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Gerry Lynch writes: Starting in 1972, the animal psychologist Francine Patterson began to teach an infant gorilla named Koko a modified form of American Sign Language. Patterson claimed Koko could sign a thousand words and understand twice that number in English. I remember seeing Koko speaking on children’s programmes when I was a kid, where … Continue Reading
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Trinity Sunday in this Year A is Matt 28.16–20. As with the readings in Years B and C, it is short and compact. (See below for commentary on this, and here for video discussion of it, and here for video discussion of the epistle from 2 Cor 13, both … Continue Reading
The phrase ‘coming on the clouds’ is commonly misread as referring to Jesus’ return at the end of the age—when reading it in context and noticing its source in Daniel 7 paints a very different picture. I have spent the week at Lee Abbey in Devon (if you have not been, you should go!), teaching … Continue Reading
The lectionary New Testament readings for the Pentecost, this coming Sunday, are 1 Corinthians 12.3b-13, Acts 2.1-21, and John 20.19-23—but the first or second reading must be from Acts. So I suspect most churches will read Acts and 1 Corinthians 12. Written commentary on Acts 2 can be found here, and video discussion here. Here … Continue Reading
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Trinity Sunday in this Year C is John 16.12–15. It is another very short reading (four verses) from the ‘farewell discourse’ of Jesus, and I think is actually quite a difficult reading to preach from. Like much of this part of the Fourth Gospel, it is reflective, repeats things … Continue Reading
The lectionary readings in this Year C for Trinity Sunday are John 16.12–15 and Romans 5.1–5, both quite short readings. Western eyes often read Romans 5 in individual terms, but the honour/shame/glory motif needs to be understood corporately. The surprising combination of hope and suffering shows that Paul’s eschatology stands behind this—the future has broken … Continue Reading
The Book of Revelation is the most explicitly Trinitarian book of the New Testament. Amongst its complex cast of characters in the narrative of the text, it presents God (the Father, the ‘one seated on the throne’), Jesus (either named, or presented symbolically as the lamb slain and standing, or the rider on the white … Continue Reading
The lectionary New Testament readings for the coming week, Epiphany 2 in Year C, are 1 Corinthians 12.1-11 and John 2.1-11. For written commentary on John 2 (the wedding at Cana), see here, and for the video discussion of John 2 see here. (The sound quality leaves something to be desired—but the quality of the … Continue Reading
The NT epistle reading for Epiphany 2 in Year C is 1 Cor 12.1–11. Although well-known in some circles, this might be a less familiar reading in others. It appears to be about ‘spiritual gifts’, but Paul redefines the discussion by casting it as teaching about what it means to be spiritual, and roots it … Continue Reading
A little while ago I had a curious discussion with someone online. Commenting on one of the events for Remembrance, I noted that the prayer said by the Christian leader took the form of a general invocation of a deity, but wasn’t actually a Christian prayer. ‘What do you mean by a Christian prayer?’ … Continue Reading
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for Trinity Sunday in this Year A is Matt 28.16–20. As with the readings in Years B and C, it is short and compact. But many will not preach on this passage! For some reason, this is the one Sunday of the year when those preaching feel they should depart … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Associate Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod and Archbishops' Council. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
Andrew Goddard Bible biblical interpretation Biblical literacy biblical theology Christmas Church of England culture discipleship discussion doctrine eschatology evangelism gay General Synod Grove guest Hermeneutics History hope interpretation James Blandford Baker Jesus John's gospel Justin Welby leadership lectionary Luke Luke's gospel Matthew ministry mission New Testament Paul politics preaching Revelation same sex marriage same sex unions sexuality theology video Year A Year B Year C
