Trinity Sunday                                  Year A                                                            4th June 2023 Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 40 v12-17; 27-31;       Psalm 8;       2 Corinthians 13 v1-13;       Matthew 28 v16-20                   Motivation. What is it that motivates and binds together God the Father, his son Jesus and the Holy Spirit? The apostle Paul is in no doubt – and weaves his understanding into the…

Day of Pentecost                                Year A                                                 28th May 2023 Lectionary Readings: Numbers 11 v24-30;      Psalm 104 v24-34, 35b;      Acts 2 v1-21;      John 20 v19-23                 ‘A breath of fresh air’ An expression we use to suggest that someone has made a positive difference to our lives. I think we can describe Jesus as ‘a breath…

7th Sunday of Easter            – (Sunday after Ascension Day)       Year A             21st May 2023 Lectionary Readings: Acts 1 v6-14;     Psalm 68 v1-10, 32-35;     1 Peter 4 v12-14; 5 v6-11.            John 17 v1-11                    Questions, questions. Luke has two versions of the Ascension. Why? At the end of his gospel, Luke says Jesus…

6th Sunday of Easter                        Year A                                                             14th May 2023 Lectionary Readings; Acts 17 v22-31; Psalm 66 v8-20; 1 Peter 3 v13-22; John 14 v15-21. We are not orphans, we are children of a loving God. In the passage from Acts, Paul is telling his sceptical audience that there is only one true…

5th Sunday of Easter            Year A                                                            7th May 2023 Lectionary Readings; Acts 7 v55-60; Psalm 31 v1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2 v2-10; John 14 v1-14. Do we need a visual aid to explain a mystery? In the hymn, popular with children of all ages, ‘Our God is a great big God’, (Singing the…

4th Sunday of Easter – Year A                                                                                  30th April 2023 Lectionary Readings:  Acts 2 v42-47;     Psalm 23;     1 Peter 2 v19-25;     John 10 v1-10.        Whose ‘voice’ do you trust? In the passage from Acts we are told ‘that they spent their time learning from the apostles, and they were like family to each other.’…

The Third Sunday of Easter – Year A                                                                     23rd April 2023 Lectionary readings: Acts 2 v14a, 36-41;      Psalm 116 v1-4, 12-19;       1 Peter 1 v17-23;        Luke 24 v13-35. Strangers no more. In Luke’s account, two disciples on the way to the village of Emmaus, are joined by a  ‘stranger’ who they later discover is the…

Second Sunday of Easter                              Year A                                                 16th April 2023 Lectionary Readings:  Acts 2 v14a, 22-32;    Psalm 16;    1 Peter 1 v3-9;    John 20 v19-31 Faith in Jesus leads to true life. The readings this week open with Luke’s account of Peter’s speech to a crowd on the Day of Pentecost. Peter, accompanied by the…

Easter Day                                                     Year A                                                 9th April 2023 Lectionary readings: Jeremiah 31 v1-6,      Psalm 118 v1-2, 14-24;      Colossians 3 v1-4;      Matthew 18 v1-10. God keeps his promises. The prophet Jeremiah was active before and during the time of the Babylonian invasion. Jeremiah wrote, Some time ago, the Lord appeared to me and told me to…

Palm Sunday                                                 Year A                                     2nd April 2023 Lectionary readings: Isaiah 50 v4-9a;      Psalm 31 v9-16;      Philippians 2 v5-11;      Matthew 27 v11-54. Majestic humility. The (second) prophet Isaiah was preaching during the time of exile in Babylonia. The OT reading, appears to be related to an individual, possibly the prophet himself. It could also relate…