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Today in the Spirit: Proper 23B

Posted on October 6, 2024
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When it comes to assigning accounts of Jesusโ€™ ministry that appear in all three Gospels, as a rule, we find that the church most often chooses Markโ€™s version for placement in Year B. This is probably because so much of the rich material unique to Matthew or Luke must be included in the Year A…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 22B

Posted on September 30, 2024
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In Mark 10:2-16, the assigned Gospel reading for Proper 22B, Mark (and Matthew) has placed back-to-back Jesusโ€™ teachings on marriage and divorce and receiving the kingdom of God like a child as the first teachings he delivers on the road to Jerusalem. In the region of Perea, east of the Jordan, we find Jesus responding…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 21B

Posted on September 22, 2024
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The readings in Proper 21B come around Markโ€™s recording of Jesusโ€™ final teachings to his disciples in Galilee prior to his departure for Jerusalem. The appointed Gospel reading out of Mark 9:38-48 begins with our Lordโ€™s response to John, who had reported the twelve attempted to stop a man from casting out demons in Jesusโ€™…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 20B

Posted on September 15, 2024
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At Proper 20B, we continue following Jesus (in Mark) in the last year of his ministry. It is obvious by Markโ€™s ordering of events and dialogue that Jesus is communicating his hardest teaching to his disciples in preparation for his departure. The Church assigns Mark 9:30-37, the narrative following last weekโ€™s Gospel reading. In it,…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 19B

Posted on September 8, 2024
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At Proper 19B, the church moves forward the last year of Jesusโ€™ ministry (two chapters ahead in the Gospel of Mark) to an incident immediately following the Transfiguration. Mark 9:14-29 tells the story of Jesusโ€™ healing a boy with an evil spirit, a deed his disciples (those who did not climb the mountain) could not…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 18B

Posted on September 1, 2024
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Coming to Proper 18B in the lectionary, we find Jesus and his disciples (in Markโ€™s Gospel) at the beginning of an eventful trek away from Galilee in the region of Decapolis, east of the Jordan River. There, according to the assigned Gospel reading from Mark 7:31-37, Jesus heals a deaf and mute man. In response,…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 17B

Posted on August 25, 2024
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At the end of the series of Gospel readings from John 6 just completed, we received the hint that Jesus had returned to Capernaum (see Jn. 6:59). This week at Proper 17B, we return to the Gospel of Mark, where the assigned Gospel reading from Mark 7:1-23 records Jesusโ€™ address to Pharisees and teachers of…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 16B

Posted on August 18, 2024
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At Proper 16B, still following Jesus in his ministry in Galilee, we come to the assigned Gospel reading from John 6:60-69, where Jesus delivers a rebuke to his disciples (not the Twelve) concerning their stubborn hearts. Having finished with the unbelieving Jews, our Lord finds many of his supposed followers also grumbling about the expectations…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 15B

Posted on August 11, 2024
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The basis for the readings selected for Proper 15B (except for the NT reading from Ephesians, which continues its own course) is the forceful determination with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks into the teeth of opposition by those John the Evangelist calls the Jews. The appointed Gospel reading from John 6:53-59 gives us the last…

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Today in the Spirit: Proper 14B

Posted on August 4, 2024
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In this next week of the Pentecost season, following the Proper 14B schedule of readings, we dig deeper into our meditation on Jesus as the bread of life. The assigned Gospel reading out of John 6:37-51 takes us to the next phase of our Lordโ€™s conversation with the Jews who refuse to believe what he…