Over the winter of 1979/80 I produced a dramatic reading of the Gospel of Luke at the Anglican church in Charlton Village, close to where I was brought up. It was the last venture I undertook before going off to ministerial college in the summer of 1980. Luke’s Gospel is 24 chapters long so it was a mammoth task and took a very long time to read it all. But it was a real celebration of study, rehearsals and performance. And it raised quite a bit of money too.
This lectionary year follows, in the main, the gospel of Luke – a neat conclusion to my ministerial career – and I thought I would enjoy putting together a series for Lent of Bible studies around the parables found in Luke. Mostly they will explore parables that only appear in Luke but we will start with the parable of the Sower, the only parable we will look at that appears in all three of the synoptic gospels and regarded among some scholars as star billing and Mark, Matthew and Luke make it the introduction to their first deliberate collection of parables. After looking at The Sower we will focus on parables that only appear in Luke, and I will preach on them both in our two churches of Moat and Redhill throughout Lent and on line for our Sunday afternoon Zoom services. So by the time we get to Easter you could have heard quiet a lot about them – hopefully from a variety of perspectives from political to evangelical, from a Christian viewpoint as well as a Jewish one. I hope they will be helpful, enlightening and also fun. The Bible studies will also be offered to the churches in the cluster group; I found there were a few who found 4pm on Sunday afternoon a difficult time. So, through Lent I will hold them at 7.30 on Wednesday evenings beginning on the 9th of March.
The programme looks something like this:
Sunday 6th March
Worship at Moat: sermon on the parable of the Sower
Wednesday 9th at 7.30pm
Zoom Bible study on the parable of the Sower and the purpose of parables
Sunday 13th March
Worship at Redhill: the sermon on the parables of lostness
Wednesday 16th at 7.30pm
Zoom Bible study on the parables of lostness
Sunday 20th March
Worship at Moat: the sermon on the parables about money
Wednesday 23rd at 7.30pm
Zoom Bible study on the parables about money
Sunday 27th March
Worship at Redhill: the sermon on the parables about God and Prayer
Wednesday 30th at 7.30pm
Zoom Bible study on the parables about God and prayer
Sunday 3rd April
Worship at Moat: the sermon on the parables about discipleship
Wednesday 6th at 7.30pm
Zoom Bible study on Discipleship
On a personal note, I hope these sessions will be a joy to me and with luck to you too. I want to end this stage of my working life going out with what I like to do best – preaching the Gospel and teaching the Bible.
Bible scholar Amy-Jill Levine has described parables as “short enigmatic stories from a controversial rabbi” while others see them in terms of Kingdom, Grace and Judgment, noting their qualities in terms of paradox, outrage and vindication, while also being subversive and illuminating. What a ride: join me through Lent!
Martin