7th Sunday After Trinity 14 July Readings: Amos 7. 7-15; Eph. 1. 3-14; Mk. 6. 14-29 Theme: The Beheading of John the Baptist This is surely one of the most grotesque scenes in the gospels outside of the passion narratives. It is gory and salacious in the extreme. It has been famously depicted in various...
6th Sunday After Trinity, 7 July Theme: Prophetic Teaching Readings: Ezek. 2. 1-5; 2 Cor. 12. 2-10; Mk. 6. 1-13. Today St Mark takes us to the home of Jesus, back to Nazareth. Just like the prophets before him, including Ezekiel as we hear in our first reading today, the prophet will be rejected by...
5th Sunday After Trinity 30 June Readings: Wisdom 1. 13-15; 2. 23-24; 2 Cor. 8. 7-end; Mark 5. 21-end Theme: Health and Healing One of the particular things about Mark’s gospel which has always fascinated those who have studied it is the fact that it ends somewhat up in the air. There are no accounts...
4th Sunday After Trinity, 23 June Readings: Job 38. 1-11; 2 Cor. 6. 1-13; Mark 4. 35-end Theme: Miracles How should we understand miracles? Whether we are reading the Old or the New Testaments we are faced by a series of miraculous events that challenge us to form a view of what we are reading....
Sunday 16 June 3rd After Trinity Readings: Ez. 17. 22-end; 2 Cor. 5. 6-17; Mk. 4. 26-34 Theme: The Mustard Seed Over the coming weeks of ordinary time, we will be reading the gospel of Mark and so today, I would like to mention a few of the key characteristics of this gospel. The first...
9 June, Second after Trinity Readings: Gn. 3. 8-15; 2 Cor. 4. 13-5.1; Mk. 3. 20-end. Theme: Family Life The reflections on family life in the Bible are somewhat complex. On the one hand it is praised to the utmost and on the other, loyalty to it is sometimes seen as compromising one’s loyalty to...
2nd June, First Sunday after Trinity Readings: Deut. 5. 12-15; 2 Cor. 4. 5-12; Mk. 2. 13-3.6 Theme: The Sabbath At this time, we return to what the church calls ‘ordinary time’ in the calendar of our liturgical year. It is a time, when we are not preparing for the great feasts of Easter or...
Trinity Sunday: 26 May 2024 Readings: Isa. 6. 1-8; Rom. 8. 12-17; Jn. 3. 1-17 Theme: The Trinity Trinity Sunday, as we celebrate it today, recapitulates the journey that we have been on during the year. It is the moment in the life of the church, when we stand back and consider the big picture,...
Pentecost: 19 May 2024 Readings: Acts 2. 1-21; Rms. 8. 22-27; Jn. 15. 26-27; 16. 4b-15 Theme: Pentecost This great feast of the sending of the Holy Spirit has its roots in the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Weeks. The harvest festival followed fifty days of celebration, hence the name ‘Pentecost’ which is Greek for...
12 May Easter 7: Ascension Readings: Acts 1. 1-11; Eph. 1. 15-23; Lk. 24. 44-52 Theme: He ascended into Heaven. Today we are celebrating the feast of the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven. It is a major feast in the church (even a public holiday in Germany which was hard fought for by the...
