I am doing an interesting experiment this Fall. A group of us are going to preach through the Gospel of Luke together by collaborating the sermon prep. Some of us will be in a room together in Portland and others will join via Skype.

I have always enjoyed collaborative projects and I really enjoy sermon prep so I am hoping that it is doubly enjoyable to combine them!

There are two wrinkles that I am looking forward to:

  1. We are saving the nativity story for Advent (December) so we will begin the series in September with Chapter 3 of the Gospel.
  2. One top of the NT Wright ‘Luke For Everyone”, each of us is reading a different commentary and then bringing that unique resource to the prep table.
The 2nd resource can be whatever you want. We will compare notes each month at the planning meeting. All the resources and planning materials will be uploaded to a website and dropbox.
 
I plan on using two resources – one for my congregation and one for my sermon prep. 
The one for the congregation will be Luke for Everyone by NT Wright 
The one for sermon prep will be much more adventurous and daring. 
 
My sermons will be triple-layered: 
  1. What did Luke’s original audience hear?
  2. What has this passage come to mean since then?
  3. What is the most that this text can mean in the 21st century? 
 
I want to introduce both the historical context AND the progressive trajectory of the gospel. 
The hope is to help people consider a grown up version of Jesus, not just the ‘Mr. Rogers with a beard‘ version from Kids Sunday School. 

Luke: Preaching Gospel

September

8th                    1:1-4                Intro: 4 Gospels 1 Jesus

15th                  3: 1-20             Voices in the Wilderness

22nd                 3: 21-38           Where did you come from?

29th                  4: 1-29             Trusting God – Rejected by Humans

October

6th                    4: 31-44           Healing Inside and Out

13th                  5: 1-11             Go Deep (Discipleship)

20th                  5:12-31            Restored and Repaired

27th                  5:33-6:11         Rules and Religion

November

3rd                              6:12-36            Raising Expectations

10th                           6:37-49            Compare and Contrast

17th                           7:1-17              Life is Tough

24th                           7: 18-50           Two Different Lives

December

1st                              1:5-45              Setting the Scene

8th                              1:46-80            Songs of Hope

15th                           2:2-20              Event Horizon

22nd                          2:22-40            Promises Seen

29th                           2: 41-52           House and Temple

January

5th                    8: 1-21             Growing and Belonging

12th                  8: 22-39           Power and Grace

19th                  8: 40-56           Daughters Restored

26th                  9: 1-23             Mid-Term Exam (now you try)

 
 
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