Lectionary Links (NL): August 4, 2019

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year 1: August 4, 2019

(Written for ages 4-8)

Comment: In The Very Last Castle, there stands one castle in the middle of a village, but nobody has gone in or come out for years. The people of the village make up stories about it, of the terrors inside, and none of the rumors can be confirmed or refuted because no one goes in or out of the castle. The last castle is a limited place. But, then, a little girl named Ibb works up the courage to knock on the door, is invited in, and learns what is inside the castle. Furthermore, once she enters, she inspires the guard who maintains it to invite the village inside, and at the end everyone is enjoying the beautiful gardens of the castle. What was once limited becomes unlimited because of Ibb’s courage and openness. Similarly, Hebrews tell us that, at first, the covenant and the earthly tent symbolizing it were limited in both their effectiveness and availability. But Jesus, like Ibb, bravely entered the Most Holy Place and made the covenant and his sanctuary unlimited. Through him, the sanctuary and sacrifice and the purification which comes from them, are now open and available. Like Ibb approaching the last castle, Jesus opens up possibilities and makes things available to us that weren’t before. In Jesus Christ, what was limited becomes open, available, and unlimited for us.

Thanks to Sara Ann Berger, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Nachitoches, LA, for writing the Year 1 Narrative Lectionary Links.

Lectionary Links (NL): August 4, 2019 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.