Today in the Spirit: Proper 29A (Christ the King)

Posted on November 19, 2023
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The last Sunday in the Pentecost season, and the weekdays following it, mark the end of what liturgical churches call the Paschal (Easter) Cycle of the church year (On Advent 1 Sunday, we begin the Incarnation Cycle). Since the early development of a three-year rota of lectionary readings (since Vatican II), this Sunday has been…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 28A

Posted on November 12, 2023
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We now move to the second of three weeks in a pre-Advent period at the end of the Pentecost season, Year A. The Gospel reading assigned in Matthew 25:14-30 is our Lordโ€™s telling of The Parable of the Talents (also found in Luke 19:12-27, but in a distinct form and different time of Jesusโ€™ ministry)….

Today in the Spirit: Proper 27A

Posted on November 5, 2023
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For us as worshipers, the next few weeks of the Sunday lectionary readings in Pentecost make for a pre-Advent period of preparation before the new church year. The focus of our attention is moved to the theme of right living in readiness for the end times. In Year A, that shift takes place with the…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 26A

Posted on October 29, 2023
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It is in these latter weeks of the season after Pentecost, prior to the pre-Advent presentation of our Lordโ€™s teachings on the end times, that the church assigns the hardest teachings of Jesus on Christian living. Throughout these weeks in Year A, it has been a hard slog through teaching on the theme of hypocrisy,…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 25A

Posted on October 23, 2023
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We continue in the liturgical year through the period leading up to his crucifixion in which Jesus is tested by the religious leaders of Jerusalem. In Year A, we skip the narrative with the query of the Sadducees about marriage at the resurrection (that comes in Year C) and move to the Phariseesโ€™ questioning Jesus…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 24A

Posted on October 15, 2023
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In Year A, we now follow in the footsteps of our Lord to the days in which the religious leaders in Jerusalem sought to trap Jesus in order that they might execute him. We will hear first, out of Matthew 22:15-22, their question to him as to whether it is right to pay taxes to…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 23A

Posted on October 8, 2023
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In Year A, Proper 23 takes us to the third in that series of parables in Matthew delivered by Jesus to the chief priests and the Pharisees in Jerusalem. The Parable of the Wedding Feast, focused on the invitation to and rejection by a first set of privileged guests, highlights the condemnation that results from…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 22A

Posted on October 1, 2023
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In Proper 22A, for a Gospel reading, the Church assigns the second in a series of three parables of Jesus in Matthew addressed to the religious leaders of Jerusalem in the week leading up to the crucifixion. Spoken right after the Parable of the Two Sons assigned last Sunday, the Parable of the Wicked Tenants…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 21A

Posted on September 24, 2023
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Using the assigned readings in Proper 21A, the church takes us forward in Matthew to Jesusโ€™ teaching in the temple after his final entry into Jerusalem. The Gospel reading in Matthew 21:28-32 is the Parable of the Two Sons. Our Lordโ€™s primary purpose in giving this parable (found only in Matthew) is to illustrate the…

Today in the Spirit: Proper 20A

Posted on September 17, 2023
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In our year-long meditation on the revelation of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, the church now moves us forward to a point just before our Lordโ€™s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. According to Matthew, coming out of Galilee for the last time into Judea, Jesus delivers to his disciples the Parable of the Workers in…