Luke on Religious Liberty

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Author

Keywords

Scripture

Leviticus 25:10-17, Deuteronomy 15:7-11, Amos 5:11-15, James 82:, Luke 4:18-19

There is no social evil, no form of injustice whether of the feudal or the capitalist order which has not been sanctified in some way or other by religious sentiment and thereby rendered more impervio...

lectionary

11th Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Paul Koptak

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 13:10-17

Introduction Jesus is the deliverer of Israel (1:54–55, 69–75, 77–79) Jesus states his mission in Luke 4:16-19: to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to captives and the oppressed. The word J...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Luke 13:10-17

Author

Paul Koptak

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 13:10-17

Introduction Jesus is the deliverer of Israel (1:54–55, 69–75, 77–79) Jesus states his mission in Luke 4:16-19: to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to captives and the oppressed. The word ...

lectionary

Ash Wednesday

Author

Rachel Clark

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 58:1-12, Isaiah 29:null, Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:null, Luke 4:21, Matthew 6:4

Lent 2024: Do This in Remembrance Relationship and Ritual AIM commentary Ancient lens What's the historical context? Aren’t we doing what you’re asking of us? The people of God are wo...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Isaiah 58:1-12

Author

Rachel Clark

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 58:1-12, Isaiah 29:null, Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:null, Luke 4:21, Matthew 6:4

Ancient lens What's the historical context? Aren’t we doing what you’re asking of us? The people of God are wondering why their fasts and rituals have not accomplished what they hoped. “Why h...

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The Religion Shop Has Been Closed

Author

Robert Farrar Capon

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 9:1-22, Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:4-5, Romans 5:8, John 4:4-26, Luke 18:9-14

[For Christians] the entire religion shop has been closed, boarded up, and forgotten. The church is not in the religion business. It never has been and it never will be, in spite of all the ecclesiast...

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Sabbath-Keeping and Legalism

Author

Walter Brueggemann

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Mark 2:27-28, Matthew 12:8, Luke 6:5

For the most part, contemporary Christians pay little attention to the Sabbath. We more or less know that the day came to reflect, in U.S. culture, the most stringent disciplinary faith of the Puritan...

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Grace & Guilt

Author

Paul Tournier

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:1-24, Isaiah 6:1-8, Genesis 50:15-21, John 8:1-11, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 51:1-17

In Guilt and Grace , Swiss physician and Christian, Paul Tournier, writes… I cannot study this very serious problem of guilt with you without raising the very obvious and tragic fact that rel...

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Statistics on Religion in America: The Rise of the None's

Author

JR Woodward

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 7:13-14, 2 Timothy 4:3-4, Luke 18:8, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Matthew 24:12-13

In March 2009, we received the results from the widest religious survey conducted in the United States, the ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey) study. There is much to gain from this repor...

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A Christianity for Those with their Backs Against the Wall

Author

Howard Thurman

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 3:7–10, Isaiah 58:6–10 , Amos 5:21–24, Luke 4:16–21, James 2:1–7, Psalm 9:9–10

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that I have heard a sermon on the meaning of religion, of Christianity, to the man who stands with his back against the wall. It is urgent th...

Quote

Author

Jonathan Swift

Keywords

Love

Scripture

Romans 12:9-10, Luke 19:1-10, John 4:1-26, Galatians 5:14, Matthew 22:37-40, 1 John 4:20-21, John 13:34-35

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to makes us love one another.

liturgy

Adapted from Luke 4:18-19

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 4:18-19

Jesus says to us, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight...

lectionary

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Gabe Fung

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-6, Mark 2:23-28, Mark 3:1-6, Acts 12:12, Acts 12:25, Acts 15:37-39, Colossians 4:10, 2 Timothy 4:11, Philemon 1:24, 1 Peter 5:13, Mark 1:14-15, Mark 2:1-22, Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Exodus 34:21, 1 Samuel 21:1-6, Luke 11:37-54, Mark 2:1-17, Genesis 1:26-31, Genesis 2:1-2, Genesis 3:null, John 19:30

Preaching Commentary Context Authorship of Mark Mark’s account of the story of Jesus is commonly held to be the earliest of the four canonical Gospels. Early church tradition identifies the author...

Quote

Author

Richard J. Foster

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Colossians 2:20-23, Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 10:41-42

The purpose of the Disciplines is freedom. Our aim is the freedom, not the Discipline. The moment we make the Discipline our central focus, we will turn it into law and lose the corresponding freedom....

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Pious Irrelevancies and Sanctimonious Trivialities

Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 4:18-19, Matthew 23:23, Galatians 3:28, Jeremiah 22:3, Amos 5:24, Isaiah 1:17

In his now famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail , Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. offers a scathing rebuke of his white clergy colleagues, whose inaction caused him much frustration: I have heard numero...

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The Danger of Discipleship

Author

Eugene H. Peterson

Keywords

Discipleship

Scripture

John 15:5, Matthew 7:24, Romans 12:1-2, Luke 6:46, James 1:22, Colossians 2:6-7

The great danger of Christian discipleship is that we should have two religions: a glorious, biblical Sunday gospel that sets us free from the world, that in the cross and resurrection of Christ makes...

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Joy in Persecution

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:44, Matthew 5:10-12, 2 Corinthians 12:10, Romans 8:35-37, James 1:2-4, Luke 6:22-23

The first thing the group of American church leaders noticed about the Central Asian pastor they were meeting was his smile. It was huge. It was so big that anyone who looked at it had to smile too!...

lectionary

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

John 9:1-41, Luke 12:53, Exodus 20:4, Joshua 7:19

AIM Commentary Introduction Leaning Toward the Light What does it mean to lean towards the light of Christ? What does it mean to be open to the work of God? For the Pharisee in Jesus’ time, the an...

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Jesus Caught in the Middle of Modern Society

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 53:3–5, Daniel 3:16–18, Micah 6:6–8, Matthew 23:23–24, Luke 4:16–30, Psalm 2:1

Jesus, as always, gets caught in the middle—along with a good number of his followers. Many people in America today were brought up in strict Christian homes and churches of one sort or another. There...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 2:3, Romans 5:10, Luke 5:31, Matthew 10:30, 1 Peter 5:8, Psalm 73:4-7, 13, 18-20

Preaching Angle: Wheat and Weeds Grow Even in the Church God’s good creation grows food for all living creatures. God made the Earth, God made all the plants, and God made all the humans and animals ...

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Americans Approach to Giving

Author

Chris Willard and Jim Sheppard

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 20:35, Luke 6:38, Proverbs 3:9-10, Malachi 3:10, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

In their book Passing the Plate (Oxford, 2008), Christian Smith and Michael Emerson introduce the phrase “discretionary obligation” as a way to understand the typical American Christian’s approach to ...

lectionary

Second Sunday in Lent

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 13:31-35, Luke 11:51, Jeremiah 23:6, Deuteronomy 32:11, Ruth 2:12, Psalm 17:8, Isaiah 31:5

AIM Commentary Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? On the Road to Jerusalem Luke 13 begins with Jesus teaching on the nature of the kingdom of God and it concludes with ...

Quote

Author

Patrick Schreiner

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 22:37-40, Matthew 5:13-16, Genesis 1:27, Luke 10:25-37, 1 Timothy 2:1-2

Christian politics concerns how we integrate our confession that Jesus is Lord with our call to love our neighbors.

lectionary

Seventh Sunday of Easter

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 1:1-11, Luke 9:null

Preaching Commentary Background of Writing Luke/Acts I don’t know about you, but as a kid, and even a teenager, I never really thought too much about how the Biblical canon was formed. If I had to ...

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The Kingdom is Here for Me

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:43-45, Romans 12:17-21, Luke 17:20-21, Matthew 6:25-33, Acts 4:18-20, 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, Isaiah 2:4, James 3:17-18, Philippians 3:20, John 18:36

A young Russian, deeply moved by the teachings of Tolstoy and the New Testament, had become a conscientious objector. Standing before a magistrate, he spoke passionately about a life that loves its en...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Scripture

Matthew 6:1-6, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Matthew 23:4, 5, 13-36, Mark 12:42, Luke 21:2, Isaiah 58:6, Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? "Hear O Israel..." The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) commands the Israelites to love the Lord their God with heart, soul, and m...

lectionary

Pentecost

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 2:1-21, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8, Acts 1:15, Exodus 20:null, Acts 2:9-11, 1 Samuel 10:10, Ezekiel 7:1-14, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Joel 2:28-32, Genesis 11:7-9

Preaching Commentary Clothed with Power I have a daughter who cannot acquire enough clothes. Every birthday, Christmas, or special occasion is an opportunity to shop online for something new. Fashi...

lectionary

20th Sunday after Pentecost

Author

William Rowley

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 18:9-14

This is one of Jesus’ most vivid parables. He paints a dramatic picture of two figures, with a twist to upend his hearer’s expectations. While the context of this passage involves the dynamics of an a...

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What’s Unique about Christianity?

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 2:1-4, Luke 15:3-7, John 8:1-11, Luke 19:10, John 1:16, Revelation 22:17

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? O...

lectionary

18th Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Darren Pollock

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 17:11-19, Luke 18:9-14, 2 Kings 5:1-19

Context This Sunday’s passage takes place during Jesus’ long final journey to Jerusalem (which takes up over a third of Luke’s Gospel). In the preceding pericope the disciples have asked Jesus to in...

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