Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Lent, Year C

Lent for Everyone, Luke, Year C continues N.T. Wright’s series on Lent, published by WestminsterJohnKnox (www.wjkbooks.com).
Author of many books, Wright is also Professor of New Testament at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
  
Beginning our Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday and concluding with Easter Saturday, Wright provides us with his own translation of the Gospel stories. He gently guides readers into each story as, watching, listening, and learning, we follow Jesus on his way.
 
The Contents page guides us to the portion of Luke and the verses we are focusing on each day. Sundays begin with an appropriate Psalm and the conclusion of Luke’s Gospel is followed by four portions of Acts that continue the story.
 
Each day we begin with the Gospel passage for the day. Then Wright jumps from the long ago culture described in Luke to our own culture, describing, comparing, appreciating and noting the differences and the similar happenings and attitudes. He reminds us that the Creator of the World promised that one day the world will be turned "the right way up at last." Now, in Luke, we read of tell-tale signs appearing, when an angel comes and talks to a young girl named Mary.
 
Wright assures us that "The whole of Luke’s Gospel is about the way in which the living God has planted, in Jesus, the seed of that long-awaited hope in the world. It begins with that tiny life in Mary’s womb." And it continues...
 
It’s fun to follow as Wright helps us join in, be part of each story, and "make it our own." He suggests we "pause and pray" about any messages we may get from time to time on our Lenten journey, and he provides a brief, sample prayer for each day.

---Lois Sibley