Psalms 80 * 77, (79); Esther 4:4-17 or Judith 7:1-7,19-32; Acts 18:1-11; Luke 1:1-4, 3:1-14We are gifted with long readings today, in the Hebrew Testament choices, in Acts and the selection from Luke. Quite a lot to digest if we chose to read all of them. We leave the Gospel of John behind today and embark on a journey through Luke until we reach Advent (and the new church calendar year).
All of the Gospels have their highs and lows, their attractions and the opposite. If I was forced to pick a "favorite" Gospel, I bounce between picking Mark and Luke: Mark for the starkness of the language, and Luke for the majestic beauty of the arc of the story we are told. This morning, perhaps because I have just read a small portion of it, I would say Luke if forced to pick a favorite.
We begin this journey through Luke today with the preamble and then we jump to John the Baptist's appearance in the wilderness, where he is baptizing and teaching. Teaching us to be generous, to give away possessions we do not need to those who do need them, to provide food to those who are hungry, to not be greedy and to be satisfied with what we have. A teaching for the ages and a good reminder to us this morning.
jfd+
Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment