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Christian Resources Library
Readings October to December 2005
October
| November | December
2 October
Harvest Festival
Luke 17: 11 - 19
It is not enough to receive God's goodness as if of right: there is
also a proper response of thankfulness - not just decent manners but
the come-back of the true human heart.
- Do we really see ourselves as living in a world where our good lives
are all
interlocked?
- How far do we sense the shared life of the whole Christian community,
wherever it is?
- Pray for a genuine spirit of thankfulness to God.
9 October
20th Sunday after Trinity
Philippians 4: 1 - 9
Familiar words, speaking of the positive comforts that follow from
God's gift of himself to us, summed up in wholesome and full-blooded
'peace'.
Psalm 106. 1 - 6, 19 - 23
God is pictured as a shepherd who is protective in all circumstances
and values his own to the end.
Matthew 22 : 1 - 14
In origin, the parable, put in brutal terms, is about the rejection
of Christ by his own people and his acceptance by others - who should
nevertheless not presume on their unmerited call.
- Praise God for the joy of his open invitation to us, regardless
of merit.
- Pray to know the peace that is beyond our capacity to grasp.
- God gives - but to take him for granted is to put love in danger.
16 October
21st Sunday after Trinity
1 Thessalonians 1: 1 - 10
The opening of Paul's earliest letter. We can sense the fervour and
novelty of the mission he had embarked upon in an alien land, far from
home - for the sake of God's love for all shown in Christ.
Psalm 96. 1 - 9
The psalmist is overwhelmed by the sheer wonder of God's greatness.
Matthew 22: 15 - 22
If we hear aright, the message is not 'so much for the state' and 'so
much for God or the Church' (how could one make such a bargain?) but
'all things are God's and all other duties are second to him: Jesus
thumps the table as he utters his last words.
- Pray to share the courage and width of imagination showed by Paul
the apostle.
- Praise God for his love and his power.
- Where might we let conflicts of loyalty move us.
23 October
Bible Sunday (Last after Trinity)
Colossians 3: 12 - 17
Paul give a serene and happy picture of the Christian common life:
virtues crowned iwht love and the singing of joyful songs of faith.
Maybe Colossians 1: 15 - 20 was one of them.
Psalm 119. 9 - 16
Following God's way for us is to be not a burden but a delight which
we should embrace.
Matthew 24: 30 - 35
Jesus foretells his return as part of the drama of the End of the present
world- order - but this teaching will endure through everything that
happens in the process.
- Consider what is the core of your identity as a Christian.
- Can we enter into the joyful picture of shared Christian life painted
by Paul?
- In what spirit do we look to the future of God's world? Hope? Trust?
Indifference?
30 October
All Saints' Sunday
1 John 3: 1 - 3
To know God's love means also having the hope of 'seeing' God and being
thereby changed into his likeness - the destiny for which we are made.
Psalm 34. 1 - 10
A psalm in which many images are used for God as our protector and
lord.
Matthew 5: 1 - 12
A well-known film calls this passage the 'beautiful attitudes'. It
is not a bad pun on 'beautitudes' (or 'blessings'), so long as we see
how tough some of the attitudes can be.
- The vision of God is an unfashionable objective: how do you feel
about it?
- Dare we pray for the gift of becoming 'like God'?
- The beatitudes give a full picture of holy life and its rewards
- for our encouragement.
6 November
Third Sunday before Advent
Matthew 25. 1 - 13
The message is that vigilance before God is a vital part of the Christian
life.
- Give thanks for the ever-open invitation of God held towards us.
- Pray for the gift of vigilance in God's service in our daily life.
- May we never lose heart as we watch and pray.
13 November
Remembrance Sunday
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.
Psalm 90 1 - 8, 12
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.
20 November
Christ the King
Ephesians 1. 15 - 23
This is one of the loftiest statements in the New Testament of the
place of Jesus in the saving purposes of God; his triumph over all that
stands against God gives us our secure place in his love.
Psalm 95. 1 - 7a
We are called to worship God whose power is universal.
Matthew 25. 31 - 46
This final parable in the Gospel of Matthew reminds us of the simple
and straightforward duties of care for the needy that bear witness to
our Christian calling.
- Pray for the grace to recognise the majesty and victory of Christ.
- We are glad to be called to worship God, our maker and redeemer.
- Pray for those in need who are in our own circles.
YEAR B BEGINS
27 November
1st Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 64. 1 - 9
The longing for the all-powerful and mysterious God to ' break through'
to us is very deep in the religious spirit. Here it is expressed in
a pure, poetic form.
1 Corinthians 1. 3 - 9
As was common in his day, Paul's letters often open, after the greeting,
with thanksgiving. Here it is offered for the recent conversion to Christ
of his readers, the fruit of his own mission in Corinth as short time
before.
Mark 13. 24 - 37
Here we have a longing for God put in a Christ-centered form, but otherwise
typical of its time. The imagery could not be more dramatic. But vigilance
must be a key Christian quality, readiness for God's good time - is
that any and every time?
- Let attachment to God stir the heart into longing.
- Can we recapture the freshness of Paul's spring-time of faith?
- Being alert for God is a quality to cultivate.
4 December
2nd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 40. 1 - 11
These words were taken up in the Gospels when they write about the role
of John the Baptist as herald for Jesus. In origin they looked to Israel's
return from captivity in Babylon in the 5th century BC; and that in
turn is compared to the release from Egyptian slavery under Moses centuries
before.
2 Peter 3. 8 - 15a
This late New testament writing seeks to preserve a sense of alert expectation
when it is beginning to fade; and the best preparation for God is the
living of an upright life.
Mark 1. 1 - 8
John the Baptist, herald for Jesus, has the good role of introducing
and so beginning to explain who Jesus is and what his role is. John
lives in a way associated with the heroic prophet Elijah, the sign of
a true spokesman for God.
- It is good to see liberation as the constant will of God.
- It takes effort to maintain a sense of expectancy for God - as if
for a loved one.
- Can we too be 'introducers' or heralds for Jesus?
11 December
3rd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 61. 1 - 4, 8 - 11
In a passage used by Jesus in his Nazareth sermon (Luke 4. 16 on), the
prophet paints the new world which God desires for us, with every hurt
and ill done away
1 Thessalonians 5. 26
Paul makes it plain the basic duties placed on the shoulders of those
who await God's fulfilment.
John 1. 6 - 8, 19 - 28
The opening of John's Gospel is chiefly about Christ's person and significance,
but the writer inserts passages about John the Baptist, emphasizing
his secondary yet important role. Perhaps there were followers of the
Baptist who gave him a higher place and needed correcting?
- We need ideals in order to know where to place our efforts and our
hopes.
- Ordinary duties are not exciting but are basic to the rhythm of
our lives.
- Jesus stands as our best and heaven-sent guide to God's character
and purpose.
18 December
4th Sunday of Advent
2. Samuel 7. 1 - 11, 16
David was a nobody without God's choice of him for his purpose. So he
can stand as a picture of Christ's far greater role, centuries later,
with its humble origins.
Romans 16. 25 - 27
Paul's doxology ends his letter on a note of praise and thanksgiving,
and it sums up Christ's role as fulfiller of God's purpose - at long
last.
Luke 1 - 26 - 38
The Annunciation story, endlessly and famously painted, is an amazing
picture of the wonder of God's way of proceeding - all unexpected, calling
on the 'small' of the world as the route to triumph. And Mary. Humbly,
accepts her role.
- Are we happy that God's way is not 'airy-fairy' but rooted in life
and events, time and place?
- We should feel wonder at God's gracious condescension to Mary -
and to each of us in our place.
- The proper Christian response is grateful c0-operation in what is
required of us.
Saturday 24 December
Midnight Mass
Isaiah 9. 2 - 7
The prophet sees the birth of a prince as bringing new hope - the chance
of better things for all. It has always served as an apt picture of
the role of Jesus, 'prince' in a quite different frame of reference.
Titus 2. 11-14
Christ's work, from start to finish, is all one, and its purpose is
neither more nor less than to give us the new life of which we stand
in need.
John 1. 1 - 14
25 December
Christmas Day
Isaiah 9. 2 - 7
The prophet sees the birth of a prince as bringing new hope - the chance
of better things for all. It has always served as an apt picture of
the role of Jesus, 'prince' in a quite different frame of reference.
Titus 2. 11 - 14
Christ's work, from start to finish, is all one, and its purpose is
neither more nor less than to give us the new life of which we stand
in need.
Luke 2. 1 - 14 (15 - 20)
The simplicity of Jesus' birth and the beauty of the story never cease
to arouse our deepest love-and our desire to question the humdrum values
by which we chiefly live.
- The coming of God to us is always an act of sheer wondrous grace.
- Pray to share a new life offered through Christ.
- Can we recapture, as if hearing for the first time, both the simplicity
and the immensity of God's sharing of our life
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