Faith > Sunday’s readings
The Baptism of Christ, 1st Sunday of Epiphany
Isaiah 42.1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10.34-43; Matthew 3.13-endTHE Baptism of Christ, taken with the Epiphany, sets the pattern for each new year of our discipleship. Last week, the identity of the Christ-child was made known to the…
The Epiphany
Isaiah 61.1-6; Psalm 72 (1-9) 10-16; Ephesians 3.1-12; Matthew 2.1-12THE festival of the Epiphany preserves its Greek name in the Western Church. By the second century, it was beginning to be kept as a feast on 6 January. It…
1st Sunday of Christmas or The Holy Innocents
1st Sunday of Christmas: Isaiah 7-9; Psalm 148 (148.7-10); Hebrews 2.10-end; Matthew 2.13-endThe Holy Innocents: Jeremiah 31.15-17; Psalm 124; 1 Corinthians 1.26-29; Matthew 2.13-18THERE are two choices for the principal…
Christmas Day
Isaiah 62.6-end; Psalm 97; Titus 3.4-7; Luke 2.(1-7) 8-20THERE are two options for this Gospel; the short one stops at the nativity. The longer one (which dinner, drink, and presents tempt us to ignore) is preferable, because…
Sunday’s Readings: 4th Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7.10-16; Psalm 80.1-8,18-20; Romans 1.1-7; Matthew 1.18-endCOMMENTATORS note that John marks his Gospel as a new Genesis, by his echo of Genesis 1.1: “In the beginning”. But Matthew does something similar, and does it…
Sunday’s readings: 3rd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 35.1-10; Psalm 146.1-10; James 5.7-10; Matthew 11.2-11THIS is not a Gospel for those who like easy answers. One commentator remarks that, among the four Evangelists, “Matthew’s presentation of the Baptist is . . . the…
Sunday's readings: 2nd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 11.1-10; Psalm 72.1-7, 18, 19; Romans 15.4-13; Matthew 3.1-12 WHY is John the Baptist angry with the Pharisees and Sadducees for coming to him asking for baptism? And what is wrong with fleeing from wrath? Not all…
Sunday’s readings: 1st Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 2.1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13.11-14; Matthew 24.36-44SEARCHING for a good word to describe the drama of Advent Sunday, I was tempted by “cataclysmic”. The “day of the Lord”, the Bible says, will bring darkness,…
Sunday’s readings: Christ the King
Jeremiah 23.1-6; Psalm 46; Colossians 1.11-20; Luke 23.33-43TO REFLECT on Christ the King, I am taking a single verse from Luke’s Gospel (23.38), together with the other Gospel records of the inscription on the cross. But,…
Sunday’s readings: 2nd Sunday before Advent
Malachi 4.1-2a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3.6-13; Luke 21.5-19JUST before Judas meets the high priests and scribes (Luke 22.3), Jesus addresses disciples under pressure. Into a situation of terror (arrest, persecution,…
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