Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,the notables of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel resorts! From Amos 6:1,4-7, NRSV The prophet Amos warns those of his time who were living lives of contented luxury whilst others lived in poverty.…
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Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgement. From Ecclesiastes 11:9 -12:8, NRSV In today’s first reading, the writer…
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I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. From Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11,…
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Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’?It has already been, in the ages before us.The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembranceof people yet to come by those who come after them. From Ecclesiastes: 1:2-11, NRSV This message from the author of Ecclesiastes…
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But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the…
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All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. From Proverbs 21:1-6, 10-13, NRSV Today’s passage from the Book of Proverbs leads us to question the motivation for the things we do. Solomon reminds us that God looks deeper…
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Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.Do not say to your neighbour, ‘Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it’—when you have it with you.Do not plan harm against your neighbour who lives trustingly beside you.Do not quarrel with anyone without…
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Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land,saying, ‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain;and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale?We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practise deceit with false balances,buying the poor for…
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But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some…
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If we have hoped in Christ for this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. From 1 Corinthians 15: 12-20, NRSV Although naturalists are finding evidence that some species of animals recognise and, in…
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