to why Ils…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Saturday