Holy Textures is my attempt to provide a spot for my musings on the various Biblical texts that come our way through the Revised Common Lectionary. My goal is to provide timely, short, easy to use and faith-provoking background commentary for your sermon or bible study preparation.
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Lots of fabulous texts from Luke in Year C. May your preaching be a source of life for you - and subsequently also for your people - in this Season of Pentecost.
Year C - Season of Pentecost - 2013
Pentecost Sunday
May 19, 2013
Acts 2:1-21
"We might all hear the same words - each in our own language - but we will not all hear and understand exactly the same meaning. The problem with life, and faith, and following Jesus is always: What does this mean?"
John 14:8-17, (25-27)
"Those who are bonded into Jesus will know a Truthful Spirit who will (Verse 26): 'Teach you everything; and remind you of all that I have said to you.' We, who like Philip, have been with Jesus all this time, and still do not know him, should receive this promise with great joy and thanksgiving at Jesus' generosity. We have not been left alone."
Trinity Sunday
May 26, 2013
John 16:12-15
"We need to hear this brief section from Chapter 16, not as Jesus giving a lecture on the doctrine of the Trinity, but as a personally intense commitment of abiding, continuing, present love / loyalty / protection / guidance / bonding with his followers then - and now - and always."
Pentecost 2
June 2, 2013
Luke 7:1-10
"It is crucial for our understanding of the Good News to recognize that "Good News" is not just a proclamation. It is also a response. It requires not only a Jesus, but also a centurion to be realized. And the centurion is both the model and the challenge for you and me."
Pentecost 3
June 9, 2013
Luke 7:11-17
"I'm left wondering how often I prefer being dead to being obedient. I wonder how many times, Jesus' command to, "Rise," has fallen on deaf ears?"
Pentecost 4
June 16, 2013
Luke 7:36--8:3
"Just as the host is thinking to himself, 'Doesn't Jesus know what sort of person this woman is?' Jesus tells a story to make plain that he does indeed know what sort of woman she is, and more than that, knows what sort of person his host is as well. Ouch."
Pentecost 5
June 23, 2013
Luke 8:26-39
"The name 'Legion' has a double meaning. Literally, it means, 'Many, thousands, multitudes.' But it also alludes to the occupying Roman soldier legions which numbered 3,000 to 6,000 each. Many Israelites felt the Roman legions were another form of demonic occupation."
Pentecost 6
June 30, 2013
Luke 9:51-62
"I'm hoping Jesus is saying: Make sure that following me is what guides all that you do. Don't put me aside to go bury your father; make following me guide you as you bury your father. ... I admit my hope is but a poor scrap of what Jesus has actually said, but I remember a time when even a scrap was good enough for Jesus to grant a woman's heart-felt desire."
Pentecost 7
July 7, 2013
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
"The joy in following Jesus is NOT in the results; the joy is in our relationship with him."
Pentecost 8
July 14, 2013
Luke 10:25-37
"Having created the impossible-possibility of a despised no-body doing what is needed to inherit eternal life, ... presents a double challenge. First. To be able to see someone we despise as being able to do what God desires. Second. To imagine ourselves lying left-for-dead in a ditch and being aided by such a one."
Pentecost 9
July 21, 2013
Luke 10:38-42
"If we really do desire that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, then we need to ask, 'Who is doing the chores in heaven?' And if the answer is, 'No one,' then the second best answer for here on earth would be, 'Everyone.'"
Pentecost 10
July 28, 2013
Luke 11:1-13
"Up till this point who has said anything about asking for the Holy Spirit? Up till now, it's all been about bread and forgiveness and not being tested and asking and seeking and knocking. But now all of a sudden it's about the Holy Spirit. What are we to make of this?"
Pentecost 11
August 4, 2013
Luke 12:13-21
"While Jesus does not ALWAYS attack wealth, this parable is reflective a consistent theme of his teachings: Possessions distract us from true wealth; from what is rich in the eyes of God."
Pentecost 12
August 11, 2013
Luke 12:32-40
"Wow. God, for no other reason than it simply pleases God - delights God - for this reason alone - God gives us the kingdom. No worries. So get over all your anxiety, guilt, shame, unworthiness, wretchedness, etc., etc. You don't deserve it, but God is giving it to you anyway."
Pentecost 13
August 18, 2013
Luke 12:49-56
"It is difficult to over-emphasize how revolutionary Jesus is being in stressing loyalty to him - and kinship with those who are also loyal to him - over family."
Pentecost 14
August 25, 2013
Luke 13:10-17
"This lesson invites all of us who seek to follow Jesus today to ponder the ways in which our own rules, customs, and habits of what is right and proper have in fact become "Bad News" for the poor, the blind, and the oppressed - and to break those bonds so that we might ourselves be proclaimers of Good News of release, recovery, and freedom."
Pentecost 15
September 1, 2013
Luke 14:1, 7-14
"This is what Jesus is teaching / proclaiming here. What does it look like for those with higher status / honour / privilege to live the year of the Lord's favour?"
Pentecost 16
September 8, 2013
Luke 14:25-33
"So at a minimum these sayings of Jesus ought to draw us up short. Cause us to reflect how much the choices we have already made are costing us - and our planet; and to consider whether the costs of following Jesus might be a better investment."
Pentecost 17
September 15, 2013
Luke 15:1-10
"There may indeed be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, but the parables are more about the joy to be had on earth from hearing the good news of the extravagant God who risks all to search for each one of us personally, individually - joyfully."
Pentecost 18
September 22, 2013
Luke 16:1-13
"These wisdom sayings are ... advising us to deal astutely with this world fully as it is, on its own terms, but also knowing full well that it is temporary and failing. We are to reach through this passing world to embrace the coming world of God's kingdom."
Pentecost 19
September 29, 2013
Luke 16:19-31
"A reversal at the outset of the story is that the beggar is given a name and the rich man is not. That single fact ought to alert us that the story we are about to hear is going have surprises in it."
Note: First Sunday in October (1 to 7) is Worldwide Communion Sunday.
Pentecost 20
October 6, 2013
Luke 17:5-10
"Instead of assuming that Jesus is promising that if our faith is big enough we will be able to do miracles, let's wonder if Jesus isn't chastising us for thinking in the first place that faith / trust comes in sizes."
Note: Thanksgiving Day in Canada is Second Monday in October (8 to 14)
Thanksgiving Sunday is October 7 to 13 Inclusive.
Canadian Thanksgiving Sunday
October 13, 2013
John 6:25-35
"The challenge for us is to SEE which things perish and which things endure, and to embed ourselves - to abide in, to focus our living on - the things that endure. Because only the things that endure truly satisfy, and only the things that endure bring true life."
Pentecost 21
October 13, 2013
Luke 17:11-19
"The 9 who do not return are the ones who do what is expected of a leper who has been cured. But they do what is expected because they CAN do what is expected - they are Galileans, they can go and see a priest. The Samaritan cannot."
Pentecost 22
October 20, 2013
Luke 18:1-8
"While God's response is always immediate that justice be done, the actual realization of God's response is not necessarily immediate because justice has to be done justly, and with the willing cooperation of all concerned."
Pentecost 23
October 27, 2013
Luke 18:9-14
"The bumper sticker we all should have on our cars is: 'God loves you, so start living this love (and stop being a jerk).' This is the transformation the tax collector experiences in this parable."
All Saints Day
November 1
or the First Sunday in November (1 to 7)
November 3, 2013
Luke 6:20-31
"This is a great text to preach as a high calling to the character of Christian community. Preaching it as pre-conditions for being resurrected - that would be a mistake. Preaching it as a calling to live as those who have been raised from the dead - that would be a blessing."
Pentecost 24
November 3, 2013
Luke 19:1-10
"One possible moral of this story is to realize that salvation does not require, nor result in, perfection. Salvation in this lifetime is a process - the healing and reconciling that is needed for creating right relationships within which compromised, impure, and sinful people - like us - can live within, in response to, and toward, the realm of God."
Pentecost 25
November 10, 2013
Luke 20:27-38
"Remember, in a couple of days, 'resurrection' is going to be a life and death question for Jesus - not merely an interesting question for discussion and debate. If your life depended on it, what would you say about resurrection?."
Pentecost 26
November 17, 2013
Luke 21:5-19
"Jesus doesn't promise us an easy life. Instead, he tells us the truth. And he promises us that the truth will set us free. I wonder how the words of today's passage have been true and freeing for us?"
Christ The King or Reign of Christ Sunday
Last Sunday of Season of Pentecost
November 24, 2013
Luke 23:33-43
"What sort of Saviour can't even save himself? 'IF you are the Messiah...?' The word 'if' gets us thinking - or rather doubting. It shifts us from relating with Jesus to reasoning about him; from love to logic; from our hearts to our heads. But salvation is not about changing bad circumstances to good ones - coming down off a cross. Salvation is knowing and trusting without a shred of doubt, without a second's hesitation that we abide in God's love - no matter what the circumstances - even on a cross."
Note: Thanksgiving Day in USA is Fourth Thursday in November (22 to 28)
USA Thanksgiving Sunday is November 18 to 24 Inclusive.
USA Thanksgiving Sunday
November 24, 2013
John 6:25-35
"The challenge for us is to SEE which things perish and which things endure, and to embed ourselves - to abide in, to focus our living on - the things that endure. Because only the things that endure truly satisfy, and only the things that endure bring true life."
