First Sunday of Advent                                Year C                                 28th November 2021. Lectionary readings: Jeremiah 33 v14-16;  Psalm 25 v1-10;  1 Thessalonians 3 v9-13;    Luke 21 v25-36. Looking back and moving on. The lectionary readings this week are a curious mix. They seem to be inviting us to look back to our roots, to ponder our…

Sunday before Advent (Christ the King).               Year B                         21st November 2021. Lectionary Readings: Daniel 7 v9-10, 13-14;  Psalm 93;  Revelation 1 v4b-8;  John 18 v33-37. Added extras. John’s version of the encounter between Jesus and Pilate is more detailed than those of Mark, Matthew and Luke. (Mark 15 v1-5; Matthew 27 v11-14; Luke 23…

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time                  Year B                                 14th November 2021 Lectionary readings: Daniel 12 v1-3;   Psalm 16;   Hebrews 10 v11-25;   Mark 13 v1-8. Troubles. “Nations and kingdoms will go to war against each other. There will be earthquakes in many places and people will starve to death. But this is just the beginning…

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary time.               Year B                            7th November 2021. Lectionary Readings:  1 Kings 17 v8-16;  Psalm 146;  Hebrews 9 v24-28;  Mark 12 v38-44. Compassion plus ? = Justice Mark tells a story about a poor widow who placed all she had, as her gift, into the Temple offering box. (Mark 12 v41-44).…

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time                   Year B                         31st October 2021 Lectionary Readings: Deuteronomy 6 v1-9; Psalm 119 v1-8; Hebrews 9 v11-14; Mark 12 v28-34. The most important commandment. One of the teachers of the law of Moses….. asked Jesus “What is the most important commandment?” Jesus answered “The most important one says: ‘people…

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary time Year B                                                 24th October 2021 Lectionary Readings:  Jeremiah 31 v7-9;   Psalm 126;   Hebrews 7 v23-28;   Mark 10 v46-52. ‘Faith’ and ‘Sight’. The Collins Bible Dictionary defines faith as: ‘Essentially an attitude of mind and heart by which a person entrusts themselves to God. The Bible’s own definition is that…

Twenty-ninth Sunday in ordinary Time     Year B                                    17th October 2021 Lectionary readings: Isaiah 53 v4-12;  Psalm 91 v9-16;   Hebrews 5 v1-10;   Mark 10 v35-45. A lesson about ‘Kingship’. James and John asked Jesus if they could sit beside him when he ‘came into his glory’ Jesus was disappointed by their request for places of honour.…

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time               Year B                         10th October 2021 Lectionary Readings:   Amos 5 v6-7, 10-15;   Psalm 90 v12-17;   Hebrews 4 v12-16;             Mark 10 v17-31. Money can’t buy you love. In Mark’s account of Jesus’ encounter with a rich man, (a ‘young’ man in Matthew’s account), Jesus acknowledges that the unnamed man is sincere…

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time                        Year B                         3rd October 2021. Lectionary Readings: Genesis 2 v18-24;   Psalm 8;  Hebrews 1 v1-4, 2 v5-12;  Mark 10 v2-16. Bonds of love. Jesus said, “I promise you that you cannot get into God’s kingdom unless you accept it the way a child does.” (Mark 10 v15). Babies and…

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.                Year B                         26th September 2021. Lectionary Readings: Numbers 11 v4-29;  Psalm 19 v7-14;  James 5 v13-20;  Mark 9 v38-50. For and Against. John said, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of people. But he was not one of us, and we told…