Approaching the Gospel of Luke as counter-narrative Advent marks the beginning of a new year in the church's calendar. The seasons and rhythms of the church calendar are at odds with a world driven by markets and a multitude of political and personal interests. Throughout this year churches around the world following the Revised Common Lectionary will be hearing the Gospel of Luke. The story will be read in bits and pieces, but it was written as a coherent narrative that includes not only the Gospel of Luke but also Acts as the sequel which continues Luke's story of Jesus as it finds expression in the earliest assemblies of Christ. In this article I would like to explore the Gospel of Luke as a tightly woven counter-narrative that sets our an alternative vision of life that challenged the foundational values and structures of Greco-Roman society. In particular, I want to look at how the Gospel of Luke was designed to shape the identity and practices of assemblies of Christ in the last couple of decades of the first century.
