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Luke 3:7-18
Advent 3C
Comments and Observations: Well what did you expect John would say? His preaching was getting through to the people. Big time. His “in your face” approach to getting a message of repentance across was succeeding and before you knew it, John’s got people of all sorts asking “What should we do?” And in response to…
Philippians 4:4-7
Advent 3C
Comments, Observations, and Questions Growing up in a family of modest means, I learned early the value of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. We couldn’t afford the real thing, those lovely complete books, so we read those abbreviated and edited versions of bestsellers and classics. They were very helpful, though not nearly as graceful as the…
Luke 1:68-79
Advent 2C
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Has the Lectionary lost its way already on the second Sunday of the church year? The “psalm” the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday is, after all, not actually a psalm, but the song that Zechariah sings at his son’s birth. He was, of course, an elderly priest who was…
Luke 3:1-6
Advent 2C
Comments, Questions, and Observations I just love Luke. The man has style. And he displays that style in narrative after narrative in his Gospel and in his sequel, The Book of Acts. Tradition has it Luke was a doctor. He clearly came mighty close to missing his calling. Thankfully, the Spirit used Luke’s considerable literary…
Philippians 1:3-11
Advent 2C
Comments, Observations, and Questions Of the four lectionary readings for this Second Sunday of Advent, this passage from Philippians gives the lightest and least obvious perspective on Advent. I say, least obvious, because apart from the two references to “the day of Christ,” there’s no clear Advent character to Paul’s words. These two references occur…
Luke 21:25-36
Advent 1C
Comments and Observations For Luke “as it was in the beginning” might be a good slogan to encapsulate his Gospel’s conclusion. Because when Luke began, we heard a lot of very dramatic rhetoric as to what the coming of the Messiah would entail. Even the Virgin Mary’s song in Luke 1—the Magnificat—is filled with violent…
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Advent 1C
Comments and Observations We would never guess that this reading is an Advent text, until we come to the last words of verse 13, where the coming (Greek, parousia) of the Lord Jesus is mentioned. Before that word, everything is very commonplace. Paul is writing about everyday life, particularly about the love he has for…
John 18:33-37
Proper 29B
Comments and Observations: He doesn’t look like a king. More like a car accident victim. Or someone who went one too many rounds with Rocky Balboa in the boxing ring. Whether you call this last Sunday before Advent “Christ the King Sunday” or “Reign of Christ Sunday,” there is a kind of delicious irony to…
Revelation 1:4-8
Proper 29B
Comments and Observations We have spent an entire year following the ministry of Christ and learning what it means to be followers of that Christ. Now, on this last Sunday of the liturgical year, as we celebrate the Reign of Christ, our reading from Revelation 1 brings us face to face with Christ the King. …
Mark 13:1-8
Proper 28B
Comments and Observations We don’t mean to do it. But sometimes out of sheer distraction, we do it anyway. Your own precious child comes up to you and is excited to show you something and . . . you brush the child aside. “Not now please” or “Can you just be quiet for a bit?”…
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