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Christian Resources Library
Readings October to December 2004
October
| November | December
3 October
Harvest (Trinity 17)
Deuteronomy 26. 1 -1 1
A passage much loved for its almost English picture of traditional harvest
thanksgiving. Except that it is not! It is a commemoration of God's
historic generosity to his people - and you were to remember that, now,
in the land, as the blessing of harvest came round yet again. Really,
it is harvest festival, combined with Remembrance Sunday and even a
touch of the last night of the Proms.
Philippians 4.4-9
Paul is not often quite as soberly benign and cheerful as in this last
part of his letter (written, note, in prison). He is remarkable for
his calm ability to transcend his ordeal: God's wholesome peace overcomes
all.
John 6. 25-35
From harvest to food and on to Eucharist: and so to Jesus as God's 'bread',
his sustaining gift of himself to us. To this gift we owe our survival,
for it maintains us at one with God our creator.
- On what terms do secular good and sacred gift meet?
- Value 'Peace', as much more full-blooded than the mere absence of
strife.
- Jesus gives and is the 'living, bread', summing up in this small
compass what he means for us.
10 October
Trinity 18
2 Kings 5.1-3, 7-15b
This is a dramatic story, part of a long saga about the deeds of Elijah
and Elisha. Its point is to say that the God of Israel extends his compassion
beyond Israel's bounds - whatever people of narrower outlook may think
right and proper.'
2 Timothy 2.8~ 15
Paul the venerable apostle appears here as the very model of Christian
leadership, edifying us by his fidelity and sureness of attachment to
his task and role.
Luke 17. 11-19
Luke has a soft spot for the despised Samaritans (seen by the main body
as off-centre, second-grade Jews) - both here in his Gospel and in Acts.
It is, as so often, those who are not quite respectable and have no
conceit in themselves who are ready to turn towards Christ. They have
no pride to hold them back.
- We should never be too proud to open ourselves to God's generosity
and to see it freely given.
- The solemnity of Paul's words may make us ponder in respectful silence.
- God's goodness to us does not depend on our response, but it is
right and good when we give it all the same.
17 October
Trinity 19
Genesis 32. 22-31
It is a mysterious story, one of a number that tell of an encounter
between one of us (thou-h a special one) and the holy God (or is it
quite?). To Christian readers, it has seemed to point us to our experience
of Christ: he can be both clear and yet elusive, among us yet also beyond.
2 Timothy 3.14-4.5
This passage breathes a sense of foreboding, of sad days to come, when
Christians will fail to hold to the vision of truth that has been given
to them. It is sobering, and we can get its sense all too clearly.
Luke 18. 1 -8
Does God really need badgering in this way before he pays attention
to us? It is a half-comic tale, meant to urge us to stick to God, through
thick and thin.
- There must always be mystery in our dealings with God. Otherwise,
he would simply diminish to our own level.
- Faith is never guaranteed from 'going off'; and vigilance is asked
of us all.
- Part of such vigilance is to persevere in our attentiveness to God
despite all deterrents.
24 October
Bible Sunday
Isaiah 45.22-25
The picture is of God like a great king who utters his word - and everybody
jumps to obey. He achieves his aims, and we share in his triumph. Confidence
is the name of the game.
Romans 15.1-6
Paul commends the scriptures of Israel (our Old Testament) as giving
us strength and courage, so contributing to our well-being with God.
Luke 4.16-24
Jesus gives his 'keynote speech' in the synagogue at Nazareth, and,
as he reads from Isaiah 61, we hear what amounts to the programme for
his mission of rescue and healing and love.
- We are deluged in words and can easily lost sight of their intrinsic
power to form us.
- Scripture takes its place among our guides to God.
- We should reflect on the Nazareth reading as a way of summing up
Jesus' whole purpose.
31 October
All Saints Sunday
Daniel 7.1-3,15-18
This vision in the Book of Daniel is (and is meant to be) mysterious,
stirring our sense of wonder before God. What will he bring about? We
can just glimpse - and yet be assured that it will be for human good.
Ephesians 1. 1 1-23
The passage lives us the whole sweep of the Christian view of things
- it is panoramic. That view centres on God's gift of himself in and
through the career of Jesus, from beginning to end, with us as its beneficiaries.
Luke 6. 20-31
Luke's version of the Beatitudes (what someone sensibly called 'the
beautiful attitudes'!) is more down to earth than that in Matthew 5:
blessed are the poor and the hungry (rather than 'poor in spirit' and
those who 'hunger for righteousness'). He focuses us on practical living
- and tell us of Jesus' measure of what holiness really consists of.
- Pray for an unfailing sense of the coming gift of God. it is essential
(is it not?) that it stays ahead of us.
- Our deepest desire is surely to be among God's 'holy ones'.
- The way of life of 'the saint' is the very reverse of ordinary ambitions.
So what next?
7 November
Third Sunday before Advent
Job 19. 23 - 27a
These words are famous partly for their content but also because of
their setting in Handel's 'Messiah'. They amount to one of the few references
in the Old Testament to what seems to be a belief in a life beyond death.
On the lips of Job, who had suffered so cruelly, they amount to a huge
statement of faith in God's ultimate love for his own.
2 Thessalonians 2. 1 - 5, 13 - 17
From the start, Christians have expressed their confidence on God and
Christ as above all to be trusted, for ever; but the way they have done
this has changed down the years. Paul seeks to stabilise those to whom
he writes and to discourage them from engaging in all kinds of worries
and speculations which lead nowhere.
Luke 20. 27 - 38
The Sadducees (the Jewish priestly party of Jesus' day) ask him a trick
question about the life to come. Jesus answers with his teaching that
the future beyond the grave is wholly different from our imaginings,
and we do best simply to trust God and give ourselves to him.
- Pray to trust God wholly, both for this life and for what lies
ahead.
- Give thanks for God's gift of himself to us, now and always.
- Ask yourself: what reason could there truly be for a Christian to
worry in the face of the future?
14 November
Remembrance Sunday (2nd before Advent)
Wisdom of Solomon 3.1-9
The passage is about God's good and faithful servants and says that
we can rely on their Lord to vindicate them. it is not quite so simple
in the random affairs of nations, where life and death are so indiscriminate.
But we recall the enormity of such public suffering with horror and
love and trust.
Romans 5.5-11
All smugness goes and all self-pride is dwarfed: 'Christ died for the
ungodly' applies to us all, and is the source of our hopes and even
of our rejoicing.
John 5.19-25
John's Gospel is not concerned to offer us a bright future beyond this
world, but rather to say that we move from 'death' to 'life' as we are
centred no longer on ourselves but on Christ. who takes us beyond ourselves
into the life of God.
- 'Remembering' is surely one of our greatest gifts: but what? and
how? and why? It may mean much or little.
- Pray to enter into the gift of God: it takes us out of our poor
selves and makes us so much more marvellous than we could ever otherwise
be.
21 November
Christ the King
Jeremiah 23. 1-6
This is a classic passage, coming from a time of Judah's great national
weakness. It looks forward in hope to the gift of a new king (under
the twin images of 'shepherd' and 'branch' of David's line) who will
rescue God's people from disaster.
Colossians 1.11-20
God's act of salvation in and through -Christ is compared to our being
transferred to a new realm - 'the kingdom of his beloved Son'. And no
transfer could be more all-embracing than this,- for Christ surrounds
us on every hand, in every aspect of our being.
Luke 23.33-43
In the throes on his crucifixion, Jesus is a model of the bravest goodness
- forgiving his enemies and making the final convert of his life on
earth. Even here, he is an example to his followers for ever.
- Jesus as 'king': an image to be used with caution, despite the way
it trips off our tongues; for he 'rules' in weakness. Where will that
lead?
- He 'rules' by love for those around him - if only they will turn
to him.
- He 'rules' from every angle and in every aspect that you can imagine.
Year A begins
28 November
Advent Sunday
Isaiah 2.1-5
A familiar and vivid image of how God's 'power' works: it is the force
of love and peace.
Romans 13.11-14
Paul tell powerfully of his sense of the pressing urgency of God's purpose
- a future of light and clarity, no longer a time for the dullness of
sleep, but rather the lively energy of a new day.
Matthew 24.36-44
God's purposes go beyond what we can expect or imagine - for ourselves
and for the world in general. Shire have to be alert and to hand ourselves
over to him as his willing agents.
- Where God is concerned, we must learn to 'think big': the opposite
leads to paltry results and a feeble sense of his reality.
- So great and so desirable is God's hope for us that to put off its
being realized is both sad and foolish.
- Readiness and expectancy: twin states of heart that open. God's
door.
5 December
Advent 2
Isaiah 11.1-10
This is a picture of God's future gift of a new leader for his people.
Christians saw it is a portrait of Jesus, the bringer of 'righteousness'
(i.e. the justice of God). But notice, the gifts of God's spirit in
v.2 are conveyed to us in the words of the Confirmation service: for
we are taken to be one with Christ himself.
Romans 15.4-13
Christ sprang from Israel, but his role was universal in scope. Paul
was the first to proclaim this vital insight with all clarity and to
follow it up in real life.
Matthew 3. 1-12
John the Baptist is an Advent figure because he is a symbol of expectancy
looking only to. what is greater than himself and to the One who is
to come.
- Pray not to lose the precious sense of expectancy: the 'more' that
God will both give to us and ask of us.
- It has never been easy to give reality to Christ's being God-to-all:
do we yet succeed'
12 December
Advent 3
Isaiah 35. 1- 10
The prophet's vision of a better future is naturally rural in its imagery
but more deeply, it is about the curing of our ills (which remain pestilential
to us all). Jesus picked this vision up and made it his own.
James 5.7-10
Patience with God is hard when things stand still or even get worse.
But there is no wholesome alternative: to lose heart is the road to
death.
Matthew 11.2-11
Jesus gives to John the Baptist the highest honour; yet his role was
to prepare the way. The best was still to come.
- To lose the sense of a greater future at God's hand is to admit
defeat; and to stand still is to slip back.
19 December
Advent 4
Isaiah 7.10-16
The passage foretells a birth, perhaps of an heir to the king. Christians
seized on it and saw in it the validating of Christ as 'God-with-us'.
It rang true, and had done its job.
Romans 1. 1-7
Paul opens his letter in typical fashion: he gives his credentials (he
is Christ's true agent) and sums up the message of salvation in his
characteristic language.
Matthew 1. 18-25
It is doubtful whether Matthew was much interested in the possible oddities
of biology. Rather, his concern was to make sure that we realize that
Jesus is truly God's gift of himself to us, purely and simply, whatever
it takes.
- Credentials and background are important; but how important?
- If Jesus is God-with-us, what does that tell us about God? What
do we see through the window?
26 December
Christmas 1
Isaiah 63.7-9
Isaiah sees all the difference between sending a messenger and coming
yourself, in person. Christians have always felt that difference and
believed that, in Christ, God had bridged the gap.
Hebrews 2.10-18
The writer makes much of Jesus, one of us, as the pioneer of God's purposes.
It is a special version of the gospel message ~- and an encouraging
way of putting it: it gives great hope, yet leaves the future open-ended.
We must not close off God's options.
Matthew 2.13-23
This dark and terrible story illustrates a mysterious theme of the Bible
(and indeed of life): only through loss and suffering does great good
come about. We would prefer things otherwise, but we can see darkly
that we should not profit at the heart of our being.
- God bridges the gap between himself and us: can we bear to receive
his gesture of love?
- Jesus leads from the front: can we bear to follow? * The necessary
darkness, as it seems, can make it hard for us to 'see the light'.
Is that wise or fair of us?
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