Lectionary Reading Introduction
This site provides something different: many sites and books provide a brief summary of the reading - so that people read out or have in their pew sheet an outline of what they are about to hear. They are told beforehand what to expect. Does this not limit what they hear the Spirit address them? This site provides something different - often one cannot appreciate what is being read because there is no context provided. This site provides the context, the frame of the reading about to be heard. It could be used as an introduction, printed on a pew sheet (acknowledged, of course), or adapted in other ways. This is an experimental venture and I will see how useful it appears.
Isaiah 2:1-5
The irony and boldness of the prophecy needs an understanding that the central image of this text speaks of the small hill overlooking the city of David on which is built the temple of Solomon.
Romans 13:11-14
The Bible regularly has three zones of our humanity that are called to be in accord: heart and eyes (thought); mouth and ears (word); hands and feet (deed). [Feelings are part of heart and eyes.] Paul’s call to honourable lifestyle can be categorised into these interlinking areas.
Matthew 24:36-44
The context of Matthew’s hearers is about half a century after Jesus’ death and rising, after the failed revolt of the Judeans against the Romans and the destruction of the Temple by Titus and his Roman legions. His culture lived in the present and his hearers were challenged about the delay in the return of the Son of Man.