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This Sunday was traditionally known in the Church of England as ‘Stir-up Sunday‘, a phrase derived from the BCP Collect for the last Sunday before Advent, which in turn inspired the making of Christmas pudding (which needs plenty of stirring): Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, … Continue Reading
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for the Second Sunday before Advent in Year C) is Luke 21.5–19, this gospel’s version of what is often called the ‘Little Apocalypse’. As usual, we need to read on to put this text in its context to understand both the text itself and how it compares with its parallels in … Continue Reading
The lectionary reading for the Fourth Sunday before Advent in Year C is the story of Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus in Luke 19.1–10, a story found only in this gospel. Video discussion of the passage can be found here, and is posted at the end. The epistle for this week is the challenging passage of … Continue Reading
In the Fourth Sunday before Advent in Year C, we are starting a short series reading through 2 Thessalonians, and this week’s reading is the whole of Chapter 1. It is a challenging reading, talking of the suffering of the Thessalonians Christians, and their steadfastness as a sign of God’s favour. But it also speaks … Continue Reading
The gospel lectionary reading for the so-called Last Sunday after Trinity in Year C is Luke 18.9–14, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax-collector, and the epistle is 2 Tim 4.6–8 and 16–18. You can see the discussion of the gospel passage here, and of the epistle here, and both are linked below. We … Continue Reading
The Sunday lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 18 in Year C is the Parable of the Unjust Judge and the Persistent Widow from Luke 18.1–8. A surface reading, confirmed by most online comments on it, is that basically we need to be nagging God before he will answer our prayer! But a more careful reading, … Continue Reading
The Sunday lectionary reading for Trinity 16 in Year C is Luke 17.5–10, and it offers some serious challenges to our understanding and practice. (The epistle is 2 Tim 1.1–14, a passage full of fascinating ideas and startling metaphors; you can find the video discussion of that passage here, and video discussion of Luke 17 … Continue Reading
The Sunday lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 14 in Year C is Luke 16.1–13, the so-called Parable of the Unjust Steward (or ‘Dishonest Manager’). (The epistle is 1 Tim 2.1–7, and you can find video discussion of that reading here, and video discussion of Luke 16 here. Both are also posted at the foot of … Continue Reading
The Sunday lectionary gospel for Trinity 13 in Year C is the first two of the three ‘parables of the lost’ in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. We don’t go on to read the third, the parable of the prodigal son, since we read that … Continue Reading
Our epistle reading for Trinity 13 in this Year C is 1 Tim 1.12–17. (It is not clear why the lectionary omits the opening verses of 1 Tim.) There are very good reasons to believe (against some scholarship) that this was indeed written by Paul. His personal testimony matches what we know from elsewhere; the … Continue Reading
In the gospel reading for Trinity 12 in Year C, Luke 14.25–33, we complete our navigation through this section of Jesus’ intermingled teaching and action until we hit the landfall of the ‘parables of the lost’ next week in Luke 15. The double focus on the crowds and discipleship, the drawing together of teaching found … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Associate Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod and Archbishops' Council. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
Andrew Goddard Bible biblical interpretation Biblical literacy biblical theology Christmas Church of England culture discipleship discussion doctrine eschatology evangelism gay General Synod Grove guest Hermeneutics History hope interpretation James Blandford Baker Jesus John's gospel Justin Welby leadership lectionary Luke Luke's gospel Matthew ministry mission New Testament Paul politics power preaching Revelation same sex unions sexuality Teaching theology video Year B Year C
