Note: ¶ = Reading omitted at St Mary's, Temple Balsall
Sunday 6 July, 2008
The Seventh Sunday after Trinity Proper 9
¶ Genesis 24. 24 – 38, 42 – 49, 58 – 67
The blood-line of Abraham, carrying God’s promise for ever, must be preserved with infinite care and at all costs. No short-termism here.
or Zechariah 9. 9 – 12
The passage is full of excitement at the prospect of rescue and vindication for God’s people. There is a strong sense of the boundless extent of his joyful power.
Romans 7. 15 – 25a
Paul describes the inner struggle we may endure before responding to God’s shining gift in Christ. Perhaps we have to repeat the process again and again through our lives.
Matthew 11. 16 – 19, 25 – 30
Jesus was not known for his ascetic strictness of life, and he opens his heart as widely as can be. It is a lesson to Christians inclined to be niggardly and narrow-minded in the name of religion. In Jesus’ service we are as free as air, with all the burdens lifted – except the ‘light’ one of his service.
* How often we fail through narrowness of vision.
* Inner struggle can be the necessary prelude to a worthwhile outcome.
* Pray to trust in the freedom that life in Christ offers to us.
Sunday 13 July, 2008
The Eighth Sunday after Trinity Proper 10
¶ Genesis 25. 19 – 34
At each generation, choices must be made. Jacob is not ‘nicer’ than Esau, he is simply the one chosen. We can think of parallels in many areas!
or Isaiah 55. 10 – 13
The prophet paints a joyful picture of God’s purpose which achieves good results in all directions and all spheres. There is, in the end, no failure in God’s work.
Romans 8. 1 – 11
Paul has the positive sense of what Christ has achieved and there is no question of ‘partly’ or ‘perhaps’. Flesh here means not ‘body’ but us, stuck in our own weakness and meanness; and ‘Spirit’ here means the liberating power of God, taking over our whole selves..
Matthew 13. 1 – 9, 18 – 23
The parable is so familiar and seems so much a matter of common sense that we may miss its drive. All sorts of resistance and failure happen, but the push of the story is towards the good soil, where success is abundant.
* How hard do we find it actually to rejoice in the good purpose of God?
* Does the sharp contrast of ‘flesh’ and ‘Spirit’ alarm or encourage us?
* Can we tell which kind of soil truly attracts us and holds us?
Sunday 20 July, 2008
The Ninth Sunday after Trinity Proper 11
¶ Genesis 28. 10 – 19a
Jacob’s vocation is ratified by his encounter with God at Bethel (‘house of God’). It is an image that has moved many Christians too (and see John 1. 51).
or ¶ Wisdom of Solomon 12. 13, 16 – 19
To be confident in life under the one and only God is to feel at ease in the pursuit of all that is good.
or Isaiah 44. 6 – 8
This prophet was perhaps the first to see clearly that there really is only one God (and that the gods of the nations were an illusion). It is exciting to realize afresh, as if from scratch, what this entails for us.
¶ Romans 8. 12 – 25
Paul saw that we Christians are not like subjects of a lord or monarch but like members of a family, marked by love and acceptance for our own sake – and by hope that all shall be well.
Psalm: 139.1 - 11, 23 – 24
Matthew 13. 24 – 30, 36 – 43
Matthew gives us a parable offering a stark and frightening choice, with a future to match. The message is that we should not relax in complacent ignorance of the choice, but buckle to in the Christian task.
* Do we take God’s amazing ‘oneness’ for granted?
* To be aware of our liberty is surely to be full of hope for all good.
* Evil oppresses the world but we hold fast to God’s victory, with its signs all around us.
Sunday 27 July, 2008
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 12
¶ Genesis 29. 15 – 28
We read a love story which takes the story of the origins of God’s people one step further.
or ¶ 1 Kings 3. 5 – 12
Solomon, a hero-king of Israel, modestly asked for the gift of wisdom. Not a bad choice – but a brave one – for any up-and-coming person with a serious job to do.
¶ Romans 8. 26 – 39
The passage leads up to the most confident and triumphant cry of Christian faith in all the New Testament. No hostile force can finally count against the love of God.
Matthew 13. 31 – 33, 44 – 52
The cause of God, whose success is assured, is so precious that we should forego anything to grasp it for ourselves. To be on God’s side is our ultimate good.
* Pray for the gift of wise discernment in the problems that face us.
* We have every reason to face our adversities with courage from God.
* Reflect on where the rule of God comes in your scale of values.
Sunday 3 August, 2008
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Proper 13
¶ Genesis 32. 22 – 31
Our relationship with God is so serious that conflict and disputing with God is not ruled out. It may be a step on the journey.
or Isaiah 55. 1 – 5
The invitation from God is open and generous, offered to more and more people.
Romans 9. 1 – 5
Paul is embarking here on a long discussion about how Jews and Gentiles share together in God’s purpose and gift. He begins by recognising the Jews’ long role as first receivers of that gift – and we are reminded.
Matthew 14. 13 – 21
The story of the crowd being fed by Jesus must always have made Christian people think of the Eucharist – God’s free and abundant gift to his people, expressed in simple bread but so full of meaning.
* We recognise that our faith does not come from nowehere but, for each of
us, has deep-laid roots that we easily forget.
* Thank God for his constant goodness.
* Wet thank God for the greatness of his sacramental gift to us.
Sunday 10 August, 2008
The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Proper 14
¶ Genesis 37. 1 – 4, 12 – 28
The story of the family strife that led into Joseph’s being sold into Egypt – with, in due course, huge results for his people.
or 1 Kings 19. 9 – 18
Elijah, desolate and demoralized, finds God in ‘a sound of sheer silence’ (a better but more mysterious translation than the old ‘still small voice’); and it is a good launch-pad for the strong action for God that he goes on to take.
Romans 10. 5 – 15
Paul finds scriptural backing for the core of his message and mission: that God’s acceptance is open to all. Jews and Gentiles alike can join in faith in Jesus.
Matthew 14. 22 – 33
The Gospel gives us a picture of God’s utter reliability in life’s storms. Yet on our part, trust in God can always be strengthened, as testing may show.
* Pray to value ‘sheer silence’ at the heart of spiritual life.
* Can we accept gladly that God has no favourites?
* Pray for the deepening of trust in God’s love and power.
Sunday 17 August, 2008
The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 15
¶ Genesis 45. 1 – 15
The long-delayed reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers brings Israel’s sojourn in Egypt ever closer – with fateful results.
or Isaiah 56.1, 6 – 8
Some voices in the later Old Testament writings look beyond Israel to the wider world as they consider the scope of God’s love. For them, it is clear that it must be universal.
¶ Romans 11. 1 – 2a, 29 – 32
In the light of Christ, Paul builds on the insights found in the reading from Isaiah and holds to his conviction of Christ’s role for everybody.
Psalm: 67
Matthew 15 (10 – 20), 21 – 28
The Canaanite woman serves as a test-case for Jesus’ ministry of rescue for all. She perseveres and her need is met.
* Can we stop ourselves putting limits of some kind on our sense of God’s love for his creation?
* Pray to have a simple faith in God’s concern for all.
* Do we need to persevere more doggedly in our faith in God and not be discouraged?
Sunday 24 August, 2008
The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 16
¶ Exodus 1. 8 – 2. 10
Isarael’s stay in Egypt became a time of servitude, but the birth of Moses is the hidden beginning of the people’s release. Through ‘death’ to ‘new life’.
or Isaiah 51. 1 – 6
Two contrasting thoughts: first, behind our desired future lies our valuable past (‘the rock from which you were hewn’), and the two must belong together; but second, the greatness of God dwarfs us all.
Romans 12. 1 – 8
Christians are to be distinct from the society around – in the world but not of it. The reason is that it is Christ who gives us our shared identity and makes us one.
Matthew 16. 13 – 20
To say ‘Yes’ to Jesus leads straight to a practical role. Peter (his name means ‘rock’) signifies the church in all its day-to-day life and whose ultimate victory on behalf of God is sure.
* It is hard to keep a balanced sense of our importance before God. Not too much, not too little.
* Do we see the Christian community as truly Christ’s people – and that alone?
* Pray that confession of Christ leads us to a live part in his purpose.
Sunday 31 August, 2008
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 17
¶ Exodus 3. 1 – 15
Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush is crucial – a sacred moment: with the name of God, Moses receives his orders.
or ¶ Jeremiah 15. 15 – 21
The service of God is not an easy ride and we can protest to him at its impossibility; but he will surely see us through.
¶ Romans 12. 9 – 21
Paul gives simple and basic moral teaching, some of it echoing Jesus in the Gospels. Much of it is not unusual – but that makes it no easier to accept and follow, except in God’s grace.
Matthew 16. 21 – 28
It is a solemn message. To follow Jesus is essentially to share the cross and all that it entails for our way of life. That is the unavoidable route to success and triumph.
* To rail at God can be a form of faithfulness.
* Pray even to accept ill from others with true patience.
* Can we bear to become nothing for the sake of having everything that matters in the end?
Sunday 7 September, 2008
The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 18
¶ Exodus 12. 1 – 14
The rules for the meal of the Pasover have always been crucial for the Jewsih peple. They tell of the great release, to which the meal was the prelude, and for us give promise of Jesus’ act of redemption.
or Ezekiel 33. 7 – 11
The prophet is God’s watchman, bringing due warning to his people when their faithfulness falters.
Romans 13. 8 – 14
Paul’s moral teaching echoes Jesus’ own stress on the command to love – and we live the good life always in the setting of the urgency of Christ’s call.
Matthew 18. 15 – 20
Matthew provides a stern process for the discipline of the Christian community, but promises his own good presence to his people when they meet.
* Pray to commemorate past blessings with joy.
* May we heed the wise teaching that we hear.
* Thank God for the good fellowship we enjoy.
Sunday 14 September, 2008
The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 19
¶ Exodus 14. 19 – 31
The fearsome story of the Israelites’ escape may now make us conscious of the Egyptians’ horrific fate.
or ¶ Exodus 15. 1b – 11, 21b
It may now seem wicked to rejoice in our own success at the expense of gruesome horrors for others.
or Genesis 50. 15 – 21
The life of God’s people seems to hang by a thread, and it takes Joseph’s gracious act for things to be carried forward.
Romans 14. 1 – 12
Christians, like others, can squabble and divide about matters that seem to be, in the end, of minor importance. Only love can restore a true sense of proportion.
Matthew 18. 21 – 35
It is a terrifying parable bringing home dramatically the message of the Lord’s Prayer – to forgive readily, as we ourselves are forgiven by God.
* How hard it is to trust that, even despite all appearances, all shall be well.
* Pray always to hold to the great signs of God’s love.
* Pray to be forgiving to others, for we also are forgiven much.
Sunday 14 September, 2008
Heritage Weekend Evensong 6.00 pm
Sunday 21 September, 2008
The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 20
¶ Exodus 16. 2 – 15
God’s people grumble their way through the wilderness, and God’s care is firm but tangible. Discipline is the dominant note.
or ¶ Jonah 3. 10 – 4. 11
The Book of Jonah is a short story about repentance and God’s forbearance, even to foreigners, outside the people of Israel – and the ‘righteous’ do not always like God for it.
Philippians 1. 21 – 30
Paul wants to encourage his converts at Philippi and shows himself a good and wise pastor, who has suffered at they do – and has stood firm.
Psalm: 145.1 - 8
Matthew 20. 1 – 16
No parable of Jesus strikes us as more shocking than this. What sort of world is it about? It is not about our world, but God’s – where, fortunately for us, his grace takes no account of our deserts.
* Do we resent God’s goodness, extending even to our enemies?
* Christian ministry is family-like – given to us, but from alongside us.
* Pray to be glad that God has no favourites.
Sunday 28 September, 2008
The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Proper 21
Grumbling from below meets, as always, provision from above. Not a pleasing picture, but not beyond our experience.
or ¶ Ezekiel 18. 1 – 4, 25 – 32
It is easy to blame some of our ills and sins on forces outside ourselves – upbringing, the culture, our society, the way the world is. Whatever the truth of that, God takes us for what we are - responsible individuals, all of us having the potential for glory.
¶ Philippians 2. 1 – 13
The drama of Christ’s self-humbling and his vindication by God is at the heart of our faith. It gives us the best clue we have to the mystery of our own life and destiny.
Matthew 21. 23 – 32
If people cannot see Jesus’ meaning from his conduct in his ministry, the fault is their own. Those pleased with their own goodness are the last people to grasp the character of God.
* Pray to discriminate between what life virtually forces us to be and what we let ourselves become.
* The gift of humility is surely a matter of being ‘real’ before God and everyone else.
* We wish to be delivered from stubborn blindness to Truth when it stares us in the face.
 |
The Foundation of Lady Katherine Leveson
Registered
Charity no. 213618
Temple Balsall, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands B93 0AN