At this time of year the Sunday lectionary changes. The emphasis is on the larger narratives of Scripture. These are the important stories that we don’t normally hear at other times of the year.
Over the three years of the Revised Common Lectionary, we hear pretty much the whole story of God’s people Israel, pretty much in order (at least as far as that is possible reading bits and pieces once a week). On Sundays this June we hear about Elijah, the powerful prophet of YHWH (the LORD in most English translations). The interesting thing is that this powerful prophet who seems to be able to do anything struggles with doubt, fear and anxiety. Humans have limits, as we see over and over again in the Hebrew Scriptures, but those limits are not limiting to God. As the summer goes on, we will hear about (and from) more prophets of the Most High God.
We spend the first six weeks in the letter to the Galatians. In places, Paul uses some fairly strong language. It helps to understand some of the circumstances behind the letter. In what some scholars label the “Galatian Crisis” it seems that (a) Paul has been to Galatia before, preaching and establishing churches, (b) a group of agitators followed Paul and convinced people their faith wasn’t good enough, that they had to follow the Jewish purity laws if they wanted to be truly saved. Paul takes this as an affront to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and argues passionately in this letter for the faith as he understands it to be.
We come back to Luke’s gospel, and follow Jesus as he travels across Judea, proclaiming the Gospel in words and in actions. At the end of Luke 9 (June 30 this year in the lectionary), Jesus’ travels take on a new focus and become directed towards Jerusalem. The Gospel takes on a different tone from that point onwards. We get the sense that the destination is important, that a narrative climax approaches.