The Witness: Lectionary Reflections

Proclaiming Gospel Justice: Reflections on the Scriptures and Progressive Spirituality

The Witness is proud to offer a regular series of exegetical pieces on the Sunday readings from the Episcopal/Anglican common lectionary, beginning in Advent 2003 at the start of "Year C" of the church's lectionary. These reflections, authored by noted theologians and justice activists from throughout the international church, are offered for use as resources for sermon preparation and bible study groups. Authors should be attributed, but no official permission is necessary.

We hope you will find this a useful resource for ministry.

Justice for "the Least of These," Salvation for All
Dr. Karen A. Keely examines nineteenth-century freed slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass' use of the Gospel lesson for Pentecost 27 (November 20, 2005), bringing to light ways in which feeding the poor, comforting those who mourn, and striving for freedom for those enslaved is Good News of salvation for all -- the oppressor and the passively complicit bystander as well as the oppressed. [posted 11/13/05]

Seeing God's Mercy
Gawain de Leeuw reflects on the readings for Proper 25 (B), challenging us to see God and God's mercy anew. [posted 10/26/06]

Safe to Serve
Carin Ruff confronts the buffeting whirwind of God's rhetorical questions in Job and the gentler challenge of Jesus' words in our readings for Proper 24 (B) (October 22, 2006) to wrestle with the demands of discipleship. [posted 10/18/06]

What Does Our Discipleship Cost?
Kris Lewis reflects on the readings for Proper 23 (B) (October 15, 2006), seeing in Jesus' exchange with the rich man a profound challenge to us to reflect on what we hold dear that we could let go for the sake of God's kingdom. [posted 10/13/06]

Carrying Each Other as One
In Jesus' words from the readings for Proper 22 (B) (October 8, 2006), Sarah Dylan Breuer sees echoes of the rock band U2's song "One" ("We're one/but we're not the same/we get to carry each other ...") -- and a word to us potentially as liberating as it is challenging. [posted 10/5/06]

Religion Is Dangerous: Handle with Care
Louie Crew reflects on the lectionary readings for Proper 21 (B) (October 1, 2006), finding in them a stern warning against spiritual pride and inhospitality to God's children. [posted 9/28/06]

To Welcome Every Child
Ron Miller reflects on the readings for Proper 20 (B) (September 24, 2006), noting just how challenging Jesus' teaching that "whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me" can be amidst our cultural addiction to competition. [posted 9/21/06]

"Who Do You Say That I Am?"
Tom Woodward examines the readings for Proper 19 (B) (September 17, 2006), challenging us to reach beyond superficial study of scriptural words to encounter the living Christ in our experience with the text. [posted 9/13/06]

The Crumbs Under the Table: Bread Enough for All
Proper 18 (B) (September 10, 2006) brings us a text with some very challenging elements: Jesus scorns a Gentile woman, refusing initially to heal her daughter, referring to Gentiles as "dogs," and restricting his own mission. Karen Keely wrestles with this text and finds Good News in the conclusion that there is an abundance of food and room at the table for everyone in God's Kingdom. [posted 9/3/06]

You Cannot Change What You Do Not Acknowledge
Jesus challenges us in our readings for Proper 17 (B) (September 3, 2006) to relinquish our standards of purity and concentrate on the quality of our relationships -- but, as Rodney Hudgen points out in his reflection on this Sunday's readings, we must find the courage to acknowledge what's holding us back from embracing those different from us. [posted 8/29/06]

Armor for Waging Reconciliation
What place can militaristic images like the "armor of God" in Ephesians 6 have in the Good News of the "Prince of Peace"? Liz Zivanov wrestles with the texts for Proper 16 (B) (August 27, 2006). [posted 8/24/06]

Christ's Body, Wisdom's Table
Winnie Varghese, reflecting on readings for Proper 15(B) (August 20, 2006), suggests that we need to recover the shock of John's language about Jesus' flesh and blood, which "shakes us alive" to respond to the world's needs with God's expansive love. [posted 8/17/06]

Redemption, Not Perfection
The Exodus is a story as much about bitter tears as about liberation -- and yet, Sarah Dylan Breuer argues, as we worship this Sunday with readings for Proper 14 (B) (August 13, 2006) that identify of the journey of all God's people with the Hebrews' exodus from slavery in Egypt, we are invited to experience God's transformation of the world in stories of redemption. [posted 8/9/06]

Leading All of God's People to Freedom
The story of Jesus' Transfiguration can be a strange one to us -- one that at the same time seems irrational and highly constructed. But as Reid Hamilton points out in his reflection on the readings for the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6, 2006), Luke's version in particular highlights a liberating word for all of God's people. [posted 8/2/06]

Jesus and Bathsheba Gather Up the Fragments
Mark Harris sees a common thread in the stories of Bathsheba and Jesus in our readings for Proper 12 (b) (July 30, 2006): both gather fragments from brokenness to find strength for hope and new life. [posted 7/27/06]