Reflections of a Canadian Churchman

A Reflection for Advent 2009 “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” -- Jeremiah 33:15 (First Lesson for the First Sunday of Advent, Year C) “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.” -- Luke 2:10 (Gospel for Christmas Eve) This Sunday begins our Advent journey to the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord. We could be forgiven for thinking that Christmas has already arrived, after all Santa Claus has. As children, my brother Tim and I enjoyed our childhood ritual of lying on the floor with all three of the Eaton’s, Simpson’s, and Sears’ catalogues and pouring over the toy sections imagining what gifts Santa would leave under the tree. In those days we always had a real tree so it tended to go up later than most artificial trees do today, yet, we began to sense Christmas was in the air sometime in mid-November when those catalogues seem...

The Canticles (Introduction and the Benedictus ) A unique feature of the infancy narrative of Luke’s Gospel is the inclusion of three canticles, or songs, that have subsequently become a beloved part of Christian hymnody. The Benedictus (the Song of Zechariah), Magnificat (The Song of Mary), and Nunc Dimittis (The Song of Simeon), the traditional names ascribed to them based on their open lines in the latin text, are sung in liturgical churches as part of the Daily Office liturgy. In our own Anglican tradition, the Benedictus is the culminating canticle in Mattins (Morning Prayer), the Magnificat is the first canticle of Evensong (Evening Prayer) and the Nunc is the final canticle of Evensong . The Nunc is also used in Compline (Night Prayer) and often sung at the conclusion of funerals. Much has been written as to whether Luke composed these canticles or whether he drew on traditional material and spliced them into his birth narratives of John and Jesus. We have no way of...

The Infancy Narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus. There is much that can be said about the infancy narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. The Lukan infancy narrative is quite different from the only other canonical account, the one found in Matthew’s Gospel. As I have already indicated, Luke includes an account of the birth not only of Jesus, but also of John the Baptist. In both Matthew and Luke’s accounts, there is a touching of heaven and earth in the various angelic visitations, but whereas Matthew’s angels appear only in dreams (announcing to Joseph not only the birth of Jesus but the need to flee into Egypt, and later to return to Judea; and also the warning to the wise men in a dream to return home by another road), in Luke’s Gospel the angels appear directly to individuals in the narrative (to Zechariah, to Mary, and to “shepherds abiding in the fields”). In Matthew’s Gospel the events focus around Joseph, Herod and the Magi (likely played out over ...

Starting at the Beginning: The Dedicatory Preface St. Luke’s Gospel begins with a short dedicatory preface, which it might be easy to skip over as we move into the interesting words of the infancy narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus. However, I suggest that we will miss something very important if we make such a premature leap, for the opening prologue tells us some very important things about the purpose of Luke’s writings and why he chooses to set out the story of Jesus as he does. First and foremost we realize that Luke is probably writing under the patronage of a benefactor. In ancient times (as in the present day), it is no small thing to devote the time and energy to write a book. Where we have scholarly and artistic grants or literary prizes, the ancients relied on wealthy patrons. Luke addresses his work to one named Theophilus (his name literally means “one who loves God,” probably not a real name, but one assumed at baptism). We do not know who this person was but as we ...

A New Weekly Online Study: Last year, I hosted a successful online study of the Gospel of Mark, entitled The Gospel of Mark Challenge . As we prepare to move into Year C in late November (the liturgical year in which St. Luke’s Gospel is read), I felt it might be appropriate to host a sequel to last year’s challenge. The first aspect of “The Challenge” was to read a half chapter of the Gospel of Mark each day. The Gospel According to St. Mark is only sixteen chapters long, whereas St. Luke’s is twenty-four chapters. I suppose this means that this year’s challenge will require a bit more persistence than last year’s. That being said, at a the rate of about a half chapter per day, one could read through the entire Gospel of Luke in forty-eight days – a little longer than a month and a half. The second aspect of “The Challenge” is to read the text as part of a discipline of prayer and devotion. Last year, I suggested using a form of the Daily Office such as Morning Prayer , Eve...