At Proper 8C, we move as worshipers to the place in Lukeโs narrative where Jesus intentionally moves his ministry out of Galilee in the north to Judea and Jerusalem in the south. The assigned Gospel reading out of Luke 9:51-62 begins, โWhen the days drew near for him to be taken up, [Jesus] set his…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 7C
The Easter season ended very late this year, so we start into the ordinary (numbered) propers after Trinity Sunday at Week 7. In our walk with Jesus in Year C through the Gospel of Luke, we come now to the tail end of our Lordโs Galilean ministry. The assigned Gospel reading from Luke 9:18-24 covers…
Today in the Spirit: Trinity Sunday C
Trinity Sunday C, in particular, might also be called โHoly Trinity Sundayโ or โTrinity Worship Sunday.โ More than in Years A and B, the readings in this cycle take us beyond just references to the three persons or the trinity or trinitarian formulas to adoration of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The…
Today in the Spirit: Pentecost Sunday C (Whitsunday)
โPentecost Sunday already!?โ While this might well be our reaction to the arrival of this feast day on the church calendar every year, we can only imagine how the disciples felt who were ordered by Jesus to go to Jerusalem and wait until you are clothed with power from on highย (Luke 24:49). As they…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 7C (The Sunday After Ascension)
Ascension Day will have passed, and because it is always celebrated on a Thursday, too few of us will have taken notice. For that reason, the BCP 2019 has restored the practice of titling this Sunday the โSunday After Ascension Day,โ suggesting, of course, that some attention will be given to the ascension of Christ…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 6C (Rogation Sunday)
Easter 6 in the BCP 2019 carries the specific title โRogation Sunday.โ The term โRogationโ generally refers to a solemn Sunday. In the context of our liturgical celebration, it is connected with devotions associated with our Lordโs final days on earth (before his ascension). Because of its proximity to Pentecost, originally a harvest festival, Rogation…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 5C
At Easter 5, the church begins to highlight some of the teachings of Jesus in the upper room discourse in John. The assigned Gospel reading out ofย John 13:31-35 in Year C begins that discourse after Judas departs the scene. Directing his attention to the eleven, our Lord says, โNow is the Son of Man…
Today in the Spirit: Easter 4C (Good Shepherd)
Though the Fourth Sunday of Easter contains the same readings in most contemporary three-year lectionaries, only in the BCP 2019 do we find the title โGood Shepherdโ for the week. The Gospel readings across the three-year schedule cover all of John 10 where we find the explicit references to Jesus as the โgood shepherdโ. In…
500 Years of the Holy Communion Lectionary
In this article and its predecessor, โ500 Years of the Daily Office Lectionary,โ Fr. Matthew Brench surveys the development of the lectionaries of the Anglican Prayer Book tradition, especially those of the England, the U.S., and Canada, culminating in the present 2019 Prayer Book of the Anglican Church in North America. Like the Daily Office…
500 Years of the Daily Office Lectionary
In this article and its follow up, “500 Years of the Holy Communion Lectionary,” Fr. Matthew Brench surveys the development of the lectionaries of the Anglican Prayer Book tradition, especially those of the England, the U.S., and Canada, culminating in the present 2019 Prayer Book of the Anglican Church in North America. The Daily Office…