Sunday's Readings

Easter 7
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 • Ps. 1
John 5:9-13 • John 17:6-19

Easter 5
Acts 8:26-40 • Ps. 22:24-30
1 John 4:7-21 • John 15:1-8

The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away. The garden is a garden of delight and an irresistible invitation. Love. Jesus says, “I am the true vine and my Father is a farmer.” The farmer shows his cutting care, discarding the fruitless branch for the fire and pruning where the fruit grows. Thus his care is loving and life-giving.

Easter 3

Acts 3:12-19 • Ps. 4
1 John 3:1-7 • Luke 24:36b-48

In the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples begin to do what Jesus did; his life in them, they replicate his actions, though being careful to confess that they act “in the name of Jesus Christ.” Peter reaches out to a man lame from birth and raises him to exuberant life and strength. Explaining himself, Peter says, “You Israelites!” Our ears awaken and twitch with discomfort! “Jesus whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate” (3:13); “you killed the author of life” (3:15).

Easter Day

Acts 10:34-43 or Isa. 25:6-9
Ps. 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Cor. 15:1-11 or Acts 10:34-43
John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Jer. 31:31-34 • Ps. 51:1-13 or 119:9-16
Heb. 5:5-10 • John 12:20-33

The Third Sunday in Lent

Ex. 20:1-17 • Ps. 19
1 Cor. 1:18-25 • John 2:13-22

The First Sunday in Lent

Gen. 9:8-17 • Ps. 25:1-9
1 Peter 3:18-22 • Mark 1:9-15

Let not the devil defeat you; let Christ crush his miserable head. If God is for us, who can be against us? Throw open the door of your heart and let Christ come in to break the bread of his presence and pour out his sacrificial potion; let him say the irrevocable word whose vestiges are upon the worn pages of prophets, the litigation of laws, the rise and fall of kingdoms, the evenings and mornings of events and wonders. The victory is final and the work complete.

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

2 Kings 5:1-14 • Ps. 30 • 1 Cor. 9:24-27 • Mark 1:40-45

A friend placed a copy of John Macquarrie’s Principles of Christian Theology on the table and said, “He talks a lot about the beingness of God.” Brief pause. “But I don’t think we have to talk that way.” “Not only do we not have to talk that way,” I responded, “we shouldn’t.” That proclamation will not, however, restrain me from mentioning the beingness of Jesus, demonstrated in a miraculous mending of a lost mind.

4 Epiphany

Deut. 18:15-20 • Ps. 11 • 1 Cor. 8:1-13 • Mark 1:21-28

2 Epiphany

1 Sam. 3:1-10 (11-20) • Ps. 139:1-5, 12-17
1 Cor. 6: 12-20 • John 1:43-51

The Holy Name

Num. 6:22-27 • Ps. 8
Gal. 4:4-7 [or Phil. 2:5-11] • Luke 2: 15-21

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

2 Samuel 7:1-11,16 • Canticle 3
[or Can. 15; or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26]
Rom. 16:25-27 • Luke 1:26-38

The Second Sunday of Advent

Isa. 40:1-11 • Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a • Mark 1:1-8