New Liturgical Season

The Bible readings we have on Sundays are not arbitrary, they come to us according to a plan. They carry the themes of liturgical seasons. We have a three-year cycle: Years A, B, and C. The upcoming First Sunday of Advent is our day to shift from Year B to C. Whereas we have been getting our gospel passages principally from Mark, we will move through the Gospel According to Luke over the next twelve months.

Using a lectionary system, with assigned Bible lessons through the year, exposes us to more of the Bible. We, as always will hear passages from all across the Old Testament and across the span of the New Testament epistles. We hear from John’s Gospel through the season of Easter and a few other spots every year. Most Sundays this liturgical year we will hear from Luke. 

This is extra minutiae, but since we are a rare parish that offers  Morning and Evening Prayer every Day I will add this. We use assigned “lections” from the two-year cycle of the daily Office Lectionary (Book of Common Prayer, pp. 933-1001). Sunday we move from Year One to Year Two. This schedule of reading nearly covers the whole Bible through the two-year cycle.

Back to Luke: this Gospel has some unique features. He is a remarkable storyteller. From Luke come speeches from some of the figures. These have been turned into canticles, praises set to music for Morning and Evening Prayer. The Song of Mary or Magnificat, the Song of Simeon, or Nunc dimittis, the Song of Zechariah all come from Luke. The Prodigal Son parable and Christmas story with shepherds and angels are also only in Luke. There is a thread of Jesus as the Savior who cares for the poor and lowly that is accentuated in this Gospel. 

I look forward to our renewed attention to Luke’s Gospel now through 2022, in “Year C”. In it we will find a storyteller who conveys the strong story of how God powerfully moves along divine initiatives even through figures who in the world’s view look small and powerless. Where God is involved, the wondrous saving work of love surprises us and takes hold.