Epiphany 1A/Baptism of our Lord

Posted on January 5, 2026 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Jan. 11, 2026 (Epiphany 1A/Baptism of our Lord)

The Baptism of Christ (c.1550), oil painting on panel by Jan van Scorel (1495-1562). Indianapolis Museum of Art (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9

We now turn to the season of Epiphany. Throughout this season that leads to Lent, we will hear the epiphanies, the manifestations that reveal Jesus as Christ and Messiah. Sunday’s readings show us God’s spirit coming down to the people: Justice and righteousness are served, the oppressed are set free, and all is made new again. The readings culminate with Matthew’s account of John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan. In our first reading, Isaiah calls to Israel in exile that God who created all things will choose a servant to lead them. God will put God’s spirit upon this servant and will send them out to bring justice to all the nations.

Psalm: Psalm 29

Think about a severe thunderstorm as we sing Sunday’s Psalm: Whether we huddle in the basement, listening to the radio for news, or venture out onto the porch to watch in fearful awe, we know how it feels to live through a powerful storm. Lightning flashes like fire. Thunder shakes everything. Giant oak trees seem to whirl, and large limbs come crashing down. We may sense God’s power in the frightening storm, but we also feel the comfort that comes with knowing God’s protection and peace.

Second Reading: Acts 10:34-43

At the invitation of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, Peter comes to his house and for the first time begins to evangelize to Gentiles. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter tells Cornelius and his family the good news of Jesus, starting with his baptism by John when God anointed Jesus with power through the Holy Spirit. After this speech, Peter and the apostles baptize Cornelius and all his household, the first Gentile family brought into the new church.

Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17

All four Gospels tell of Jesus coming to John the Baptist, who was baptizing crowds in the Jordan River “for repentance and the forgiveness of sins.” Only in Matthew, however, do we hear what seems an obvious question: Why would Jesus need to repent or be baptized? Jesus should be baptizing John, not the other way around, John says. But Jesus insists, asking John to baptize him “to fulfill all righteousness,” echoing Isaiah’s call to go out in righteousness to be a light to the world and bring justice to all the nations. John agrees, and then we experience a vision of the Trinity on Jordan’s bank as Jesus, the Son, comes up from the water to see the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, while Jesus hears the Creator God declare Jesus the beloved son.

Christmas 2

Posted on December 29, 2025 by Robin Garr

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Jan. 4, 2026 (Christmas 2)

Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1518-1520). Oil painting on panel by Joachim Patinir (1480-1524). Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14

The story of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus seeking refuge in faraway Egypt – one of three Gospels available for our use this Sunday – offers us rich food for thought in our own troubled times, when refugees look for safe places around the world. Our readings for the Second Sunday of Christmas offer comfort for those who put their faith in God while they face fear, poverty, and oppression. As our first reading, we turn to the prophet Jeremiah, speaking to Israel in exile. The people have been forced to migrate to their enemy’s capital, leaving behind the ruins of Jerusalem and the Temple, yet they trust that God one day will lead them back home, turning their sorrow into gladness, their mourning into joy.

Psalm: Psalm 84

In poetic themes and metaphors that closely echo Jeremiah’s verses, the Psalmist offers a hymn of trust and praise in a loving God who will protect the people and lead them back home. God will provide clear water in desolate places, protect them in the heights, and serve as their shield against the burning sun and raging enemy, the Psalmist sings. And, home at last, they will know the joy of worshiping in God’s Temple, lavished with God’s grace and glory.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a

Paul offers the people of the church in Ephesus a promise similar to the one we heard in last week’s reading from Galatians: They – like all of us – are adopted as God’s children through Jesus, and in this way we are freely given God’s grace. Like migrants received with a loving embrace in their new land, the people of God receive a glorious inheritance of great spiritual riches that provides hope.

The Lectionary offers a choice of three Gospels for the Second Sunday of Christmas: Matthew’s account of the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt from King Herod’s wrath; Luke’s story of the boy Jesus in the Temple; and Matthew’s narrative of the visit of the wise men from the East.

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-23

Think about the sad and sometimes terrifying images of refugees that have filled the news in recent years: Parents and their children risk their lives in the long, dangerous journey to El Norte, only to face rejection and deportation. African immigrants drown in capsized ships on the Mediterranean. Life as a refugee can be hard, frightening, sometimes fatal. Now think about Joseph and Mary in Matthew’s Gospel: They are terrified, running away to a foreign land to escape the threat of their own baby’s death at the hands of an angry King Herod. What parents would not go to such an extreme to protect their precious child? And what child, living through such an experience, would not forever remember to care for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger?

Gospel: Luke 2:41-52

The gospels tell us almost nothing about Jesus’s childhood and youth. This intriguing gap is filled by this short, fascinating story that appears only in Luke’s Gospel. Twelve-year-old Jesus disappears while the family is in Jerusalem, to the horror of Joseph and Mary, who find him three days later in the Temple, impressing the elders with his intelligent discussion. The child reassures his frantic parents, declaring that his place is in his “Father’s house,” the Temple. In the next chapter, in Luke’s account of the baptism of the 30-year-old Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan, we will hear the voice of God announce that Jesus is God’s beloved Son.

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

One of the most memorable Christmas stories, told only in Matthew’s Gospel, tells of the Magi, wise men from the East who followed a shining star to Bethlehem, the village that the prophets foretold as the birthplace of the Messiah. Matthew doesn’t actually say that there were three of them, or that they were kings. They came, following the star, the Gospel tells us. They bore gifts. They knelt and paid homage to baby Jesus as if he were a king … and then they thwarted evil Herod’s plan to find and kill the baby by heading home via another road, avoiding a return through Jerusalem.

Christmas 1

Posted on December 26, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Dec. 28, 2025 (Christmas 1)

Saint John the Evangelist (c.1624-1629), oil painting on canvas by Domenico Zampieri (“Domenichino,” 1581-1641). National Gallery, Washington. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 61:10-62:3
The Twelve Days of Christmas continue through the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. It’s hard to resist the feeling that Christmas was over on December 26, though. We’ll return to work Monday, if we didn’t have to go back already; soon we’ll pack the colorful lights, the Christmas gift boxes and the holiday music. Sunday’s reading, from near the end of the book of Isaiah, finds the people getting back to work too. Returned to Jerusalem after years in exile, they rejoice in God’s righteousness as they face the hard work of rebuilding.

Psalm: Psalm 147
One of the half-dozen resounding songs of joy that conclude the book of Psalms, this memorable hymn begins with a mighty “Praise the Lord,” a shout of exultation that the ancient Hebrews sang as “Hallelu-Yah!” We praise the Lord who is near, who heals our hearts and binds our wounds. We praise the mighty far-off God of all creation, too: The Lord of stars and clouds, winds and waters, rain and the growing grass, all the animals and all of us, too. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-25;4:4-7
In his short letter to the Christians of Galatia, a Gentile Christian community in what is nowcentral Turkey, Paul argues in fierce conflict against those who demanded that gentile converts follow the strict requirements of Jewish law. We should be careful, though, not to interpret these words as anti-Jewish or as suggesting that the new covenant abolishes the old. But there is no controversy in Paul’s ringing conclusion to this passage, celebrating our joy in being adopted without restriction as God’s heirs and children through Christ.

Gospel: John 1:1-18
These spiritual and poetic words that begin the Gospel of John are so familiar that we may hear them without deep thought. But let’s stop to pay attention: Surely John had the creation story from Genesis in mind when he began with the very same words, “In the beginning.” Then he goes on to place Jesus, the Word, at the moment of creation, when God uttered the creative word, “Let there be light.” John names John the Baptist as the witness to Jesus’ divinity, and he echoes Paul’s point about Moses giving the Law while Jesus gives grace.

Christmas Day I, II, and III

Posted on December 22, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Christmas Day I, II, and III (Dec. 25, 2025)

(Lectionary Selections I, II, and III are suggested for use for Christmas Eve midnight, Christmas dawn, and the main service on Christmas Day.).

Adoration of the Shepherds (1505-1510), oil painting on panel by Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, known as Giorgione (1478-1510). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Click image to enlarge.)

Christmas Day I

First Reading, Selection I: Isaiah 9:2-7

Christmas has come! We see a great light and sing a new song as we behold with joy in the city of David the birth of a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. In our first reading, we hear words of the prophet Isaiah that would inspire the composer George Frideric Handel in “The Messiah.” The prophet foretells a glorious future when the oppressor’s yoke will be broken and a child will be born for us, a son given to us, a Wonderful Counsellor will take the throne of David: Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Psalm, Selection I: Psalm 96

All the earth sings a new song, blessing God’s name in this joyous psalm of praise. There is fascinating theology here, ideas that we may see reflected in the New Testament: We are called to proclaim the good news of God’s salvation; we are to go out and declare God’s glory, a great commission to show God’s majesty to all the nations. The whole earth, the heavens, the seas, the forests and all that is in them rejoice before our God.

Second Reading, Selection I: Titus 2:11-14

Here’s a Bible trivia fact: Titus is the only book of the New Testament that does not appear in the regular three-year Lectionary of Sunday service readings. We read in it only on Christmas Day. Much of Titus’s short letter is spent warning the people of Crete to rein in their sinful behavior, an instruction that leads to a worthy conclusion: We should live well and renounce bad actions as we wait for the grace of God through Jesus Christ, who gave himself to redeem us and make us God’s people.

Gospel, Selection I: Luke 2:1-14(15-20

Now we come to the familiar Gospel story of Jesus’s birth. On this day we read the nativity according to Luke. We hear the memorable stories of Mary giving birth, wrapping the child in swaddling clothes and laying him in a manger in Bethlehem – the City of David – because there was no room in the inn. Here we have the beautiful scene of baby Jesus and his parents suddenly surrounded by shepherds and their flocks. Angels sing gloriously overhead while the Lord”s angel tells them that the baby is a Savior and the Messiah.

Christmas Day II

First Reading, Selection II: Isaiah 62:6-12

In this reading from Isaiah, the people’s exile is ending. Through the power of God’s strong right hand and mighty arm, they will return to Jerusalem. Prepare the way, build up the highway toward home and clear it of stones, the prophet shouts. No longer shall enemies harvest Zion”s grain and drink its wine. God will bring a glorious future of redemption and salvation that will last until the end of time.

Psalm, Selection II: Psalm 97

God is king, and all creation rejoices. This Psalm praises God in an image of power and might that echoes the fearsome God who led the Israelites through the desert and protected them there, surrounded by clouds, lightning and fire. This psalm shows us a God over all other gods, over all other nations, but it also reveals a God who loves the righteous, provides light for them, and cares for those who live justly.

Second Reading, Selection II: Titus 3:4-7

In this passage, Titus emphasizes that Jesus is God, our savior, the perfect manifestation of goodness and loving-kindness. Jesus saved us not because of any good that we had done, but entirely because he is merciful, giving us God’s grace through baptism by water and the Holy Spirit. Justified by God’s grace, we become heirs to eternal life through Jesus.

Gospel, Selection II: Luke 2:(1-7)8-20

Here again is the familiar Gospel story of Jesus’s birth, the nativity according to Luke. This passage tells us the memorable accounts of Mary giving birth, wrapping the child in swaddling clothes and laying him in a manger in Bethlehem – the City of David – because there was no room in the inn. Here we have the beautiful scene of baby Jesus and his parents suddenly surrounded by shepherds and their flocks. Angels sing gloriously overhead while the Lord”s angel tells them that the baby is a Savior and the Messiah.

Christmas Day III

First Reading, Selection III: Isaiah 52:7-10

Israel’s exile in Babylon is ending in this selection from Isaiah, and God’s messenger brings good news of peace and salvation. When God leads the people back to Zion, the temple on the mountain, Jerusalem, even the ruins of the devastated city will break into song. Such is the joy of God’s return to the holy city: God reigns, the people are comforted, and all the nations shall see the power of God’s holy arm and the salvation that it brings.

Psalm, Selection III: Psalm 98

This Psalm of praise, filled with joyous music, harps, trumpets and horns, calls us to stand up and rejoice. We sing a new song of praise for the victory won by God’s mighty right hand and holy arm. All the nations, not only Israel, shout with joy. Even the sea, the land, the rivers and the hills will rejoice when God comes to judge all the world with righteousness and equity. Lift up your voice! Rejoice and sing!

Second Reading, Selection III: Hebrews 1:1-4,(5-12)

The letter to the Hebrews begins with a beautifully poetic description of Jesus: Chosen as the son of God, he is the perfect reflection of God’s glory, higher even than the angels. Indeed, the author of Hebrews tells us, when Jesus was born into the world, multitudes of angels appeared in the heavens to worship him. Because Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness, his throne is for ever and ever, and God speaks to us no longer through the prophets but through Christ.

Gospel, Selection III: John 1:1-14

There is no nativity story in John’s Gospel. Luke and Matthew, each in their own way, tell us a version of the familiar story of the newborn baby born in Bethlehem. But John introduces us to Jesus in a completely different way: This poetic and spiritual passage celebrates the unimaginable glory of God’s own word becoming flesh and living among us, lighting up the world. The Word that was in the beginning with God, when God said, “Let there be light,” is now, will be, and in God’s time always has been, incarnate as human flesh, Jesus, Messiah, God with us.

Advent 4A

Posted on December 15, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Dec. 21, 2025 (Advent 4A)

The Angel Visiting Joseph in a Dream (c.1628-1645). Oil painting on canvas by Georges du Mesnil de La Tour (1593-1652). Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-16

Christmas is drawing near, and we can all but feel the Incarnation – God becoming human in Jesus, the Messiah – in our readings for the fourth Sunday of Advent. In our first reading, we hear the prophet Isaiah describing the Messiah as a good king, a worthy successor to King David. The prophet warns David’s descendant, King Ahaz of Judah, that his land will soon be conquered; but a child named Immanuel – “God With Us” – will be born to a young woman, and the child will eventually bring good in place of evil.

Psalm: Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18

Psalm 80 is a song of lament over Israel’s exile. This passage recalls the shame and disappointment of a conquered nation. The Psalmist calls on God in a sorrowful voice, asking that the people be spared the divine anger that has left them with “bowls of tears to drink” as their enemies laugh them to scorn. Send a man of God’s right hand, the strong son of man, the Psalmist begs, promising that the people will never again turn from God’s way if only God will save them.

Second Reading: Romans 1:1-7

Paul gets directly to the point as he opens his letter to the young church in Rome, a congregation that he has not met in person but plans to visit soon. He introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus, called to that ministry. He declares that Jesus is the son of God, the descendant of David whom the prophets had foretold. And he assures them that through his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ is Lord, the Son of God. Paul comes to them in Jesus’s name, he assures his mostly Gentile audience, pledging that they, too, are God’s beloved. Having offered these important assurances, Paul finally comes around to a proper formal greeting that customarily might have been the first words of the letter: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent brings us to the brink of Christmas, but first, there’s a bump in the road: Joseph has learned that his young fiancée is pregnant, but not with his child! We can easily imagine how a man in the culture of the ancient Near East might react to such news. But Joseph, a righteous man, decides to end the engagement quietly, without scandal or gossip. Before this can happen, though, an angel appears to Joseph and assures him that Mary is bearing God’s son. In words almost mirroring the Isaiah prophecy, the angel announces, “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.” (The Hebrew word translated as “young woman” in Isaiah now reappears in the New Testament as “virgin” in Greek.)

Advent 3A

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Dec. 14, 2025 (Advent 3A)

Madonna of the Magnificat (1483), tempera painting on panel by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510). Uffizi Gallery, Florence. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 35:1-10

When the Messiah comes, when the Kingdom draws near, those days of glory will be filled with righteousness and justice, joy and abundance, with healing and good news for the poor. We hear this hopeful message through our readings for the third Sunday of Advent, as we light the rose candle in the Advent wreath. This week’s readings shift the focus of Advent from quiet expectation toward anticipatory joy, a change in pitch that many traditionally note by wearing something pink to church. The first reading offers Isaiah’s vision of the people’s return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, a homeward journey when, the prophet foretells, the desert itself shall rejoice and blossom as those who suffer are restored to joy and singing.

Psalm: Psalm 146:4-9

In this passage from Psalm 146 we sing praise for God our creator – the Holy One who made heaven, earth, the seas and all that is in them – as we recognize the happiness of those who have received God’s assistance. The oppressed receive justice from God; God feeds the hungry, sets prisoners free, cares for strangers, orphans and widows, and gives sight to the blind. All this foreshadows the words that Mary will sing in the Magnificat (which is also available as an alternate Psalm on this Sunday); and we hear them echo again in the Gospel, when Jesus describes God’s Kingdom on earth.

Alternate Psalm: Canticle 15 (Luke 1:46-55)

Tradition has come to show us Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a sweet, submissive figure. But the Magnificat, the Song of Mary from Luke’s Gospel, shows a very different Mary: a brave Palestinian teen-ager. Shouting with joy when she first feels the baby Jesus moving within her, she thanks God for this gift, singing about God’s righteousness and justice. Expressing ideas that we will later hear again from Jesus, she sings that God has “scattered the proud … brought down the powerful … lifted up the lowly … filled the hungry with good things … and sent the rich away empty.”

Second Reading: James 5:7-10

This short passage from the Letter of James calls on its beloved audience to be patient and kind to one another as they wait for the eagerly anticipated coming of the Lord, as the farmer waits patiently for the nourishing rains that will bring a precious crop. In context, the preceding verses have warned the rich of coming miseries; all their gold, silver, and rich clothing are as nothing; God has heard the cries of the workers that they have cheated.

Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12

As we read through Matthew’s Gospel in this new Lectionary year, we will hear frequent reminders that Jesus is Messiah, the lord and savior that the prophets foretold. Sunday’s Gospel highlights a conversation between Jesus and messengers from John the Baptist in prison, who ask outright whether Jesus is the Messiah or if they must wait for another. Jesus responds not with a definitive answer but by setting out his priorities, which echo Isaiah’s prophecies and his mother’s song: “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

Advent 2A

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Dec. 7, 2025 (Advent 2A)

Saint John the Baptist Preaching to the Masses in the Wilderness (unknown date); oil painting on oak by Pieter Breughel the Younger (1564-1638). Galerie de Jonckheere, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10

Repent! In our readings for the Second Sunday of Advent, we hear a bold call to repent and wait for the Messiah’s coming. Don’t think of repentance in its modern idea of deep regret and remorse, though. Hear it rather in its ancient sense, signifying “change your mind” in New Testament Greek, or “turn back” in the Hebrew Bible. If we are on the wrong path in our relationships with God and our neighbors, now is the time to turn back and watch for the light of God’s Kingdom. In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah envisions a time when the Messiah – the descendant of King David, whose father was named Jesse – will reign from Zion’s holy mountain. The lion and the lamb will lie down together, peace will reign, and the poor will receive justice.

Psalm: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

Psalm 72, titled “Prayer for Guidance and Support for the King” in the New Revised Standard Edition, may have been originally composed to be sung at a royal coronation. It offers both support and counterpoint to the Isaiah reading. It reiterates the Hebrew Bible’s consistent call for justice and righteousness for all the people, including the poor, the needy, and the oppressed. Jesus surely knew these verses and proclaimed them in his commands to love our neighbors, shun riches, and bring good news to the poor.

Second Reading: Romans 15:4-13

Paul wrote this letter at a time when all of Rome’s Jews, who had been banished to exile for a decade by the Emperor Claudius, were finally able to come back home after the emperor died. But there was new tension in this Roman congregation as returning Jewish Christians rejoined Christian communities that had become entirely Gentile. Paul turns to the Isaiah passage that we heard in the first reading as he calls attention to the Root of Jesse: Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah coming as king over all.

Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12

Now we encounter John, the cousin of Jesus. John has become – as his father, the temple priest Zechariah, foresaw in the canticle that we sang two weeks ago – a great prophet in the spirit of Isaiah and Jeremiah. This is a loud, angry, and startling prophet indeed, dressed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and honey. He insults the Pharisees and Sadducees as “a brood of vipers” as he calls on the people to be baptized in the Jordan River as a sign of repentance from sin. John declares himself the prophet who Isaiah said would cry out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. While he baptizes with water, John declares, the coming Messiah will throw away the old traditions and baptize not just with water but with the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Advent 1A

Posted on November 24, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Nov. 30, 2025 (Advent 1A)

Christ in Glory with Saints (1660-61), oil painting on canvas by Mattia Preti (1613-1699). Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5

It is the First Sunday of Advent, and the circle of the Lectionary year comes around again as we turn from the Gospel of Luke to the Gospel of Matthew for the next 12 months. Advent begins the church year as a time of preparation and expectation for the coming celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. One Advent readings foresee a bright future with the coming of the Messiah and anticipate the signs and wonders of the last days. Our first reading offers verses of poetic beauty as the Prophet Isaiah tells of a renewed Jerusalem and a restored Temple. Zion will be the highest of the mountains, the prophet declares. The Temple will be the center of a world that recognizes it as the house of God. It will be a world of peace, a time when swords have been beaten into plowshares and there is no more war.

Psalm: Psalm 122

Psalm 122, attributed by legend to King David, sings a counterpoint to the Isaiah reading. The Psalm looks toward a glorious future, too: a time of triumph and peace for Jerusalem, the city of God, the throne of the new King David, the Messiah. The house of David will be a city at peace, built on a mountain where all the tribes of Israel go up with gladness to praise God’s name. At David’s throne, the Psalmist exults; all people can expect fair judgment. There the love of God will be rewarded with security, prosperity, and peace.

Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14

We will read from Paul’s letter to the Romans in all but one of the four Sundays of Advent. This would be Paul’s last letter, written some 25 years after the death and resurrection of Christ, introducing himself to the young but growing church in Rome as he prepared to go there. In this passage, Paul exhorts the people to be prepared for the return of Jesus, an event that Christians of that time expected to come very soon. “The night is far gone, the day is near,” Paul assures his flock. To prepare for the coming of that day, he calls on them to “put on the armor of light” by behaving well, living abstemiously, and avoiding quarrels and jealousy.

Gospel: Matthew 24:36-44

Our first passage from Matthew’s Gospel for the new Lectionary year comes not from its beginning, which we will hear at Christmas, but toward its end. We find Jesus talking with the apostles on a hillside on the Mount of Olives, from where they look across a small valley toward the Temple. In preceding verses, Jesus has told them – in words similar to those we heard from Luke two weeks ago – that the Temple will be torn down amid a time of war and great suffering, before the Messiah comes to usher in a new age. Only God knows when the last days will come, Jesus says, just as sinful humans in Noah’s time had no warning of the coming flood. So, Jesus urges them to be ready. Be prepared. Live as if Christ might return at any hour.

Christ the King C

Posted on November 17, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Nov. 23, 2025 (Christ the King C)

Jesus Crucified Between Two Thieves (c.1430), painting on softwood by Hans von Tübingen (1380-1462). Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Both Lectionary Tracks): Jeremiah 23:1-6

The Lectionary year of Luke comes to an end on Sunday, and Jesus’s long journey from Galilee to Jerusalem reaches its end on the cross. Hanging under a sign that sneeringly declares him “King of the Jews,” Jesus is flanked by two criminals and mocked by Roman soldiers. Before we get to this Gospel, though, we hear readings from the prophets, the psalms, and the New Testament letters that imagine the reign of God from King David through to Christ. In this first reading, the prophet Jeremiah speaks fierce words of woe to the leaders of Babylon who were holding Jerusalem and its leaders in exile. A mighty Messiah will come, the prophet foretells, and will reign in glory for Israel and Judah.

Psalm (Track One): Luke 1:68-79 (Canticle 16)

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was a priest in the Temple when God struck him mute for refusing to believe that his elderly wife, Elizabeth, had become pregnant through an angelic visitation. In this canticle based on a passage from Luke’s gospel, his voice returns while he holds and names the infant John. This child, he declares, will be a prophet in the tradition of Abraham and Sarah, who also were blessed with a child in their old age through God’s action. This child, Zechariah proclaims, will be the prophet who will go before Jesus, the Messiah and king, to declare his way.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 46

Even when terrible things happen, God is with us, promises this psalm of simple hope and praise. When frightening things happen, even when earthly kingdoms and nations are shaken by horrifying events; when mountains rock and the oceans roar and foam, God remains with us. God doesn’t promise us a world where horrors can’t happen and no one ever suffers. But even in the worst of times, the Psalmist reminds us, God abides, inviting us to take refuge in God’s strength. Our Prayer for Quiet Confidence (BCP p.832) draws from Psalm 46 as it reminds us, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Second Reading: Colossians 1:11-20

We hear still another message to a people facing trouble and fear in the letter to the Colossians, a persecuted Christian community in what is now Western Turkey, across the Aegean from Greece. These verses urge the Colossians to endure their difficulties with patience and the strength that comes from God’s glorious power. Jesus, through his incarnation as God in human flesh, rescues us from the power of darkness and transfers us into the kingdom of Christ, the author of Colossians assures his flock. Christ is the first of all creation and the head of the body of the church.

Gospel: Luke 23:33-43

It may seem surprising to hear a Gospel about Christ on the cross in November, at the intersection between Pentecost and Advent. But this passage for Christ the King shows us Christ as a completely different kind of king! Jesus is crucified, a horrible form of execution reserved for Rome’s most despised evildoers. He hangs bleeding and in unimaginable pain, while above him is placed a sign meant to mock him by declaring him King of the Jews. Soldiers and a criminal on a nearby cross torment him as a Messiah who can’t save himself. Yet while all this is going on, Jesus shows his love and his true power, quietly inviting a repentant criminal on a cross at his side into a different kind of kingdom, one given for all humanity and for all time.

Pentecost 23C

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Robin Garr

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Nov. 16, 2025 (Pentecost 23C/Proper 28)

Zerstörung Jerusalems durch Titus (The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, 1846), oil painting on canvas by Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1805-1874). Neue Pinakothek, Munich. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Isaiah 65:17-25

We are approaching the end of the long season after Pentecost. Next week we’ll celebrate the feast of Christ the King, and then we’ll move into Advent and a new Lectionary year. This first reading is taken from the closing verses of the book of Isaiah. The people have endured the loss of Jerusalem and the temple, spent years in exile, and have finally returned to the shattered city to begin the arduous task of rebuilding. Now the prophet celebrates God’s plan for a new Jerusalem, a joy and a delight. It will be a city with no weeping, no distress … no death in childbirth, no pain … joyous lives of 100 years of youthful strength! And, at the end, the prophet proclaims, it will be a holy place of peace, where the lion and the lamb rest together and none shall hurt or destroy.

First Reading (Track Two): Malachi 4:1-2a

The short book of Malachi, the last of the twelve minor prophets, occupies the final pages of the Hebrew Bible. The prophet, whose name in Hebrew means “Messenger,” speaks of a people newly returned from exile, foretelling that the great day of the Lord is coming. In language similar in tone to the apocalyptic language of the day’s Gospel, the prophet warns that God will separate evildoers from the righteous and destroy them. But those who revere God’s name will have healing and joy, “leaping like calves from the stall.”

Psalm (Track One): Isaiah 12:2-6 (Canticle 9)

In place of a traditional Psalm, we have these verses from Isaiah that are repeated as Canticle 9 in the Book of Common Prayer, “The First Song of Isaiah.” In this passage, which we also read in Morning Prayer, the prophet warns that hard times lie ahead for the people of Israel. They face exile in Babylon, but the prophet assures them that God will remain with them. Even in threatening times, even when they feel frightened and vulnerable, God will be their stronghold and sure defense.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 98

In harmony with the prophet Malachi’s vision of God as a righteous healer, this Psalm alternative envisions God as a fair and just judge of the world and all its people. When God comes to judge the earth, the Psalmist foretells, we will sing a new song, lift up our voices, and express our joy so abundantly that even the sea, the lands, the rivers, and the hills will jump up and join the celebration. Then God’s righteousness will be known to all the nations.

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

“Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” This harsh judgment is too often echoed in modern times, shorn of its context. We hear it even now amid the government shutdown and loss of SNAP benefits. The original context of this letter, though – written in Paul’s name in a time of Roman persecution – insists that all the Christians in Thessalonica get up and do their share in an existential battle against an immediate challenge. Slacking would have been unfair and corrosive to a group that lived in community. But in no way does this late letter negate Jesus’s command to give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, or any of the other ways in which we are called to show love to our neighbors.

Gospel: Luke 21:5-19

Luke wrote this scary forecast of war and destruction for a primarily Gentile audience some 70 years after the Crucifixion and 30 years after the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. He is telling the searing story of an actual event – the fall of the Temple – framing it as a lesson that Jesus taught his apostles during the week of his passion and death. This passage follows a series of arguments with Pharisees and Sadducees that we have heard on recent Sundays. It bears a truth as meaningful for us as it was for persecuted Christians in Luke’s own time: God is with us. Even when we’re betrayed, scorned, hated, and hurt, “By our endurance we will gain our souls.”