Moving ahead to Proper 13C, the church assigns the parable of the rich fool from Luke 12:13-21 as the central reading in our worship. This parable, found only in Luke, is our Lord’s response to an unnamed man in a crowd demanding that he settle an inheritance dispute with a brother. The story of a…
Today in the Spirit: Proper 12C
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…
Green is for Growth: The Color of Ordinary Time
In most Anglican churches, you will see the color green during the season of Ordinary Time. It appears in green clergy vestments, in green fabrics on the altar and pulpit, and sometimes in green hangings or other adornments. You might even choose to wear green on occasion (no obligation to do so!). This green represents…
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…
Announcing The Liturgical Home: Ordinary Time
Anglican Compass is proud to announce the publication of Ashley Tumlin Wallace’s latest book, The Liturgical Home: Ordinary Time. In it, she continues her series of books and articles walking us through what it looks like to live out the seasons of the Church Year as a family. Check it out now exclusively on Amazon….
10 Ways to Preach the Christ the King Sermon
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and…
St. Oswald: the Evangelist King
After a period of embracing Christianity, people in Northumbria returned to the Pagan beliefs they held before the gospel first reached the British shores. It would take a young Christian king returning from exile with a zeal for evangelism to begin a revival of faith that would last for centuries.
Today in the Spirit: Proper 11B
This Sunday, in Proper 11B, we continue our liturgical walk with Jesus in Mark’s account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. This is one of the few pre-Crucifixion incidents in Jesus’ ministry that appears in all four Gospels, and in Year B of the lectionary, it is scheduled so that we hear it twice…
