Commentary on Sunday's Readings written by Olivia Lee August 1:  10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 107:1-9,43;Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 12:13-21 It is so easy to be lured by what those around us are doing or saying, to lose our enthusiasm for the ‘pilgrim ways’—‘building up again those things that we tore down’. As the redeemed people of God, we need to continually examine the way we are living, asking God to create us anew in His image. “O Lord, take not Your Holy Spirit from us.” July 25:  9th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 85; Colossians 2:6-19; Luke 11:1-13. In to-day’s readings, we are told of the blessings that flow from putting our trust in Jesus.  Ours is a "share in the fullness of Christ".  But we need to ask, even to ask with persistence. God longs to pour out His Spirit on "those who ask Him". Can we ask for anything more? July 18:  8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42. We ignore God at our peril. Created to know God and to draw our life from Him,  we will be held accountable for our relationship with Him and for our treatment of others. As we allow Christ to live His life in us, we become fully the people God has created us to be. This is “the mystery of Christ in you".  July 11:  7th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 82; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37. As we grow in our knowledge of God's will, we come to understand that His will is that all may come to know Him and to know His redemptive, transforming love through the lives of His followers, living in the power of His enabling Spirit.  As Jesus said about the Good Samaritan, "Then go and do the same". July  4:  6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 30: Galatians 6:1-16; Luke 10:1-11,16-20. We who have known God’s healing grace have exciting news to bring a searching world: “The reign of God is at hand!"  But Jesus instructs His disciples to draw close to those they would reach, listen to them, bring to them His healing presence, be willing to ‘bear their burdens’ and to be His living presence. June 27:  5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 77:1,2,11-20; Galatians 5:1,13-25; Luke 9:51-62. We recoil from feeling helpless and rejected.  We long to see God act with power. But Jesus has shown us that the way to wholeness is through compassion, forgiveness and service. God offers us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live in this way and thus experience a first taste of the Kingdom of God. June 20:  4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalms 42 and 43; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39. Jesus sets new priorities of inclusiveness that secular society may find uncomfortable. Attacking the evils of society can leave us feeling very much alone, as we to set out in faith, trusting in the new thing He is doing. Like the psalmist we can only  cling to the expectation that we shall "again be thanking God in the presence of our Saviour and our God". June 13:  3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 5:1-8; Galatians 2:15-21; Luke 12:41-48. Sin separates us from God but through faith in Christ we are put right with God. Through faith in Jesus, the Spirit of God indwells us to build us up in holiness until we can say with St. Paul, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”. It is a strenuous pilgrimmage and much will be required of the one entrusted with much, but turning back nullifies the grace of God. June 6:  2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 146; Galatians 1:11-24; Luke 7:11-17; I Peter 2:4-10; John 17:6-19. God’s gift of eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus brings new life to the oppressed, to the distressed, to the grieving and to the sinner.  God grant us grace to receive that gift that, sharing in Jesus’ joy, we might be drawn into a oneness, and built up into a spiritual house to proclaim God’s saving grace to a needy world. May 30:  Trinity Sunday Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15. God speaks to us through the natural world of His creativity and His majesty, until we wonder, 'What is man, that God should be mindful of him?'  But, in the fullness of His love, God sent His only Son, to draw us into the same fellowship that He shares with the Son.  This love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  Thanks be to God! May 23:  The Day of Pentecost Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-37; John 14:8-17.                   The wonder of Pentecost is that all were able to hear the same message. Superseding all language and culture, God's Holy Spirit was drawing His people into a oneness in the Spirit.  Significantly, on the Day of Pentecost, the believers were "gathered in one place".  As we cling to our separate spaces and ways, we experience only diversity.  Food for thought.  May 16: The Ascension of the Lord Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 93; Mark 16:9-16, 19,20 Saul thought he was persecuting apostates of the Jewish faith, only to discover he was persecuting the risen, glorified Jesus. When we allow our own understanding to determine our beliefs, our hearts become ‘hardened’ to God’s truth and we condemn ourselves. May 9:  6th Sunday of Easter Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67;  John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9. Seeking ‘a place of prayer’ Paul and Silas ventured outside the city where they were able to bring the light of God’s truth to the women gathered there by the river. Their message was one that not everyone is ready to receive and Jesus' question to the man at the pool of Bethesda has echoed down through the ages:  "Do you want to be healed?" Do you want to be inwardly whole? May 2:  5th Sunday of Easter Acts 11:1-18; Hebrews 10:1-14; Psalm 148; John 13:31-35. In his Easter victory, God has "made all things new". No longer are we governed by religious rules but by our relationship to Jesus.  Holding fast to this relationship brings all other relationships into a right focus and we are enabled to live the new commandment:  "Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other". April 25:  4th Sunday of Easter Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30. The power of Jesus' resurrection infuses to-day's readings--His power to heal, His power to be present to His people and to succour them under every circumstance and, above all, His victory over death.  Yet even those who witnessed His deeds first-hand, afraid or unwilling to trust Him, still felt compelled to press Him with the question, 'Are you really the Messiah?'  Their fear and unwillingness left the question, for them, forever unanswered. April 18:  3rd of Easter Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19. Today's readings recount journeys:  from unbelief to belief; from brokenness to wholeness; from despair to fulfilment.  The secret lies in the overwhelming grace of God, his faithfulness in the face of our unfaithfulness, his compassion in the face of our complaining and unbelief.  It also lies in our response to Jesus' invitation:  "Follow me". April 11:  2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31. The note of celebration still reverberates through to-day's readings.  The powers of death have been overcome.  The reign of God is at hand.  Jesus said to Thomas, "Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe".  And Thomas, overwhelmed by the evidence before him, could only reply, "My Lord and my God!"  May that be our response as well. April 4:  Easter Sunday Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:14-24; John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-9. "Jesus lives!"  What a wonderful truth after all the bewilderment and despair.  Death has no power over Him and now, through faith in Him, death has no power over us either.  Good news for "all who fear God and act uprightly".  Thanks be to God.  Alleluia! March 28:  Palm Sunday Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56. How the familiar words of the psalmist must have burned in Jesus' mind as the events of his passion unfolded.  In the end he proved that all this had occurred, not that he might miraculously save himself, but that, by his suffering, death and resurrection, he might miraculously save us.  Thanks be to God! March 21:  5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8. The shadow of the cross, the price of our redemption, looms across the landscape as Mary anoints Jesus' feet with expensive ointment.  But beyond that shadow, we catch a glimpse of the new life into which God brings us through His resurrection, “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus (our) Lord”. March 14:  4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 32;  II Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32. What a sense of freedom there is in confessing to God those things that burden our souls and in having them lifted.  The new life we receive is indeed cause for celebration.  Being reconciled to God ourselves, we are able to be instruments of reconciliation to others. St. Paul urges us, then, "on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God". March 7:  3rd Sunday in Lent Psalm 63:1-8; I Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9. The image of water runs through these readings: baptismal water that cleanses and renews, water that satisfies our deepest spiritual thirst, freely offered out of God's abiding love for us.  And we ignore it at our peril.  Thus the prophet Isaiah urges us to "seek the Lord while He may be found, call Him while He is near" (55:6). February 28:  2nd Sunday in Lent Genesis 15:1-12; Psalm 27; Luke 13:31-35. How difficult it is to deal with prayer that seems to go unanswered.  Though Abraham never doubted God's word, he could not understand how God's promise could possibly be fulfilled.  David, another giant of faith, could be found pleading with God to answer him.  God's ways are beyond our understanding but His purposes will be fulfilled in our lives as we put our trust in Him.  The psalmist tells to "wait for the Lord with courage". February 21:  1st Sunday in Lent Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1,2,9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13. In Luke's gospel, we read of Jesus being led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, where He underwent a time of intense self-examination and came face to face with enormous temptation.  We, too, need these times of going 'apart' from the world's distractions in order to focus on the supremacy of God in our lives, to avoid putting that love to the test and to grasp more firmly that, in the shelter of His love, no harm can come near us. February 14:  Epiphany 6 Exodus 34:29-35;  Psalm 99;  II Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36.                                                                                    The holiness of God is overwhelming to mere mortals, but Jesus has provided a way for us to draw close to God. Through His redemptive sacrifice, He is able to transform our mortality into His likeness.  He enables us through faith and prayer to overcome the power of darkness in the world. February 7:  5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 138;  I Corinthians 15:1-11;  Luke 5:1-11. Awareness of the “awful” holiness of God enables us to get life in perspective and to be overwhelmed by God’s tenderness, compassion and generosity.  When we live in the light of this truth, others can begin to see Christ in us and we, like Peter, can become "fishers of men"—as Suzanne de Dietrich has said, "drawing others from the abyss . . . catching them in the great net of God". January 31:  4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 71:1-6; I Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30. Speaking in defence of one's faith or bearing witness to God's truth is seldom the easy or popular thing to do.  But Jesus promised, "Lo, I am with you always". On the other hand, St. Paul reminds us that unless we "have love" when we are speaking to others, we become nothing more than "a noisy gong". It was the love for them in His heart that drew people to Jesus. January 24:  3rd Sunday after the Epiphany Psalm 19; I Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21. In the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus began His public ministry proclaiming a new beginning for God’s people. In essence, He said that all of God's promises to His people are fulfilled in Jesus’ own person.  Paul explains that the church is now Christ’s body in the world—a body that has many members, performing different functions, but one body nevertheless. January 17:  2nd Sunday after the Epiphany Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 36:5-10; I Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11 In Jesus, the light of God's truth has been revealed to all mankind.  At the wedding in Cana, the water for purification according to the Law was changed into the wine of the new covenant.  Now, in the outpouring of God's Spirit, gifts are bestowed on all who confess Jesus as Lord:  gifts of wisdom, of knowledge, of faith, of prophecy, healing and, above all, love—all for "the common good". January 10:  The Epiphany of the Lord Psalm 72:1-7; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12. Our readings to-day deal with images of light:  the light that the Magi followed, searching for God’s promised Messiah and the light that shone on St. Paul revealing to him the mystery of Christ.  We, too, have the choice: to linger in the darkness of the world’s chaos or to seek out the light of Christ. January 7  The Baptism of the Lord Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17,21,22. In the past, God's promise of redemption and salvation had been only partially revealed, but now, in Christ, the promise has been fully realized. At the time of Jesus’ baptism, God affirmed this ministry to His Son.  It is Christ who brings us into relationship with God, a relationship in which we hear God say, "I have called you by name; you are mine."

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