Christ the King

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Psalm 100

Ephesians 1:15-23

Matthew 25:31-46

https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html

The Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King, Proper 29 Year A RCL.

The Great Dictator (1940, Charles Chaplin). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcP_4Nthzzs

St Matthews Tucson, AZ Christ the King Sunday - Last Sunday after Pentecost.

(21:12-28:42)

 https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9a/5b/29/9a5b29d42c88f7ef4eccbd9b633c2698.jpg

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him…” (Matthew 25:31-32a)

In my church and many others the Sunday just before Advent is the Feast of Christ the King.

One thing that happens at my house is that we watch old movies. Once we’re settled down and the movie starts, if we’ve left room on the couch two dogs appear and welcome themselves to sit with us. The other night’s movie was relevant for understanding the feast of Christ the King. It was called, “The Great Dictator", made in 1940. At the end of the movie, a Jewish barber finds himself standing in front of a crowd of people who are waiting for him to speak and he says things they don’t expect. How did he get there? The director, writer, and producer of the movie heard that people were saying, “You know, what? The great dictator of that country over there looks an awful lot like Charlie Chaplin!” And Charlie Chaplin, who was himself the writer, director, and producer of the movie, thought, “I can use that!” 

The movie begins with two characters who kind of look a lot like each other – and like Charlie Chaplin. One is the great dictator, who looks a lot like that great dictator you might guess the name of, who does all those things you would expect that fearless leader to do. He yells at his microphone, he makes arbitrary decisions. He causes life or death to happen for innumerable people without much sense of compunction or compassion. Meanwhile there’s a Jewish barber in the ghetto who really has no clue about any of this, except finds himself eventually in a concentration camp. Somehow, through the miracle of Hollywood, he is able to escape. In the course of his escape, he finds himself dressed in the uniform of the army, walking down a road. Meanwhile, nobody has seen the dictator for a while. He seems to have disappeared. Suddenly there’s this guy who looks just like him! — so they grab him, put him in a big car, and take him away. The next thing you know he is standing in front of a bunch of people who are expecting him to continue with the hellfire and the brimstone, the condemnation and the heavy “let’s get them” rhetoric. And instead he says, we need to show some compassion for each other and love each other. 

You know, I’ve never seen a king. I’ve thought about it. Forty-two years ago from a distance I saw the Prince of Wales, but somehow I don’t think that is an adequate experience for understanding what a king is. I’m not sure growing up in a country like ours that doesn’t have a king that I really get it, but not every king probably gets it either. 

Because if we look at the lessons in the Bible about what a king should be, from Ezekiel to the Gospels, they’re very subversive of that kind of king who’s just an arbitrary tyrant and authority without accountability. What we see is a whole different idea for what a real king is, and probably even if you had an idea for what the king was, this would kind of wreck it. Because the good king is not like that cruel tyrant at all, so the question will come back: “Have I ever seen a king?” What we hear in the prophet Ezekiel is that a king should be like a shepherd. A king should be, yes, in charge, but protecting, looking after the people, as a shepherd who’s doing their job right looks after the sheep – which can be dangerous, boring, self-sacrificing, and difficult, but it gives you a very different idea of leadership from arbitrary authority and crafty cruelty. 

If you look at the image of Christ the King, and ask what the feast is about, because if the king is an arbitrary tyrant who has no accountability, who just bosses people around… Do we really think that Christ is like that? Would we want to celebrate that? Uh, uh, no. 

In fact, what the feast of Christ the King was implemented for was to say, that’s not what the leader of people really should be doing. That’s not how we should be with each other, that’s not what a real king really is. There’s really only one king, and that’s the one who we’re talking about today. If we look at the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, there is a wonderful image of Christ the King in all his glory, but the image I think that stays with us from the gospel is the king who is not in all his glory, who is a little more prepared than a Jewish barber who’s just been in a concentration camp, but a Jewish barber who’s just been in a concentration camp comes a lot closer to the real king, than the glorious self-aggrandizing dictator, who also look like Charlie Chaplin. In fact, when we see the king – Have we seen the king? – maybe we all have… Have we ever seen someone sick or hungry or naked or thirsty? Have we ever visited someone sick or in prison? Well, then, maybe we have seen a king, after all.

“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

(Matthew 25:37-40)

Where were you?

In the name of God, Creator of all, Spirit that moved upon the waters, and Son, hungry and homeless, naked and thirsty, sick and in prison, king. Amen.

The abolitionist speaker and former slave, Frederick Douglass, looking back from freedom, recalled a friend who helped him in his first days out of captivity, Mr. Nathan Johnson, “of whom I can say with a grateful heart, ‘I was hungry, and he gave me meat; I was thirsty, and he gave me drink; I was a stranger, and he took me in” - literal application of today’s gospel. 

I’ve been wondering. What did Jesus really look like? Did he look like a king? When we think of Christ the king do we think of him on his throne, the nations prostrate before him at the end of time? Or do we think of him hungry, homeless, naked, thirsty, sick, a prisoner, in need of our help?

Some years ago on a Saturday I was getting into my crummy old car in downtown San Francisco when a man came striding up and asked me the way to Taylor St. I pointed the way: straight up Nob Hill. And off he went at a steady pace. Then I thought to myself, where on Taylor Street was he headed? So I got into my car and drove up to where I could talk to him. Glide Memorial Church, he said, near Eddy St. Oh! The bottom of the hill. He would have had a long sweaty walk for nearly nothing.

So I gave him a ride. (I had to apologize for the condition of my car: it had been stolen, driven into the ground, and then recovered by the Oakland Police.) It turned out he and I were much alike except for one small thing. He had just done fifteen years for armed robbery, mostly in Leavenworth, most recently at Lompoc, and had just been released. They gave him fifty bucks and a suit. So he spent the fifty in a bar and promptly got rolled. He went back and they gave him bus fare and the address of a re-entry program: at Glide Memorial.

Here he was. Not so different from me except that one mistake, is how it felt at the time. Now you know and I know that armed robbery came at the end of a long string of bad choices. But does that make him so different from me - or you? In any case Jesus does not seem to care. He just says, I was in prison and you visited me; I was recently released and you gave me a ride. You could have done more, but I’ll take it. Both of you, come on in.

***

In the 1920s in the era of Mussolini and Hitler, of Weimar and upheaval, the roaring 20s, the pope became concerned that the government was taking on itself almost divine pretensions. And so he decreed a new festival: Christ the King, that we now celebrate on the last Sunday before Advent. It foreshadows the theme of that season, indeed, as we anticipate the arrival of our true emperor but in the form of a baby. Nativity of our Lord we anticipate; in the meantime we have this reminder and summary of where the story ends: in a scene beyond dreams.

In fact the season of Advent, which we anticipate on the Sunday next before Advent, heralds the once and future king: the arrival of the infant and again the One who comes on clouds of glory at the consummation of time. 

This of course reminds us in salutary fashion of what it means to appear before the king: what have you been doing in my absence? We hear over the course of the church year numerous examples of a landlord who returns: the one, for example, who sets up tenants with a vineyard, winepress, and tower, and then sets off for a far country, only to return and summon his tenants to a reckoning; or the one who invests three servants with sums of money - talents - and then leaves for awhile, returning to ask how they have done with the wealth entrusted to them. 

There is hell to pay, or heaven to be enjoyed, depending on the stewardship of the ones holding trust.

Of course this does not just mean talents, as in large sums of money, or in the English-language pun, gifts and capabilities of said servants. It means all we are invested with, all we are given, as creatures of God and caretakers of God's creation. Genesis 1: dominion, meaning oversight, meaning care, with the obvious expectation, Don't wreck it! Take care of it!

Have we done so? Shall we do so? We are invited into this kingdom of harmony not discord, of wealth or at least not want, of freedom of joy not fear, of worship not obeisance, of a freedom not dependent on men or women, but on the ultimate service, the one that no other allegiance stands beside, our perfect freedom as ones who serve him and him only - all other allegiances are subject, contingent, on this first loyalty.

That does not mean of course that we exercise that allegiance by following our personal feelings at the expense of the legitimate duties of a citizen, a husband or father, a mother, wife, or daughter; it does mean that we know that these roles and services are in loyalty to something greater than themselves. All those laws, commandments, and prophecies that Israel collected in ancient days were indeed part of their covenant relationship with the Holy.

How we treat each other is how that relationship plays out. It is not just prayer; not just alms giving or charitable contributions, not even a pledge drive response, but our whole selves that God calls us to put into right relationship: with God and therefore with others and our selves. 

***

A friend of mine had a funny job: he called it "talking to murderers." To make it even funnier, that is what he did. He got in his car, said good-bye to his wife, drove over the hill, and went behind bars, into a maximum-security state prison. And there he would listen to someone say, when I get out of this place, I'm going to find the guy who put me here, and I'm going to kill him. And then, they would ask my friend, are you going to tell them I said that? And my friend would say, yes.

Because that was his job: he was evaluating their psychological fitness for parole. Over the years it got kind of wearing. Talking to murderers. Being alone with them locked up in a little room while they told you what they did, what they had done, what they were planning to do.

When Emma Lazarus wrote that poem "the new Colossus" that is on the base of the statue of Liberty, she left out a few things. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore" - but she didn't say, give me your murderers, give me your rapists, give me your armed robbers, give me even the worst of your self. But that is what Jesus got, when he said, I was in prison and you visited me. That is who he meant.

Before my friend told me about his job, I found out about someone else, a combat veteran who would, after Sunday mass, get in his car, said good-bye to his wife, and head to that same prison, where he would talk to murderers. He did it, I discovered, because of something in the gospel that was read today. I was in prison and you visited me. Jesus didn't say, I won't look very nice. You won't recognize me. I stink and I will scare you. You will be afraid of me. No, he did not say that.

We don't expect to see the face of Christ in someone reprehensible. But I don't think Jesus left anyone out. His kingdom takes all kinds. Even us. Even the wretched refuse of our lives.

And somehow in those wretched awful people and the wretched awful parts of our own lives, still he is king.

Still when we get to the end of time and stand before the throne of God, we will find ourselves looking at - ourselves... and the worst of us, the worst of human nature, redeemed in what can only be divine strength.

For he embraces us, as we are. He does not crown us or condone us. No when he is talking to murderers, rapists, and armed robbers, he does not say, never mind, forget it, it does not matter, you do not matter: he says I love you nevertheless.

And so I love your friend too, this one over here, who has seen more firearms than most felons ever have, the one who came to visit me, the old veteran of a forgotten army, who heard what I had to say in the gospel: I was in prison and you came to see me.

Not very nice people. But somehow redeemed. Only one king can do that, the one we celebrate today.

JRL+

Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King AProper29 Track Two (OT reading complementary to Gospel). https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html. Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 , Psalm 95:1-7a , Ephesians 1:15-23 , Matthew 25:31-46 . 

http://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_11121925_quas-primas.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5TfrUAqh8w The Call, Scene Beyond Dreams (1984)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself. Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. Library of America, Slave Narratives, 2000, 360.

Libby Howe, Living by the Word, The Christian Century, https://www.christiancentury.org/article/living-word/november-22-roc-matthew-2531-46

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB3PrB9Xwnc

the man who fell among thieves

CProper10 BCP
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
Psalm 25 or 25:3-9

"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace, that the day will soon come, when the peoples are unified in love and when Christ is the Lord; the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy."
(Nathan Söderblom, Archbishop of Uppsala, a prayer for peace, 1914)

In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”

The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Then, neither is the man who was robbed.

As we begin to listen to the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask him or ourselves: Who are you? Responses could include, I am an individual, a person, a human being, a child of God; – or, we are a people of God.

Augustine made the analogy: that the man who was robbed was Adam – any one of us, Augustine, you, or me; that the Samaritan – the outsider – was Jesus, and the inn, providing shelter for healing, was the home of the Holy Comforter, the Church.

What however was Jesus’ response to the lawyer, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The one who showed him mercy.

We often think of ourselves in the place of the Good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.

As preacher Fred Craddock points out, this is the first of two stories about the reign of God, about hearing, but not really listening, to the good news of what the reign of God means, who Jesus is, and who we are called to become. In this week’s story we learn about a lawyer who wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Next week, we will hear about a woman named Martha who was anxious and distracted about many things, so busy doing that she forgot to be – just to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus and listen to what he is saying.

Action – going and doing – and contemplation – sitting and listening – are both important in the life of the faithful, but either one points beyond itself to the call to conversion, the change of heart, that comes when we acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior and begin to take our place under the reign of God. To “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is part of a process, a transformation that is a continuing action of grace throughout the whole of your life. Hearing who Jesus is and what the reign of God is, and being changed by that Good News, whether you personally need to “go and do” or to “sit and listen”, is what matters.

The lawyer wanted to ‘get it right’, but getting it right is not the point: whether we need to become clearer in what we know of God, or whether we need to become better at doing God’s will, or whether we need to learn better how just to be in God’s presence – listening with an open heart; the point is to become transformed by the Good News into the people of the kingdom of God.

The lawyer didn’t get it – he thought he could ‘justify himself’ by getting it right: by winning an argument about what God really wants. Jesus was more concerned with – the coming into being of what God really wants – the work of grace in creation, in the lawyer, in you and me. This is not a game about winning, the prize ‘eternal life’: this is reality.

God really does want you to love your neighbor as yourself. And when you begin to see with God’s eyes, when you begin to live into the kingdom of God, you see who your neighbor really is. Jesus tells the lawyer a parable, the parable of a man who fell among thieves and the stranger who rescued him, which ends with the famous admonition, “Go and do likewise.” But before we go, he has already revealed to us something uncomfortable: our condition and the condition of our neighbor are in some ways interchangeable.

Who is my neighbor? Who was neighbor to the man who was robbed? The one who showed him mercy: your neighbor is the one who shows you mercy. If we could find ourselves in the place of the man who was robbed, before we cast ourselves in the role of the Good Samaritan, we might begin to understand what the kingdom is, and what God really wants. And what it is to inherit eternal life.

As pastor Barbara Crafton teaches us, faith is not subscribing to a list of propositions: it is a living relationship with God and with the world. It is a living relationship of love. Eternal life is not something locked away that you need a key or a secret entry code to gain access to – it is freely available. It is the opportunity to love, to live as a lover of God and neighbor. “And the Christ, who lives in you, also lives in each of them.”

The opportunity to love actually is all around.

“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away… No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe… Choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30: 11, 14, 19)

And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)

When did we find you by the side of the road, naked, beaten and bleeding, and treated your wounds and carried you to a safe place where you could be healed? When did we find you wandering through the desert, abandoned and alone and dying of thirst, and give you water and a way home to the homes of men?

During the week of the Fourth of July, in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together.

She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, and then moved them, turning them around to face each other and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own.

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is what we do: not just so that we can all get along, but so that we can all go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.

Join me in reciting Psalm 85:7-13, found on page 709 of the Book of Common Prayer:

Show us your mercy, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him. Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him: that his glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. AMEN.

Sources

Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)

Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)

Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)

The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)

"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)

Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll

Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.

The Word in Time by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)

Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.

Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.

Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.

The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.

Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)

Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/

The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)

Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/

Nathan Söderblom and the Good Samaritan

July 12, 2007

Today we remember the life and work of Nathan Söderblom, architect of the ecumenical movement of the 20th century, founder of the Life and Work movement that led to the World Council of Churches, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was Swedish, born in 1866 and living until this date in 1931. Early in his life, at the age of 24, he visited the United States, and began to form his future ecumenical work through this prayer, recorded in his diary:

"Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great cause of the free unity of thy church."

Söderblom took a practical approach to ecumenical work, reasoning that in the life of the church right action was as important as right belief-hence the outward, active focus of the Life and Work group.

He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1995 the Porvoo Communion formalized recognition between Anglican churches in the British Isles and Lutheran churches in Scandinavia and the Baltic states.

Söderblom was elected Archbishop of Uppsala & primate of Sweden in 1914. That year he led a prayer for peace at Uppsala Cathedral:

"May we ask the Lord to grant us peace,
that the day will soon come,
when the peoples are unified in love
and when Christ is the Lord;
the day that fulfils all the prayers of the holy"

*****
In high school P.E. class I heard this story – so it must be true: somebody riding his new motorcycle had a breakdown at the side of the road. Up roared a gang of bikers, who stopped, came over, and – fixed his bike. As they left, one handed him a nice white business card, with a big greasy black thumb-smudge on it, announcing, “Your emergency roadside assistance was provided by your local motorcycle club.”

The Samaritan is not who you would expect. Nor is the man who was robbed.

In the story of the Good Samaritan and the man who fell among thieves, we hear a lawyer asking a telling question: Who is my neighbor? We might well ask: Who are you? Responses could include, I am a person, a human being, a child of God – or, We are a people of God.

Augustine made the analogy, that the man who was robbed was like Augustine, or me, or you – the soul; that the Samaritan was like Jesus and the inn, providing shelter, was the Church.

What however was Jesus response, and what question did he ask in his turn? “Who was a neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The one who showed him mercy.

We often think of ourselves in the place of the good Samaritan, but Jesus has the lawyer put himself in the place of the man who was robbed. Before we put ourselves in the superior position, the “helping” role, first we find ourselves in need of a little traveler’s aid ourselves.


And Jesus identified himself with this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” and he will tell them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:37-40)

Serving Jesus as we serve the least of these we see around us is the motivating force behind the efforts of so many ecumenical workers like Nathan Söderblom: not simply that we all might get along but that we might go forward together into God’s kingdom, where peace and righteousness embrace.

And I should point out one more current example of this. Last week in Tucson, a leader and elder in that community received a visit from a new member of Congress. She talked with her about immigration and our need for a new approach – not confronting each other but working together. She held up her hands as if to push away The Other, then moved them, turning them over and interlacing her fingers, to show that we must work together. Speaking practically, she suggested training for employment could begin across the border, so that people who live there could have a future and a hope. Remember this is God’s promise to us, to his people, fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus’ hands in the world: our own. I will give you “a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. (Psalm 85:8-13)




Sources

Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-bio.html)

Uppsala Domkyrka (http://www.uppsaladomkyrka.se/setupups/local/engelsk/pdf/Ecumenism.pdf)

Luke for Everyone by Tom Wright (SPCK, 2001)

The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 by Herbert O'Driscoll (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)

"Living by the Word: Who we are" by Patrick J. Wilson, The Christian Century, Vol. 124, No. 13, June 26, 2007, p. 19. (www.christiancentury.org)

also worth a look:

Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com) Herbert O'Driscoll

Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org) Barbara Crafton et al.

The Word in Time (Revised Edition): A Gospel Commentary for Sundays and Major Feast Days (Complete Three-Year Cycle) by Arthur J. Dewey (New Berlin, Wisconsin: Liturgical Publications, 1990)

Luke by Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995) Westminister Bible Companion series.

Luke by Thomas W. Walker (Louisville, Kentucky: Geneva Press, 2001) Interpretation Bible Studies series.

Luke by Fred B. Craddock (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1990) Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.

The Gospel According to Luke by Michael F. Patella, O.S.B. (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press) The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3.

Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule by Keith F. Nickle (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)