We continue this Sunday with meditation on Jesus’ teachings on discipleship from Luke. The assigned Gospel reading from Luke 11:1-13 focuses on prayer, including material found in Matthew and two brief parables that appear only in Luke. So, in response to the disciples’ request that Jesus teach them to pray, Jesus responds with the words…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 11C
At Proper 11C, the Gospel reading takes us to another passage unique to Luke, where Jesus teaches on radical discipleship. In Luke 10:38-42, we overhear the conversation between Martha and Jesus after Martha vociferously complains to Jesus that her sister, Mary, should help with the “serving” duties. Jesus defends Mary’s decision to “listen to the…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 10C
At Proper 10C, we come to the gospel narrative in Luke 10:25-37 in which Jesus responds to the test of “a lawyer” who asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (25); and later, “And who is my neighbor?” (28). Our Lord delivers the Parable of the Good Samaritan as a dramatic example of…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 9C
In each of the three years of the lectionary cycle, we are assigned for our worship one account of Jesus sending disciples to engage in ministry on their own: the twelve in Matthew 10 at Year A, Proper 6; the twelve in Mark 9 at Year B, Proper 10; and the seventy-two in Luke 10…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 8C
At Proper 8C, we move as worshipers to the place in Luke’s 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, “When 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 Lord’s 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 “Holy Trinity Sunday” or “Trinity Worship Sunday.” 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: 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 “Sunday After Ascension Day,” 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 “Rogation Sunday.” The term “Rogation” generally refers to a solemn Sunday. In the context of our liturgical celebration, it is connected with devotions associated with our Lord’s 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 of John 13:31-35 in Year C begins that discourse after Judas departs the scene. Directing his attention to the eleven, our Lord says, “Now 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 “Good Shepherd” 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 “good shepherd”. In…
500 Years of the Holy Communion Lectionary
In this article and its predecessor, “500 Years of the Daily Office 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. Like the Daily Office…
