Visit Greece in the footsteps of St Paul in April 2027
PLEASE NOTE: This trip is now fully booked! If you would like to be on a waiting list for our future trips to Greece (likely April 2028), Turkey (September 2028) or Israel, please email Steve Upton at at [email protected] I am planning to lead a study trip to Greece in the footsteps of St Paul, from Tuesday 20th to Thursday 29th April 2027 inclusive visiting Thessaloniki, Philippi, Berea, Meteroa, Delphi, Corinth, and Athens. It is a great time of year to go, as the weather is warm but not too hot, the sites are less busy, and for those in…
Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
On this page, you can find an index to all the commentary articles on the gospel lectionary readings for the whole of Year A, together with links to the video discussions between Ian and James. The articles will be reposted with updates during the year—but they are listed here for convenience and planning ahead.
The intermix of good and evil in the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13
The lectionary gospel reading for the Trinity 7 in Year A once more splits up a text in order to unite a parable and its interpretation by Jesus, though with less damage than was done previously. The parable itself is given in Matthew 13.24–30; we then skip over the brief parables of the mustard seed and yeast (to which we will come next week), and a Matthean explanation of Jesus’ use of parables as ‘fulfilment’; and we return to Jesus’ explanation of the parable in Matt 13.36–43. (The epistle is the wonderful Romans 8.1–11; you can see James and Ian…
The conversion practices draft bill: right and helpful or fatally flawed?
Mark Bratton writes: The long-awaited draft Bill on conversion practices (‘the draft’), recently released for pre-legislative parliamentary review, is fundamentally flawed. According to the Preamble, the draft aims, among other…
How does our worldview shape our attitude to sexuality?
Andrew Bunt has just brought out a new book, Getting God’s Perspective: A Short Christian Introduction to Worldviews, Sexuality and Gender, and I had the chance to ask him about…
The paradox of Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11
The gospel lectionary reading for Trinity 5 in this Year A is another odd selection of verses, Matthew 11.16–19 and 25–30. It is yet one more occasion where we could…
The power of sin in Romans 7 video discussion
Romans 7.15–25a is the epistle for Trinity 5 in Year A, and includes the famous ‘I’-passage over which there has been much debate. Is Paul speaking in the first person…
How often did Jesus visit Jerusalem? Why does this matter?
One of the obvious differences in chronology between John’s gospel and the ‘Synoptics’ (Matthew, Mark and Luke) is that John gives an account of Jesus in Jerusalem on five different…
The Church of England’s problem with antisemitism
This week, the Archbishop of Canterbury is visiting Israel/Palestine and meeting with Palestinian Christians there, who have made a plea for churches in the West to support them and campaign…
The disciples are the presence of Jesus in the world in Matthew 10
The gospel read for Trinity 4 in Year A of Matt 10.40–42 is perhaps the strangest choice in the whole lectionary—at only three verses! (The lectionary epistle is Romans 6.12–23;…
Not under law but under grace in Romans 6 video discussion
For Trinity 4 we continue reading in Romans 6. Paul continues to anticipate objections to his radical claims about the freedom that we now have in Christ. To do so,…
Why we need to be reading printed Bibles
It’s not uncommon in churches, when the time comes for the Bible reading, to see people reach not for a printed pew Bible, but for their phones, to read the…
Thinking Christianly about smart phones
The Government’s proposed ‘ban’ on smart phones raises some vital issues about how as Christians we think about technology. What is actually at issue here? There are questions of young…
